Clocks · Hydromechanical astronomical clock
Su Song's Astronomical Clock Tower
DocumentedEditorial status
An escapement-regulated clock predating European mechanical clocks by about two centuries.
- Maker / attribution
- Su Song
- Attribution as recorded
- Su Song and Han Gonglian
- Country of origin
- China (Northern Song)
- Place of manufacture
- Kaifeng
- Date
- c. 1088–1092
- Historical period
- Medieval Period
- Movement
- Waterwheel with linkwork escapement
- Escapement
- Not applicable / undocumented
- Winding / power
- Water power
- Case / materials
- Timber tower c. 12 m
- Dimensions
- c. 12 m high
- Holding / location
- Lost; known from the Xin Yixiang Fayao and modern reconstructions
Mechanisms in this object
- No mechanism records linked yet.
Related reading
- Clocks Before Europe: Kaifeng, Diyarbakır and the Long Prehistory of the Escapement
- Heavenly Clockwork: The Great Astronomical Clocks of Medieval China, Joseph Needham, Wang Ling, Derek J. de Solla Price (1960)
About this record
Fields marked "Undocumented" have not been verified by our editors and are intentionally left blank rather than estimated. Corrections with sources are welcome.
