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Pumps with a purpose

The purpose, input and output of a water-lifting system, and the parts that let it work (D2.2, D2.3).

Lesson 1 of 1 4 of 5 in the course

Course map

Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.

What your class asks

This lesson asks you to describe the purpose, inputs and outputs of systems, and to identify the parts and processes that let a system do its job. The museum offers two designs for lifting water that are known from books; whether they were built is stated in each record. Safety, efficiency and food-processing systems are for the class to bring. 1

Curriculum expectations, with their official codes

  • D2.2 describe the purpose, inputs, and outputs of various systems, including systems related to food processing
  • D2.3 identify the various processes and components of a system that allow it to perform its function efficiently and safely

The lesson

What goes in, what comes out, and what does each part do?

The expectations ask you to name a system's purpose, its input and its output, and then its parts. For each pump, write one sentence for the purpose, one for the input and one for the output, and list its parts in the order the power passes through them.

Go deeper

In TDV's account of al-Jazari's double-piston pump, the drive can be followed step by step. Flowing water turns the wheel, and the wheel drives a gear in a vertical plane. This engages another gear in a horizontal plane. A vertical pin near the rim passes through a slot in a rod, and as the gear rotates the rod swings and the piston rods travel back and forth, operating the pumps 2. Al-Hassani describes a synchronized pair of suction pumps 2 3. The physical witness is a half-size model in the Science Museum, not an original from al-Jazari's lifetime 4.

Why they did it

The records preserve no sentence in which al-Jazari says why he described this pump; they show that his book was commissioned by Nasir al-Din Mahmud 2. For Taqi al-Din's pump the record reads an intention in the design: six tubes joined to a shared outlet, so that delivery is successive rather than only one piston's pulse 5. The author allows one tube, prefers at least three for smoother delivery, and says two can achieve the purpose 6 7.

Often misunderstood

It is easy to picture a six-cylinder pump working on an Ottoman farm. The record says instead that this is a documented design, not measured output on a farm, and that the modern engineering study lacks evidence of historical manufacture and assumes many of its model's dimensions 8 9 10.

Think about it

Al-Jazari's pump moves two pistons with a slotted rod, while Taqi al-Din's moves six with projections on a shaft. If you wanted water to arrive as smoothly as possible, which design do the records favour, and what in them makes you say so?

Into the museum

Try this

Read about the double-piston pump and the six-cylinder pump. Draw each as a chain of boxes from the source of power to the water, and label what each box does.

Carry it further

Where this lesson leads in the museum.

Check yourself

Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.

Which of these did you meet in this lesson?

Not in this lesson. Look again at the cards above.

Yes. That is the one from this lesson.

Not in this lesson. Look again at the cards above.

In your own words: what does Al-Jazari's waterwheel-driven double-piston pump have to do with this lesson?

Compare with the card

A pump driven by a stream. The record describes a pump in al-Jazari's book that is powered by flowing water, not by a person lifting a bucket. According to the TDV encyclopedia, the drive passes from the wheel to two gears, then to the rod and the arms of the pistons, and rotation becomes back-and-forth motion in the piston rods. The record stresses that the contribution is this arrangement, not the invention of lifting water. What is the input, and what is the output?

In your own words: what does Taqi al-Din's six-cylinder pump have to do with this lesson?

Compare with the card

Six pistons, one outlet. In al-Turuq al-saniyya, as the record reads it, Taqi al-Din ibn Maruf described six tubes with pistons, weights and valves, moved by projections around a shaft and joined to a shared outlet, so that water is delivered in succession rather than in one piston's pulse. A cam raises each piston through a rocker and a weight drives it down, and the valves let water pass one way only. The record notes that no evidence of historical manufacture is known. Which part stops the water going back?

I can now

Notes

  1. 1. Ontario Ministry of Education, The Ontario Curriculum: Science and Technology, Grades 1–8 (2022)
  2. 2. CEZERÎ, İsmâil b. Rezzâz — TDV (Sadettin Ökten), pp. 505–506
  3. 3. Al-Jazari: The Mechanical Genius — al-Hassani, pump discussion
  4. 4. Model of Double Piston Pump by al-Jazari — Science Museum Group, catalogue
  5. 5. Al-Turuq al-saniyya — al-Hasan edition, pp47–50
  6. 6. Al-Turuq al-saniyya — al-Hasan edition, pp48–50
  7. 7. Cabeza et al.: Taqi al-Din pump study, section4.1
  8. 8. Al-Turuq al-saniyya — al-Hasan edition, pp49–50
  9. 9. Cabeza et al.: Taqi al-Din pump study, sections3–6
  10. 10. Cabeza et al.: Taqi al-Din pump study, sections2–4

The record page of this lesson

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