The Gearwork Prophets - Part 2: South-Pointing Chariot: The Inertial Guidance System
The Gearwork Prophets: Mechanical Minds Before the Machine Age 1 The Gearwork Prophets - Part 1: The Antikythera Mechanism: The First Analog Computer 2 The Gearwork Prophets - Part 2: South-Pointing Chariot: The Inertial Guidance System 3 The Gearwork Prophets - Part 3: Heron’s Automation: Steam Engines & Holy Water Vending Machines 4 The Gearwork Prophets - Part 4: Archimedes' Mechanical Planetariums 5 The Gearwork Prophets - Part 5: Zhang Heng’s Seismoscope: The First Earthquake Detector ← Series Home A Mechanical Compass That Defied Magnetic North Imagine an ornate chariot carrying a statue whose perpetually outstretched arm points unerringly toward the south. This legendary vehicle, documented in ancient China around the 3rd century CE, maintained its bearing no matter how many times the chariot turned. This was not a primitive magnetic compass; it was a complex system of gears operating as a mechanical computer. The South-Pointing Chariot stands as a profound achievement in engineering, showcasing a mastery of differential mathematics and feedback control systems centuries ahead of its time. ...