What did Gimbal Incense Burner look like?

A hollow bronze spherical incense burner made of multiple concentric rings (typically three), nested with orthogonal axes. The innermost ring suspends the incense cup.

How did Gimbal Incense Burner work?

Three concentric rings with pairwise orthogonal axes → three rotational degrees of freedom → regardless of how the outer shell rotates → the incense cup remains upright due to its own center of gravity → incense never spills.

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Gimbal Incense Burner

A universal gimbal suspension (Cardan suspension): no matter how the sphere rotates, the inner incense cup always remains level. The core structure of modern gyroscopes, predating the West by 1700 years.

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Scientific Principle

Gimbal/Cardan suspension principle: three orthogonal rotation axes allow the inner ring to swing freely under gravity and remain level. Precursor to gyroscope structure.

被中香炉

Gimbal Incense Burner

Scientific Principle

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