Al-Jazari's candle clock
Reloj de vela de al-Yazarí
- Date
- 1206 · confidence high
- Place
- Diyarbakır, Türkiye
- Credited to
- Ismail al-Jazari
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A candle clock with the candle enclosed in a tube and pushed upward by a counterweight so that the flame always stayed at the same height, and a figure that moved along an hour scale. It is the most elaborate candle clock known.
Described in the 'Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices' (1206); in the 13th century other candle clocks appear in al-Andalus (Alfonso X's Libros del saber de astronomía).
What it led to
- candle and oil clocks in the Islamic world and Europe
- correction of uneven wax burning with mechanisms