Book of Ingenious Devices
Encyclopedia
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: كتاب الحيل Kitab al-Hiyal) was a large illustrated work on mechanical devices, including automata
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
, published in 850
850
Year 850 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* Emperor Montoku succeeds Emperor Nimmyō as Emperor of Japan.- Europe :...
by the three Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
brothers known as the Banu Musa
Banu Musa
The Banū Mūsā brothers , namely Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , Abū al‐Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir and Al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , were three 9th-century Persian scholars of Baghdad who are known for their Book of Ingenious Devices on automata and mechanical devices...
(Ahmad, Muhammad and Hasan bin Musa ibn Shakir) working at the House of Wisdom
House of Wisdom
The House of Wisdom was a library and translation institute established in Abbassid-era Baghdad, Iraq. It was a key institution in the Translation Movement and considered to have been a major intellectual centre during the Islamic Golden Age...
(Bayt al-Hikma) in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, under the Abbasid Caliphate. The book described about one hundred devices and how to use them.
Overview
The book was commissioned by the Abassid CaliphCaliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
of Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Abu Jafar al-Ma'mun ibn Harun
Al-Ma'mun
Abū Jaʿfar Abdullāh al-Māʾmūn ibn Harūn was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 813 until his death in 833...
(786-833), who instructed the Banu Musa to acquire all of the Hellenistic
Hellenistic civilization
Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...
texts that had been preserved by monasteries and by scholars during the decline and fall of Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
civilization. The Banū Mūsā
Banu Musa
The Banū Mūsā brothers , namely Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , Abū al‐Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir and Al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , were three 9th-century Persian scholars of Baghdad who are known for their Book of Ingenious Devices on automata and mechanical devices...
brothers invented a number of automata
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
(automatic machine
Machine
A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...
s) and mechanical devices, and they described a hundred such devices in their Book of Ingenious Devices.
Some of the devices described in the Book of Ingenious Devices were inspired by the works of Hero of Alexandria
Hero of Alexandria
Hero of Alexandria was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineerEnc. Britannica 2007, "Heron of Alexandria" who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt...
and Philo of Byzantium
Philo of Byzantium
Philo of Byzantium , also known as Philo Mechanicus, was a Greek engineer and writer on mechanics, who lived during the latter half of the 3rd century BC...
, as well as ancient Persian
Science and technology in Iran
Persia was a cradle of science in earlier times. Persian scientists contributed to the current understanding of nature, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy. Persians made important contributions to algebra and chemistry, invented the wind-power machine, and the first distillation of alcohol...
, Chinese
History of science and technology in China
The history of science and technology in China is both long and rich with many contributions to science and technology. In antiquity, independently of other civilizations, ancient Chinese philosophers made significant advances in science, technology, mathematics, and astronomy...
and Indian engineering. Many of the other devices described in the book, however, were original inventions by the Banu Musa brothers. While they took Greek works as a starting point, the Banu Musa went "well beyond anything achieved by Hero or Philo." Their preoccupation with automatic control
Automatic control
Automatic control is the application of concepts derived from the research area of modern control theory. Automatic control is also a technology for application of control strategies. The implementing requires prior of analyzing and modeling of the subject to be controlled...
s distinguishes them from their Greek predecessors, including the Banu Musa's "use of self-operating valve
Valve
A valve is a device that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically pipe fittings, but are usually discussed as a separate category...
s, timing devices, delay systems and other concepts of great ingenuity." Many of their innovations involved subtle combinations of pneumatics
Pneumatics
Pneumatics is a branch of technology, which deals with the study and application of use of pressurized gas to effect mechanical motion.Pneumatic systems are extensively used in industry, where factories are commonly plumbed with compressed air or compressed inert gases...
and aerostatics
Aerostatics
Aerostatics is the study of gases that are not in motion. The corresponding study of gases in motion is called aerodynamics. It is a subfield of fluid statics.Aerostatics studies density allocation, especially in air...
. The closest modern parallel to their work lies in control engineering
Control engineering
Control engineering or Control systems engineering is the engineering discipline that applies control theory to design systems with predictable behaviors...
and pneumatic instrumentation.
In turn, the Banu Musa's work was later cited as an influence on the work of Al-Jazari
Al-Jazari
Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī was a Muslim polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who lived during the Islamic Golden Age...
, who produced a similarly titled book in 1206. Given that the Book of Ingenious Devices was widely circulated across the Muslim world
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
, some of its ideas may have also reached Europe through Islamic Spain
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
, such as the use of automatic controls in later European machines or the use of conical valves in the work of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
.
Automatic controls
The Banu Musa brothers described a number of early automatic controlAutomatic control
Automatic control is the application of concepts derived from the research area of modern control theory. Automatic control is also a technology for application of control strategies. The implementing requires prior of analyzing and modeling of the subject to be controlled...
s. Two-step level controls for fluids, an early form of discontinuous variable structure control
Variable structure control
Variable structure control, or VSC, is a form of discontinuous nonlinear control. The method alters the dynamics of a nonlinear system by application of a high-frequency switching control. The state-feedback control law is not a continuous function of time; it switches from one smooth condition to...
s, was developed by the Banu Musa brothers. They also described an early feedback controller
Control theory
Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference...
. Donald Routledge Hill
Donald Routledge Hill
Donald Routledge Hill was an English engineer and historian of science and technology.Alongside more general works on the history of technology, he wrote works on the history of medieval Arabic science and technology, and translated The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices of the...
wrote the following on the automatic controls underlying the mechanical trick devices
Mechanical puzzle
A mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces.- History :The oldest known mechanical puzzle comes from Greece and appeared in the 3rd century BC....
described in the book:
The Banu Musa also developed an early fail-safe
Fail-safe
A fail-safe or fail-secure device is one that, in the event of failure, responds in a way that will cause no harm, or at least a minimum of harm, to other devices or danger to personnel....
system for use in their trick devices, as described by Hill:
Automatic crank
The non-manual crankCrank (mechanism)
A crank is an arm attached at right angles to a rotating shaft by which reciprocating motion is imparted to or received from the shaft. It is used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion. The arm may be a bent portion of the shaft, or a separate arm...
appears in several of the hydraulic devices described by the Banū Mūsā brothers in their Book of Ingenious Devices. These automatically operated cranks appear in several devices, two of which contain an action which approximates to that of a crankshaft
Crankshaft
The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...
, almost anticipating Al-Jazari
Al-Jazari
Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī was a Muslim polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who lived during the Islamic Golden Age...
's invention by several centuries and its first appearance in Europe by over five centuries. However, the automatic crank described by the Banu Musa would not have allowed a full rotation, but only a small modification was required to convert it to a crankshaft.
Valves
A mechanism developed by the Banu Musa, of particular importance for future developments, was the conical valveValve
A valve is a device that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically pipe fittings, but are usually discussed as a separate category...
, which was used in a variety of different applications. This includes using conical valves as "in-line" components in flow systems, which was the first known use of conical valves as automatic controllers. Some of the other valves they described include:
- Plug valvePlug valvePlug valves are valves with cylindrical or conically-tapered "plugs" which can be rotated inside the valve body to control flow through the valve. The plugs in plug valves have one or more hollow passageways going sideways through the plug, so that fluid can flow through the plug when the valve is...
- Float valveBallcockA ballcock is a mechanism or machine for filling water tanks, such as those found in flush toilets, while avoiding overflow and backflow. The modern ballcock was invented by Joseph Bramah and Thomas Twyford..The diagrams and description ONLY apply to the USA...
- TapTap (valve)A tap is a valve controlling release of liquids or gas. In the British Isles and most of the Commonwealth, the word is used for any everyday type of valve, particularly the fittings that control water supply to bathtubs and sinks. In the U.S., the term "tap" is more often used for beer taps,...
Other mechanisms
The double-concentric siphonSiphon
The word siphon is sometimes used to refer to a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. But in the English language today, the word siphon usually refers to a tube in an inverted U shape which causes a liquid to flow uphill, above the surface of the reservoir,...
and the funnel
Funnel
A funnel is a pipe with a wide, often conical mouth and a narrow stem. It is used to channel liquid or fine-grained substances into containers with a small opening. Without a funnel, spillage would occur....
with bent end for pouring in different liquids, neither of which appear in any earlier Greek works, were also original inventions by the Banu Musa brothers. Some of the other mechanisms they described include a float chamber
Float chamber
A float chamber is a device for automatically regulating the supply of a liquid to a system. It is most typically found in the carburettor of a normally aspirated internal combustion engine, where it automatically meters the fuel supply to the engine...
and an early differential pressure
Pressure sensor
A pressure sensor measures pressure, typically of gases or liquids. Pressure is an expression of the force required to stop a fluid from expanding, and is usually stated in terms of force per unit area. A pressure sensor usually acts as a transducer; it generates a signal as a function of the...
.
Automatic fountains
The book describes the construction of various automatic fountainFountain
A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
s, an aspect that was largely neglected in earlier Greek treatises on technology. In one of these fountains, the "water issues from the fountainhead in the shape of a shield
Shield
A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....
, or like a lily-of-the-valley
Lily of the Valley
Convallaria majalis , commonly known as the lily-of-the-valley, is a poisonous woodland flowering plant native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe....
," i.e. "the shapes are discharged alternately—either a sheet of water concave downwards, or a spray
Sprayer
A sprayer is a device used to spray a liquid.In agriculture, a sprayer is a piece of equipment that spray nozzles to apply herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers to agricultural crops...
." Another fountain "discharges a shield or a single jet
Water jet (recreation)
A water jet used for recreation is generally smaller than a water cannon, but large enough that the water can spray several meters or feet. People can either insert money to pay for a predetermined amount of usage time, or push a button for free to start and stop the water. The water jet can be...
," while a variation of this features double-action alternation, i.e. has two fountainheads, with one discharging a single jet and the other a shield, and the two alternating repeatedly. Another variation features one main fountainhead and two or more subsidiary ones, such that when the main one ejects a single jet, the subsidiaries eject shields, with the two alternating.
The Banu Musa brothers also described the earliest known wind-powered
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....
fountain, which is described as, "operated by wind or water, it discharges a single jet or a lily-of-the-valley." A variation of this fountain incorporates a worm
Worm drive
A worm drive is a gear arrangement in which a worm meshes with a worm gear...
-and-pinion
Rack and pinion
A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a pair of gears which convert rotational motion into linear motion. A circular gear called "the pinion" engages teeth on a linear "gear" bar called "the rack"; rotational motion applied to the pinion causes the rack to move, thereby...
gear
Gear
A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....
, while another variation features double-action alternation. The book also describes a fountain with variable discharge. The book also describes fountains that change shapes at intervals.
Mechanical musical machines
The Banu Musa invented "the earliest known mechanicalMusical box
A music box is a 19th century automatic musical instrument that produces sounds by the use of a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc so as to pluck the tuned teeth of a steel comb. They were developed from musical snuff boxes of the 18th century and called carillons à musique...
musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
," in this case a hydropower
Hydropower
Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...
ed organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
which played interchangeable cylinders automatically. According to Charles B. Fowler, this "cylinder with raised pins on the surface remained the basic device to produce and reproduce music mechanically until the second half of the nineteenth century."
The Banu Musa also invented an automatic
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
player which appears to have been the first programmable machine
Program (machine)
A program is a list of instructions written in a programming language that is used to control the behavior of a machine, often a computer ....
. The flute sounds were produced through hot steam and the user could adjust the device to various patterns so that they could get various sounds from it.
Practical tools
The mechanical grabGrab (tool)
A grab is a mechanical device with two or more jaws , used to pick things up or to capture things. Some types include:*Roundnose grab*Clamshell grab*Orange-peel grab**in Dutch they are called poliep grijpers = "polyp grabs"....
, specifically the clamshell grab, is an original invention by the Banu Musa brothers that does not appear in any earlier Greek works. The grab they described was used to extract objects from underwater, and recover objects from the beds of streams.
The Banu Musa also invented an early gas mask
Gas mask
A gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...
, for protecting workers in polluted wells
Oil well
An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest...
. They also described bellows
Bellows
A bellows is a device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location.Basically, a bellows is a deformable container which has an outlet nozzle. When the volume of the bellows is decreased, the air escapes through the outlet...
that could remove foul air from wells. They explained that these instruments allow a worker to "descend into any well he wishes for a while and he will not fear it, nor will it harm him, if God wills may he be exalted."
Water dispensers
The book describes a dispenser for hot and cold water, where the two outlets alternate, one discharging cold water and the other hot, then vice versa repeatedly. It also describes a vessel with a basin by its side where, when cold water is poured into the top of the vessel, it discharges from the mouth of a figure into the basin; when hot water or another liquid is poured into the basin, the same quantity of cold water is discharged from the mouth of the figure.The book also describes a boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
with a tap
Tap (valve)
A tap is a valve controlling release of liquids or gas. In the British Isles and most of the Commonwealth, the word is used for any everyday type of valve, particularly the fittings that control water supply to bathtubs and sinks. In the U.S., the term "tap" is more often used for beer taps,...
to access hot water
Water heating
Water heating is a thermodynamic process using an energy source to heat water above its initial temperature. Typical domestic uses of hot water are for cooking, cleaning, bathing, and space heating...
. The water is heated through cold water being poured into a pipe which leads to a tank at the bottom of the boiler, where the water is heated with fire. A person can then access hot water from the boiler through a tap.
Other devices
Some of the other devices the Banu Musa described in their book include:- Mechanical trick devicesMechanical puzzleA mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces.- History :The oldest known mechanical puzzle comes from Greece and appeared in the 3rd century BC....
- Hurricane lamp
- Self-trimming lamp (by Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir)
- Self-feeding lampOil lampAn oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and is continued to this day....
See also
- Banū MūsāBanu MusaThe Banū Mūsā brothers , namely Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , Abū al‐Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir and Al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir , were three 9th-century Persian scholars of Baghdad who are known for their Book of Ingenious Devices on automata and mechanical devices...
, the authors of the book - Al-JazariAl-JazariAbū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī was a Muslim polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who lived during the Islamic Golden Age...
, who wrote a book with a similar name - Inventions in medieval Islam
- Islamic Golden AgeIslamic Golden AgeDuring the Islamic Golden Age philosophers, scientists and engineers of the Islamic world contributed enormously to technology and culture, both by preserving earlier traditions and by adding their own inventions and innovations...
- Physics in medieval Islam
- Science and technology in IranScience and technology in IranPersia was a cradle of science in earlier times. Persian scientists contributed to the current understanding of nature, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy. Persians made important contributions to algebra and chemistry, invented the wind-power machine, and the first distillation of alcohol...