A field mill, also known as a camp mill, was a premodern vehicle which acted as a mobile mill used for grinding grains, which had the very practical use of feeding a moving army. [1]
A gristmill grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to both the grinding mechanism and the building that holds it.
In the Yezhongji (鄴中記) ('Record of Affairs at the Capital of the Later Zhao Dynasty') by Lu Hui, covering the history of the Later Zhao (319–351 AD) court in China, the text describes various mechanical devices used, including the wheeled odometer for measuring distance and the south-pointing chariot for indicating cardinal direction. [2] Two engineers in particular, the Palace Officer Xie Fei and Director of Imperial Workshops Wei Mengbian, [3] were known for their designs and worked at the court of Shi Hu (r. 334–349). [4] The two had crafted a four-wheeled carriage about 6 m (20 ft) long with water-spouting dragons hanging over a large golden Buddhist statue that had a mechanical wooden statue of a Daoist continually rubbing his front. [4] Other mechanical figures included ten Daoists dressed in monastic robes who continually rotated around the Buddha while periodically bowing, saluting, and throwing incense into a censer. [4] All of these mechanical figures were driven only by the movement of the carriage; once the carriage halted, the figures stopped moving and the water stopped spouting from the artificial dragons. [5]
The Later Zhao was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty (265-420) in China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity. The Jie were most likely a Yeniseian people and spoke next to Chinese one of the Yeniseian languages. The Later Zhao was the second in territories to the Former Qin that once unified Northern China under Fu Jiān.
An odometer or odograph is an instrument used for measuring the distance travelled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or car. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two. The noun derives from the Ancient Greek word ὁδόμετρον, hodómetron, from ὁδός, hodós and μέτρον, métron ("measure"). Early forms of the odometer existed in the ancient Greco-Roman world as well as in ancient China. In countries using Imperial units or US customary units it is sometimes called a mileometer or milometer, the former name especially being prevalent in the United Kingdom and among members of the Commonwealth.
The south-pointing chariot was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretched arm. The chariot was supposedly used as a compass for navigation and may also have had other purposes.
Xie and Wei created a similar device operated by wheel motion called the field mill, although it served a more practical purpose than the theatrical display of moving statues and water-spouting dragons. [6] The Yezhongji states that the two devised a "pounding cart" or "pounding wagon" which had figurine statues armed with real tilt hammers who pounded and hulled rice only when the cart moved. [2] In addition to this they had a "mill cart" (field mill or camp mill) which had rotating millstones mounted on their frames, which would rotate and grind wheat as the cart moved forward. [2] Just like the carriage with mechanical figures mentioned above, when the carriage stopped, the devices associated with them halted. [3]
A trip hammer, also known as a tilt hammer or helve hammer, is a massive powered hammer used in:
Husk in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. It often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective outer covering of a seed, fruit, or vegetable. It can also refer to the exuvia of bugs or small animals left behind after moulting.
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains.
Use of the field mill in China seems to have died out in use after the Later Zhao, since it was no longer mentioned in Chinese texts until Ming Dynasty. [7]
The Italian military engineer Pompeo Targone, who was most notably involved in the Siege of La Rochelle (1627-1628) in western France, invented the field mill in Europe by 1580. [1] As shown in the Italian Vittorio Zonca's engineering treatise of 1607, two mills mounted to a wagon are rotated by a horse whim and gearing while in a stationary position at military camp or near billets. [1]
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe.
Pompeo Targone, son of a Venetian goldsmith, was an Italian engineer in the service of popes Clement VIII and Paul V. He built the ciborium tabernacle in the Blessed Sacrament chapel of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, and one of the altars in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
The Siege of La Rochelle was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–28. The siege marked the height of the struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants in France, and ended with a complete victory for King Louis XIII and the Catholics.
In the Yuanxi Qiqi Tushuo Luzui ('Collected Diagrams and Explanations of the Wonderful Machines of the Far West') compiled and translated in 1627 by German Jesuit Johann Schreck (1576–1630) and Ming Dynasty Chinese author Wang Zheng (王徵 1571–1644), a field mill is shown amongst other devices. [1] In this picture, two mills are operated by the gearing of a rotating bar and a whippletree harnessed to a single horse, unlike the two horses seen in Zonca's illustration. [8]
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.
Johann(es) Schreck, also Terrenz or Terrentius Constantiensis, Deng Yuhan Hanpo 鄧玉函, Deng Zhen Lohan, was a German Jesuit, missionary to China and polymath. He is credited with the development of scientific-technical terminology in Chinese.
Zhang Heng, formerly romanized as Chang Heng, was a Han Chinese polymath from Nanyang who lived during the Han dynasty. Educated in the capital cities of Luoyang and Chang'an, he achieved success as an astronomer, mathematician, scientist, engineer, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar.
A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles at the rear, or by a sail to push the ancient wheelbarrow by wind. The term "wheelbarrow" is made of two words: "wheel" and "barrow." "Barrow" is a derivation of the Old English "bearwe" which was a device used for carrying loads.
A crank is an arm attached at a right angle to a rotating shaft by which reciprocating motion is imparted to or received from the shaft. It is used to convert circular motion into reciprocating motion, or vice versa. The arm may be a bent portion of the shaft, or a separate arm or disk attached to it. Attached to the end of the crank by a pivot is a rod, usually called a connecting rod (conrod). The end of the rod attached to the crank moves in a circular motion, while the other end is usually constrained to move in a linear sliding motion.
The chain pump is type of a water pump in which several circular discs are positioned on an endless chain. One part of the chain dips into the water, and the chain runs through a tube, slightly bigger than the diameter of the discs. As the chain is drawn up the tube, water becomes trapped between the discs and is lifted to and discharged at the top. Chain pumps were used for centuries in the ancient Middle East, Europe, China.
Yi Xing, born Zhang Sui, was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, mechanical engineer and Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty (618–907). His astronomical celestial globe featured a clockwork escapement mechanism, the first in a long tradition of Chinese astronomical clockworks.
Su Song was a renowned Hokkien polymath who was described as a scientist, mathematician, statesman, astronomer, cartographer, horologist, medical doctor, pharmacologist, mineralogist, zoologist, botanist, mechanical and architectural engineer, poet, antiquarian, and ambassador of the Song Dynasty (960–1279).
Zhang Sixun was a Chinese astronomer and military engineer from Bazhong, Sichuan during the early Song Dynasty. He is credited with creating an armillary sphere for his astronomical clock tower that employed the use of liquid mercury. The liquid mercury filled scoops of the waterwheel would rotate and thus provide the effect of an escapement mechanism in clockworks and allow the astronomical armillary sphere to rotate as needed. He designed the model for his armillary sphere in 976 and completed the creation of it in 977.
Ma Jun, courtesy name Deheng, was a Chinese mechanical engineer and politician who lived in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. His most notable invention was that of the south-pointing chariot, a directional compass vehicle which actually had no magnetic function, but was operated by use of differential gears. It is because of this revolutionary device that Ma Jun is known as one of the most brilliant mechanical engineers and inventors of his day. The device was re-invented by many after Ma Jun, including the astronomer and mathematician Zu Chongzhi (429–500). In the later medieval dynastic periods, Ma Jun's south-pointing chariot was combined in a single device with the distance-measuring odometer.
The bamboo-copter, also known as the bamboo dragonfly or Chinese top, is a toy helicopter rotor that flies up when its shaft is rapidly spun. This helicopter-like top originated in Warring States period China around 400 BC, and was the object of early experiments by English engineer George Cayley, the inventor of modern aeronautics.
A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation.
Wang Zhen was a Chinese agronomist, inventor, writer, and politician of the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368). He was one of the early innovators of the wooden movable type printing technology. His illustrated agricultural treatise was also one of the most advanced of its day, covering a wide range of equipment and technologies available in the late 13th and early 14th century.
The Song dynasty provided some of the most significant technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations.
Jiao Yu was a Chinese military officer, philosopher, and writer of the Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the dynasty and became known as the Hongwu Emperor. He was entrusted by Zhu as a leading artillery officer for the rebel army that overthrew the Mongol Yuan dynasty, and established the Ming Dynasty. As a senior adviser and general, he was later appointed to the venerable and noble status of the Count of Dongning. He edited and wrote a famous military treatise that outlined the use of Chinese military technology during the mid 14th century based on his military campaign of 1355 AD. However, descriptions of some gunpowder weapons in his treatise derive from Song Dynasty materials on battles against the Khitans, Jurchens and Mongols. His Huolongjing, translated as the Fire Drake Manual, contains descriptions of fire arrows, fire lances, grenades, firearms, bombards, cannons, exploding cannonballs, land mines, naval mines, rockets, rocket launchers, two-stage rockets, and various gunpowder solutions including poisonous concoctions.
The Huolongjing, also known as Huoqitu, is a 14th-century military treatise compiled and edited by Jiao Yu and Liu Bowen of the early Ming dynasty (1368–1683). The Huolongjing is primarily based on the text known as Huolong Shenqi Tufa, which is no longer extant.
Xiè Fēi was a scholar of the Later Zhao state during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He served as Head of the Healing (Medicinal) Department in the State Chancellery. He is known as a mechanical engineer who built a south-pointing chariot, a directional compass vehicle which apparently did not use magnetic principles, but was operated by use of differential gears, or a similar angular differential principle.