Watch The Re-Inventors

It's an early ancestor of the Apollo rockets that flew to the moon, but the Chinese rocket was created for more destructive missions. Developed in the 14th Century by the Chinese Navy, the missile was fired from land to attack ships. It was the world's first multi-stage weapon, flying for nearly a mile before shooting a stream of explosive-tipped arrows from the mouth of its dragon-shaped head. Could this weapon really inflict as much damage as the legends claim? The Re-Inventors launch an investigation to find out.

Powered by a human-sized hamster wheel, the Roman crane was responsible for building some of the most impressive structures in history, including the Coliseum, the Pantheon and Hadrian's Wall. Matt and Jeremy salute this invention the only way they know how: by resurrecting this 2nd Century giant of engineering. Follow them as they construct this massive piece of equipment to see how it worked and how much it can lift. It's one of the biggest re-inventions they've ever built, and as they'll soon discover, it's also one of the most dangerous.

Two 1915 inventions designed to save soldiers' lives in World War I were never called into battle. Were they simply not-so-great inventions of The Great War, or were they never given a fair shot? The Re-Inventors unearth the old patents for a bulletproof enclosure and a dual-purpose helmet shield, and dig up period materials from the early 1900s to rebuild and test them both. Could these inventions have saved the lives of countless U.S. soldiers, or were they rightly discharged from service? Matt and Jeremy aim to find out.

Modern crematoriums use 54 gallons of propane to reduce just one body to ash, so the environmental value of a solar crematorium is self-evident. But can this late 1980s invention generate the heat necessary to get the job done? Matt and Jeremy are dead-set on finding out. Join in on a darkly humorous episode where dead inventions for dead people are reincarnated and tested, including one that forces Matt to be buried alive! Will sunlight really turn a human body to ash or should this invention remain six feet under?

For decades, man has moved snow from one side of the road to another in order to clear a path for drivers, but wouldn't it be better to just eliminate it instead? In 1939, a patent was issued to the "Snow Annihilating Machine." Part tank, part furnace, it featured a conveyor belt of steam pipes that would rotate through an oven before hitting the snowy surface. No one ever built a prototype, but 70 years later, the Re-Inventors will finally give this bizarre machine a long overdue road test.

It was designed to ride across sand, steamroll over barbed wire and blast holes though Hitler's coastal defenses in Normandy, but D-Day came early for the Pajandrum. The invention was deemed useless and never saw action in the field of war. But given the chance, could it have saved the lives of countless Allied soldiers? Matt and Jeremy call on the skills of metal fabricators, carpenters, and explosives experts to rebuild and test this unconventional weapon. Will they figure out where the original inventors went wrong or will the Panjandrum crash and burn?

Can you actually improve on the inventions of Da Vinci? Matt and Jeremy aim to find out as they take four re-invented weapons from past episodes_4-18 (including two from Leonardo) and rethink, redesign, and rebuild them using modern technology. A 15th Century tank and machine gun, a giant medieval catapult, and an ancient Chinese flamethrower get 21st Century updates. But will the added muscle translate to success on the battlefield? Modifying the old weapons is one thing, testing them is quite another.

It's a giant, one-wheeled beast of a bike that a rider pedals from within. Patented in 1897, it is one of many inventions created to improve on the original design of the safety bike, a design that has changed very little in the past 120 years. The Monowheel certainly looks intriguing, but the Re-Inventors need to know if it will ride. Its success or failure will come down to the 3 S's: Speed, Stability and Safety.

It would be nice to be able to fly your car over a traffic jam, but will our decades-long dream of a family car that doubles as a plane ever come true? The idea took off in the 1950s, as a booming economy and the dawn of the space age inspired inventors worldwide. Using that era's Taylor Aerocar as inspiration, the Re-Inventors assemble their own flying automobile, combining a T-Bird with parts gathered from an airplane graveyard. Matt and Jeremy are on a mission to rewrite transportation history, or crash and burn trying.

As man approached the 20th Century, the race for the skies captivated the imagination of inventors everywhere and all kinds of bizarre flying machines were conjured up. Included in the mix was a pedal-powered ancestor to the helicopter, patented a decade before the Wright Brothers first conquered the skies. By all indications, it was never built or tested, but if this anonymously designed machine can actually lift off, it would be a history-making moment. Join Re-Inventors Matt and Jeremy as they take this chopper on a test flight.

Was this 1916 invention the inspiration for today's military head-mounted displays, or a complete misfire? Dive into the trenches with the Re-Inventors as they dust off the blueprint for Albert Pratt's gun helmet, a weapon "adapted to be mounted on and fired from the head of the marksman." Using only materials available from the early 20th Century, Matt and Jeremy test this wearable firearm for the first known time. The gun helmet never saw action in World War I, perhaps for a reason, and testing it could prove to be a huge headache...or worse.

Shipwrecks claimed the lives of thousands in the early 20th century. In response to these disasters, a sailor named John Edlund invented one of the strangest water survival suits ever designed, with a helmet that resembled a cosmonaut's. But the Re-Inventors think that this forgotten invention could have been a legitimate lifesaver. Using Edlund's blueprint and materials from the early 1900s, Matt and Jeremy determine whether this suitcase suit sinks or floats.