龙尾车提水效能研究<br />——兼论明清时期欧洲龙尾车缘何未能取代中国龙骨车-《中国农史》

文章信息/Info

Title:: A Research on the Water-lifting Efficiency of the Archimedean Screw: Why It Failed to Take the Place of the Traditional Chinese Water-lifting Device in the Ming-Qing Era

Author(s):: SU Yun-meng SHI Yun-li; （Department of History of Science and Scientific Archaeology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026）

Keywords:: Archimedean screw; dragon-tail pump; dragon-bone pump; water-lifting efficiency

摘要:: 明末传教士熊三拔与徐光启合编《泰西水法》，西方水利机械龙尾车藉此传入中国。虽然龙尾车得到徐光启等明清士人的大力赞赏，但始终未能在中国广泛应用。文章从提水效能的角度对龙尾车的提水能力进行了理论分析，比对了龙尾车与中国传统提水机械龙骨车之间的优劣，发现龙尾车的提水能力与其形制大小密切相关，其机械效率远不如龙骨车；在明清时期的个体小农经济生产方式主导下，提水效能的不足很可能是龙尾车未能被广泛应用的重要原因之一。

Abstract:: In the late Ming Dynasty, the Jesuit missionary Sabbatino de Ursis worked with Xu Guangqi in compiling the book Taixi shuifa （泰西水法, Water Methods from the Grand West）, through which the western water-lifting device longwei che（龙尾车, Dragon-tail Pump）, the Archimedean Screw, was introduced into China. Although the device was greatly appreciated by a number of Ming-Qing scholars such as Xu Guangxi, it did not win a wide application in China. This thesis try to conduct a theoretical analysis into the water-lifting capacity of the Archimedean Screw from the perspective of mechanical efficiency. After Comparing this device with the traditional Chinese water-lifting device longgu che（龙骨车, Dragon-bone Pump）, it found that the water-lifting capacity of Dragon-tail Pump is closely related to its geometrical shape and structure, and its mechanical efficiency is much worse than that of the Dragon-bone Pump. The lower water-lifting efficiency may well be one of the most important reasons why Dragon-tail Pump was not widely applied during the Ming and Qing period when the social production was still dominated by the small-scale farming of individual land owners.