![]() In 1268 Roger Bacon made the earliest recorded comment on the use of lenses for optical purposes, but magnifying lenses inserted in frames were used for reading both in Europe and China at this time, and it is a matter of controversy whether the West learned from the East or vice versa. In particular, Geber (Jabir Ibn Hayyan, 721–815) invented the alembic still he observed that heated wine from this still released a flammable vapor, which he described as “of little use, but of great importance to science” The development of the still with cooled collector-necessary for the efficient distillation of spirits without freezing-was an invention of Muslim alchemists in the 8th or 9th centuries. The first method involves freezing the alcoholic beverage and removing water crystals. Freeze distillation, the “Mongolian still”, are known to have been in use in Central Asia as early as the 7th century AD. Specially shaped clay pots were used to extract small amounts of distilled alcohol through natural cooling for use in perfumes, however it is unlikely this device ever played a meaningful role in the history of the development of the still. The first evidence of true distillation comes from Babylonia and dates from the fourth millennium BC. The Cistercians became the leading iron producers in Champagne, France, from the mid-13th century to the 17th century, also using the phosphate-rich slag from their furnaces as an agricultural fertilizer. According to Jean Gimpel, their high level of industrial technology facilitated the diffusion of new techniques: “Every monastery had a model factory, often as large as the church and only several feet away, and waterpower drove the machinery of the various industries located on its floor.” Iron ore deposits were often donated to the monks along with forges to extract the iron, and within time surpluses were being offered for sale. Knowledge of certain technological advances was transmitted as a result of the General Chapter of the Cistercian monks, including the blast furnace, as the Cistercians are known to have been skilled metallurgists. At Noraskog in the Swedish county of Järnboås there have also been found traces of blast furnaces dated even earlier, possibly to around 1100. The oldest known blast furnaces in the West were built in Dürstel in Switzerland, the Märkische Sauerland in Germany, and Sweden at Lapphyttan where the complex was active between 11. Noon was the reference time for navigation, which did not depend on the glass, as the sun would be at its zenith. It was the job of a ship’s page to turn the hourglasses and thus provide the times for the ship’s log. During the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan around the globe, his vessels kept 18 hourglasses per ship. They were the first dependable, reusable and reasonably accurate measure of time. ![]() From the 15th century onwards they were being used in a wide range of applications at sea, in the church, in industry and in cookery. The earliest written records come from the same period and appear in lists of ships stores. However, it is not until the 14th century that evidence of their existence was found, appearing in a painting by Ambrogio Lorenzetti 1328. Since the hourglass was one of the few reliable methods of measuring time at sea, it has been speculated that it was in use as far back as the 11th century, where it would have complemented the magnetic compass as an aid to navigation. Remains of an earlier mill dated at 619 were also found. Its millstones are 830mm in diameter and the horizontal wheel is estimated to have developed 7/8HP at its peak. The earliest excavated tide mill, dating from 787, is the Nendrum Monastery mill on an island in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland. When the tide is low enough, the stored water can be released to turn a water wheel. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one way gate, and this gate closes automatically when the tide begins to fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary is made into a reservoir. A tide mill is a specialist type of water mill driven by tidal rise and fall.
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