I saw the program on the History Channel. What was really impressive was the fact the mechanism was hand-made. The show also demonstrated how the Greeks also had an early version of the flame-thrower and napalm. They used it as a devastating naval weapon. Great show.
And don't forget "Archimedes' Death Ray" that he used to set the ships of the Roman Navy afire during the Roman siege of Syracuse...both a Greek historian in the 1970s, and, more recently, The Myth Busters showed that it could (fairly easily) be accomplished by focusing the sun's rays with hundreds of mirrors (or highly polished shields, as Archimedes had the Syracusan Army do) on one point on the side of the ship......