ABSTRACT
Mechanical knowledge in the sense of knowledge about heavy bodies, mechanical devices, and their movements is as old as humanity itself, and even older in view of the fact that even certain animal species are capable of using mechanical devices. Mechanical knowledge documented by written texts and formulated in the form of general statements about mechanical devices goes back to Greek antiquity, but is also found in ancient Chinese texts. The precise way in which theoretical structures reflect practical knowledge depends, of course, on the specific cultural circumstances. Greek and Arabic texts on balances are, for instance, distinguished by the fact that in Arabic texts practical knowledge may be explicitly incorporated in theoretical texts. The transmission of knowledge on balances has been largely considered a matter of texts and their mutual dependence. The co-transmission of practical and theoretical knowledge about the balance has hence not been accounted for systematically in standard accounts of the history of mechanics.
