Al-Jazari's Elephant Clock: An amazing feat of early engineering
Explore how a 12th-century water clock worked and the secret carried within its intricate parts..
Actor Ben Kingsley as 12th Century engineer Al-JazariOriginal Source: Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley as Al-Jazari in the award-winning film '1001 Inventions and the LIbrary of Secrets'
Twelfth century engineer Al-Jazari, played here by Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley, was fascinated by every kind of mechanism and designed machines of all kinds, shapes and sizes.
His Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices described fifty mechanical devices in six categories, including water clocks.
Ben Kingsley as Al-Jazari describing the Elephant ClockOriginal Source: Clip from the film '1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets'
One of Al-Jazari's greatest masterpieces is the elephant clock.
Its moving parts were automated using a water-powered timer inspired by an Indian mechanism known as ghatika – the clock’s timer was a bowl that would slowly sink into a hidden water tank.
Manuscript of Al-Jazari’s Water-powered Elephant ClockOriginal Source: Al-Jazari's Book The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'.
As well as telling the time, this grand beautiful water-powered clock was a symbol of status, grandeur, and wealth.
The clock incorporated a figure of a scribe and his pen that move to indicate the number of minutes past the hour.
3D reproduction of Al-Jazari's Elephant ClockOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
The clock had many intricate parts
Some believe the clock reflected cultural and technological influences from across Muslim civilisation.
Elephant clock detail; showing the mahut and scribe whose movement indicates the number of minutes past the hourOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
As it included, in addition to the Indian timer technology, an Egyptian phoenix, Greek hydraulic technology, Chinese dragons, an Indian elephant and mechanical human figurines in Arabian dress.
Replica of Al-Jazari's Elephant ClockOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions Exhibition, The Jordan Museum, Amman by 1001 Inventions
The clock was not only a beautiful masterpiece to look at, but it had a carefully put together mechanism.
Animation showing how the Elephant Clock workedOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
Let us discover how the mechanism of the clock actually worked:
1. The elephant’s body conceals a water tank containing a bowl with a hole in the bottom.
2. As the bowl slowly sinks, it pulls ropes that move the scribe and his pen to indicate the number of minutes past the hour.
3. Every half hour, the full water bowl triggers a ball to fall from the castle at the top of the clock, accompanied by sound and movement from the phoenix there.
4. The ball hits a fan, rotating the silver and black dial to show the number of hours since sunrise.
5. The Sultan moves his arms to reveal a falcon, and the ball rolls out of its beak.
6. The Chinese dragon catches the ball and it descends, rotating on a pivot and drawing the water bowl back up.
7. Finally, the ball drops into a vase that triggers the elephant driver’s mallet, which hits a cymbal and also triggers the vessel to tilt and start the whole cycle again.
Huge replica of Al-Jazari's Elephant ClockOriginal Source: Ibn Battuta Mall
A 9-meter-tall model of the clock displayed at the Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall in Dubai.
Al-Jazari's Scribe ClockOriginal Source: Al-Jazari's Book The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'.
In another of his designs, Al-Jazari adapted a water clepsydra—a water vessel with a hole for water to escape—to make a scribe clock.
Controlled by the water moving steadily downward, the float moves down pulling a string which rotates a pulley.
The scribe sitting on top of this clock would turn steadily to point at the time with his pen.
Animation showing how the Scribe Clock workedOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
But how did the clock work?
1. The scribe marks the hours with his pen like the hour hand on a modern clock.
2. He rotates automatically, indicating the time by pointing at the divisions around the top.
3. The Scribe sits on a pulley attached to a float and a counterweight.
4. As the water level drops, the float pulls on the pulley, making the Scribe rotate.
5. To achieve this, Al-Jazari designed an ingeniously tapered beaker.
6. The water empties at the same rate, no matter how full the beaker is.
Replica of Al-Jazari's Scribe ClockOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
This elegant 1-metre-tall timer was intended to be portable.
Who was Al-Jazari?
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.
Al-Jazari's Double-action Suction PumpOriginal Source: Al-Jazari's Book The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'.
Al-Jazari also designed water-raising machinery powered by animals, and some automatically driven by running water, that he included in his Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.
Of his five designs of water-raising machines was the double-action automatic suction pump shown here in a manuscript image from the book.
The system would have been placed into a river and would raise water to a higher point.
Animation showing how Al-Jazari's Sucttion Pump workedOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
The pump had cogwheels, copper pistons, suction and delivery pipes, and one-way clack valves.
It sucked water for irrigation and sanitation up 12 meters into the supply system. It's an early example of the double-acting principle of one piston sucking while the other delivers.
Model of Al-Jazari's Double-Action Suction PumpOriginal Source: By 1001 Inventions at the 1001 Inventions Exhibition, Jordan Museum, Amman
A fully operational model of Al-Jazari’s double-action suction pump.
By using copper pistons, effective seals and flapper valves, Al-Jazari made a pump that sucked up water from the river into two cylinders that then emptied their contents into a single shared outlet above the machine.
Rendering of Al-Jazari's Suction PumpOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
An animation of Al-Jazari’s double-action suction pump.
After the introduction of the crankshaft, his other radical breakthrough came when he made a water-driven pump.
Created by 1001 Inventions
Producers: Ahmed Salim, Shaza Shannan
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