Chinese Inventions By Kai Hyodo

Have you ever heard about inventions from China? Some inventions are over 1,000 years old! A lot of their inventions were made by thinking about how they could be used and how they could be helpful. The Chinese also were making most of their inventions with physical contact in ancient times.

Double-Acting Piston Bellows Around the 4 th century BCE, the Chinese developed the double-acting piston bellows. This made fires hotter than possible with other bellows that produced short puffs of air. Double acting piston bellows can still be found in rural China, where there are something called “push-and pull bellows”.

Earthquake Detectors The world’s first earthquake detector was invented in 132 AD by a Chinese astronomer named Zang Heng. His invention was a huge bronze cast jars. Eight fearful looking dragon heads were spaced along the outside of the jar, each holding a small, round, ball in its jaws. Directly under each dragon head was a bronze toad with its mouth open. This is how it works. An earthquake causes a rod inside the jar to push the ball out of the dragon’s jaws and into the mouth of the toad below it. That created a loud bong to alert people.

Crossbow The crossbow was invented in China in the 4 th century BCE and was the standard weapon used by Chinese troops for over 2,000 years. It shot a bolt (a short, heavy arrow) with great power, and a soldier could learn to use it in a couple of weeks. The Chinese invented another version called repeating crossbow. This weapon allowed a soldier to string the bow, place the bolt, and shoot, only with one hand. This meant that soldiers could shoot more quickly.

Compass Sometime before the 4 th century BCE, the Chinese discovered magnetism. This knowledge helped them to invent compass, which uses a magnetize object to indicate a direction. The difference between the compass we use and the compass the Chinese used is that our compass points north but the Chinese compass points south. The Chinese called it “south pointing needle”. Compasses are very useful for ships on cloudy days.

Paddle-Wheel Boat In the 5 th century AD, the Chinese were the first to build a paddle-wheel boat. At that time, the wheel was turned by people working inside the boat. The design had more than one paddle wheel, which allowed them to travel faster. Later larger paddle-wheel ships were built for battle. In the 12 th century AD, some paddle-wheel ships had as many as 23 wheels and could carry people.

The Mechanical Clock Yi Xing, a Buddhist monk and mathematician of the Tang Dynasty, made the first model of a mechanical clock in 725 AD. This big clock operated by dripping that powered a wheel, which made one full revolution in 24 hours. An iron and bronze item system of wheels and gears made the clock turn. This system is caused the chiming bell on the hour. The Chinese knowledge helped them to invent inventions.