section_path: Engineering
section_name: Engineering
paragraph_text: Engineering
  
  The Banū Mūsā brothers, in their 9th century Book of Ingenious Devices, describe an automatic flute player which may have been the first programmable machine. The flute sounds were produced through hot steam and the user could adjust the device to various patterns so that they could get various sounds from it. The brothers contributed to the House of Wisdom, a research body which was established by the Abbasid Caliphate.
  
  The 12th century scholar-inventor Ismail al-Jazari, in his writings describes of numerous mechanical devices, ideas on automation and construction methods, most notable among them being the Elephant clock. While late in the 16th century, the Ottoman-era Taqi ad-Din Muhammad wrote on a mechanism that worked with the application of steam energy. He describes a self-rotating spit which was rotated by the direction of steam into the mechanism's vanes which then turns the wheel at the end of an axle, this technology being an important part of the development of the steam turbine.
  
  During this time period, Roman Aqueducts were being used and expanded upon. Starting in the 9th and 10th century Arab and Moorish peasants started restoring the ruined aqueducts. The peasants also improved upon the aqueducts by localizing the technology to the respective landscapes of their area. The aqueducts which were initially publicly available, built for that use by the Romans, soon became privatized. The local powers used the aqueducts to gain power in their respective communities. This later evolved to the regional royalty assuming ownership over the aqueducts in the 11th-12th centuries. Some aqueducts were utilized by the royalty to supply water to their palace wells and gardens.