The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices · 1206
Ibn al-Jazarī's ingenious devices, rebuilt in 3D
In 1206 the engineer al-Jazarī wrote down fifty machines he had built himself: water clocks, automata, fountains and machines for raising water. Here they are reconstructed from his own text and drawings, animated and explained part by part.
Machines
Category V · Chapters 1–2
The quarter-gear water-raising machine
A gear with teeth on a quarter of its rim lifts a ladle of water; four of them on one axle keep the water flowing non-stop. Interactive 3D model and film.
Coming next
More machines from the Book of Knowledge
Water clocks, automata and pumps, one by one. Subscribe to follow along.
About al-Jazarī
Ismāʿīl ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) served the Artuqid rulers of Diyar Bakr at Amid, today's Diyarbakır, for some twenty-five years. His Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices is one of the great engineering texts of the Islamic Golden Age: every machine comes with a lettered drawing and instructions for building it, which is what makes these reconstructions possible.