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Water-Powered Trip Hammers

Type Object Region China Time 1365

A traditional Chinese power machine driven by waterwheels turning cam or lever systems to raise and drop pestle hammers for pounding rice, beating pa…

Timeline

  1. 1365Prefectures and counties of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang in Jiangnan · Suzhou-Songjiang-Changzhou-ZhenjiangPrefectures and counties across Jiangnan, with its dense river networks, widely installed water-powered mortars (shuidui), using water flow to turn waterwheels that drove pestle hammers to pound grain and raw materials, easing human labor and supporting handicraft raw-material processing.
  2. 1361–1370Papermaking and iron-smelting workshops in Jiangnan · JiangnanBesides pounding rice, water-powered trip hammers were used to beat paper pulp and forge iron, continuing the principle of the water-driven linked mechanism recorded in Wang Zhen's Agricultural Treatise of the Yuan dynasty, and remained in operation in handicrafts through the Yuan-Ming transition.

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