The manufacturing level of water-borne instrument platform is one of the best in the world, which fully embodies the intelligence and creativity of ancient people in China.
Su Song began to lead the manufacture of astronomical instruments from 1086, when the old and new soldiers were ordered by imperial edict. The membership of this organization is determined by his investigation or personal evaluation.
After accepting this scientific and technological work, Su Song first visited around looking for talents. He found that Han Gonglian, an official of the official department, knew both nine chapters of arithmetic and astronomical calendar, and immediately invited him to specialize in the development of astronomical instruments.
Su Song went out of Bianjing to visit other places again, and found Wang Lingzhi, a professor of Shouzhou Chinese studies who has expertise in equipment manufacturing, and called him "supervising manual labor and managing revenue and expenditure".
Then, Su Song assessed the original staff of Taishi Museum and astronomical institutions, and selected Xia Guan, Dong Guan to assist Han Gonglian in his work.
After Su Song discovered talents, he further studied them in practice. For example, after transferring to Han Gonglian, I often discuss astronomy, calendar, instrument manufacturing and other issues with Han Gonglian.
Su Song suggested to Han Gonglian that it could be modeled after Zhang Heng, his party, Liang Lingzan and Zhang Sixun, and Han Gonglian agreed. So Su Song asked Han Honglian to write written materials. Soon, Han Gonglian wrote a nine-chapter Pythagorean Test.
After careful reading, Su Song ordered Han Gonglian to develop the model. Han Gonglian made another wooden prototype wheel. Su Song made a rigorous experiment on this wooden prototype wheel, and then reported it to the emperor for inspection.
Su Song is cautious about research and development. He believes that with books, the model is not necessarily reliable, and actual astronomical observations must be made to further advance, so as not to waste national resources.
Later, after repeated verification of the wooden prototype wheel, it was determined that it was not bad with Heaven, and then copper was officially used as a new musical instrument.
Under the initiative and leadership of the famous scientist Su Song, after three years and four months' work, an outstanding astronomical timing instrument, the water transport instrument, was built in Kaifeng, the capital at that time.
The concept of water transport instrument image platform absorbs the advantages of previous instruments, especially the advantages of the automatic time-telling device improved by Zhang Sixun, an astronomer in the Northern Song Dynasty.
In terms of mechanical structure, the common mechanical principles such as waterwheel, truck, orange peel, cam and balance beam are adopted, and the observation, demonstration and time-telling equipment are integrated to form an automatic observation platform.
In Su Song's "Essentials of New Instruments and New Images", the design and production of the image platform of water transport instruments are introduced in detail, and several drawings are attached.
According to the new instrument image method, the water transport instrument image platform is a wooden structure with a narrow bottom, a height of about12m and a width of about 7m, which is divided into three layers.
The upper floor is an open platform with an armillary sphere supported by a dragon column, and there is a pool for leveling below. The armillary sphere is covered with a wooden roof, which can keep out the sun and rain. In order to facilitate observation, the roof can be opened and closed at will, and the concept is ingenious. The platform base from the terrace to the instrument platform is more than 7 meters high.
The middle floor is a "secret room" without windows, where elephants are placed. Half of the celestial sphere is hidden under the horizon; The other half is exposed above the "horizon" and rotated by wheels, once day and night, which truly reproduces the changes of astronomical phenomena such as the rise and fall of stars.
The lower floor is equipped with a door facing south. There are five wooden pavilions in the door, and the mechanical transmission system is behind the wooden pavilions.
The wooden pavilion on the first floor, also called "Zhengya Bell and Drum Tower", is responsible for the standard time of the whole station. This wooden pavilion has three small doors.
At the beginning of every hour, there is a Woodenhead in red who rings the bell at the left door. Every time, a Woodenhead in purple rings the bell at the right door; Every quarter of an hour, a Woodenhead in green plays drums in the middle door.
The wooden pavilion on the second floor can quote the early correct name of 12 hour, which is equivalent to the hour hand dial of modern clocks. On the wheel of this floor, there are 24 Chen Si Woodenhead, with time cards in their hands, which read, Zi Zheng, Ugly Chu and Ugly Zheng in turn. At the beginning and the right time, Chen Si Mu Ren appeared in front of the wooden pavilion on time.
The wooden pavilion on the third floor was specially carved. * * * There are 96 wooden statues of Chen Simu, of which 24 wooden statues start to tell the time and the time is right, and the rest are lettering. For example, the first, second and third moments of Right Ugly.
The wooden pavilion on the fourth floor tells the time. Woodenhead can shoot pheasants and report more according to different seasons.
There are 38 wooden statues in the wooden pavilion on the fifth floor. With the change of solar terms, the position of wooden figures can report the details of fainting, dawn, sunrise and several shifts.
Woodenhead in the five-story wooden pavilion can perform these wonderful and accurate time-telling actions, which is driven by a complex mechanical device "day and night engine". The operation of the whole mechanical gear train depends on the continuous flow of water, which pushes the waterwheel to do intermittent motion and drives the instrument to rotate, hence the name "water transport instrument image platform".
Su Song presided over the establishment of the Waterborne Observatory, which was an outstanding astronomical instrument in China at that time and the oldest astronomical clock in the world.
Internationally, the design of the platform of water transport instrument has been highly evaluated. It is considered that the movable roof is designed for the convenience of observation, which is the ancestor of the movable dome of the Observatory.
Needham changed some views in the past after deeply studying the image platform of water transport instrument. He said in the history of science and technology in China:
We take this opportunity to announce that our previous statement that "clockwork ... was completely invented by Europe in the early14th century" is wrong. /kloc-In the 4th century, Europe invented a mechanical clock driven by the gravity of the shaft escapement. However, many centuries ago in China, there was a hydraulic mechanical clock with another escapement mechanism.
The elephant rotates once a day and night, which not only vividly shows the changes of astronomical phenomena, but also is the ancestor of the rotating clock, a tracking instrument of modern astronomical observatory. The escapement mechanism pioneered by the waterway instrument platform is the key component of the later clocks, so it is the ancestor of the clocks.
It can be seen from the image platform of water transport instrument that the application of ancient mechanical knowledge in China has reached a quite high level.