Since ancient times, talented people have been born in the Red Chamber

Chapter 1012 Your Majesty, this is a mechanical timer (second update)

Chapter 1021

Therefore, he decided not to go to the capital for the time being, but rushed to Yangzhou first to meet Su Song, the creator of the escapement, who is currently working in Yangzhou.

Su Song is a native of Tong'an County, Quanzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province. He is also a master of all materials no less than Shen Kuo.

The most important thing is that in the first year of Yuanyou, Su Qing presided over the development of a water transport instrument based on the experience of his predecessors and his own solid theory and basic skills.

This is a giant astronomical instrument 12 meters high and seven meters wide, like a three-story building.

Su Song not only made the instrument, but also specially left the drawings and instructions, which he once wrote in his instructions. "Based on the sayings of various schools, the utensils of the instrument and image are kept, and they are placed in the center of the platform. There are two partitions. The armillary sphere is placed on the top, and the armillary image is placed on the bottom. Go up... use water to stimulate the wheel, and the wheel will turn and the appearance will move."

This can be regarded as the world's first mechanical device that relies on water power to tell the time with the movement of celestial bodies.It has three functions of observing the movement of celestial bodies, demonstrating the changes of celestial phenomena, and having wooden figures automatically ring bells, drums and bells as the celestial phenomena progress, and accurately tell the time.

It can be said that this is a precision instrument that combines a clock mechanism with an astronomical mechanism for observation.

Not only did he build such an awesome machine, but importantly, his official career was much better than that of Shen Kuo. During the Yuanyou period, he worshiped the right servant of Shangshu and the minister of Zhongshu, that is, the prime minister.

However, this centrist leader kept his integrity and was unwilling to join the ranks of the old party members who liked to jump up and down. After working for less than a year, he couldn't stand the noise of those guys, so he simply resigned from his position and then became an official. official.

Head to Yangzhou.Shen Kuo was a member of the New Party and Su Song was a centrist. There was not much conflict in their political stances. Instead, they became close friends because of their similar knowledge.

Shen Kuo found Su Song, and after communicating Wang Yang's ideas and ideas with Su Song, Su Song also agreed with him very much. After the joint efforts of these two big men, and the idea proposed by Wang Yang, a young old driver .

Finally, after nearly a year of work, Shen Kuo brought this treasure to Bianliang, Tokyo, to meet the emperor Zhao Xu.

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After the emperor helped Shen Kuo up, his eyes fell on the wooden box that was close to a high height, his eyes full of probing curiosity.

At this time, the heavy wooden box had been carried into the imperial study room.

"Qizou Your Majesty, this is a mechanical timer that can accurately time the time without sunlight or water flow." Shen Kuo gestured, and then took the initiative to walk to the box, beckoning the imperial guards to help him, Then start disassembling the wooden box.

After a short time, the wooden box was finally pried open, and a large amount of cotton used to prevent shocks was removed, finally revealing its true face.

Looking at this machine, which is about half a foot tall, about two feet and a half wide, and about three feet thick. Most of the structures inside are made of wood, with only a small amount of copper machinery. Emperor Zhao Xu felt that his eyeballs were protruding outward. .

"Is this also a timer?" I stood in front of it and looked at it for a long time. I saw that this machine with gears everywhere was really different from the copper kettle hourglass used in the palace.

"That's right, it's the timer..." Shen Kuo took a deep breath, and looked at the mechanical timer with great pride, conceived and designed by him, Su Song and Wang Yang.

Especially in the front, a copper disc about one and a half feet in diameter is covered with small scales. In addition to the small scales, there are also large scales, and on the large scales, there is a picture of an animal. appearance.

Emperor Zhao Xu watched carefully and couldn't help but wonder. "Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake... Could it be that they are arranged according to the twelve hours?"

"Your Majesty is wise, these smallest scales represent a blink of an eye, also known as a second, and the large scales just represent the hour. Look at this again, Your Majesty. This is the second hand, and this is the minute hand, and This is the clock."

"One turn of the second hand is one minute, one turn of the minute hand is half an hour, and every fifteen divisions of the minute hand is a quarter of an hour, and the hour hand is moving from one zodiac sign to another, which is an hour..."

"How can this thing move? It really doesn't need water power to drive it?" Emperor Zhao Xu asked after turning the heavy mechanical timer several times.

"Your Majesty is wise, but it does not need water flow, but only needs to pull the copper chain to this position. You see, it starts to move..." Shen Kuo walked to the front, reached in, and pulled a copper chain. Pull to the end.

Then after letting go, a soft clicking sound was heard, and then the gears in the machine began to rotate, and then the second hand began to move.

The sound of the machine is not loud, and the important parts are made of copper, and animal fat is used as a lubricant to minimize the noise of the machine itself.

The emperor Zhao Xu even tested it several times himself. Almost every time he blinked, the second hand just moved to the next frame, which made him amazed.

"Your Majesty, please wait a moment, the time will be reported soon..." At this time, Shen Kuo said suddenly, and as expected, the minute hand finally reached the hour, and the hour hand reached the Maotu scale.

I heard the sound of bells ringing from inside. The sound was naturally far less powerful than the bells of the ancient temple, but it was also clear and clear, and it was struck four times in a row.

"Your Majesty, this means that we have just entered the time of Mao, because it is exactly the fourth hour from Zi time to Mao time, so at this time, the bell will be rung four times to remind that Mao time has arrived."

"Also, if you are worried about the noisy bell, you can press this mechanism. In this way, the bell will not ring and will not disturb others."

Following Shen Kuo's explanation, Emperor Zhao Xu felt that this thing was really good. "The corona needs sunlight, but the copper kettle hourglass needs water. As for this mechanical timer, after pulling the copper chain, it can move around and tell the time by itself. Wonderful, really wonderful..."

"I know Su Qing's ability. The water instrument he made back then was tall, majestic, and magnificent. It almost became the scene of Bianliang in Tokyo. I didn't expect that it could be made so delicate..."

"...Your Majesty, this is just a sample. According to brother Wu Shan, oh no, according to Mr. Wang's idea, when this thing is completely made of copper and iron parts, it can be made more exquisite, and it can even be made like a bowl. The size is such that you can carry it anywhere.”

Emperor Zhao Xu couldn't help but gasped. "It's the size of a bowl, and can it be carried anytime?"

"Officially, after Xiaguan and Mr. Su removed some of the structures used for astronomical phenomena, they were able to greatly reduce their size. And many of the components inside can indeed be made more delicate and small without affecting Its efficacy.”

"Moreover, if this copper chain is replaced by a spring, then it can indeed be moved without fear of movement as Master Wang said and is easy to carry."

(End of this chapter)