Al-Muradi's epicyclic and segmental gears
Engranajes epicicloidales y de sector de al-Muradi
- Date
- c. 1050 · confidence medium
- Place
- Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain
- Credited to
- Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi
- People
- 👤 Ibn Jalaf al-Muradí
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
His Kitab al-Asrar fi Nata'ij al-Afkar describes water clocks and automata with complex gear trains, including epicyclic and segmental gears. It is the oldest treatise on mechanical engineering from al-Andalus.
The only manuscript (Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana) is badly damaged and its technical interpretation is partial; his exact place of work in al-Andalus is unknown.
What it led to
- monumental Andalusi water clocks
- segmental gears of al-Jazari
- transmission of mechanical clockwork to Latin Europe