ABSTRACT
The word saqiya is used here to denote the chain-of-pots driven through a pair of gearwheels by one or two animals harnessed to a drawbar and walking around a circular track. Evidence for the continuation of a tradition of mechanical engineering is provided by a book on machines written by Taqi al-Din about the year 1552 AD. A number of machines are described, including a pump similar to al-Jazari’s, but the most interesting device is a six-cylinder ‘Monobloc’ pump. The cylinders are bored in line in a block of wood which stands in the water – one-way valves admit water into each cylinder on the suction stroke. Windmills were probably known in Seistan before the advent of Islam. The mills were supported on substructures built for the purpose, or on the towers of castles or on the tops of hills. They consisted of an upper chamber in which the millstones were housed and a lower one for the rotor.
