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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Water-driven astronomical clock tower · China (Kaifeng)

Su Song's Astronomical Clock Tower

Partially verified

A monumental water-driven armillary and celestial globe with an escapement-like water-wheel mechanism, described in Su Song's treatise Xin Yixiang Fayao.

Technical facts

Power
Water wheel with scoops and check mechanism
Survival
Destroyed; known from the treatise

Historical significance

  • A monumental water-driven armillary and celestial globe with an escapement-like water-wheel mechanism, described in Su Song's treatise Xin Yixiang Fayao.

Related photographs

Czech-2013-Prague-Astronomical clock face
Czech-2013-Prague-Astronomical clock face — Godot13, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Praha Astronomical Clock 01
Praha Astronomical Clock 01 — Uoaei1, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Praha Astronomical Clock 02
Praha Astronomical Clock 02 — Uoaei1, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons file page

No confidently matched photograph of this subject has been found yet. These photographs show a closely related record, and are not examples of the type described on this page.

Sources & references

  1. Needham, J., Wang L. & Price, D. J. de S., Heavenly Clockwork
  2. Su Song, Xin Yixiang Fayao

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.