In ancient times, people used what time was measured

Gui watch, carved leak, hourglass, water transport armillary sphere, water transport instrument elephant platform, etc.

1. Gui watch: Gui watch is also known as sundial and daily gauge. The "table" in Gui is a pole or stone pillar that stands vertically on the ground; "Kei" is a stone slab that stretches out from the heel of the watch in a horizontal position to the north.

2. Hourglass: The hourglass is easy to freeze in winter due to leakage, so it is driven by quicksand. "History of the Ming Dynasty and Astronomical Chronicles" records that Zhan Xiyuan created the "Five Rounds of Hourglass" at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Later, Zhou Shuxue enlarged the quicksand hole to prevent blockage, and switched to six wheels.

3. Leakage: Leakage is also known as leakage and leakage. There are two main types of leaky pots: draining type and receiving type.

Most of the early leaks are drainage. The water flows from the bottom side of the leaky pot, and the lattice fork and the tongue rise again, so that the leaky arrow floating on the water surface of the leaky pot descends with the water surface, and the scale on the leaky arrow indicates the time.

4. Water transport armillary sphere: The water transport armillary sphere is an instrument that relies on water power to make it operate, can imitate the movement of celestial bodies, and can measure time. This armillary sphere improved the design of the Han Dynasty scientist Zhang Heng, injecting water into the wheel to make it rotate, day and night, in addition to showing the movement of the stars, it can also show the rising and setting of the sun, of course, it is more delicate and complex than Zhang Heng's water transport armillary sphere.

5. Water transport instrument elephant platform: The water transport instrument elephant platform has a relatively complex gear transmission system. Above and next to the circumference of the pivot wheel is the "balance" escapement, which is a continuation of the great creation in the history of chronometric mechanics, which transforms the continuous rotational motion of the pivot wheel into an intermittent rotational motion.

The mountain line rides, the left line, the right rule, carry four lines, in order to open Kyushu, through the nine roads".Here, Sima Qian showed us a vivid picture of Yu leading the survey team to control the water. You see, Yu took the surveyor, carried the measuring instrument on his shoulder, and had all the standards, ropes, rules, and rectangles.

Sometimes they travel by car on land, sometimes they ride a boat on the water, sometimes they ride a wooden sled in a muddy swamp, and sometimes they climb the mountain in shoes with iron spikes. It can be seen that "quasi-rules, rules, and rules" are the measuring tools used in ancient times. "Quasi" is a level used in ancient times.

This is recorded in the Book of Han. The "rope" is a tool for measuring distances, drawing straight lines, and leveling, and is one of the earliest tools for measuring and leveling length. When Yu controls the water, the "left quasi-line" is to use the "quasi" and "rope" to measure the height of the terrain, and compare the difference between the height of the terrain.

"Gauge" is a tool for correcting the circle. "Moment" is an ancient tool for drawing squares, that is, curved rulers. The ancients summarized a variety of surveying and mapping functions of "moment", which can not only determine the level, altitude, depth, distance, but also draw circles and squares.

A simple "moment", due to the different positions placed when used, can determine the height and size of the object, its wide use, reflects the infinite wisdom of the ancient Chinese. However, "alignment, rope, rule, and reckoning" are not the earliest measuring tools. In 1952, people discovered the ruins of a clan village about six or seven thousand years ago in Banpo Village, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province.

In this site there are complete residential complexes with forty-six round or square houses with doors all open to the south. From this, it can be concluded that the Traveler was able to accurately discern the direction. How do they find their way?

Presumably, they looked at the sun and stars to discern their direction. General objects, such as trees, houses, etc., will project shadows under the illumination of the sun, and people often observe these shadows in production and life practice, and slowly, people find that these shadows not only change over time, but also find that the changes of these shadows are regular. "Immediate" is the ancient surveying work in our country.

The ancients used "immediate results" to establish directions, determine the time, or determine the length of the solar term or even the return year, and so on. It can be said that the oldest and simplest measuring tool in China is the "table", that is, ordinary bamboo poles, wooden poles or stone pillars. People have studied the "rod shadow" since ancient times, and I don't know how many tens of millions of years.

After a long period of production practice, people have created a set of "measuring high and far-reaching techniques" through the measurement and derivation of "rod shadow", and "immediate results" has become an idiom in Chinese.

1. Gui table. It is the oldest kind of timer in our country, and there is a record of the use of Tugui in the ancient classic book "Zhou Li", which shows that the history of Gui watch is quite long. The time of the Bula is determined by the length of the solar projection.

2. Sundials are lost. It is an instrument that keeps time by observing the shadow of the sun, mainly according to the position of the shadow of the sun to determine the hour or tick at that time. Judging from the excavated artifacts, sundials were used before the Han Dynasty, and they were always the usual timepieces before the introduction of mechanical clocks to China.

3. Missing engraving. It is based on the pot of water, using the principle of water balance dripping, observing the data displayed on the engraved arrow in the pot to calculate the start time. As a timepiece, the use of missing engravings is more common than that of sundials.

In ancient China, sundials were used to measure time.

Sundial, in its original meaning, refers to the shadow of the sun. The modern "sundial" refers to a kind of timekeeping instrument that used the shadow of the sun to measure the time in ancient times, also known as the "daily rule". The principle is to use the direction of the sun's projection to determine and divide the time, which usually consists of a dial hand (watch) and a dial (a dial base).

The method of using sundials to keep time is a major invention in the field of astronomical timekeeping, which has been used by mankind for thousands of years. Sundials usually consist of copper hands and stone discs.

The copper hand is called the "sundial needle", which passes vertically through the center of the disc and plays the role of a neutral rod in the table, so the sundial needle is also called "watch"; The stone disc is called "sundial face", placed on the stone platform, high in the south and low in the north, so that the sundial is parallel to the equatorial surface of the sky, so that the upper end of the sundial needle is just pointing to the north celestial pole, and the lower end is just pointing to the south celestial pole.

There are scales on both sides of the sundial, molecules, ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, noon, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai twelve hours, each careful search hour is divided into "the beginning of the time", "the right time", which is exactly 24 hours a day. Most sundials display the apparent solar time, but some have been designed to display standard time or to save time by daylight.

Sundials can not only show the time of day, but also the solar terms and months. Of course, its disadvantages are also obvious, it is bulky and cannot be used when there is no sunlight, such as cloudy days and nights.

This invention has been used by human beings for thousands of years, until 1270 in Italy and Germany did not appear early mechanical clocks, and China in 1601 in the Ming Dynasty Wanli Emperor only got two foreign self-striking clocks, although there are many imported and self-made clocks in the Qing Dynasty, but they are used by the royal palace and noble mansions, and the common people still look at the dawn of the day. Dust suppression.

Precautions for the use of sundials:

1. When using sundials, no matter what form they are, there is a pointer (gnomon), which must have the same angle between the pointer and the ground plane as the local geographical latitude, and correctly point to the North Star, that is, there is a pointer parallel to the earth's axis of rotation. By observing the projection of this pointer over a specified area, the time can be determined.

2. Since sundials must rely on sunlight, they cannot be used for cloudy days and nights. Therefore, it is not enough to use a sundial to keep time, but also to match it with other kinds of timers, such as water clocks.

3. During the period from the spring equinox to the autumn equinox, the sun always runs on the north side of the celestial equator, and the shadow of the sundial needle is cast above the sundial surface; During the period from the autumnal equinox to the vernal equinox, the sun moves on the south side of the celestial equator, and the shadow of the sundial needle casts below the sundial surface. So look at the top of the sundial after the vernal equinox; After the autumnal equinox, look at the underside of the sundial.

Ancient tools for measuring time include hourglasses, sundials, tugui, copper kettle drips, etc. Sundial, the original meaning is the shadow of the sun, Danzen sundial tool is composed of a sundial needle (watch) and a sundial (a dial base), the principle of which is to use the sun's projection direction to measure and divide the finger time. Mold dust.

An hourglass, also known as a sand clock, is generally made up of two glass balls and a narrow connecting pipe that contains sand that is measured by the time it takes for sand to flow from one ball to another.

The structure of the soil is very simple, it is a pole perpendicular to the ground, and the change of the seasons is determined by observing and recording the length of its shadow at noon.

Copper kettle dripping, that is, using the copper kettle to hold water dripping to calculate the time, the most complete existing group type dripping leak in our country is the Yuan Dynasty Renzong Yanyou three years cast.

Whether in ancient times or in modern times, we can't do without accurate time, with accurate time, we human beings can have a better schedule, rest and work. So, what was the day called in ancient times when the instrument used to measure time?

Sundial instrument, also known as sundial, is an instrument for observing the time of the sun's shadow, mainly according to the position of the sun's shadow, to specify the hour or tick at that time, and is a more commonly used timekeeping instrument in ancient China.

The earliest record in the historical materials is the section of "Hanshu, Legal Calendar, and Han Calendar": Taishi Ling Sima Qian suggested that "it is to determine the thing, the main sundial, and the next inscription is missing", and the "Hanshu Art and Literature Chronicle" lists 34 volumes of the sundial, but only the title of the book remains, but there is no content.

The Sui Book and Astronomical Chronicles recorded Geng Xun's achievements, "Observing sundials and carved leaks is the foundation of measuring the correct signs of heaven and earth." The "History of the Ming Dynasty and the Astronomical Chronicles" have detailed records of the shape of the sundial and the method of timing.

Compared with the Gui watch, it has been a lot of complex limbs, it can be said to be a real instrument, the development of the Qing Dynasty, not only can be used for timekeeping, the sundial itself has become a decorative work of art.

Here's how sundial timekeeping works. During the day, the shadows cast by the objects illuminated by the sun are constantly changing, first, the length of the shadow is changing, the shadow is the longest in the morning, the shadow gradually becomes shorter as time goes by, and it becomes longer again after noon; The second is that the direction of the shadow is changing, because we are in the northern hemisphere, the morning shadow is in the west, the midday shadow is in the north, and the evening shadow is in the east.

In principle, it is possible to time according to the length or direction of the shadow, but it is more convenient to time according to the direction of the shadow. Therefore, it is usually timed in the direction of the shadow. Since sundials must rely on sunlight, they cannot be used on cloudy days and nights.

Therefore, it is not enough to use a sundial to keep time, but also to match it with other types of timers, such as water clocks.