Theatri Machinarum, 1725

For the 6,000 years of recorded history and millions of years of unrecorded history before that, the primary source of energy used by human beings was their own muscles or those of animals, and – starting about one million years ago – the controlled use of fire. Wind power was confined to sailing ships until the 1st century AD when a Greek invented the windmill. Waterwheels date back only to ancient Rome. The Theatri Machinarum, an engineering book published in 1725, features myriad images of machinery powered by humans and animals, including the use of six waterwheels in factories and mines.