DOCSLIB.ORG

Mechanical Clock (Edited from Wikipedia)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Mechanical Clock (Edited from Wikipedia) Mechanical Clock (Edited from Wikipedia) SUMMARY A clock is an instrument to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a striking mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece. In general usage today a "clock" refers to any device for measuring and displaying the time. Watches and other timepieces that can be carried on one's person are often distinguished from clocks. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to consistently measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units: the day, the lunar month, and the year. Devices operating on several physical processes have been used over the millennia. A sundial shows the time by displaying the position of a shadow on a flat surface. There are a range of duration timers, a well-known example being the hourglass. Water clocks, along with the sundials, are possibly the oldest time-measuring instruments. A major advance occurred in ancient China around 725 with the invention of the escapement by the Han Chinese mechanical engineer and buddhist monk Yi Xing, which allowed construction of the world's first mechanical clocks in China by both Yi Xing, Zhang Sixun and Su Song. By the year 1300, clock escapements were being developed for mechanical clocks in Europe which used oscillating timekeepers like balance wheels. Spring-driven clocks appeared during the 15th century. During the 15th and 16th centuries, clockmaking flourished. The next development in accuracy occurred after 1656 with the invention of the pendulum clock. A major stimulus to improving the accuracy and reliability of clocks was the importance of precise time-keeping for navigation. The electric clock was patented in 1840. The development of electronics in the 20th century led to clocks with no clockwork parts at all. The timekeeping element in every modern clock is a harmonic oscillator, a physical object (resonator) that vibrates or oscillates repetitively at a precisely constant frequency. This object can be a pendulum, a tuning fork, a quartz crystal, or the vibration of electrons in atoms as they emit microwaves. Analog clocks usually indicate time using angles. Digital clocks display a numeric representation of time. Two numeric 1 display formats are commonly used on digital clocks: 24-hour notation and 12-hour notation. Most digital clocks use electronic mechanisms and LCD, LED, or VFD displays. For convenience, distance, telephony or blindness, auditory clocks present the time as sounds. There are also clocks for the blind that have displays that can be read by using the sense of touch. Some of these are similar to normal analog displays, but are constructed so the hands can be felt without damaging them. The evolution of the technology of clocks continues today. HISTORY The first mechanical clock in the world was invented in China in AD 725 by Yi Xing and Liang Lingzan. The world's first escapement mechanism had been invented and used in medieval China, as the Song dynasty polymath and genius Su Song (1020–1101) incorporated it into his monumental innovation of the astronomical clock-tower of Kaifeng in 1088. His astronomical clock and rotating armillary sphere still relied on the use of either flowing water during the spring, summer, autumn seasons and liquid mercury during the freezing temperature of winter. 600 years later European clockworks of the 14th and 15th centuries shed this method for a more efficient driving power of weights, in addition to the Han Chinese escapement mechanism. Between 1280 and 1320, there is an increase in the number of references to clocks and horologes in church records, and this probably indicates that a new type of clock mechanism had been devised. Existing clock mechanisms that used water power were being adapted to take their driving power from falling weights. This power was controlled by some form of oscillating mechanism, probably derived from existing bell- ringing or alarm devices. This controlled release of power—the escapement—marks the beginning of the true mechanical clock. The earliest medieval European clockmakers were Christian monks. Medieval religious institutions required clocks because they regulated daily prayer- and work-schedules strictly, using various types of time-telling and recording devices, such as water clocks, sundials and marked candles, probably in combination. When mechanical clocks came into use, they were often wound at least twice a day to ensure accuracy. Monasteries broadcast important times and durations with bells, rung either by hand or by a mechanical device, such as by a falling weight or by rotating beater. These mechanical clocks were intended for two main purposes: for signaling and notification (e.g. the timing of services and public events), and for modeling the solar system. The former purpose is administrative, the latter arises naturally given the scholarly interests in astronomy, science, astrology, and how these subjects integrated 2 with the religious philosophy of the time. The astrolabe was used both by astronomers and astrologers, and it was natural to apply a clockwork drive to the rotating plate to produce a working model of the solar system. Simple clocks intended mainly for notification were installed in towers, and did not always require faces or hands. They would have announced the canonical hours or intervals between set times of prayer. Canonical hours varied in length as the times of sunrise and sunset shifted. The more sophisticated astronomical clocks would have had moving dials or hands, and would have shown the time in various time systems, including Italian hours, canonical hours, and time as measured by astronomers at the time. Both styles of clock started acquiring extravagant features such as automata. The religious necessities and technical skill of the medieval monks were crucial factors in the development of clocks, as the historian [and RPC instructor] Thomas Woods writes: The monks also counted skillful clock-makers among them. The first recorded clock was built by the future Pope Sylvester II for the German town of Magdeburg, around the year 996. Much more sophisticated clocks were built by later monks. Peter Lightfoot, a 14th-century monk of Glastonbury, built one of the oldest clocks still in existence, which now sits in excellent condition in London's Science Museum. The appearance of clocks in writings of the 11th century implies that they were well known in Europe in that period. In the early 14th-century, the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri referred to a clock in his Paradiso; the first known literary reference to a clock that struck the hours. An astronomical clock was constructed at Wells Cathedral around 1390. The dial represents a geocentric view of the universe, with the Sun and Moon revolving around a central fixed Earth. It is unique in having its original medieval face, showing a philosophical model of the pre-Copernican universe. Above the clock is a set of figures, which hit the bells, and a set of jousting knights who revolve around a track every 15 minutes. The clock was converted to pendulum-and-anchor escapement in the 17th century, and was installed in London's Science Museum in 1884, where it continues to operate. One clock that has not survived is that of the Abbey of St Albans, built by the 14th- century abbot Richard of Wallingford. It may have been destroyed during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, but the abbot's notes on its design have allowed a full- scale reconstruction. As well as keeping time, the astronomical clock could accurately 3 predict lunar eclipses, and may have shown the Sun, Moon (age, phase, and node), stars and planets, as well as a wheel of fortune, and an indicator of the state of the tide at London Bridge. According to Thomas Woods, "a clock that equaled it in technological sophistication did not appear for at least two centuries". During the Middle Ages, clocks primarily served religious purposes; the first employed for secular timekeeping emerged around the 15th century. In Dublin, the official measurement of time became a local custom, and by 1466 a public clock stood on top of the Tholsel (the city court and council chamber). It was the first of its kind to be clearly recorded in Ireland, and would only have had an hour hand. The increasing lavishness of castles led to the introduction of turret clocks. A 1435 example survives from Leeds castle; its face is decorated with the images of the Crucifixion of Jesus, Mary and St George. Early clock dials showed hours: the display of minutes and seconds evolved later. A clock with a minutes dial is mentioned in a 1475 manuscript, and clocks indicating minutes and seconds existed in Germany in the 15th century. Timepieces which indicated minutes and seconds were occasionally made from this time on, but this was not common until the increase in accuracy made possible by the pendulum clock and, in watches, by the spiral balance spring. The 16th-century astronomer Tycho Brahe used clocks with minutes and seconds to observe stellar positions. ESCAPEMENT An escapement is a device in mechanical watches and clocks that transfers energy to the timekeeping element (the "impulse action") and allows the number of its oscillations to be counted (the "locking action"). The impulse action transfers energy to the clock's timekeeping element (usually a pendulum or balance wheel) to replace the energy lost to friction during its cycle and keep the timekeeper oscillating. The escapement is driven by force from a coiled spring or a suspended weight, transmitted through the timepiece's gear train. Each swing of the pendulum or balance wheel releases a tooth of the escapement's escape wheel gear, allowing the clock's gear train to advance or "escape" by a fixed amount.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Shang Dynasty
    misterfengshui.com 風水先生 History of China ANCIENT 3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors Xia Dynasty 2100–1600 BC Shang Dynasty 1600–1046 BC Zhou Dynasty 1122–256 BC Western Zhou Eastern Zhou Spring and Autumn Period Warring States Period IMPERIAL Qin Dynasty 221 BC–206 BC Han Dynasty 206 BC–220 AD Western Han Xin Dynasty Eastern Han Three Kingdoms 220–280 Wei, Shu & Wu Jin Dynasty 265–420 Western Jin 16 Kingdoms Eastern Jin 304–439 Southern & Northern Dynasties 420–589 Sui Dynasty 581–618 Tang Dynasty 618–907 ( Second Zhou 690–705 ) 5 Dynasties & 10 Kingdoms 907–960 Liao Dynasty 907–1125 Song Dynasty 960–1279 Northern Song Xi Xia Southern Song Jin Yuan Dynasty 1271–1368 Ming Dynasty 1368–1644 Qing Dynasty 1644–1911 MODERN Republic of China 1912–1949 People's Republic of China (Mainland China) 1949–present Republic of China (Taiwan) 1945-present from Wilkipedia [email protected] Fax: 852-2873-6859 misterfengshui.com 風水先生 Timeline of Chinese History The recorded history of China began in the 15th century BC when the Shang Dynasty started to use markings that evolved into the present Chinese characters. Turtle shells with markings reminiscent of ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been carbon dated to as early as 1500 BC.[1] Chinese civilization originated with city-states in the Yellow River (Huang He) valley. 221 BC is commonly accepted to be the year in which China became unified under a large kingdom or empire. In that year, Qin Shi Huang first united China. Successive dynasties in Chinese history developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the Emperor of China to control increasingly larger territory that reached maximum under the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and Manchurian Qing Dynasty.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dunhuang Chinese Sky: a Comprehensive Study of the Oldest Known Star Atlas
    25/02/09JAHH/v4 1 THE DUNHUANG CHINESE SKY: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE OLDEST KNOWN STAR ATLAS JEAN-MARC BONNET-BIDAUD Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique ,Centre de Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France E-mail: [email protected] FRANÇOISE PRADERIE Observatoire de Paris, 61 Avenue de l’Observatoire, F- 75014 Paris, France E-mail: [email protected] and SUSAN WHITFIELD The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the star atlas included in the medieval Chinese manuscript (Or.8210/S.3326), discovered in 1907 by the archaeologist Aurel Stein at the Silk Road town of Dunhuang and now held in the British Library. Although partially studied by a few Chinese scholars, it has never been fully displayed and discussed in the Western world. This set of sky maps (12 hour angle maps in quasi-cylindrical projection and a circumpolar map in azimuthal projection), displaying the full sky visible from the Northern hemisphere, is up to now the oldest complete preserved star atlas from any civilisation. It is also the first known pictorial representation of the quasi-totality of the Chinese constellations. This paper describes the history of the physical object – a roll of thin paper drawn with ink. We analyse the stellar content of each map (1339 stars, 257 asterisms) and the texts associated with the maps. We establish the precision with which the maps are drawn (1.5 to 4° for the brightest stars) and examine the type of projections used.
    [Show full text]
  • Empty Cloud, the Autobiography of the Chinese Zen Master Xu
    EMPTY CLOUD The Autobiography of the Chinese Zen Master XU YUN TRANSLATED BY CHARLES LUK Revised and Edited by Richard Hunn The Timeless Mind . Undated picture of Xu-yun. Empty Cloud 2 CONTENTS Contents .......................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ......................................................................... 4 Introduction .................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER ONE: Early Years ............................................................ 20 CHAPTER TWO: Pilgrimage to Mount Wu-Tai .............................. 35 CHAPTER THREE: The Journey West ............................................. 51 CHAPTER FOUR: Enlightenment and Atonement ......................... 63 CHAPTER FIVE: Interrupted Seclusion .......................................... 75 CHAPTER SIX: Taking the Tripitaka to Ji Zu Shan .......................... 94 CHAPTER SEVEN: Family News ................................................... 113 CHAPTER EIGHT: The Peacemaker .............................................. 122 CHAPTER NINE: The Jade Buddha ............................................... 130 CHAPTER TEN: Abbot At Yun-Xi and Gu-Shan............................. 146 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Nan-Hua Monastery ..................................... 161 CHAPTER TWELVE: Yun-Men Monastery .................................... 180 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Two Discourses ......................................... 197 CHAPTER FOURTEEN: At the Yo Fo & Zhen Ru Monasteries
    [Show full text]
  • UC GAIA Chen Schaberg CS5.5-Text.Indd
    Idle Talk New PersPectives oN chiNese culture aNd society A series sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies and made possible through a grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange 1. Joan Judge and Hu Ying, eds., Beyond Exemplar Tales: Women’s Biography in Chinese History 2. David A. Palmer and Xun Liu, eds., Daoism in the Twentieth Century: Between Eternity and Modernity 3. Joshua A. Fogel, ed., The Role of Japan in Modern Chinese Art 4. Thomas S. Mullaney, James Leibold, Stéphane Gros, and Eric Vanden Bussche, eds., Critical Han Studies: The History, Representation, and Identity of China’s Majority 5. Jack W. Chen and David Schaberg, eds., Idle Talk: Gossip and Anecdote in Traditional China Idle Talk Gossip and Anecdote in Traditional China edited by Jack w. cheN aNd david schaberg Global, Area, and International Archive University of California Press berkeley los Angeles loNdoN The Global, Area, and International Archive (GAIA) is an initiative of the Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the University of California Press, the California Digital Library, and international research programs across the University of California system. University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd.
    [Show full text]
  • Investigating the Relationships Between Scholars and Politicians in Ancient China: Taking the Yuanyou Era As an Example Abstract
    Investigating the Relationships between Scholars and Politicians in Ancient China: Taking the Yuanyou Era as an Example Investigating the Relationships between Scholars and Politicians in Ancient China: Taking the Yuanyou Era as an Example Shang Wenyi* and Huang Winbin* Abstract The Song Dynasty was a decisive period of transformation in ancient China, during which relationships between scholars and politicians are thought to have become closer and closer, and this change is considered part of the “Tang–Song transition.” In the Song Dynasty, the Yuanyou 元祐 era (1086–94) was a critical and complex period with regard to its political environment. The major purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between scholars and politicians during this period. The connections between figures collected from the CBDB (China Biographical Database) include both literary relations and political relations. Two scholars have a literary relation when both of them write to a common third figure, and a political relation between two politicians is demonstrated through such connections as political support associations, recommendation sponsorship, and oppositional political affiliations. In the present study, two matrices are respectively constructed according to literary and political relations among figures and a Poisson-Gamma factorization model is adopted to obtain the key factors of the matrices. According to calculated results and literary history, the scholars can be clearly classified into three groups. We identified two groups of the politicians with this method, while we found other politicians to have steered a course between them. Furthermore, the figures engaged in common literary pursuits are more likely to share common political goals.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of Kaji Kito in Nichiren Shu Buddhism Kyomi J
    The Development of Kaji Kito in Nichiren Shu Buddhism Kyomi J. Igarashi Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Prerequisite for Honors in Religion April 2012 Copyright 2012 Kyomi J. Igarashi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor Kodera for his guidance and all that he has taught me throughout my four years at Wellesley College. I could not have written this thesis or taken on this topic of my interest without his encouragement and words of advice. I would like to acknowledge the Religion Department for funding me on my trip to Japan in December 2011 to do research for my thesis. I would also like to thank Reverend Ekyo Tsuchida for his great assistance and dedication during my trip to Japan in finding important information and setting up interviews for me, without which I could not have written this thesis. I am forever grateful for your kindness. I express my gratitude to Reverend Ryotoku Miyagawa, Professor Akira Masaki and Professor Daijo Takamori for kindly offering their expertise and advice as well as relevant sources used in this thesis. I would also like to acknowledge Reverend Honyo Okuno for providing me with important sources as well as giving me the opportunity to observe the special treasures exhibited at the Kuonji Temple in Mount. Minobu. Last but not least, I would like to extend my appreciation to my father, mother and younger brother who have always supported me in all my decisions and endeavors. Thank you for the support that you have given me. ii ABSTRACT While the historical and religious roots of kaji kito (“ritual prayer”) lay in Indian and Chinese Esoteric Buddhist practices, the most direct influence of kaji kito in Nichiren Shu Buddhism, a Japanese Buddhist sect founded by the Buddhist monk, Nichiren (1222-1282), comes from Shingon and Tendai Buddhism, two traditions that precede Nichiren’s time.
    [Show full text]
  • Simplified Chinese: 岭南; Traditional Chinese: 嶺南; Pinyin: Lǐngnán
    Lingnan (simplified Chinese: 岭南; traditional Chinese: 嶺南; pinyin: Lǐngnán) is a geographic area referring to lands in the south of China's "Five Ranges" which are Tayu, Qitian, Dupang, Mengzhu, Yuecheng. The region covers the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan,Jiangxi and Hainan as well as northern Vietnam 1 Dongting Lake, China's second-largest freshwater lake, is located in northeastern Hunan Province. It is a large, shallow body of water surrounded by mountain chains. It is also known as 'eight- hundred Li Dong Ting Lake' (The Li is a Chinese length unit equal to 500 meters or about 1,640 feet). An impressive characteristic of the lake is it is inter-nested. Depending on the season, concentric ridges of land appear in the lake in many areas. This is because the lake acts as a flood basin for the Yangtze River. The appearance of the lake changes throughout the different seasons, sometimes even during the same day. Many ancient Chinese poems and stories were written about the beauty of the lake. The climate here is between middle and northern subtropical, so it is warm and humid, but there is also a 'draught window' from which cold air from the north sometimes enters. So in spring and summer, the temperature is variable, while in late summer and autumn, it's sunny and hot with a little rain. Occasionally in autumn, it's a little bit cold and windy. The area around the lake has tremendous agricultural production ability with a long history of development. Since the plain is graced with fertile soil, proper temperature and plentiful rain, Dongting Lake is also called 'a land flowing with milk and honey'.
    [Show full text]
  • Leading the Good Life: Peng Shaosheng's Biographical
    Leading the Good Life: Peng Shaosheng’s Biographical Narratives and Instructions for Buddhist Laywomen in High Qing China (1683-1796) by Hongyu Wu B.A., Sichuan Foreign Language Institute, China, 1992 M.A., Sichuan Foreign Language Institute, China, 1995 M.T.S., Harvard University Divinity School, 2002 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2013 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Hongyu Wu It was defended on April 10, 2013 and approved by Clark Chilson, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies Katheryn M. Linduff, Professor, History of Art and Architecture Evelyn S. Rawski, Professor, History Adam Shear, Associate Professor, Religious Studies Committee Chair: Linda Penkower, Associate Professor, Religious Studies ii Copyright © by Hongyu Wu 2013 iii Leading the Good Life: Peng Shaosheng’s Biographical Narratives and Instructions for Buddhist Laywomen in High Qing China (1683-1796) Hongyu Wu, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2013 This dissertation is focused on the Shan nüren zhuan (Biographies of Good Women), the only collection of biographies devoted exclusively to Buddhist laywomen that crossed sectarian lines, composed by Peng Shaosheng (1740-1796), a Confucian literatus turned Buddhist layman and a leading lay voice in early modern Chinese Buddhism. The dissertation examines the life stories of these exemplary Buddhist laywomen in the High Qing (1683-1796), a period marked by social and political change that included the revival of Confucian classicism, increased visibility of women’s work, and government policies that reinforced an intrusive morality into the lives of women.
    [Show full text]
  • Technology and Innovation Within Expanding Webs of Exchange DAGMAR SCHAFER and MARCUS POPPLOW
    THE CAMBRIDGE WORLD HISTORY * VOLUME V Expanding Webs of Exchange and Conflict, 500 CE-1500 CE * Edited by BENJAMIN Z. KEDAR Hebrew University ofJ erusalem and MERRY E . WIESNER-HANKS University of Wisconsin-M ilwaukee CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Uni versity Printing House, Ca mbridge CB2 BBS, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It fi.1rth ers the University's mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, lea rning and research at the highes t in tern ational levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this tide: www.cambridge.org/ 978052 11 90749 © Cambridge University Press 2015 This publication is in copyrighr. Subj ect ro statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant coll ective li censing agreements, no reproduction of any parr may take place withom the wri tten permission of Cambridge Uni versity Press. First published 2015 Printed in the United Kingdom by 1} International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall A catalogue record for this publication is available jimn 1.he Brit.ish Librmy ISB N 978-0-521-19074-9 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibili ty for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-parry internet websircs referred to in thi s publication, and does not guaranree that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. In honor and memory of Shmuel N. Eisenstadt (1923- 2010) and Sabine MacConnack (1941-2012) Contents List offigures xii List of maps xiv List of table xv List of contributors xvi Preface xix 1 · Introduction BENJAMIN Z.
    [Show full text]
  • ©Copyright 2012 Hsiao-Wen Cheng
    ©Copyright 2012 Hsiao-wen Cheng Traveling Stories and Untold Desires: Female Sexuality in Song China, 10th-13th Centuries Hsiao-wen Cheng A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2012 Reading Committee: Patricia B. Ebrey, Chair R. Kent Guy Tani E. Barlow Program Authorized to Offer Degree: History University of Washington Abstract Traveling Stories and Untold Desires: Female Sexuality in Song China, 10th-13th Centuries Hsiao-wen Cheng Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Patricia B. Ebrey History This dissertation examines the historicity of female sexuality during the Song dynasty (960-1279), a time period when print technology, popular culture, and commercial activities had begun to boom yet prior to the emergence of a market for women’s writings. It is both an intellectual history—to trace the changing and conflicting conceptualizations of female sexuality in both elite and popular discourses, and a social history—to look for the possible space and resources for women to negotiate autonomy over their sexual bodies and explore their desires. This dissertation proposes an approach—both academically and politically useful—to study the history of women, gender, and sexuality in premodern China in search of women’s agency and possibilities of transgression using only extant sources written by elite men. That is, I treat my sources as multivocal and inspirational in order to emphasize the contradictory nature of intellectual discourses and social norms on the one hand, and popular appropriations of “traveling stories” and “circulating knowledge” on the other. I seek to examine the historical process of the formation of norms concerning female sexuality during this critical period in Chinese history, the nuances of “queerness” and transgressivenss in my source materials, and the ways that Song Dynasty culture and women’s behaviors and practices related to their sexual bodies mutually defined each other.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nine Chapters on the History of Chinese Mathematics
    The Nine Chapters on the History of Chinese Mathematics Rik Brandenburg¤ Keimpe Nevenzeely 15 July 2007 Abstract This article explores Chinese mathematics from the ¯rst archeological evidence of numbers on oracle bones (14th century BC) to the time Chi- nese mathematics became a part universal mathematics (halfway the 19th century AD). First a concise overview of Chinese history and in philosophy is given. The ethical oriented Confucianism was the dominant philosophy and con- sequently little attention was given to the natural world, hindering the development of natural sciences and mathematics. Due to historical and philosophical reasons, Chinese mathematics took quite a di®erent path than its Western counterpart: Chinese mathematics was focused on alge- bra and practical applications instead of geometry and theoretical reason- ing. The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art (ca. 1st century AD) is by far the most influential work: it would shape Chinese mathematics for centuries to come. Between the 3rd and the 11th century AD, Bud- dhist and Indian ideas got a ¯rm grip on China, yet curiously Chinese mathematics is barely influenced. In the `Chinese Renaissance' and the subsequent Mongol occupation between the 12th and 14th century Chinese mathematics will reach its zenith. In the 15th and 16th centuries mathematical development waned and important achievements were forgotten. Only after the arrival of Eu- ropean missionary-scientists at the end of the 16th and during the 17th century mathematics made progress again. The Opium Wars of the 19th century mark the end of the classical China and the indigenous Chinese mathematics would be assimilated by universal mathematics.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconstruction Synthesis of Lost Ancient Chinese Mechanisms
    AN APPROACH FOR THE RECONSTTUCTION SYNTHESIS OF LOST ANCIENT CHINESE MECHANISMS Hong-Sen Yan Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, 1, University Road, Tainan 701-01, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper presents a systematic approach for the reconstruction of all possible topological structures of lost ancient Chinese mechanisms. This approach utilizes the idea of creative mechanism design methodology to converge the divergent conceptions from the results of literature studies to a focused scope, and then ap- plies the mechanical evolution and variation method to obtain feasible reconstruc- tion design concepts that meet the scientific and technological standards of the subjects’ time period. Three examples, such as south pointing chariots, Zhang Heng’s seismoscope, and Su Song’s escapement regulator, are provided. KEYWORDS: mechanism, reconstruction synthesis and design, history of ma- chinery, creative mechanism design INTRODUCTION In the long history of Chinese civilization, many ingenious machines were in- vented. However, due to incomplete documentation and loss of finished objects, most of the original machines cannot be verified and many of the inventions did not pass down to later generations. In past years some reconstruction designs of lost machines in ancient China were brought into existence based on literature 2 studies, and with or without the help of modern science and technology. However, these designs were mainly based on personal knowledge and judgment, and the results may not be solidly functional and proven. Furthermore, very few scholars studied lost ancient machines, those with some literary records but without surviv- ing hardware, especially based on a systematic approach.
    [Show full text]