The claw of Archimedes was devised to safeguard Syracuse from invasions and attacks, and is famously known as the ‘ship-shaker’. This device resembles the crane’s arm and it balanced a huge metal hook, which was suspended in the air. As the claw was dropped onto a ship, which was attacking, the arm of the device would swing upwards to raise the ship out of the water and possibly result in the sinking of the ship.
To find out the workability of the claw of Archimedes, numerous modern experiments have been carried out. In the year 2015, a televised documentary, Superweapons of the Ancient World, was successful in its attempt of reconstructing a prototype of the incredible device and came to the conclusion that the Archimedes’ claw actually works.