Abstract:
After advent of Islam especially through and after the reign of Abbasid caliphs; interest of scientists and engineers was drawn towards the” mechanical or ingenious devices”. The wise jar was originally designed by Ahmad ibnMüsä, the famous Iranian scientist who lived in the 5th century A.H.(9th A.D). It consists of a jar with a mechanically intelligent mechanism inside, which is capable of separating two liquids on the bases of their densities. This jar was constructed
and tested as a part of an experimental archaeology research project at the Iranian Research Organization for Science & Technology (IROST). The jar was designed in detail, and was manufactured and tested according to a book entitled Al-
Hiyal; written by Ahmad ibn Müsä. However, to establish the correct operation of the jar, minor modifications were made to its original design set up and it was tested, and as a result the jar operated as expected by the book.
Machine summary:
However, amongst all jars and vessels presented in the book Al-Hiyal ,only 25 models have practical value and the remaining, mainly formed by ingenious cups and mechanisms, were designed to be used in drinking parties and, or as the act of magicians for puzzling people who were not acquainted with the estate of the engineering art.
IRANIAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES 2:1 (2012) 43 Yousef Yassi 44 (View the image of this page) Fig. 3: Reconstructed jar, inlet and outlet cones.
When pouring oil into the entrance cone (the jar);due to the lower density of the oil in comparison with the density of water; the balance rod tilts towards the mass (m),(which has already been determined for separation of oil and water), and empties the oil into the right hand side cache, ( fig.
However, if the system; is set in an off-balance condition at the beginning of the test, meaning IRANIAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES 2:1 (2012) 45 Yousef Yassi that, the rod (P) set to stand tilted towards the mass (m) before pouring the liquid into the cup (t),then pouring the less dense liquid (namely oil) into the cup will not change the state of the bar as shown in fig.
(View the image of this page) Fig. 10: Photograph of the reconstructed wise jar with the ultimate set up of separating mechanism.