Book of Ingenious Devices
Banū Mūsā | |
Original title | كتاب الحيل |
---|
The Book of Ingenious Devices (
Overview
The book was commissioned by the
Some of the devices described in the Book of Ingenious Devices were inspired by the works of
In turn, the Banū Mūsā brothers' work was later cited as an influence on the work of
Mechanisms and components
Automatic controls
The Banu Musa brothers described a number of early
The trick vessels have a variety of different effects. For example, a single outlet pipe in a vessel might pour out first wine, then water and finally a mixture of the two. Although it cannot be claimed that the results are important, the means by which they were obtained are of great significance for the history of engineering. The Banu Musa were masters in the exploitation of small variations in
hydrostatic pressures and in using conical valves as "in-line" components in flow systems, the first known use of conical valves as automatic controllers.[14]
The Banu Musa also developed an early fail-safe system for use in their trick devices, as described by Hill:
In several of these vessels, one can withdraw small quantities of liquid repeatedly, but if one withdraws a large quantity, no further extractions are possible. In modern terms, one would call the method used to achieve this result a fail-safe system.[14]
Automatic crank
The non-manual
Valves
A mechanism developed by the Banu Musa, of particular importance for future developments, was the conical valve, which was used in a variety of different applications.[8] This includes using conical valves as "in-line" components in flow systems, which was the first known use of conical valves as automatic controllers.[14] Some of the other valves they described include:
Other mechanisms
The double-concentric
Machines and devices
Automatic fountains
The book describes the construction of various automatic
The Banu Musa brothers also described the earliest known wind-powered fountain,[19] 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-and-pinion gear, while another variation features double-action alternation. The book also describes a fountain with variable discharge.[3] The book also describes fountains that change shapes at intervals.[14]
Mechanical musical machines
The Banu Musa invented an
The Banu Musa also invented an
Practical tools
The mechanical grab,[6] specifically the clamshell grab,[14] is an original invention by the Banu Musa brothers that does not appear in any earlier Greek works.[6] The grab they described was used to extract objects from underwater,[3] and recover objects from the beds of streams.[14]
The Banu Musa also described bellows that could remove foul air from wells.[3] 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."[23]
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.[3]
The book also describes a boiler with a tap to access hot water. 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.[17]
Other devices
Some of the other devices the Banu Musa described in their book include:
- Mechanical trick devices[14]
- Hurricane lamp[14]
- Self-trimming lamp[14] (by Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir)
- Self-feeding lamp[14]
See also
- List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world
- Islamic Golden Age
- Physics in the medieval Islamic world
- Science and technology in Iran
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-300-15227-2.
Another important Persian lineage descended from an astronomer were the three Banu Musa brothers, Muhammad, Ahmad and Hasan, who hailed from the northeastern province of Khurasan.
- ^ Dimarogonas, 2000, p. 15.
- ^ )
- ^ Rosheim, 1994, p. 9.
- ^ Bunch, 2004, p. 107
- ^ )
- ISBN 978-90-277-0833-5. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-277-0833-5. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-277-0833-5. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
- ISBN 978-90-277-0833-5. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering Archived 2008-02-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Otto Mayr (1970). The Origins of Feedback Control, MIT Press.
- ^ )
- ISBN 0-521-32763-6)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - )
- ^ )
- History Channel, archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2008-09-06
- S2CID 190524140
- .
- )
- )
References and further reading
- Bunch, Bryan (2004). The History of Science and Technology. Houghton Mifflin Books. ISBN 0-618-22123-9
- Dimarogonas, Andrew D. (2000). Machine Design: A CAD Approach. Wiley-IEEE. ISBN 0-471-31528-1
- ISBN 90-277-0833-9
- Rosheim, Mark E. (1994). Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics. Wiley-IEEE. ISBN 0-471-02622-0