Reconstruction Designs of Lost Ancient Chinese Machinery (History of Mechanism and Machine Science, 3) - Hardcover

Yan, Hong-Sen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1402064594 ISBN 13: 9781402064593

Publisher: Springer, 2007

Synopsis

South pointing chariots, walking machines and the astronomical mechanical clock are all used as illustrated examples in this fascinating and unique study of lost machinery in ancient China. This is the first book of its kind, combining creative mechanism design methodology with mechanical evolution and variation theory to set out how some ancient designs can be recreated. Furthermore the book reflects on how age-old wisdoms could stimulate stunning new machinery in the future.

About this title

About the Author:

Professor Hong-Sen YAN received his BS degree from National Cheng Kung University (Tianan, Taiwan) in 1973, MS degree from the University of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky, USA) in 1977, and PhD degree from Purdue University (Lafayette, Indiana, USA) in 1980, all in mechanical engineering.

He previously served as a mechanical engineer at China Technical Consultants Co. Ltd. (Taipei), an Associate Professor at National Cheng Kung University (Tainan), a Sr. Research Engineer at General Motor Research Laboratories (Michigan), an Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Book (New York), and the Director-general of the National Science and Technology Museum (Kaohsiung). Currently, he is a Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Cheng Kung University (Tainan, TAIWAN) and an Associate Editor of both the International Journal of Mechanism and Machine Theory and ASME Transactions Journal of Mechanical Design.

Dr. Yan’ s areas of interests are creative mechanism and machine design and ancient Chinese machinery. He has published more than 275 papers, holds 48 patents, and is the author of 3 books. Dr. Yan received many honors and academic awards inside and outside Taiwan, and he has a hobby of collecting ancient Chinese Locks.

Review:

From the reviews:

“Always based on original sources, with a wealth of illustrations and translations of difficult Chinese classical texts, this outstanding book is particularly original. ... a wide extant of difficult topics belonging to the history of technology has never been covered in such a systematic way and by using a unified methodology.” (J.-C. Martzloff, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1181, 2010)

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1402064594
• ISBN 13: 9781402064593
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 321