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Book of Ingenious Devices
The Book of Ingenious Devices (Arabic: كتاب الحيل, romanized: Kitāb al-Ḥiyāl, Persian: كتاب ترفندها, romanized: Ketâb tarfandhâ, lit. 'Book of Tricks') is a large illustrated work on mechanical devices, including automata, published in 850 by the three brothers of Persian descent, the Banū Mūsā brothers (Ahmad, Muhammad and Hasan ibn Musa ibn Shakir) working at the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma) in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Abbasid Caliphate. The book described about one hundred devices and how to use them.
The book was commissioned by the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, Al-Ma'mun (786–833), who instructed the Banū Mūsā brothers to acquire all of the Hellenistic texts that had been preserved by monasteries[specify] and by scholars[who?] during the decline and fall of Roman civilization.[clarification needed] The Banū Mūsā brothers invented a number of automata (automatic machines) 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 and Philo of Byzantium, as well as ancient Persian, Chinese and Indian engineering. Many of the other devices described in the book, however, were original inventions by the Banū Mūsā 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 controls distinguishes them from their Greek predecessors, including the Banu Musa's "use of self-operating valves, timing devices, delay systems and other concepts of great ingenuity." Many of their innovations involved subtle combinations of pneumatics and aerostatics. The closest modern parallel to their work lies in control engineering and pneumatic instrumentation.
In turn, the Banū Mūsā brothers' work was later cited as an influence on the work of al-Jazari, who produced the Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices in 1206. Given that the Book of Ingenious Devices was widely circulated across the Muslim world, some of its ideas may have also reached Europe through al-Andalus, such as the use of automatic controls in later European machines or the use of conical valves in the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
The Banu Musa brothers described a number of early automatic controls. Two-step level controls for fluids, an early form of discontinuous variable structure controls, were developed by the Banu Musa brothers. They also described an early feedback controller.[page needed] Donald Routledge Hill wrote the following on the automatic controls underlying the mechanical trick devices described in the book:
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 aerostatic and hydrostatic pressures and in using conical valves as "in-line" components in flow systems, the first known use of conical valves as automatic controllers.
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.
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Book of Ingenious Devices
The Book of Ingenious Devices (Arabic: كتاب الحيل, romanized: Kitāb al-Ḥiyāl, Persian: كتاب ترفندها, romanized: Ketâb tarfandhâ, lit. 'Book of Tricks') is a large illustrated work on mechanical devices, including automata, published in 850 by the three brothers of Persian descent, the Banū Mūsā brothers (Ahmad, Muhammad and Hasan ibn Musa ibn Shakir) working at the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma) in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Abbasid Caliphate. The book described about one hundred devices and how to use them.
The book was commissioned by the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, Al-Ma'mun (786–833), who instructed the Banū Mūsā brothers to acquire all of the Hellenistic texts that had been preserved by monasteries[specify] and by scholars[who?] during the decline and fall of Roman civilization.[clarification needed] The Banū Mūsā brothers invented a number of automata (automatic machines) 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 and Philo of Byzantium, as well as ancient Persian, Chinese and Indian engineering. Many of the other devices described in the book, however, were original inventions by the Banū Mūsā 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 controls distinguishes them from their Greek predecessors, including the Banu Musa's "use of self-operating valves, timing devices, delay systems and other concepts of great ingenuity." Many of their innovations involved subtle combinations of pneumatics and aerostatics. The closest modern parallel to their work lies in control engineering and pneumatic instrumentation.
In turn, the Banū Mūsā brothers' work was later cited as an influence on the work of al-Jazari, who produced the Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices in 1206. Given that the Book of Ingenious Devices was widely circulated across the Muslim world, some of its ideas may have also reached Europe through al-Andalus, such as the use of automatic controls in later European machines or the use of conical valves in the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
The Banu Musa brothers described a number of early automatic controls. Two-step level controls for fluids, an early form of discontinuous variable structure controls, were developed by the Banu Musa brothers. They also described an early feedback controller.[page needed] Donald Routledge Hill wrote the following on the automatic controls underlying the mechanical trick devices described in the book:
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 aerostatic and hydrostatic pressures and in using conical valves as "in-line" components in flow systems, the first known use of conical valves as automatic controllers.
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.
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