5 Century AD
Manufacturing
Co-fusion or ?Siemens? process (for producing steal by melting cast iron with wrought iron).
?Magic mirror? (a solid bronze mirror through which light may apparently pass).
Mathematics
Advanced value of pi (calculated to ten decimal places: 3.1415929203) (Tsu Ch?ung-Chih and Tsu Keng-Chih).
Mechanical Engineering
Crank-activated piston (which is similar to components essential to the modern steam engine).
Transportation/Warfare
Paddle-wheel boat (construction of a boat propelled by one or more paddle wheels for improved speed, maneuverability, and freedom from reliance on wind, sometimes used in warfare; however, the idea appeared independently in a prior European manuscript [dated to the late 4 century]).
6 Century AD
Aeronautics
Human flight with kites (possibly as early as the 4 century BC).
Chemical Engineering
Match (for quick, convenient creation of fire).
Entertainment
?Image-chess? (the early ancestor of modern chess).
Manufacturing
Toilet paper.
Transportation
Land sailing (using wind and one or more sails to propel a wheeled vehicle).
7 Century AD
Astronomy
Discovery of the solar wind (the outward physical force exerted by the sun).
Civil Engineering
Segmental arch bridge (a bridge constructed of one or more arches each of which outlines not a semi-circle but a smaller segment thereof) (Li Ch?un).
Distilling
Brandy (an alcoholic beverage prepared by distilling wine).
Whisky (an alcoholic beverage prepared by distilling liquid produced from fermented grain).
Medicine
Recognition of excess sugar in the urine of diabetics (Chen Ch?üan)
Using thyroid hormone to treat goiter (a disease of the thyroid) (Chen Ch?üan).
Printing
Woodblock printing on silk.
8 Century AD
Mechanical Engineering/Scientific Instrumentation
Mechanical clock (for indicating both time and positions of heavenly bodies) (I-Hsing).
Naval Engineering/Transportation
Leeboard (a board lowered from a ship into water to sail more efficiently into the wind by preventing leeward drift).
Printing
Text printing (however not book printing, which begins in the following 9 century).
9 Century AD
Chemical Engineering
Gunpowder (first used in fireworks and, by the 10 century, artillery and bombs).
Commerce/Economy
Bank draft (which is more convenient than coins or ingots and facilitates commerce by enabling merchants to deposit coins or ingots at one bank in return for a certificate which may be redeemed at another for coins or ingots).
Aeronautics/Entertainment
Helicopter top (initially used in flying toys).
Physics/Geology
Magnetic variation or declination (the difference between truth north and magnetic north).
Printing
Book printing (for eventual publication of an enormous number of relatively inexpensive books; it revolutionized education and dramatically improved the diffusion of knowledge).
Printing/Entertainment
Playing cards.
Warfare
Paper armor (which protected the wearer from arrows).
10 Century AD
Civil Engineering/Transportation
Canal pound-lock (for improved, safer navigation of canals regardless changing water levels) (Ch?iao Wei-Yo).
Commerce/Economy
Paper money backed by deposited cash (which facilitates commerce by enabling businesses and individuals to dispense with coins and ingots which are difficult to store and transport in large quantities).
Warfare
Gunpowder-impregnated slow match fuse (as the source of fire in flame-throwers).
Flame-thrower (a weapon which produces a constant and destructive stream of burning gasoline or kerosene).
Gunpowder incendiary arrow (which ignites a fire upon hitting its target).
Fire-lance or proto-gun (a military weapon which utilizes gunpowder and acts as a portable, potentially lethal flame-thrower of relatively brief duration).
11 Century AD
Mechanical Engineering/Scientific Instrumentation
Improved mechanical clock (for indicating time and positions of the heavenly bodies with greater accuracy thanks in part to its superior mechanical escapement) (Su Sung).
Naval Engineering
Underwater salvage operations (e.g., raising large sunken objects) (Huai-Ping).
Navigation
Magnetic compass used for navigation at sea (possibly as early as the 9 century).
Physics
Discovery of magnetic remanence (observing that magnets demagnetize when heated).
Discovery of magnetic induction (observing that iron magnetizes when heated and then cooled while aligned in a magnetic field).
Printing
Multi-color printing.
Movable type (which is assembled piece by piece in a form or frame from which one may print pages) (Pi Sheng).
Warfare
Gunpowder incendiary bomb (which does not explode but does ignite fires).
Gunpowder exploding bomb (enclosed in a soft shell, e.g., bamboo).
Crossbow stirrup (for more efficient arming).
10 Century AD
Cartography
Cylindrical or ?Mercator? map-projection (which is in common use to this day).
Chemical Engineering
Phosphorescent paint (which glows in the dark).
Mechanical Engineering
Chain-drive (a continuous loop of chain that transmits circular motion from one gear to another, first used in a mechanical clock) (Chang Ssu-Hsun).
Water-cooled ?economic? lamp (which conserves fuel by slowing its evaporation).
Medicine
Small pox vaccination (preventing untold numbers of deaths).
11 Century AD
Cartography/Astronomy
Published star map (in New Design for a Mechanized Armillary Sphere and Celestial Globe) (Su Sung).
Mathematics
?Pascal?s? Triangle (a special triangular arrangement of numbers which may be used to solve certain algebraic problems) (Liu Ju-Hsieh).
Mechanical Engineering/Manufacturing
Spinning-wheel (for producing thread from fibers; possibly much earlier).
12 Century AD
Aeronautics
Application of the ?Venturi-tube effect? (constricting the opening of a rocket tube to increase power).
Aeronautics/Entertainment
Rocket (initially used in fireworks, but, later, beginning in the 13 century, warfare).
Chemistry
Heated quartz test (for identifying saltpeter, an ingredient essential to gunpowder [the latter invented in the 9 century]).
Warfare
Repeating or ?machine-gun? crossbow (for rapid, nonstop firing).
Gunpowder grenade (a small explosive which may be hurled by hand at the enemy).
13 Century AD
Acoustics/Music
Equal temperament tuning of musical instruments (which enables one to play them in any key) (Chu Tsai-Yü).
Astronomy
Equatorial mounted torquetum (the equatorial or ?modern? mount, which is aligned with the celestial pole, was commonly used with observational instruments, including the torquetum, and is commonly used with telescopes to this day) (Kuo Shou-Ching).
Mathematics
Use of numerical equations of higher degrees than third (those with such values as x4, x5, etc.; essential to higher mathematics) (Ch?in Chiu-Shao).
Warfare
Handgun (which eventually revolutionized warfare).
Land mine (a bomb which is triggered when someone walks on or near it).
?Modern? metal-enclosed gunpowder bomb (which, because it produces shrapnel, is more destructive and deadly than earlier bombs).
Rocket (used as a military weapon).
Sea mine (a bomb which attaches to an enemy?s ship).
Signal flare (for communication).
14 Century AD
Aeronautics/Warfare
In-flight stabilizers for rockets (fins or wings that improve performance).
Multi-stage rocket (which may have a greater range than a single-stage rocket).
Warfare
Canon (which eventually revolutionized warfare; possibly invented in the 13 century).
17 Century AD
Aeronautics/Mechanical Engineering
Vertically mounted wind wheels (the basis of modern airplane propellers).
http://www.villarevak.org/cathay/invention.html