Caesar's Siege of Avaricum -- 52 BC

 

Reference:--

Duncan B. Campbell, Adam Hook (Illus.), "Siege Warfare In the Roman World, 146 BC -- AD 378, "Elite 126, Osprey Pub.,
Oxford, UK, 2005, pp 34 (Plate B), 62

Caesar's Siege-works at Avaricum (after General Verche're de Reffye)

 

Winch as a Rotary Lever

 

The winch was regarded as a "Rotary Lever", and just as the shorter part of the
lever could support a weight greater than the force applied to the longer
section, so as they expressed it, "the smaller circle overpowers the greater,"
for the weight on the rope from the winch may be many times greater
than the force on the handspike needed to raise it.