Analysis of Mechanisms 2 and 21, Included in Ibn Khalaf Al-Muradi’s “The Book of Secrets”

Abstract

In the 11th century AD the Andalusian engineer Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi wrote a mechanical manuscript with the original title Kitāb al-asrār fī natā’iy al-afkār and called ‘The Book of Secrets’, which is preserved because a copy of it was made in Toledo in 1266 AD and is kept in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence. This manuscript is of great importance in the field of science and engineering because it represents one of the earliest accounts of complex mechanisms in antiquity. The manuscript consists of 31 chapters written in Arabic, on different topics such as time-measuring machines with automata, war machines, water pumps and sundials. The present work is a historical-technological study of 2^nd and 21^th mechanisms. These are a theatre which works by means of a gear system and a war machine which works by means of a Nuremberg scissors mechanism. Some of these mechanisms are used in modern machines such as elevators and transmission systems. First of all, a description of the components of the mechanisms and how they work will be given. Next, a virtual reconstruction of the mechanisms will be made, using geometric modelling software such as SolidWorks, which also allows us to carry out a mechanical analysis. From this three-dimensional model, a virtual animation will be generated where the movement and operation of the mechanism can be appreciated. Finally, a scale reconstruction can be carried out by means of additive manufacturing.