I must concede that the orcs/goblins are a possibility. Here's a passage from The Hobbit that applies to their mechanical skills:
Quote:
They can tunnel and mine as well as any but the most skilled dwarves, when they take the trouble...
It is not unlikely that they invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them...
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(Over Hill and Under Hill)
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
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