The Princeton union., 1893-01-12
FIRST CHINESE CLOCKS,
QUEER CONTRIYANCES FOB
TELLING THE TIME.
Automata Made to Move and Sound the
Hours by Dropping Water and al
Water rWheels-Wonderful
Pieces of Mechanism.

When people speak Of China as a
backnumber nation they forget that
the Chinese knew about ever so many
things which are now considered
essential to civilization bsfore Europe
had any notion OF them. says the
Washington Star. Not a few of the
Industrial arts were practiced IN that
country many centuries previous to
their introduction in the Western
world. Gunpowder was invented by
these heathens and theirs were the
earliest clocks. AS far back as 1886
B. c. a gentleman named Hwang-ti
discovered the principle of the water
clock or 'clepsydra-" 1t was very
rude instrument. chiefly for astronom-
| ical purposes aud was committed
to the care of an officer known as the
'clepsydra adjuster." 1t consisted of
two copper vessels, one above and
| one below. the former having a hole
/. in the bottom through which water
percolated into the latter where
there was float the gradual rise of
which indicated periods OF time
| Portable contrivances Of this descrip-
! ton were sometimes carried on
| horseback. -. 7."~ -.
Instruments constructed on the
same principle were in use among the
! Chaldeans and Egyptians at an early
period. The invention IN Western
Asia was independent of that in the
East both being the result of similar
wants Clepsydras were subsequent
| ly formed of a series of vessels COM
mun1cating by tubes passing through
figures Of dragons and other images.
the whole being rendered yet more
ornamental by floats held between the
hands of genii The earliest applica.
tion Of the clepsydra principle to pro-
duce motion was by Tsiang Hung:
A. d. 126. who made an 'orrery"
representing the apparent motion of
the heavenly bodies around the earth,
which was kept going by dropping
water. In the sixth century of the
Christian era an instrument was in
use in China which indicated the
course of time by the weight of water
as it gradually came from the 5eak of
bird and was received in vessel on
a balance. every pound representing
a one-hundredth part of the day of
24 hours
| About this time mercury began to
be employed in clepsydras instead of
water: just as the monks OF the
Roman church in Europe devoted at
ention to making instruments for
measuring time. so the Buddhist
lamas at an earlier period were simil.
arly engaged in their silent retreats.
Several contrivances of the kind are
mentioned in Chinese history as hav-
| ing been invented by priests in tnat
country. One was a perforated COP
l. per vessel, placed In tub Of water,
which gradually filed and sank at
the end of every hour. or course.
it required constant attention. The
Chinese were the first to invent the
form Of clepsydra to which the term
water clock" can alone be properly
applied is an apparatus which
rendered watching unnecessary by
striking the hours Up to the begin
ming OF the Eighth Century persons
had been employed to watch the
clepsydras in palaces and public
places in China, their duty being to
strike bells or drums at every ..kih. "
or one. hundredth part of day.
But at this period a device was con.
structed of four vessels with machin-
cry, which caused drum to be struck
by day and a bell by night to indicate
the hours. No description OF the
works of this interesting invention
can be found Mr.: Romyn Hitchcock
in an essay suggests that the Saracene
| may possibly have anticipated the
5 Chinese in the invention of these true
water clocks. In the history of the
Tang dynasty 1t is stated that in Per-
, sla at the same period there was {
clepsydra on terrace near the pal
ace formed Of the balance containing
twelve metal balls one of which fel
! every hour on a bell and thus strucl
t the hours correctly. 1t is deemed
2 not unlikely that this instru
mont was Identical with tn,
celebrated one which tn,
=, King Of Persia sent in the year so
to Charlemagne. In 83S the astron
omer Tsang produced an improve
ment on all former instruments
machine arranged on a sort of mini
? ature terrace. ten feet high and divid
ed into three Stories the works bein!
l in the middle Twelve, images o
! men. one for every hour appeared il
turn before an opening in the terrace
Another set of automatic struck tn
$ hours and eighths Of hours. Thes
K figures occupied the lowest story
t The upper story was devoted to as
S trohomy: containing an orrery In mo
), tion. Very complex machinery mus
have been required AS to the ma
e ture OF the mechanism nothing j
a known except that it was kept goin
O by falling water.
2 Positive. Comparative, superlative.
h She was going over the jail with
T. deputy.
:. What is that?" she asked. poin1
ing to one Of the apartments on tn
! second tier. t
~