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'Ibn Ismail ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari' (1136-1206, in Arabic: أَبُو اَلْعِزِ بْنُ إسْماعِيلِ بْنُ الرِّزاز) was an important Arab Muslim scholar, inventor, and mechanical engineer during the Islamic Golden Age (Middle Ages).
Al-Jazari was named after the area in which he was born, al-Jazira - the traditional Arabic name for what was northern Mesopotamia and what is now northern Iraq and northeastern Syria, between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Like his father before him, he served as chief engineer in Artukid Palace, the residence of the Diyarbakır branch of the Artukids, a Turkish dynasty which ruled across eastern Anatolia.
He documented fifty mechanical inventions in six different categories (along with construction drawings) in his book ''«al-Ilm Wal-Amal al-Nafi Fi Sina'at al-Hiyal»'' (''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'', «اَلجام بَيْنْ اَلْعِلْمِ وَالْعَمَلِ اَلنَّافِعْ فِي صِناعَةُ الْحِيَلْ» in Arabic)^[1]. These included the crank mechanism, connecting rod, programmable automaton, humanoid robot, reciprocating piston engine, suction pipe, suction pump, double-acting pump, valve, combination lock, cam, camshaft, segmental gear, the first mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, and especially the crankshaft, which is considered the most important mechanical invention in history after the wheel. Other devices he described include a hand washing device, machines for raising water, accurate calibration of orifices, lamination of timber to reduce warping, static balancing of wheels, use of paper models to establish a design, casting of metals in closed mould boxes with green sand, and the most sophisticated water clocks of his time (one of his famous clocks was reconstructed successfully at the London Science Museum in 1976).
Donald Routledge Hill wrote in the ''Studies in Medieval Islamic Technology'':
Due to his fundamental mechanical inventions, al-Jazari has been described as the "father of modern day engineering",^[2] and due to his invention of an early programmable humanoid automaton he has been hailed as the "father of robotics".Paul Vallely, How Islamic Inventors Changed the World, ''The Independent'', 11 March 2006.

Contents

Water-raising machines

Crank and connecting rod system

Valve-operated suction pump with double-acting reciprocating piston engine

Clocks

Elephant clock with automaton, regulator, and closed loop

Mechanical clocks

Automata

Programmable humanoid robot

Other automata

Other inventions

Segmental gear

Other mechanical devices

See also

Notes

References

External links

Water-raising machines

Al-Jazari invented machines for raising water and water wheels with cams on their axle used to operate automata in the 12th century.

Crank and connecting rod system

Al-Jazari's invention of the crankshaft (and the crank mechanism) is considered the most important single mechanical invention after the wheel, as it transforms continuous rotary motion into a linear reciprocating motion, which is central to much of the machinery in the modern world, including the steam engine and the internal combustion engine (where it converts in the other direction).
The connecting rod was also invented by al-Jazari, and was used in a crank and connecting rod system in a rotating machine he developed in 1206, in two of his water-raising machines.Ahmad Y Hassan. The Crank-Connecting Rod System in a Continuously Rotating Machine.

The reciprocating suction piston pump from Al-Jazari's manuscript.

Valve-operated suction pump with double-acting reciprocating piston engine

In 1206, Al-Jazari described the first reciprocating piston engine, suction pump, and valve, when he invented a two cylinder reciprocating suction piston pump, which seems to have had a direct significance in the development of modern engineering. 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 pump is remarkable for three reasons:Ahmad Y Hassan. The Origin of the Suction Pump - Al-Jazari 1206 A.D.
#The earliest known use of a true suction pipe in a pump
#The first application of the double-acting principle
#The first conversion of rotary to reciprocating motion
For these reasons, this invention is considered important to the development of the steam engine and of modern reciprocating pumps.

The elephant clock from Al-Jazari's manuscript.

Clocks

Elephant clock with automaton, regulator, and closed loop

Main articles: Elephant clock

The elephant clock described by al-Jazari in 1206 is notable for several innovations. It was the first clock in which an automaton reacted after certain intervals of time (in this case, a humanoid robot striking the cymbal and a mechanical bird chirping), the first mechanism to employ a flow regulator, and the earliest example of a closed-loop system in a mechanism.^[3]

Mechanical clocks

Al-Jazari invented the elephant clock and some of the first mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, including a water-powered scribe clock. This water powered portable clock was a meter high and half a meter wide. The scribe with his pen was synonymous to the hour hand of a modern clock. This is an example of an ingenious water system by al-Jazari.Donald Routledge Hill (1996), ''A History of Engineering in Classical and Medieval Times'', Routledge, p.224.^[4]
Al-Jazari also invented water clocks with oil lamps and automatic clocks.Arslan Terzioglu (2007). "The First Attempts of Flight, Automatic Machines, Submarines and Rocket Technology in Turkish History", ''The Turks'' (ed. H. C. Guzel), p. 804-810.
Al-Jazari's famous water-powered scribe clock was reconstructed successfully at the Science Museum (London) in 1976.

Automata

Al-Jazari's Automata, precursors of programmable humanoid robots.

Programmable humanoid robot

Al-Jazari is credited with creating an early precursor of a programmable humanoid robot in 1206. Al-Jazari's automaton was originally a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties. His mechanism had a programmable drum machine with pegs (cams) that bump into little levers that operated the percussion. The drummer could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns if the pegs were moved around.^[5]

Other automata

Al-Jazari also designed and constructed a number of other automata (automatic machines, appliances and musical automata powered by water. (See one of his works at The Automata of Al-Jazari.) Al-Jazari also invented water wheels with cams on their axle used to operate automata.

Other inventions

Segmental gear

A segmental gear is "a piece for receiving or communicating reciprocating motion from or to a cogwheel, consisting of a sector of a circular gear, or ring, having cogs on the periphery, or face."^[6] This was first invented by al-Jazari. Professor Lynn Townsend White, Jr. wrote:

Other mechanical devices

Some of al-Jazari's other mechanical devices include:Al-Jazari, ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices: Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya'', translated by P. Hill (1973). Springer.^[7][8]

★ Combination lock

★ Valve

★ Hand washing device

★ Accurate calibration of orifices

★ Lamination of timber to reduce warping

★ Static balancing of wheels

★ Use of paper models to establish a design

★ Casting of metals in closed mould boxes with green sand

★ Trick drinking vessels

★ Phlebotomy measures

★ Linkage

★ Hydraulic devices

★ Water wheels with cams on their axle used to operate automata

★ Water pumps

★ Water level

★ Constructions of pots and pans for wine making

★ Construction of ewers and bowls for use as cups

★ Pools and fountains

★ Devices able to elevate water from shallow wells or flowing rivers

★ Several musical instruments

★ Other machines working by water

★ Other sundry mechanisms

See also

★ Inventions in the Muslim world

★ Islamic science

★ List of Arab scientists and scholars

★ List of Turkish scientists

Notes

1. Ahmad Y Hassan, Al Jazari and the History of the Water Clock, retrieved on July 20, 2007.
2. 1000 Years of Knowledge Rediscovered at Ibn Battuta Mall, MTE Studios.
3. The Machines of Al-Jazari and Taqi Al-Din, Foundation for Science Technology and Civilization.
4. Ibn al-Razzaz Al-Jazari (ed. 1974) ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'', Translated and annotated by Donald Routledge Hill, Dordrecht / D. Reidel, part II.
5. A 13th Century Programmable Robot. University of Sheffield.
6. Segment gear, TheFreeDictionary.com
7. Derek de Solla Price (1975). Review of Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari, ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices''. ''Technology and Culture'' '16' (1), p. 81.
8. The Machines of Al-Jazari and Taqi Al-Din (2004), Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation.

References

★ Al-Jazarí, ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices: Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya'', Springer, 1973 edition.[1]

★ Hill, Donald Routledge, ''A History of Engineering in Classical and Medieval Times'', 1996.[2]

External links

★ The Automata of Al-Jazari

★ "Al-Jazari, the Mechanical Genius" at MuslimHeritage.com

★ "The Machines of Al-Jazari and Taqi Al-Din" at MuslimHeritage.com

★ "How Islamic inventors changed the world" article in ''The Independent''

★ ADVANCES IN COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES: FROM ABACUS TO HOLONIC AGENTS From:Tuncer Ören, Professor Emeritus School of Information Technologies