Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society » Su Song’s Water Clock

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August 5th, 2006

Su Song’s Water Clock

Time and its Measurements Week:

When it was completed in Kaifeng sometime around 1090 AD, Su Song’s astronomical clock was the most sophisticated horological device in the world, centuries ahead of anything that existed at the time in Europe. The 40-foot-tall wooden tower was topped by a power-driven bronze armillary sphere that reproduced the movements of the sun, moon, and specific stars important to Chinese astrology. The device was driven by an 11-foot water wheel with 36 buckets mounted on its perimeter. The wheel revolved very slowly, only 100 times a day, and was regulated by a sophisticated escapement. Every hour on the hour, one of 117 automated manikins would emerge from a five-story pagoda banging gongs and ringing bells, or carrying a tablet that announced the hour.

Su Song’s clock was only in use for about 30 years before it was carried away by invaders from the North. In 1172, the original book describing the clock was found in southern China, but was then lost again for another 700 years, resurfacing only in the 19th century. Models of Su Song’s clock now reside at the National Time Museum in Chicago and the Science Museum in London.

* More in Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World by David Landes and Timepieces: Masterpieces of Chronometry by David Christianson.

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