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A STUDY ON THE ARMILLARY SPHERE OF TONGCHEON-UI DESCRIBED BY HONG DAE-YONG

홍대용 통천의의 혼천의 연구

  • Received : 2021.09.30
  • Accepted : 2021.12.14
  • Published : 2021.12.31
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Abstract

This study aims to develop a restoration model of an armillary sphere of Tongcheon-ui (Pan-celestial Armillary Sphere) by referring to the records of Damheonseo (Hong Dae-Yong Anthology) and the artifact of an armillary sphere in the Korean Christian Museum of Soongsil University. Between 1760 and 1762, Hong, Dae-Yong (1731-1783) built Tongcheon-ui, with Na, Kyung-Jeok (1690-1762) designing the basic structure and Ann, Cheo-In (1710-1787) completing the assembly. The model in this study is a spherical body with a diameter of 510 mm. Tongcheon-ui operates the armillary sphere by transmitting the rotational power from the lantern clock. The armillary sphere is constructed in the fashion of a two-layer sphere: the outer one is Yukhab-ui that is fixed; and the inner one, Samsin-ui, is rotated around the polar axis. In the equatorial ring possessed by Samsin-ui, an ecliptic ring and a lunar-path ring are successively fixed and are tilted by 23.5° and 28.5° over the equatorial ring, respectively. A solar miniature attached to a 365-toothed inner gear on the ecliptic ring reproduces the annual motion of the Sun. A lunar miniature installed on a 114-toothed inner gear of the lunar-path ring can also replay the moon's orbital motion and phase change. By the set of 'a ratchet gear, a shaft and a spur gear' installed in the solstice-colure double-ring, the inner gears in the ecliptic ring and lunar-path ring can be rotated in the opposite direction to the rotation of Samsin-ui and then the solar and lunar miniatures can simulate their revolution over the period of a year and a month, respectively. In order to indicate the change of the moon phases, 27 pins were arranged in a uniform circle around the lunar-path ring, and the 29-toothed wheel is fixed under the solar miniature. At the center of the armillary sphere, an earth plate representing a world map is fixed horizontally. Tongcheon-ui is the armillary sphere clock developed by Confucian scholars in the late Joseon Dynasty, and the technical level at which astronomical clocks could be produced at the time is of a high standard.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

본 연구를 위해 홍대용 가문의 혼천의 유물을 조사할 수 있도록 허락해 주신 숭실대학교 한국기독교박물관 관계자께 감사드립니다. 본 연구는 2021년 국립중앙과학관 기본연구과제 "조선후기 기계시계 장치 전시품개발 연구(연구책임자 윤용현)"의 지원으로 수행되었습니다. 이 연구는 정부(과학기술정보통신부)의 재원으로 한국연구재단의 지원을 받아 수행되었습니다(No. 2019R1 F1A1057508).

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