MOLEN

Automata in China -1

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Chinese Automata-1 is called “Shinan-sha”.  Although it is said that this Shinan-sha was invented in China about 2600 BC, the correct age of the invention may be 100-200 AD.  
 

This Shinan-sha has the gear movement, and a hermit always indicates the south by the sophisticated mechanism.

Legend says that it has been spread in Japan in the age of “Ten-chi-tei”, 665 AD, but we can see today only the words “Shinan-ban” and “Shinan-Jo” as the memorial heritage of it. 

 

The mechanism of the gear movement of Shinan-sha has not been clarified still now, and consequently, it is the interesting technical subject that is well worth an investigation.

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(Ref. “Haguruma-Bunkashi , by Hirosi Uchiyama )