clepsydra(tóng hú dī lòu)

clepsydra

Tonghu dilou, a Chinese idiom, Pinyin is t ó NGH ú D ī L ò u, which means to count the time by holding water in a Tonghu. From jimingdaige.

Analysis of Idioms

Synonym: the leakage of copper pot

The origin of Idioms

In the song of Jiming Daige written by Wen Tingyun of Tang Dynasty, it is said that "when you first feel that the copper pot is broken, you will never know the dust of BMW."

Idiom usage

The passage of time. example listen to the teapot, and the moon remains. "The sound of white snow · Matou tune · good dream"

History of Idioms

Leaky pot

The leaky pot is one of the ancient timepieces in China. The most complete group type leaky pot in China is cast in the third year of Yanyou reign of Renzong in Yuan Dynasty (1316 AD). The whole group consists of four leaky pots placed on the steps. The top layer is called RI pot, with a height of 75.5 cm, an outer diameter of 74 cm, an inner diameter of 68.2 cm, and a bottom diameter of 60 cm. The second layer is called Yue pot, with a height of 58.5 cm, an outer diameter of 59.5 cm, The inner diameter is 54.5 cm and the bottom diameter is 53 cm; the third layer is called Xinghu, which is 55.4 cm in height and 51 cm in outer diameter and 44 cm in inner diameter and 39 cm in bottom diameter; the lowest layer is called receiving kettle, which is 75 cm in height and 38.5 cm in outer diameter and 32 cm in inner diameter and 31 cm in bottom diameter. Each pot has a copper cover. A copper ruler is inserted in the center of the copper cover of the receiving pot. The length of the ruler is 66.5 cm. The ruler is engraved with 12 hour scale. From bottom to top, it is Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, you, Xu and Hai. A wooden floating sword is inserted in front of the copper ruler. The lower end of the wooden sword is a wooden board, which is called a floating boat. The water drips from the day pot to the tap, the water in the receiving pot increases with time, and the floating sword rises, so as to read the time. The hourglass is a kind of timing instrument, also known as the sand clock. Because the water in the leaky pot is affected by the temperature, it is more difficult for the accuracy of timing, and it is uneconomical to use mercury as power, so a new material fine sand is used to replace water and mercury. The sand clock is composed of two identical bottles, the upper and the lower. The middle is connected by a small mouth. The fine sand in the upper bottle flows into the lower bottle slowly through the middle nozzle. In this way, the plane of the fine sand in the upper bottle gradually decreases, and the time scale of the bottle can show the time. The advantage of this kind of sand clock is that it can be used on both sides. If it is turned over, the lower part can be used as the upper part.

Cultural Relic

Yuanyanyou three years (AD 1316) through the height of 264.4 cm. this drip is a timing tool in ancient China. It was cast by Xian run'an and Du Zisheng from Guangzhou in the third year of Yanyou reign of Yuan Dynasty (1316 AD). The whole drip is composed of four copper pots, which are sun pot, moon pot, star pot and receiving pot. There is also a saying called the day pot, night pot, flat pot and receiving pot. On the wall of the sun pot, on the wall of the moon pot, on the wall of the star pot, on the wall of the Big Dipper, on the wall of the water receiving pot, on the wall of the eight diagrams. When using, the four pots are placed from top to bottom, the top is the day pot, and the bottom is the receiving pot. At the bottom of the sun, moon and Star pots, there is a water tap. There is a copper ruler in the middle of the lid of the receiving kettle, with time scales on it. From bottom to top, there are Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, you, Xu and Hai. A wooden floating arrow is placed in front of the copper ruler. The lower end of the wooden arrow is a wooden board, which is called a floating boat. The body of the pot is engraved with words about the year and the person who made it. this is a floating arrow double leaky pot. When in use, the water of the sun pot drips into the moon pot at a constant flow rate, and the water of the moon pot drips into the star pot. There is a small hole in the upper part of the star pot. If the moon pot drips more water, the excess water will flow out from here, so that the water of the star pot remains constant, so as to drip evenly to the receiving pot. As the water in the kettle gradually increased, the boat lifted the wooden arrow and rose slowly. By comparing the top of the wooden arrow with the scale on the copper ruler, we can know the time at that time. It lasted nearly 700 years from the date it was made to around 1900 ad. it is the earliest, largest and most complete existing one in China.

Timing method

The earliest record of Liuhu can be found in Zhouli. At first, there were only two pots in this timing device, which dropped water from the upper pot to the lower receiving pot, and the liquid level raised the float arrow to indicate the scale (i.e. time). Keeping the water level of the upper pot constant is the key to the accuracy of drip timing. Later, this problem was solved by multi-level (3-5 level) water bottles connected with each other. Wang Pu of the Song Dynasty described a kind of lotus flower leakage in the picture of official skill carving leakage (1135 AD), which was lost later. According to Liu Jing Tu (1155 A.D.) by Yang Jun of Song Dynasty, lianhualou is composed of four pots. Tianchi pot and Pingshui pot supply water to Pingshui small pot step by step. there is an overflow port on the small flat water pot, but the excess water is discharged into the water reducing bucket to keep the water level constant. A float valve is also used as an automatic shut-off valve in Lianhua leakage. When the water level of the receiving kettle rises to the full scale, the float valve will automatically block the outlet of the upper kettle and cut off the water drop.

Chinese PinYin : tóng hú dī lòu