Ma Jun is known as "a strange name in the world". He made many inventions in his life, most notably the repair of the compass, the improvement of the twill loom, the reform of Zhuge Lian crossbow, the invention of the keel waterwheel, the rotary stone generator, the water play map, etc., which made contributions to scientific development and technological progress.
Ma Jun was a native of Fufeng (now southeast of Xingping, Shaanxi Province) in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He studied hard all his life and lived in the countryside for a long time. He was more concerned about the reform of production tools and had a particularly strong interest in mechanical manufacturing. He created many inventions in his life, and he was a master of ancient mechanical manufacturing in China, including the following famous inventions.
Restore the compass. Ma Jun thought there was a compass in ancient times, but it has been lost. No one has seen what a compass looks like. Ma Jun developed a acupuncturing machine composed of automobile and Woodenhead by using the structural principle of differential gear. The car is equipped with a gear transmission device, which can automatically clutch and connect with Woodenhead, and Woodenhead has a finger pointing forward.
No matter which direction the vehicle travels, under the action of the automatic clutch gear device, no matter how the vehicle turns, Woodenhead's hand points to the south.
The pedal jacquard loom used in the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period and Qin and Han Dynasties was improved. It used to take about two months to weave a filament, which was very clumsy.
Ma Jun was determined to improve this kind of silk loom in order to reduce the workers' labor, so he made a major improvement on the loom with low production efficiency in Han Dynasty, and transformed the moving parts of the loom, which not only greatly simplified the operation and increased the productivity by four or five times, but also improved the performance of the loom, and the woven fabric pattern was more exquisite, which was welcomed by the vast number of silk weavers.
Created the keel waterwheel. According to ancient records, there was a man named Bilan who overturned at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but the rollover at that time was still relatively rough.
Ma Jun is a small official in Wei State. In Luoyang where he lives, there is a big slope, which is very suitable for growing vegetables. Ma Jun saw the high terrain of the garden and the difficulty in irrigation, so he made a new type of water diversion tool, namely the keel waterwheel, to guide the water in the river up the slope.
"Irrigation is self-sufficient, so it can constantly carry water, which is light and labor-saving, and children can operate it. Moreover, it can drain water when it rains and accumulates water, which is much more efficient than other water lifting tools, thus making rollover widely popularized and applied.
Let water become a hundred plays. Ma Jun sent people to Wei Mingdi to see a puppet show. He made a big wheel out of wood, which was driven by water, and then connected with the characters and animals in the program through gear devices to make them move.
In this way, Woodenhead upstairs is moving: some drums, some flutes, some dances, some swords, some horseback riding, some hanging upside down from ropes, and the place where officials work, which is really endless.
Clever use of the principles of water conservancy and mechanical transmission makes the ever-changing "water changes into a hundred plays" successfully developed, which should be said to be a very outstanding creation in China's ancient puppet art.