After applying for a patent, the 12 and 60-base system spread all over the world with mechanical watches.
In addition, the world's first watch was invented by Su Song of China (1020-11kloc-0/), but it was not a mechanical watch, but a water-borne instrument.
If you are interested, please read the information:
It's not to pretend to be amazing. There should be "five great inventions" in ancient China. In addition to paper, printing, gunpowder and compass, there is also a clock. The location of this invention is in Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the inventor's name is Su Song, which is little known. This is the negligence of history. In fact, he is as great an ancient scientist as Shen Kuo who contributed "A Talk on Mengxi".
10 years ago, at a lecture given by Vacheron Denton, a collector of antique watches, Mr Jiao Dayu, a world-famous master of watches and clocks and a Hong Kong watch historian, made a surprising remark: the world's first water transport instrument with an escapement system was made by China people, and he was Su Song, the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty. Jiao Dayu proudly declared that China people created the history of clocks and watches. Shake off the dust left by time, and wisdom still shines. The regained pride is still the pride that cannot be forgotten.
First, Su Song.
For a person, it is famous or little known, perhaps by accident, perhaps inevitable. If the water transport instrument is handed down from ancient times like A Tale of Mengxi, Su Song may be a dazzling star. But that big clock disappeared in the war of nomads from the army, and people didn't know enough about its value. As a result, Su Song became a pearl in the soil together with the water transport instrument.
Su Song (1020—11kloc-0/), a native of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, still has his former residence in Tongan County and has become a tourist attraction. When he was young, he was very intelligent, learned and memorized. He entered the Jinshi after taking the provincial examination and entered the official career. One of his classmates, whose intelligence was a little poor, was discouraged, but with his encouragement, he went into business and later became a famous ship king in Fujian.
Su Song's literary accomplishment is quite good, and his poems are full of aura. If he goes on studying, he will achieve extraordinary results. But everyone has his own interests. He likes scientific research and is often interested in invention and creation. In the third year of Yuan You, Song Zhezong (1088), under his auspices, an image platform of water transport instrument was built, which has three functions of observing celestial coordinates, demonstrating celestial movement and mechanical timing. The international scientific community spoke highly of this invention and thought that he was probably the "direct ancestor" of the later European medieval astronomical clock. He also specially wrote a book "Essentials of New Instrument and Image Method", which recorded the structure, usage and related instructions of the water transport instrument and image platform in detail, reflecting the outstanding achievements of science and technology at that time. Thus, Su Song's position as the ancestor in the history of world clocks and watches has been proved invisibly.
Su Song and Su Shi, a litterateur, were officials in the same dynasty. Although they were not brothers, they shared the same interests in literature and medicine. Shi Zaixi Ning On June 21, Su Shi was appointed as the general judge in Hangzhou, and Su Songgang left his post in Wuzhou, Jiangxi Province, and went to Bozhou, Anhui Province as a prefect and passed through Hangzhou. Therefore, I stayed in Dongpo for a few days, chatted about friendship, and visited the scenery of Shiwudong with Chen Xiang, Sun Yi and Huang Hao, leaving several people with the same titles, which are now precious cultural relics.
Second, the water instrument platform
Su Song invented the water transport instrument image platform, which is a large-scale scientific and technological device integrating instruments with clocks and watches. Its height is 35 feet, 6 inches and 5 minutes, nearly 12 meters, which is equivalent to the height of the current three-story building, and its width is 2 1 foot. A monster! The whole platform is a square wooden building with narrow upper part and wide lower part. The wall of the platform is made of wood, and the board is painted with flying cranes. The platform is divided into three floors. There are two doors in the south of the bottom floor, and there is a long wooden platform near the wall of the north platform, which is the operating place and the place where the water drawer runs the water wheel. In front of the console, there is a group of water lifting machinery, which consists of a water lifting lower wheel, a water lifting lower pot, a water lifting upper wheel, a water lifting lower pot, a river car and Tianhe River. Rotate the river handlebar to lift the water from the lower wheel (truck) and pour it into the Tianhe (receiving tank) step by step. On the east side of this group of water lifting machinery, there is a group of "copper pot dripping and leaking" devices: two square sinks are set on a wooden frame, the Tianchi Lake is the highest and the flat kettle is the lowest. The flat kettle has a drain pipe, so that the flat kettle always keeps a certain water level. The water outlet under the flat kettle can keep a constant amount of water. To the west of the flat kettle, there is a pivot wheel with a diameter of 1 1 ft, which is the prime mover of the whole machine structure and is driven by water. It is a water wheel composed of 36 buckets and hook-shaped paddles. A set of lever devices is attached to the top of the pivot wheel, which is equivalent to the "escapement" (commonly known as "clip") in the clock. It is very similar to the anchor escapement in Europe in the17th century and has basically the same function.
A kettle is arranged below the pivot wheel, and a water pipe is arranged on the kettle to communicate with the rising water kettle. In this way, the water circulates for a week, and the drain tank becomes the water source again. When the bucket of the pivot wheel is full, its weight makes the pivot fork out of balance. At this time, the lattice fork leans down again, and the pivot fork lifts up. The iron dial of the pivot wheel toggles the switch tongue, which pulls the balance of the sky and opens the sky upward. The pivot wheel turns down a bucket, and then the sky gate falls again. Due to the escapement and rejection of the left and right sky locks, the pivot wheel only rotates one bucket. The rotation speed of the pivot wheel is determined by the flow rate of the clepsydra and controlled by a set of escapers. Aside from the function of astronomy, the error of one day and one night is only one second, which is quite accurate.
For some unknown reason, Su Song only wrote that the crown wheel and the tooth-shifting wheel each had 600 teeth, and the remaining teeth were not specified. Maybe it's for technical secrets. I think that such a large instrument was placed in the capital at that time, which was not only convenient for telling the time, but also a unique urban landscape. If it can be preserved to this day, Su Song's name will not be under Bi Sheng who invented movable type printing.
Third, Jiao Dayu is a man
If Su Song is a well-known scientist in ancient times, Jiao Dayu is a contemporary legendary watchmaker who let us know Su Song, the father of world watches.
1965, 19-year-old Jiao Dayu was a young worker in Kai Guanchang, Suzhou. He was the first to design and make a badge with Chairman Mao, and the word "Dayu" was engraved on the back of the badge. Now the badge of honor is a collection treasure, which is hard to find. 1970 He made a watch by hand and became the first "Made in Suzhou", which gave birth to Suzhou Watch Factory. 1980 He moved to Hong Kong with his wife and daughter. In order to upgrade, he took back 3 million parts from the watch manufacturer. The husband and wife and a helper finally assembled 500,000 watches and delivered them to the manufacturer on time. The factory was very surprised and thought they had a double god hand! Moreover, he had a family fortune of 600,000 yuan from nothing, and he was even more legendary in Hong Kong. The enthusiasm for creation especially made him diligent. Since then, a "tourbillon" watch with "slow work and fine work" has been born under his hand every year. From 1990 to 2004, Jiao Dayu made 15 "tourbillon" watches. On February 3, 20031KLOC-0/,Switzerland issued him a patent certificate, confirming that "Tianyi Flywheel" was the first invention in the world. Jiao Dayu also got the nickname of "tourbillon". Swiss colleagues call him this way because "tourbillon" is the most precise part in the watch technology, and it is the biggest technical challenge for machinery manufacturers, and enjoys an insurmountable revered position in the watch industry.
Since 199 1 year, Jiao Dayu has been to the International Watch Fair in Basel, Switzerland every year. It is an international event known as the "Olympics" in the watch industry. Every year, he presents at least one new work of his own, and he is an eye-catching figure in the exhibition every year. Whether you call it playing hard to get, or you call it playing hard to get, Jiao Dayu is really different. In any case, "just showing and not selling" has become Jiao Dayu's most unique LOGO.
In 200 1 year, when Jiao Dayu went to the Basel Watch Expo, he was strongly supported by the China Watch Association. He put up a banner at the Expo and gracefully claimed that China people invented watches in the world watch kingdom. At that time, although some people raised objections, when he showed the relevant research materials, the other party was speechless. Because even Patek Philippe, the most authoritative publication of Swiss watches and clocks, clearly admits that China invented watches and clocks. In 2002, CCTV's "People" column filmed a 30-minute special topic for him, and he went to Kan Kan again to talk about his own point of view. He said that the ancient sundials, water clocks, fire clocks, copper pot drips and leaks in China can only be counted as timers, and only the water transport instrument made by Su Song in 1090 not only keeps accurate time, but also has an escapement, which makes a ticking sound when it works. This is the fundamental difference between a clock and a timer. He also found a sentence in a book by Joseph Needham, a famous British historian of science and technology: "Since Su Song combined horological machinery with astronomical observation instruments, it has been completely successful in principle. He was six centuries ahead of robert hooke, for example, he Fei (who was regarded as the inventor of astronomical clocks with Hooke in the West) was seven and a half centuries ahead. "
Fourth, today's pride
Some people say sarcastically: Kaifeng people often indulge in the pride of history. Come to think of it, our achievements today can't be compared with the glory of history in any case. There are many reasons for this, so there is no need to sell yourself short. In fact, the pride of history is not capital, nor is it a face-saving mask. It should be an incentive, a driving force and a spur. From Su Song to Jiao Dayu, invention always embodies a spirit of self-improvement and a spirit of being the first. If we rebuild a Song Dynasty-like water transport instrument platform as a landmark building of the city, or put it in a tourist attraction, we will sculpt a tall statue of Su Song. I think that the ringing of the bell must be more like a reminder and inspiring!