Artistic impression of twelvth century engineer Al-Jazari

Artist's impression of 12th-century engineer Al-Jazari, by Ali Amro.

In addition to designing elaborate clocks, Al-Jazari, whose full name was Badi’ al-Zaman Abu al-’Izz Isma’il ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari, developed devices powered by water and experimented with automatic machines of all sorts. His greatest legacy is the novel application of the crank-and-connecting-rod system crucial to pumps and engines.