Ding Huan's seven-wheeled rotary fan
Ventilador rotatorio de siete ruedas de Ding Huan
- Date
- c. 180 · confidence medium
- Place
- Chang'an (Xi'an), Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Ding Huan, Han craftsman
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A large seven-wheeled fan some three metres across, turned by hand with a crank, which cooled a palace hall. It is the earliest documented rotary fan for cooling a building.
The report comes from the Xijing zaji, a compilation later than the Han period, so the technical details (seven wheels, size) are traditional and not archaeologically confirmed.
What it led to
- mechanical cooling of halls in Chinese palaces and elite houses
- crank and pedal fans in Asia
- modern electric fans