Chapter 4 Section 3 Astronomical Instruments - "The Essentials of New Instruments and Images"

In the history of our country, there are many types of astronomical instruments, including angle measuring, time measuring, demonstration, and some even use several instruments together.Among them, gubiao, ouke, armillary sphere and armillary sphere are the most commonly used.The earliest astronomical instrument used in my country was probably the watch, which is the "big" in "Zhoubi Suanjing". By measuring the change of the shadow of the watch pole, the position, time and season can be determined.Later, in order to improve the accuracy, a flat standard ruler was added under the watch. This is the "Tugui's method" that appeared many times in the book "Zhou Li", so this shadow measuring instrument is also called Guibiao.A variety of shadow measuring instruments have been developed from Guibiao, such as a compass or a time dial, etc., which are collectively called sundials.In the Qin and Han Dynasties, there have been works on sundials. In "Han Shu Yiwen Zhi", there are 29 volumes of "Da Suimou Sundial" and 34 volumes of "Sundial Book".

The origin of leaky timekeeping is also very early. It is said that it was invented by the Yellow Emperor. Archaeological research believes that my country began to use leaky timekeeping in the third or fourth millennium BC.The early leaks had only two pots for storing water and receiving water. Due to the simple structure, many people took turns to guard them. "Zhou Li" is the earliest document in our country that mentions leaking carvings. It records that there are as many as 20 people who are in charge of leaking carvings, from the Qihu family down.Later, people added a small arrow that could float on the water storage jug, with a scale on it, showing different times as the water level lowered.In the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was already a floating arrow type missing engraving, that is, a small arrow with a scale was placed in the kettle, and it gradually rose as the water volume increased.This reform is convenient to add water in the water storage jug to keep the water level and flow rate stable, and also creates conditions for the invention of multi-stage compensation type leakage.Multi-stage clepsydra is to use the water leaked from the upper stage clepsydra to supplement the water level of the next stage clepsydra to keep it basically stable. The more compensation pots, the more stable the water level of the bottom clepsydra, and the more stable the timing. more accurate.In Zhang Heng's "Illustrated Notes on the Armillary Sphere" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the record "Leaking Water and Turning the Armillary Sphere" used a two-stage clepsydra, which is the earliest record of this invention in my country.There are also "Chang Fu Leopin" and Huo Rong's "Lou Ke Jing" in Han Dynasty.During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were major developments in leak engraving, with many improvements and inventions, and there were more than a dozen monographs on leak engraving.Sun Chuo's "Inscription on Leakage" in the Jin Dynasty recorded the three-level compensation type floating arrow leak for the first time; "Inscription on New Leakage" by Lu Ji [Chui Chui] in the Liang Dynasty recorded that Zu used the dragon's mouth to spit water, which avoided the turbulence of the water and made it difficult to read the inscription. invention.In the 5th century A.D., Li Lan, a Taoist priest in the Northern Wei Dynasty, invented the scale leak, which is to use a Chinese scale to measure the change in the weight of the water flowing into the kettle to measure time.The book also records a kind of omission called "horse gallop", which, as the name suggests, is a portable omission that can measure time while traveling on horseback.

Armillary sphere and armillary phenomenon, the former is an observation instrument, while the latter is an instrument for demonstrating astronomical phenomena. The theoretical basis of both is the armillary theory, because they both use the circular celestial sphere as the object of observation and demonstration.The armillary sphere was created between the 4th century BC and the 1st century BC. According to the records in "Fa Yan" by Yang Xiong at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Luoxiahong (Hong Hong) once built an armillary sphere during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. A fool uses it to observe.It is generally believed that the original armillary sphere may be composed of two rings, one is the equatorial ring, whose plane is parallel to the equatorial plane, and engraved with the degrees of the sky; the other is the four-way ring, also called the right ascension ring, which can rotate around the polar axis , which is also engraved with the degree of the week.A spy tube is attached on the four-way ring, which can rotate around the center of the ring.Rotate the four-way ring and the spy tube, when the spy tube points to a certain celestial body to be measured, its position in each reading ring is the coordinate of the celestial body.In order to facilitate the determination of the position of the sun, Fu An and Jia Kui of the Eastern Han Dynasty added a zodiac ring on the basis of the armillary sphere of the predecessors.Zhang Hengshi added a horizon ring and a meridian ring. So far, the armillary sphere created in ancient my country is basically finalized.An armillary sphere made by Zhao Kongting before the Eastern Jin Dynasty played an important role in the development of the armillary sphere.This armillary sphere removes the zodiac ring, so that the outer weight of the armillary sphere becomes a fixed skeleton composed of three intersecting large rings: the horizon, the equator, and the meridian; the four rings of the inner weight become double rings with a diameter of eight feet. Holds a rotatable binocular.Kong Ting's armillary sphere is the earliest armillary sphere with detailed structure records in my country.

Like the armillary sphere, the invention of the armillary sphere is also a mystery. We only know that Geng Shouchang made an eclipse during Emperor Xuan of the Western Han Dynasty.The basic structure of the Hunxiang is a circle or frame that symbolizes the horizon, and there is a large rotatable sphere that symbolizes the celestial sphere; the big sphere is full of stars, and the north and south poles, the yellow equator, the constant display circle, and the constant hidden circle are drawn. , twenty-eight constellations, the Milky Way and so on.Because the rotation of the big sphere drives the stars to rotate, the part above the horizon is the celestial phenomenon that can be seen.During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng invented the water-transported muddy phenomenon that uses the flowing water in the clepsydra to drive the muddy phenomenon to run synchronously with the actual celestial phenomenon, and it is attached with a mechanism called an automatic mechanical calendar. "Notes on the Armillary Sphere" is actually the instruction manual for this instrument.Zhang Heng's invention created the harbinger of future generations making automatic running instruments.During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, many muddy elephants were built. In the 17th year of Liu Song Yuanjia (AD 440), Qian Lezhi built a small muddy elephant with white, black, and yellow three-color beads as stars to distinguish Gan De and Shi Shen. , Wu Xian three star officials.When Chen Zhuo's works were lost, this was the main basis for later generations to record the three star officials.

From the previous description, we can see that by the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, my country's astronomical instruments had developed greatly, and many monographs had appeared. Unfortunately, except for a very few parts, most of them have not been handed down to this day.For example, the "Qi Zhun Tu" written by Xin Dufang in the Northern Dynasties comprehensively introduced astronomical instruments such as the Armillary Sphere, Houfeng Seismograph, and Lou Ke.The reason why we can understand the development of astronomical instruments before the Southern and Northern Dynasties is thanks to Li Chunfeng of the Tang Dynasty, who left us two important works, "Book of Jin·Astronomical Records" and "Book of Sui·Astronomical Records".In the two books "Tianwen Zhi", Li Chunfeng researched and traced the development of the previous generation of Yixiang, and made a brief summary.The detailed records of the armillary sphere like the former Zhao Kongting can be found in "Book of Jin · Tianwen Zhi".From then on, the history book "Astronomical Records" of all dynasties listed the manufacture and development of astronomical instruments as an important content.

The Tang Dynasty was an important period for the development of astronomy in our country, and a new chapter was written in the production of astronomical instruments.In this regard, Li Chunfeng is also an important figure who inherits the past and ushers in the future.The armillary sphere he made added the ecliptic circle and the white circle, and according to the actual celestial phenomena, the positions of the second ring can be changed.Beginning with Li Chunfeng, the triple circle structure of the traditional Chinese armillary sphere (namely Liuheyi, Sanchenyi, and Siyouhuan) has been basically fixed, and has become the established formula of the armillary sphere for future generations."Fa Xiang Zhi" written by Li Chunfeng is a book on astronomical instruments, which records his research results.During the Kaiyuan period, Seng Yixing and Liang Lingzan (zan Zan) built another armillary sphere.This armillary sphere removes the equator from the hexagon of the outer weight and adds the Maoyou circle, so the outer weight is the intersection of the three circles of Ziwu, Maoyou, and Horizon. A circular hole is made to represent the intersection of the equator and the ecliptic.The zodiac rings are fixed in a corresponding pair of round holes according to actual astronomical phenomena.Such a device can make the ecliptic swim within the equator, hence the name zodiac travel instrument.The armillary sphere of Yixing and others has reached the stage of perfection, but the complexity of its structure has also reached a peak.In order to realize Tang Xuanzong's desire to make more sophisticated astronomical instruments, Yiyi and Liang Lingzan developed the "Kaiyuan Water Transport Cloudy Sky Overhead View".This is the third water-borne muddy elephant after Zhang Heng and Geng Xun in the Sui Dynasty.There are two rings added to the eclipse outside the celestial sphere, the sun orbits on one ring, and the moon orbits on the other ring, and there are wooden figures beating drums and bells to tell the time.Some researchers believe that the waterborne elephant has used an escapement device.Regarding the work of Yiyi and others, there are records in "New Tang Book·Astronomical Records" and "Old Tang Book·Astronomical Records".

The Song and Yuan dynasties were the peak of the development of astronomical instruments in our country.In less than a hundred years from the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo (AD 979) to the seventh year of Yuanyou (AD 1092) in the Song Dynasty, five armillary spheres were created, each with a copper weight of about 20,000 jin. crown.According to the "History of Song Dynasty", Yan Su invented the lotus clepsydra in 1031 AD, and for the first time used the overflow system, that is, opening holes in the upper part of the clepsydra to allow excess water to overflow to keep the water level constant.Yansu's invention eventually replaced the scale leaks that had been commonly used since the Tang and Song Dynasties.The reform of astronomical instruments in the Song Dynasty was comprehensive. In 1074, Shen Kuo submitted three memorials to the imperial court—"The Armillary Sphere Discussion", "Fulou Discussion", and "Jingbiao Discussion", which are collectively called "Three Discussions on the Armillary Sphere Fulou Jingbiao".This is an important monograph on astronomical instruments in ancient China.In the three memorials, Shen Kuo reviewed the history of making astronomical instruments and their advantages and disadvantages in the past dynasties, and put forward suggestions for reform.For example, the impact of water flow, water viscosity, length and radius of the leak tube on the timing accuracy is taken into account on the leak engraving; it is recommended to put the watch in a secret room when measuring shadows, so that sunlight can penetrate through the slits to Reduce the scattering of sunlight by dust.In particular, he omitted the white circle in the armillary sphere, fixed the ecliptic ring and the equatorial ring, and reduced the occlusion of the sky by multiple rings.Shen Kuo's reform is a turning point for the armillary sphere from simplicity to complexity, and then from complexity to simplicity.In the Song Dynasty, water transport spheres were made twice, one was the "Taiping Armillary Sphere" by Zhang Sixun in the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo. It was his great innovation that mercury replaced water as the power of the armillary sphere.The other time was the famous water transport instrument platform made by Su Song and others. This is a masterpiece in the history of astronomical instruments. Su Song explained its structure in detail in "Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao".There are still many monographs on astronomical instruments in the Song Dynasty, and there are nearly 20 kinds of monographs on leaked engravings. Among them, "Bronze Pot Leaked Arrow System" by Yan Yizhong in the Southern Song Dynasty is the most complete of all leaked inscriptions in ancient China.

The Yuan Dynasty was the heyday of my country's astronomical instrument production.Guo Shoujing was the one who made great contributions to the development of astronomical instruments during this period.He successively designed and manufactured more than a dozen new astronomical instruments, such as Jianyi, Gaobiao, Kuji, Yangyi, Zhengxiang, Linglongyi, among which Jianyi and Gaobiao are the most important and unique.In order to avoid the disadvantages of multiple rings covering the star area and hindering the observation, he decomposed the traditional armillary sphere into two parts: the equatorial theodolite and the vertical sphere, and added cross wires at both ends of the spy tube, creating a simple and ingenious structure, which is convenient for observation. The Jianyi with higher precision has finally completed the reform from complex to simple in the history of the development of the armillary sphere in my country.Gao Biao is another great innovation of Guo Shoujing on the basis of his predecessors.Before the Yuan Dynasty, Guibiao was generally eight feet high, but Guo Shoujing boldly increased the height of the watch to four feet, added a horizontal beam on the watch, and set a scene symbol made of the principle of small hole imaging on the Gui surface.When the sun, the beam and the small hole of the scene symbol are connected in a line, the reflection of the sun and the beam formed on the gui surface can be clearly seen, which greatly improves the observation accuracy.The astronomical instruments created by Guo Shoujing were leading in the world at that time, and the "Yuan History Astronomical Records" has preserved more detailed information for us.

There was not much development in astronomical instruments in the Ming Dynasty, and most of the instruments made were imitations of the previous generations.At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Western astronomy was introduced into my country, such as Nan Huairen's "Lingtai Yixiang Zhi" and "Chongzhen Almanac", which introduced a large number of Western astronomical instruments.Therefore, there has been a trend of combining Chinese and Western styles in the manufacture of astronomical instruments. "Xinyixiangfayao" is a specialized book on the production of traditional Chinese astronomical instruments written by Su Song, a scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty. Due to the emphasis on both pictures and texts, it can also be called a special design book for ancient astronomical instruments.This book is one of the most important monographs on astronomical instruments in ancient China.

Su Song (1020-1101 AD), courtesy name Zirong, was born in Tong'an, Quanzhou (now Tong'an, Fujian). He was born in an official family and received a good education.In the second year of Renzong Qingli (1042 A.D.), he was a Jinshi. He once held official positions such as Guange collation, Jixian collation, Shangshu Zuocheng and Shangshu Youpushe.Su Song is knowledgeable and talented, and he knows everything about "Tuwei, Lulu, Xingguan, Algorithms, Shanjing, Materia Medica". Figure Classics Materia Medica, etc.In the first year of Yuanyou (1086 A.D.), Su Song was ordered to "determine the old and new armillary spheres".On the basis of predecessors' design of muddy water transportation, he put forward the idea of ​​combining the armillary sphere, muddy elephant, and time telling device to operate with water leakage, and found Han Gonglian, the official secretary who could realize this idea.Han Gonglian was ingenious by nature, knew astronomy, and was good at arithmetic. He played an important role in the construction of the water transport observatory.After the completion of the water astronomical platform, Su Song wrote a technical monograph on the shape of each part of the water astronomical astronomical platform——"Xin Yixiang Fa Yao".The book was completed in the early years of Shaosheng and presented to the court. It has been hidden in the secret pavilion of the palace, so it is rarely circulated.After the Song Dynasty moved to the south, in order to rebuild the water transportation instrument platform, it visited twice to ask for this book.In the eighth year of Qiandao in the Southern Song Dynasty (1172 A.D.), Wu Xingshi Yuanzhi engraved this book, so that this book can be passed down to the world.

The book "Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao" is divided into three volumes: the first, the middle and the second.The volume mainly includes two parts, one is the "image of entering the instrument" made by Su Song, and the other is a detailed introduction to the structure of the armillary sphere used on the instrument platform.In "Jingyi Xiangxiang", Su Song first described the results of his investigation of the armillary sphere used by the Taishi Bureau and the Astronomical Institute at that time, as well as the whole process of making the water transport observatory.Afterwards, Su Song briefly reviewed the history of the development of the instrument since Zhang Heng, focusing on introducing Yiyi, Liang Lingzan's top view of the Kaiyuan Water Transport Armillary Sphere and Zhang Sixun's Taiping Armillary Sphere in the early Song Dynasty.He divided the ancient spheres into three categories, that is, the copper weather sphere for observation, the armillary sphere that can automatically demonstrate the celestial phenomena such as stars in the middle of the sky, and the armillary sphere (celestial sphere) that is used to describe the distribution of stars in the sky. The water transport instrument observatory draws on the strengths of various instruments, and connects the armillary sphere and the armillary sphere with automatic devices, achieving the effect of "preparing two instruments and using them for three purposes". When introducing the structure of the armillary sphere used on the stage, Su Song first introduced the overall structure of the sphere and the three main components of the sexometer, the three-star sphere, and the four-way sphere, and then described the parts of the three main parts in detail one by one, including the parts name, size and function etc.All texts are accompanied by 17 pictures, which is the most detailed and intuitive ancient armillary sphere material in existence.According to Su Song's introduction, a "Fortune Ring" is added to this armillary sphere, which is actually a gear parallel to the equatorial ring, with a smaller diameter than the equatorial ring.The "pivot wheel" with a constant speed is adjusted through a series of gear system reversing and speed changes, which can drive the spy tube of the four-way ring in the armillary sphere to follow the movement of celestial bodies for tracking and observation.The function of the fortune ring is roughly similar to that of the rotary clocks on modern astronomical telescopes, but it was born several centuries earlier than the rotary clocks that appeared in the West. This scroll introduces the Hunxiang used on the stage, and consists of three parts.The first is the structure of the muddy image. There are three pictures, which are still explained one by one from the whole to the part.The second is the star map on the cloudy image, a total of five.These five star charts can be divided into two sets of all-day star charts.A set consists of a circle picture and two consecutive horizontal pictures. The circle picture is drawn with the North Pole as the center and the purple Huiyuan (yuanyuan) star official, and the horizontal picture is the equator as the axis of symmetry. The star official between the constant display circle and the constant hidden circle.The other set is composed of two circular maps with the South and North Pole as the center and the celestial equator as the boundary, which are called the Hunxiang South Pole Star Map and the Hunxiang North Pole Star Chart.There are 283 officials and 1464 stars in these five star maps, which are one of the oldest and most complete star maps handed down from ancient my country.After research and calculation by scholars, it is believed that these star maps were drawn after the actual measurement in Kaifeng in the fifth year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 1082). The relative positions of the constellations were accurate, and they were the most complete scientific star maps in the world at that time.In addition, in terms of drawing technology, it adopts the positive cylindrical projection method and the zenith equidistant projection method, both of which are more than four centuries earlier than the West. The third part of the volume is to introduce the four seasons (spring and autumn equinoxes, winter and summer solstices) at dusk. The data are respectively taken from the records of "Book of Rites · Moon Order", the observations of monks and his party, and the observation results during the Yuanfeng period of the Song Dynasty. , a total of nine mid-star maps were drawn. The second volume of "Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao" mainly introduces the mechanical structure and working principle of the Yi Xiang platform.The mechanical structure is also analyzed from the whole to the part, from the drive, transmission and control device, to the demonstration and the timekeeping mechanism, and its structure, shape, size and function are described, and 25 illustrations are provided.Relying on Su Song's description, we know that this instrument is about 12 meters high and seven meters wide. It is a square wooden structure with a narrow top and a wide bottom.It is divided into upper, middle and lower layers.The highest floor is a platform, on which an armillary sphere is placed, and the armillary sphere is covered with an "extraction board house", which can be opened and closed freely according to observation needs.This is the earliest astronomical observation room with a movable roof in the world, more than four centuries earlier than the movable roof of the Kassel Observatory in Prussia in 1561.The middle layer of the observatory is a secret room, where the cloudy image is placed and operates synchronously with the celestial body.The lower level is the timekeeping system. There are five wooden pavilions with doors on each level. There are wooden figures in each wooden pavilion that can open the doors. With the movement of the armillary sphere and the armillary sphere, they will ring bells, drums, or ring bells. , or signage, timely reporting.The whole instrument is powered by running water, and the clepsydra and mechanical transmission are behind the wooden cabinet, which is controlled by "Tianheng" to make the whole instrument run evenly.According to scholars' research, this device called "Tianheng" is a set of levers, similar to the escapement in modern clocks and watches.This invention is more than 600 years earlier than Europe. "Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao" is not only an extremely important work on astronomical instruments, but also a work on mechanical engineering, which is of great significance to the study of the level of mechanical technology in the Northern Song Dynasty.There are 57 drawings in this book, in which the mechanical illustrations are drawn in perspective and schematically, which accurately reflect the size ratio and mutual relationship of various components. It can be said that it is the oldest complete mechanical drawing preserved in our country.These pictures and text descriptions provide valuable historical materials for our descendants to study this great invention.According to the book "Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao", in 1958, the Chinese History Museum successfully restored a wooden model of a water transport instrument platform that was 1/5 of the original size. In 1989, the Beijing Planetarium cooperated with the Tong'an County Science and Technology Committee of Fujian Province. , copied again into a model that is 1/8 the size of the original.

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