Chain pump animation

I quickly put this together in flash to help me understand how it works.

Basic Flash User Interface

Worked on this while waiting for a copy of the translated version of the book to arrive. At the moment it is very basic but all the images and text can be replaced easily for better items.

Researching how the book will look

The books around that time didn't have modern book binding methods of glue or staples so in order to keep the appearance looking correct in the flash CD of it I had a look at what it could look like.


It looks like it should be bound with string and worn down due to wear and tear.

The Automata Chosen + Presentation

With talks with Phil and Alan I have decided to go with three of the automata, two of which can be quickly done the third will take a bit longer due to the immense detail of the design.

The two easier ones are the:

Hydropowered Sagiya Chain Pump

Hydropowered Water Pump

The third one that will be much harder to model is:

The Elephant Clock

The elephant clock does have a real world re-production I can use a reference:

I am going to present these automata in the form of a flash based educational CD stylized as a 'pop-up book' copy of The book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices.

More reference found

I have found some more helpful information to assist me with the creation of these automata.

Muslim Heritage

Automation Robotics In Muslim Heritage

I have also with help from the University's library managed to locate a borrowable copy of the translated book which will help vastly with this project.