The Re-Inventors

As catastrophes like The Great Chicago Fire destroyed cities and claimed lives, the heat was on inventors in the 18th and 19th centuries to find safe and effective ways to fight fires. Matt and Jeremy uncover two old designs, a chemical pail and an exploding water bomb. See what happens when our hot shots crank up the heat on these two innovations to see if either idea actually works. It’s all in the name of science, but our hosts are playing with fire, and if they’re not careful, they just might get burned.

Gunfire, danger, and explosions are some of Matt and Jeremy’s favorite things, and they’re about to resurrect an invention that includes all of the above. Join the Re-Inventors as they build a U.S. Civil War-era double-barreled cannon, the most dangerous prototype they’ve ever constructed. With the help of explosives experts, medieval weapons enthusiasts, and a team of EMTs standing by, it’s time for blast-off. Let’s hope our hosts have better luck than the first people who tested it. They didn’t live long enough to see the results!

What looks like a giant egg, is full of gunpowder and is driven by rockets? It’s “The egg which moves itself and burns!” Designed towards the end of the Crusades, over 500 years before the modern torpedo, this revolutionary, self-propelled weapon was the brainchild of Hassan al-Rammah. If utilized, it could’ve sent the Crusaders fleet and their mission to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Join the Re-Inventors as they construct their own Syrian missile, using period materials from the 13th Century, and take aim at approaching invaders.

Around 1580, William Bourne of England published a book entitled “Inventions or Devises,” in which he outlined his idea for a ship that “may go under the water unto the bottom, and so to come up again at your pleasure.” The design featured oars, a snorkel, and a revolutionary concept…a submergible sea vessel. If successful, this would be the world’s first working design for a submarine. But how will Bourne’s blueprint fare in the blue sea? Matt and Jeremy are eager to find out, but they may literally have to hold their breath for the results.

Designed by Francesco di Giorgio in the 15th Century during the Renaissance, this saw is meant to harness the power of swift flowing streams and rivers and use this power to cut wood. But does it work and is it more efficient than the two-man pitsaw of its day? The Re-Inventors build their most ambitious prototype to date and then hold their own competition. Its machine vs. man to see if this ancient invention still has teeth. Will this machine, designed centuries before the first sawmill, make the cut, or will they turn it into sawdust?

What do you get when you cross a windmill with a wagon? A machine designed in the 14th century that no one has tried to build until now. Sketched out in 1335, Guido de Vigevano intended for his machine to harness the power of the wind as a means of propulsion, and send the troops of Philip VI of France and his Crusade hurtling across the Holy Lands. Join the Re-Inventors as they set out to construct a machine that, if it works, could potentially be the world’s first mechanized troop transport and could have changed the course of history.