Ismail al-Jazari | |
|---|---|
| Title | al-Jazari |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1136 CE |
| Died | 1206 CE |
| Era | Islamic Golden Age |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
Badīʿ az-Zaman Abu l-ʿIzz ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ar-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206,Arabic:بَدِيعُ الزَّمانِ أَبُو العِزِّ بْنُ إسْماعِيلَ بْنِ الرَّزَّازِ الجَزَرِيّ,[ældʒæzæriː]) was aMuslimpolymath:[2] ascholar,inventor,mechanical engineer,artisan andartist from theArtuqid Dynasty ofJazira inMesopotamia. He is best known for writingThe Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Arabic:كتاب في معرفة الحيل الهندسية,romanized: Kitab fi ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiya,lit. 'Book in knowledge of engineering tricks', also known asAutomata) in 1206, where he described 50 mechanical devices, along with instructions on how to construct them. One of his more famous inventions is theelephant clock.[3] He has been described as the "father ofrobotics" and modern day engineering.[4]
Al-Jazari was born in the area ofUpper Mesopotamia in 1136. Sources state his exact location is unknown, but they speculate he could have been born inJazirat ibn Umar, where he got the name Jazari from or Al-Jazira which was used to denote Upper Mesopotamia.[5][6][7] The only biographical information known about him is contained in hisBook of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.[8] Like his father before him, he served as chief engineer at theArtuklu Palace, the residence of theMardin branch of theArtuqids which ruled acrossUpper Mesopotamia asvassals of theZengid dynasty ofMosul and later ofAyyubid generalSaladin.[9] Little is known about his ethnic background, so he has been variously described asArab,[10][11]: 21 [12][13]Kurdish[14] orPersian.[15]
Al-Jazari was part of a tradition ofartisans and was thus more a practical engineer than an inventor[16] who appears to have been "more interested in the craftsmanship necessary to construct the devices than in the technology which lay behind them" and his machines were usually "assembled bytrial and error rather than by theoretical calculation".[17] HisBook of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices appears to have been quite popular as it appears in a large number of manuscript copies, and as he explains repeatedly, he only describes devices he has built himself. According to Mayr, the book's style resembles that of a modern "do-it-yourself" book.[18]
Some of his devices were inspired by earlier devices, such as one of his monumental water clocks, which was based on that of aPseudo-Archimedes.[19] He also cites the influence of theBanū Mūsā brothers for his fountains,al-Saghani for the design of a candle clock, and Hibatullah ibn al-Husayn (d. 1139) for musical automata. Al-Jazari goes on to describe the improvements he made to the work of his predecessors, and describes a number of devices, techniques and components that are original innovations which do not appear in the works by his precessors.[11]: 21–22
TheArtuqid rulerNasr al-Din Mahmud (r. 1201–1222) is known to have commissioned the first edition ofAl-Jāmi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal of Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari, in April 1206 at the Artuqid court.[20][21] This manuscript is known asAhmet III 3472, now in theTopkapı Sarayı Library. The miniatures are thought to reflect various aspects of the Artuqid court at the time.[20]Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari was employed at the Artuqid court during the last quarter of the 12th century, and this is the earliest known manuscript of his opus.[21]
![Court scene. Amid, modern-day Diyarbakır, Turkey, 1206 (Ms. Ahmet III 3472).[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMechanical_boat_(court_scene)%2c_probably_Amid%2c_modern-day_Diyarbak%25C4%25B1r%2c_Turkey%2c_1206_(Ms._Ahmet_III_3472).jpg)
![Mechanical Turkic servant. Amid, modern-day Diyarbakır, Turkey, 1206 (Ms. Ahmet III 3472).[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMechanical_male_servant%2c_probably_Amid%2c_modern-day_Diyarbak%25C4%25B1r%2c_Turkey%2c_1206_(Ms._Ahmet_III_3472%2c_fol._121v).jpg)
![Female servant. Amid, modern-day Diyarbakır, Turkey, 1206 (Ms. Ahmet III 3472).[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMechanical_female_servant%2c_probably_Amid%2c_modern-day_Diyarbak%25C4%25B1r%2c_Turkey%2c_1206_(Ms._Ahmet_III_3472).jpg)
![Mechanical Turkic servant. Amid, modern-day Diyarbakır, Turkey, 1206 (Ms. Ahmet III 3472).[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMechanical_Slave%2c_probably_Amid%2c_modern-day_Diyarbak%25C4%25B1r%2c_Turkey%2c_1206_(Ms._Ahmet_III_3472%2c_fol._121v).jpg)
The most significant aspect of al-Jazari's machines are themechanisms, components, ideas, methods, and design features which they employ.[9]
Acamshaft, a shaft to whichcams are attached, was described in 1206 by al-Jazari, who employed them in hisautomata,[22]water clocks (such as thecandle clock)[23] and water-raising machines.[22]
The eccentrically mounted handle of the rotaryquern-stone in fifth century BCESpain that spread across theRoman Empire constitutes acrank.[24] The earliest evidence of a crank andconnecting rod mechanism dates to the 3rd century ADHierapolis sawmill in theRoman Empire.[24] The crank also appears in the mid-9th century in several of the hydraulic devices described by theBanū Mūsā brothers in theirBook of Ingenious Devices.[25]
In 1206, al-Jazari invented an earlycrankshaft,[26][27] which he incorporated with a crank-connecting rod mechanism in his twin-cylinderpump.[28] Like the modern crankshaft, al-Jazari's mechanism consisted of a wheel setting severalcrankpins into motion, with the wheel's motion being circular and the pins moving back-and-forth in a straight line.[26] The crankshaft described by al-Jazari[26][27] transforms continuousrotary motion into a linearreciprocating motion,[28] and is central to modern machinery such as thesteam engine,internal combustion engine andautomatic controls.[27][29]
He used the crankshaft with a connecting rod in two of his water-raising machines: thecrank-driven saqiya chain pump and thedouble-action reciprocating piston suction pump.[28][30] His water pump also employed the first knowncrank-slider mechanism.[8]
English technology historianDonald Hill writes:
We see for the first time in al-Jazari's work several concepts important for both design and construction: thelamination of timber to minimize warping, thestatic balancing of wheels, the use of woodentemplates (a kind of pattern), the use ofpaper models to establish designs, thecalibration of orifices, the grinding of the seats and plugs of valves together withemery powder to obtain a watertight fit, and thecasting of metals in closedmold boxes withsand.[9]
Al-Jazari invented a method for controlling the speed ofrotation of a wheel using anescapement mechanism.[31]
According toDonald Hill, al-Jazari described several earlymechanical controls, including "a large metal door, acombination lock and a lock with fourbolts".[9]
A segmental gear is "a piece for receiving or communicatingreciprocating motion from or to a cogwheel, consisting of a sector of a circulargear, or ring, having cogs on the periphery, or face."[32]Lynn Townsend White wrote:[33]
Western scholars had thought that conicalvalves first appeared in Leonardo's drawings, but al-Jazarl's pictures show them. Similarly, segmental gears first clearly appear in al-Jazarl; in the West they emerge inGiovanni de’ Dondi's astronomical clock finished in 1364; with the greatSienese engineerFrancesco di Giorgio (d. 1501) they entered the general vocabulary of European machine design.
Al-Jazari invented five machines for raising water,[1] as well aswatermills andwater wheels withcams on theiraxle used to operateautomata,[34] in the 12th and 13th centuries, and described them in 1206. It was in these water-raising machines that he introduced his most important ideas and components.
The first known use of acrankshaft in achain pump was in one of al-Jazari'ssaqiya machines. The concept of minimizingintermittent working is also first implied in one of al-Jazari'ssaqiya chain pumps, which was for the purpose of maximising the efficiency of the saqiya chain pump. Al-Jazari also constructed a water-raising saqiya chain pump which was run byhydropower rather thanmanual labour, though the Chinese were also using hydropower for chain pumps prior to him. Saqiya machines like the ones he described have been supplying water inDamascus since the 13th century up until modern times,[35] and were in everyday use throughout the medieval Islamic world.[36]Interestingly, the depiction of the chain in al-Jazari's pump appears to be in the form of aMöbius strip, from long before the Möbius strip was first identified as an object of study in mathematics.[37]
Al-Jazari describedsuction pipes, suctionpump,double-action pump, and made early uses of valves and acrankshaft-connecting rod mechanism, when he developed atwin-cylinderreciprocatingpiston suction pump. This pump is driven by a water wheel, which drives, through a system of gears, an oscillating slot-rod to which the rods of two pistons are attached. The pistons work in horizontally opposed cylinders, each provided with valve-operated suction and delivery pipes. The delivery pipes are joined above the centre of the machine to form a single outlet into the irrigation system. This water-raising machine had a direct significance for the development of modern engineering. This pump is remarkable for three reasons:[9][38][39][40]
Al-Jazari's suction piston pump could lift 13.6 metres of water,[citation needed] with the help of delivery pipes. It was not, however, any more efficient than thenoria commonly used by the Muslim world at the time.[41]
Al-Jazari cited the Byzantinesiphon used for dischargingGreek fire as an inspiration for his pump.[42] According toDonald Hill, al-Jazari's pump can be considered "a direct ancestor of thesteam engine combination".[43] According toJoseph Needham, al-Jazari's slot-rodforce pump is one of "the two machines of the Middle Ages which lie most directly in the line of ancestry of the steam-engine and thelocomotive" along withWang Zhen's blowing engine a century later.[44]
Al-Jazari described single-bucket and four-bucket water lifting machines. The single-bucket version employsdifferentials, semi-circulargear units,bucket elevators, andgearboxes, while the four-bucket version adds a mechanicaltimer.
Al-Jazari developed the earliestwater supply system to be driven bygears andhydropower, which was built in 13th centuryDamascus to supply water to its mosques andBimaristan hospitals. The system had water from a lake turn ascoop-wheel and a system of gears which transported jars of water up to awater channel that led to mosques and hospitals in the city.[45]
Al-Jazari built automated moving peacocks driven by hydropower.[46] He also created automatic doors as part of one of his elaboratewater clocks,[9] and inventedwater wheels withcams on theiraxle used to operate automata.[34] According toEncyclopædia Britannica, theItalian Renaissance inventorLeonardo da Vinci may have been influenced by the classic automata of al-Jazari.[47]
Mark E. Rosheim summarizes the advances inrobotics made by Muslim engineers, especially al-Jazari, as follows:
Unlike the Greek designs, these Arab examples reveal an interest, not only in dramatic illusion, but in manipulating the environment for human comfort. Thus, the greatest contribution the Arabs made, besides preserving, disseminating and building on the work of the Greeks, was the concept of practical application. This was the key element that was missing in Greek robotic science.[48]
The Arabs, on the other hand, displayed an interest in creating human-like machines for practical purposes but lacked, like other preindustrial societies, any real impetus to pursue their robotic science.[49]
One of al-Jazari'shumanoid automata was a waitress that could serve water, tea or drinks. The drink was stored in a tank with a reservoir from where the drink drips into a bucket and, after seven minutes, into a cup, after which the waitress appears out of an automatic door serving the drink.[50]
Al-Jazari invented a hand washingautomaton incorporating a flush mechanism now used in modernflush toilets. This device is another example ofhumanoid automata. It consisted of a human figure, made from jointed copper, holding a pitcher resembling a peacock in its right hand. The pitcher is made from brass and holds within it a chamber, divided into two parts by a metal plate. This mechanism aided the pouring of the water from the spout so that it was smooth and would not splutter. The reservoir in which the water is held is situated within the right-hand side of the human figure. An axle is fitted into the right elbow of the human figure so as to allow the liquid to pour from the reservoir through the spout of the pitcher. The left arm of the figure had a fixed weight which would raise and lower the arm which would hold a towel, comb and mirror.
This automaton was designed to aid the king whilst he performed hisritual ablutions. A servant of the king would carry the figure and place it next to a basin that could hold liquid. The servant then turned a knob on the back of the figure which opened a valve resulting in the pouring of water from the right hand of the figure into the basin. When the reservoir is nearly empty and most of the water has been poured a mechanism is prompted and the left hand of the figure, holding the towel, comb and mirror, is extended out in the direction of the king so that he can dry himself and tend to his beard.[51]
Water and its usages holds particular importance inIslam; both as being an integral part of the pre-prayer washing processeswudu andghusl, and a key feature in Islamic gardens – four fountains featuring in theParadise Garden; the Islamic final resting place referenced in theQuran. Additionally, withMesopotamia being a naturally drought-ridden place, machines relating to water held a significant function; in both a divine and practical sense.
An entire section ofThe Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices was devoted to fountain mechanisms, titled:‘On the construction in pools of fountains which change their shape, and of machines for the perpetual flute’.[52]
Al-Jazari's "peacock fountain" was a more sophisticated hand washing device featuring humanoid automata as servants which offer soap andtowels. Mark E. Rosheim describes it as follows:[48]
Pulling a plug on the peacock's tail releases water out of the beak; as the dirty water from the basin fills the hollow base a float rises and actuates alinkage which makes a servant figure appear from behind a door under the peacock and offer soap. When more water is used, a second float at a higher level trips and causes the appearance of a second servant figure – with a towel!
The basin of the "peacock fountain" formed the basin for performingwudu, and it would have been operated by a servant, who would have pulled the plug and positioned the peacock's beak; allowing the mechanism to release the water into the basin in front of the user.[53]
However, whilst water moving objects such as the peacock fountain had ritualistic usage, there is suggestion that water-moving hydraulics were put to profane use. Ayhan Aytes suggests that:[54]
Many of the devices also had additional functions that contradicted divine omnipotence. The most profane purpose of several of his hydraulic and pnuematic automata was to get guests at parties drunk as quickly as possible.
Al-Jazari's work described fountains and musical automata, in which the flow of water alternated from one large tank to another at hourly or half-hourly intervals. This operation was achieved through his innovative use ofhydraulic switching.[9]
Al-Jazari created a musical automaton, which was a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties. ProfessorNoel Sharkey has argued that it is quite likely that it was an earlyprogrammable automata and has produced a possible reconstruction of the mechanism; it has a programmable drum machine withpegs (cams) that bump into littlelevers that operated the percussion. The drummer could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns if the pegs were moved around.[55]
The water-clock of the drummers, which differs from the Musical robot band in that it lacks a flute-playingdoll and instead has twotrumpeters, consists of seven wood-jointed male figures, including the aforementioned trumpeters as well as two dolls playingcymbals and the rest playing otherpercussive instruments.[56] The mechanism in this specific automaton serves as aclock by producing a musical output once every hour, illustratingAl-Jazari's ability to create multi-faceted automata that functioned on a practical and entertainment level. The motion of theautomaton is initiated at daybreak by another male doll, who stands at the edge of thefrieze element of the design, moving across until he reaches a specific point at which a carvedfalcon leans forward dropping a ball from its beak onto a cymbal.[57] All mechanical aspects of the automaton are then driven by water and a series of pistons and cables. Each hour water drains out of the maincistern to cause another bucket to tip over driving awater wheel that is connected to the musicians. The automaton is described to ‘perform a with a clamorous sound which is heard from afar’ and could play several different tunes.[58] Like many other automatons by Al-Jazari, this was created to entertain guests at the royal palace.
Al-Jazari constructed a variety ofwater clocks andcandle clocks. These included a portable water-poweredscribeclock, which was a meter high and half a meter wide, reconstructed successfully at theScience Museum in 1976[34][59] Al-Jazari also invented monumental water-poweredastronomical clocks which displayed moving models of the Sun, Moon, and stars.
According toDonald Hill, al-Jazari constructed the most sophisticatedcandle clocks known to date. Hill described one of al-Jazari's candle clocks as follows:[9]
The candle, whose rate of burning was known, bore against the underside of the cap, and its wick passed through the hole. Wax collected in the indentation and could be removed periodically so that it did not interfere with steady burning. The bottom of the candle rested in a shallow dish that had a ring on its side connected through pulleys to a counterweight. As the candle burned away, the weight pushed it upward at a constant speed. The automata were operated from the dish at the bottom of the candle. No other candle clocks of this sophistication are known.
Al-Jazari's candle clock also included adial to display the time and, for the first time, employed abayonet fitting, afastening mechanism still used in modern times.[60]
Theelephant clock described by al-Jazari in 1206 is notable for several innovations. It was the first clock in which anautomaton reacted after certain intervals of time (in this case, a humanoid robot striking thecymbal and a mechanical robotic bird chirping) and the firstwater clock to accurately record the passage of the temporal hours to match the uneven length of days throughout the year.[61]
Al-Jazari's largest astronomical clock was the "castle clock", which was a complex device that was about 11 feet (3.4 m) high, and had multiple functions besides timekeeping. It included a display of thezodiac and thesolar andlunar orbits, and an innovative feature of the device was a pointer in the shape of thecrescent moon which travelled across the top of a gateway, moved by a hidden cart, and caused automatic doors to open, each revealing amannequin, every hour.[9][62]
Another feature of the device was fiveautomata musicians who automatically play music when moved bylevers operated by a hiddencamshaft attached to awater wheel.[23]
Al-Jazari inventedwater clocks that were driven by both water andweights. These includedgeared clocks and a portable water-poweredscribe clock, which was a meter high and half a meter wide. The scribe with hispen was synonymous to thehour hand of a modern clock.[34][59] Al-Jazari's famous water-powered scribe clock was reconstructed successfully at theScience Museum, London in 1976.
Alongside his accomplishments as an inventor and engineer, al-Jazari was also an accomplished artist. InThe Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, he gave instructions of his inventions and illustrated them usingminiature paintings, a medieval style ofIslamic art.
As the Arabs called upper Mesopotamia **al Jazire" meaning "island", it is quite possible that he was born in this area and therefore referred to as al-Jazari.
Born in Upper Mesopotamia in the 12th century ad al-Jazari was employed, from about 1180 onwards, by the rulers of ...
Born in Jazirat al-'Umar, al-Jazari is most noted as the author of ...
Al-Jazari (1136– 1204) was a Kurdish astronomer, mathematician, Islamic scholar, innovator, and ...
The Kurdish polymath Al-Jazari (1136–1206), for example, built animal- and water-driven devices for raising irrigation water, suctionpumps, cranks, ...
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