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Q: What did Water-Powered Armillary Sphere and Celestial Clock Tower look like?

A three-story wooden tower: top floor houses the armillary sphere, middle floor the celestial globe, and ground floor a five-tier wooden pavilion time-announcing system. A water-driven complex gear train runs through the entire tower.

Q: How did Water-Powered Armillary Sphere and Celestial Clock Tower work?

A waterwheel drives the central transmission shaft at constant speed. The escapement mechanism regulates timing, powering the armillary sphere to track celestial bodies, the celestial globe to simulate celestial rotation, and the wooden pavilion automata to announce the time.

Water-Powered Armillary Sphere and Celestial Clock Tower

A three-in-one astronomical complex combining observatory, celestial simulator, and astronomical clock. It introduced the world's first escapement mechanism and was the earliest fully automatic water-powered astronomical device.

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Scientific Principle

Escapement mechanism: converts continuous water power into intermittent motion — the core structure of modern mechanical clocks.

水运仪象台

Water-Powered Armillary Sphere and Celestial Clock Tower

Scientific Principle

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