Gimbal suspension
Suspensión cardán
- Date
- c. 180 CE · confidence medium
- Place
- Chang'an (Xi'an), Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Ding Huan
- People
- 👤 Ding Huan150–
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A set of concentric, hinged rings that keeps an object level even when its support is turned; Ding Huan used it in an incense burner so it could be placed among the bedclothes. It is the principle behind marine compasses and gyroscopes.
Philo of Byzantium describes a similarly suspended inkwell in the 3rd century BCE; Sima Xiangru alludes to the device in China around 140 BCE. Probably an independent invention.
What it led to
- spherical incense burners and hanging lamps
- mounting for marine compasses
- cardan (universal) joints