Archimedes' screw screws of decreasing pitch are used for the compaction of waste material. If water is fed into the top of an Archimedes screw, it will force the screw to rotate. The rotating shaft can then be used to drive an electric generator. Such an installation has the same benefits as using the screw for pumping: the ability to handle very dirty water and widely varying rates of flow at high efficiency. Settle Hydro and Torrs Hydro are two reverse screw micro hydro schemes operating in England. The screw works well as a generator at low heads, commonly found in English
Acorn Archimedes computers or IBM compatible PCs eclipsed the Archimedes in their multimedia capabilities, which led to an erosion of the Archimedes market share. The Tesco Computers for Schools scheme later changed partnership from Acorn to RM plc and many other computer-related suppliers, which also led to the decrease of the Archimedes' educational market share. Acorn Archimedes The Acorn Archimedes is a family of personal computers designed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge (England) and sold in the late-1980s to mid-1990s, Acorn's first general-purpose home computer based on its own ARM architecture. The first Archimedes was launched in 1987. ARM's RISC design,