BeHeron.com is, a free, web based resource for inventors and entrepreneurs. Our goal is to enable our visitors to become as resourceful and inventive as the great Heron Of Alexandria. This site will support you, the inventor, by providing a one-stop location for information, services, and advice from conception to production. The site will allow you, the entrepreneur, to bring products to market more efficiently by enabling you to leverage our existing experience and assets that would not normally be available to a fledgling startup.

Please visit our Blog to get the latest news on new products and startup resources.

BeHeron also provides a Forum to allow you to seek advice from fellow entrepreneurs as well as the talented BeHeron.com staff. We at BeHeron only hire individuals with significant industry experience and we place great pride in the advice we give.

Heron (or Hero) of Alexandria was a mathematician and engineer who flourished in Alexandria, Roman Egypt from 10 – 70 AD and is said to be the greatest experimenter of antiquity. Among his most famous inventions were the first documented steam-powered device, the aeolipile, and a windwheel, constituting one the earliest instances of wind harnessing. Although the field was not formalized until the 20th century, it is thought that the work of Hero, his "programmable" automated devices in particular, represents some of the first formal research into cybernetics. Hero was also known for his amazing mechanical ingenuity in the ancient world, including devices used in temples to instill faith by deceiving believers with "magical acts of the gods." His accomplishments in military technology, later used to preserve the city from the invading turkish army, led to his common nickname.

Our logo was inspired by Heron's most famous invention the aeolipile. An aeolipile is a rocket-like jet engine invented in the first century by Hero of Alexandria, and is considered to be the first recorded steam engine and reaction steam turbine. The name—derived from the Latin words "aeoli" and "pila"—translates to "the ball of Aeolus" ; Aeolus being the Greek god of the wind.

It consists of an air-tight chamber (usually a sphere or cylinder) rotating on a bearing of some kind, with bent or curved nozzles projecting from it (tipjets), through which steam is expelled perpendicular to the bearing axis. The resulting thrust due to the rocket principle causes a torque which makes the device spin (Newton's third law). Typically, the water is heated in a basin, which is connected to the rotating chamber by a pair of pipes that also serve as the pivots for the chamber. However, the water may also be heated in the chamber itself as shown in the illustration.

It is also a reminder to us all that good ideas are not enough. The device was thought of as little more than a diversion during Heron's lifetime, although it was used to operate temple doors, the device received little serious recognition until relatively modern times. If marketed correctly, the industrial age would have come over a thousand years earlier!