Facts About the Elephant Clock Invented by Al-Jazari

April 29, 2022

By Eman Abdallah Kamel

Eman is a writer and an engineer. She likes to search for and write about old inventions.

In this article, you will learn about the mechanism of the elephant clock, how modern engineering has benefited from its working mechanism, and modern versions of the elephant clock.

The elephant clock was invented by Al-Jazari about a thousand years ago. Image source: wikimedia.org

Elephant Clock

Around a thousand years ago, Al-Jazari invented a complex clock at the end of the 12th century. He used shapes and signs that represented the diversity of cultures and the cosmopolitan nature of Islam. At that time, the Islamic world extended from Spain to Central Asia.

Who was Al-Jazari?

Al-Jazari was the most prominent mechanical engineer of his time. And a pioneer of applied arts as well.

His full name was Badi Al-Zaman Abu Al-Ezz Ibn Ismail Ibn Al-Razzaz Al-Jazari. He lived in Diyarbakir, Turkey, during the sixth century AH (late twelfth century–early thirteenth century CE).

His name, Al-Jazari, comes from his birthplace, Al-Jazira, between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Mesopotamia.

For several decades, he served as a mechanical engineer to the Artuqid kings of Diyar-Bakir (570–597 AH, 1174–1200 CE). In 1206 AD, he completed a distinguished book on engineering. That book was a compendium of theoretical and practical mechanics.

This treatise is the most elaborate of its kind and may be considered the climax of this line of Muslim achievement.
Introduction to the History of Science, 1927, vol. 2, p. 510, George Sarton

Al-Jazari and “The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices” from BBC’s Dick and Dom’s “Absolute Genius”.

In 1974, Donald R. Hill (the British chartered engineer and historian of Islamic technology) translated Al-Jazari’s book into English.

Al-Jazari described fifty types of mechanical devices in six different categories, including water clocks, hand-washing devices (wudhu’ device), water-raising machines, etc.

After the World of Islam Festival held in the United Kingdom in 1976, Al-Jazari was honored when the London Science Museum showed a successfully reconstructed working model of his water clock.

The Mechanism of the Elephant Clock

Time mechanism: The perforated bowl inside the elephant controls the mechanism of the clock.
Phoenix Bird: It rotates, accompanied by the phoenix sound every half hour.
Castle or tower: Thirty balls launch a chain of events.
The sultan’s robot (ruler): It tilts and moves its arms to reveal a hawk.
Falcon: A ball starts from the castle and moves in the back of the head of the falcon, then comes out of its beak.
Chinese Dragon: Catch the ball from the falcon and bend towards the elephant.
Writer: A robot that plays the role of minutes in the clock and spins within half an hour before returning to its previous position.
Elephant Driver: A robot moves its arms when the ball falls from the dragon into the vase. This latest movement indicates the end of the sequence of events.
Sundial: The face of the clock, which indicates the number of hours that have elapsed.

The Genius of Al-Jazari

In the manufacture of the clock, Al-Jazari depended on the traditional Greek water bases with the early Indian water timing device.

The elephant was a symbol of India, and the phoenix was a symbol of ancient Egypt. Robot men were symbols of the Arab-Islamic civilization, a Persian rug, and serpents in the form of Chinese dragons.

The robot on top of the tower is believed to refer to the famous Muslim leader, Sultan Saladin. The other shapes symbolize the diversity of countries and cultures.

It appears from the tools used in the manufacture of the clock that the role of various civilizations in the development of machines also shows the genius of Al-Jazri in making this clock. This is evidenced by the swing of a perforated water bowl (used as a timer) around its edge, rather than vertical diving.

Within an elephant’s belly, the bowl floats in a container full of water and, as it fills, sinks and tilts, simultaneously pulling three ropes attached to it. The three rope release mechanisms control thirty balls that go separately to move the dragons, then the rotating writer robot, and finally the levers raise the bowl again, and so on.

Al-Jazari’s genius appeared in the accuracy of measuring the hole in the center at the base of the bowl, as it took half an hour to fill the bowl with water and sink.

When the bowl sinks, a tune like a bird’s singing comes out, and the phoenix spins. The liberated ball makes the sundial behind Sultan’s robot move from one side to the other to determine the falcon that will release the ball that falls into the mouth of the dragon, which bends down due to the influence of the ball’s weight. The dragon is a pulley that rotates on an axle that rests on bearings fixed between each pair of the castle columns. Upon loading the ball, the dragon’s head will be lowered down to the vase. Once the ball falls away from the dragon’s mouth, the return mechanism of the dragon is activated, and the dragon returns to its original position. Then the writer’s robot, which points with a stick to the time, places the ball in the vase located behind the elephant’s driver, who moves his arms, and when the ball falls into the vase, the sound of its collision at the bottom is heard. The circles drawn on the sundial above the tower also indicate the time. This complex series of actions continues every half hour throughout the day.

The clock was set twice a day, at sunrise and sunset, by returning 30 metal balls to their original positions.

The Elephant Clock Mechanism and Modern Engineering

The elephant clock consists of several mechanisms used in modern engineering, such as flow regulators, gravitational force, return mechanisms, closed-loop systems, and automata.

Flow regulators: A small opening in the submersible buoy is carefully calibrated to produce the correct flow rates under different heads of water. The flow rate determines the time that the clock strikes at an hourly interval. It is set by trial-and-error methods.
Gravitational force: The clock uses the force of gravity as a motive force. The constant sinking of the buoy acts as the force of gravity, pulling on the wire that activates the flotation mechanism. In addition, when the ball falls into the dragon’s mouth (during operation), it activates the force of gravity, thereby pulling the dragon’s head. When the ball leaves the serpent’s mouth, it activates the return mechanism.
Return Mechanism: The dragon has a reel-shaped return mechanism. When the return mechanism is activated, the head of the lowered snake returns to its original position and raises a chain with it. By connecting the chain to the float, the submersible buoy is raised, its contents are discharged, it is now at the surface again, and the cycle continues.
Closed-loop system: The clock will continue working as long as there are metal balls in the magazine.
Automata: The clock uses automatic machinery, such as striking cymbals and birds chirping, which is used to mark the passing of hours.

It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of Jazari’s work in the history of engineering, and it provides a wide range of instructions for the design, manufacture, and assembly of machines.
— British charter engineer and Islamic technology historian Donald R. Hill (1974)

An elephant clock in Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai is 8 meters high.

Modern Reproductions of the Elephant Clock

The 1001 Inventions Organization has created many modern reproductions of the elephant clock. These reproductions appeared as part of educational science presentations of 1001 inventions that have been touring around the world since 2006.

The modern model of the Elephant Clock, Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is three times the original size, designed by the UK Science, Technology, and Civilization Foundation. It reaches a height of 8 meters, a length of 4.5 meters, a width of 1.7 meters, and a weight of 7.5 tons. Another modern reproduction of the elephant clock is at the Sharjah Museum for Islamic Civilization, UAE.

A new model can be found at the Kaust Museum, located on the campus of the University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

Another reproduction is located outside the Clock Museum (Musée d’Horlogerie), Switzerland. A reproduction can be seen in Kasımiye Medrese, Mardin, Turkey.

Sources

Muslim Heritage. Discover the golden age of Muslim civilization.
1001 Inventions – Discover a Golden Age, Inspire a Better Future | 1001 Inventions.

Long Way Education