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| Roman Dodecahedron Is it a Spherical Ball Gauge? |
It's a ball gauge!
That is, it's a gauge for checking the spherical curvature of balls. Used most likely, for carving round balls from stone, such as the Roman stone ballista balls. I did not see any other suggestions for this possible answer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron
The holes of different sizes with the knobs of the same size, will allow each face of the 12-sided device to match a different sized ball. It would allow the stone carver to check the ball to find the high spots that still need to be carved down further. If anyone has ever tried to carve a sphere, without the help of a tool like a lathe, you would know how hard it is to get an accurate round ball created. A tool like this, would allow the stone carver to start on one spot of the rock, and establish the curvature of that spot, without first having to rough out the entire sphere. Once the curvature was started, they could continue working around the rock to form the entire ball.
The 12 sided shape is also very easy to make highly accurately, using only a compass and a straight edge. One side could be laid out and cut with a compass, and then 11 matching pieces could be made. The accuracy of the pentagrams are easily checked by rotating, and flipping the pieces to make sure they all align perfectly with each other no matter which they they turned. Each one, only needed a different sized hole in the middle. The actual size of the hole was not critical, as long as it was round, and well centered, which would be easy to lay out and cut with just a compass. Once the sides are all assembled, the dodecahedron is easily constructed and guaranteed accurate by geometry. No extra alignment tools are needed.
The resulting gauge will make 12 different sized but highly accurate round balls.
Though this technique would be very difficult if the goal was to make a highly accurate diameter sphere, say to fit inside a cannon bore. It would be ideal however, if the exact diameter was not important, but the roundness of the sphere was important. And that, as I understand it, is just what the roman's did need for the sling-shot like balsitis that would no doubt have maximum effect, and accuracy, if the balls were highly round, but where the precise diameter was not critical.
At the same time, there are other variations of this device, that have no holes in the structure at all, like this one:
This second form, seems to be for the same purpose -- to check the curvature of a sphere. But instead of using a hole of a different size in each face, this device used nobs of different sizes on each corner to control the curvature of the sphere it was gauging.
Note also how the sides are decorated with round circles which is consistent with the concept that the device is associated with round objects.
Also note, how the sides curve inward, even though that's not needed. But by making the sides curve inward, it reduces how far out the knobs need to stick, to create a given sized curvature. All features seem logically consistent with using this device to check the curvature of a sphere.
Since this device only has three corners per side, different sized balls on the corners were guaranteed to produce different curvature gauges without needing to guarantee the accuracy of the alignment of the sides. One could randomly place different sized balls on each corner and the device would still work to produce highly accurate spheres of many different sizes.
However, this style was probably harder to use, becuase it would require one to feel the rocking of the gauge on the work piece, but not to be able to see where it was touching and not touching. The style with the holes, would probably make it easier to see what parts needed to be carved down, and maybe even make it possible to mark the spots of the ball that needed more carving.
If my theory is correct, I suspect a closer examination of these devices would show tapered wear on the knobs consistent with it being placed against stone and dragged around to test the curve. The alignment of each side could also be tested to verify that each face was correctly aligned to form an accurate spherical curvature gauge.
If one were to fight a war, where lots of stone Ballista balls had to be carved, and all tools needed to do the work had to be carried with you, this small hand tools seems idea for an army on the march. I don't know much about Roman history, but if the location of where these were found in Europe were fairly consistent with where the Romans were using their Ballistas, that would be yet another verification of what these were.
Curt Welch
Note also how the sides are decorated with round circles which is consistent with the concept that the device is associated with round objects.
Also note, how the sides curve inward, even though that's not needed. But by making the sides curve inward, it reduces how far out the knobs need to stick, to create a given sized curvature. All features seem logically consistent with using this device to check the curvature of a sphere.
Since this device only has three corners per side, different sized balls on the corners were guaranteed to produce different curvature gauges without needing to guarantee the accuracy of the alignment of the sides. One could randomly place different sized balls on each corner and the device would still work to produce highly accurate spheres of many different sizes.
However, this style was probably harder to use, becuase it would require one to feel the rocking of the gauge on the work piece, but not to be able to see where it was touching and not touching. The style with the holes, would probably make it easier to see what parts needed to be carved down, and maybe even make it possible to mark the spots of the ball that needed more carving.
If my theory is correct, I suspect a closer examination of these devices would show tapered wear on the knobs consistent with it being placed against stone and dragged around to test the curve. The alignment of each side could also be tested to verify that each face was correctly aligned to form an accurate spherical curvature gauge.
If one were to fight a war, where lots of stone Ballista balls had to be carved, and all tools needed to do the work had to be carried with you, this small hand tools seems idea for an army on the march. I don't know much about Roman history, but if the location of where these were found in Europe were fairly consistent with where the Romans were using their Ballistas, that would be yet another verification of what these were.
Curt Welch
