The Chinese Invent Moving Clocks 500 Years Before Europe
The first mechanical clocks were made in china.
The origin of the mechanical clock is not precisely known. It has always been held that escapement, the process where regulation of motion allows for the creation of a mechanical clock, was created in a town in Europe in the late middle ages. However, this was really invented, independently, by a Chinese engineer in 1088AD.
Water clocks had provided mechanical clocks to china since around 700 AD however these were highly imprecise. Su Song was a Chinese Engineer that wanted to build an enormous clock tower that would not only tell time but give an accurate representation of the objects in the night sky.
In China at that time, the philosophy held by the majority of people was that the sky and the earth moved in harmony, with the earth being the passive and the sky being the active. All things were related in a circular, symbiotic relationship. The Emperor of china was the one who was supposed to be able to communicate between the two sides and reinforce the balance of the world. He did this using an advanced system of predictive analysis that allowed him to know what was going to happen in the future. Using Astronomical formulations to reinforce the idea that the emperor could tell the future was a major were a major part of his power. This meant that the ability to accurately tell time was very important to the political system of the empire. Su Song's clock made it possible to get predictions which were much more accurate.
His clock was a three part behemoth, with the top part showing moving astrological bodies, the middle showing celestial, and the bottom showing the time. The clock ran entirely on water power and didn't require any effort from humans.
Unfortunately the tower was destroyed less then 40 years after it was built; carried off in pieces during an invasion. Attempts by Su Song's son to recreate the tower were never successful.
Currently there is an effort to build a replica of the clock in the National Museum of Natural Science in China. This effort has revealed the difficulties that making the original clock would have created. The kind of precision needed would have taken an extraordinaire effort using the tools of that day.
Joey Lewitin is an author and furnishings designer. His unique wall clocks can be seen at the site http://decorative-wall-clocks.com
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