fl. 700s

Chinese Engineer

Liang Ling-Tsan, also known as Liang Ling-Zan, made his reputation in eighth century China. He was half of a two-man team that led the construction of the first clock escapement in history.

An engineer, Liang was also a member of the Crown Prince's bodyguard. When officials of the K'ai-Yuan reign issued an edict for the construction of an astronomical instrument, they selected Liang and a Chinese monk named I-Hsing (I-Xing) to oversee the project. I-Hsing was also a noted astronomer and mathematician. The two men and a team of artisans and technicians designed a water clock with an escapement, or mechanism, to control the speed and regularity of the clock's movements, and thus allow more accurate timekeeping ability.

Water clocks dated back nearly 4,000 years before the Liang-I-Hsing project began. A very simple water clock might involve two vessels, one placed higher than...