Our ancient hourglass

Because the sun clocks such as the kuwaito would lose their effectiveness on cloudy days or at night. Therefore, the ancient people also developed clear funnels and hourglasses, oil lamps and candles and other instruments used to record time.

At first, they used the method of engraved funnels, but the water of engraved funnels was easy to freeze in winter, especially in the north, and only later did they use quicksand to drive. It is recorded in the “Ming History - Geographic Opinion” that Zhan Xiyuan invented the “five-wheeled hourglass” in the early Ming Dynasty. Later, Zhou Shuxue enlarged the hole for quicksand to prevent clogging and changed to six wheels. Song bachelor's anthology” also recorded the hourglass structure, parts scale and reduction gear wheel tooth number, and said that the fifth wheel of the axle tip has no teeth, and is equipped with the indication of the time of the measurement of the landscape disk, is now very perfect.

Hourglass is also an ancient instrument for measuring time. Hourglass manufacturing principle and funnel carving is largely the same, it is based on flowing sand from one container to another container time to measure time.

The most famous hourglass is the “five rounds of hourglass” created by Zhan Xiyuan in 1360. Sand flowed from a funnel-shaped sand pool into a hopper on the side of the first wheel, which drove the first wheel, and then drove all levels of mechanical gears to rotate. The last gear drives in the horizontal surface of the rotating wheel, the wheel of the center of the axis of a pointer, the pointer is in an instrument with a line on the disk rolling, so as to flash the time, this method of flash is almost identical with the surface structure of modern clocks. In addition, Zhan Xiyuan also wonderfully added a mechanical toggle device on the center wheel to prompt the two standing in the five rounds of hourglass on the drums to report the time of the woodman. At every full hour or moment, the two wooden men would come out on their own and cut the drum to state the time. This hourglass has become a mechanical clock structure independent of the supporting geomantic instruments. Because it is not bound by water pressure, the hourglass is more accurate than a funnel.

And the Western hourglass

The earliest hourglass found in the West was around 1100 A.D., later than the appearance of our hourglass.

The Western hourglass is said to have been invented by Alexander in the third century, where they were sometimes carried around, like the watches people carried. It is estimated that it was invented in the 12th century, along with the advent of the compass, as an instrument for flying on the sea at night late at night (during the day, sailors could budget time based on the sun's altitude).

The earliest discovery of an hourglass with a tangible basis is from as early as the 14th century, and the earliest hourglass is a written account of the same period appearing in the fable Ambrolunzetti, a fresco by a suitable government in 1338, which speaks of an hourglass that appeared in a list of ship's merchants. The earliest surviving record is a receipt for sale in 1345 by Thomas Stetesham, a clerk on the English ship “La Giorgia”.

From the 15th century onwards, they were widely used at sea, in churches, in industry and in cooking. During Magellan's flights around the world, each of his ships adhered to 18 hourglasses. Running the hourglass during the ship's paperwork then supplied time for the ship's log.

Before the Jesuits entered our continent, foreign traders and missionaries living in Macau had already brought medieval European clocks to Macau. The Jesuits, Michal Rvggier (1543~1607) and Matteo Ricci (1552~1610), who came to China in 1581 and 1582 respectively, not only brought clocks with them, but also a clock repairer along with them. Europeans widely used hourglass, water clock (i.e., water sundial) and heavy hammer-driven self-timing clock together into China. After the hourglass was introduced into China, it was used as a timepiece in navigation. Qianlong twenty-third year (1758), Zhou Huang compiled “Ryukyu country Zhiliu”, said from Fuzhou ship to the Ryukyus, the ship traveled “one more 60 miles”, and hourglass time, “every two leaks of half a zero for a shift”.