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History of Clocks
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 The
clock is one of the oldest inventions of humankind—which makes
the history of clocks an interesting and quite detailed one. In
principle, the seasons and the phases of the moon are used to measure
time. The shorter processes, the function served by the clocks we
have today, measure hours and minutes. The sundial was one of the
first clocks and it is important in the history of clocks. Time
is measured by sundials based on the direction of shadows cast by
the sun, this timepiece was used in ancient times.
Candles, as well as sticks of incense have been used in the history
of clocks, which burn down at approximately predictable speeds.
An hourglass, also used in the history of clocks has fine sand pours
through a tiny hole at a predictable rate—measuring about
an hour.
The historian Vitruvius reported that the ancient Egyptians also
used a clepsydras, a time mechanism run by flowing water, this is
largely thought to be an early mechanical clock.
A variety of mechanical clocks produced by Spanish Muslim engineers
were both large and small clocks. These clocks were weight-driven.
In the history of clocks designs and illustrations of epi-cyclic
and segmental gears can be found. One such clock included a mercury
escapement and was directly copied by Europeans during the 15th
century. In the history of clocks the Muslims also constructed a
variety of highly accurate astronomical clocks for use in their
observatories.
The earliest reasonably accurate clocks in history are the 13th
century tower. However, canonical hours differ in length, and varied
as the times of sunrise and sunset shifted.
The earliest table clocks in the history of clocks are mid-16th
century clocks from the metalworking towns of Nuremberg and Augsburg.
These clocks have only one hand. The dial between the hour markers
is divided into four equal parts making the clocks readable to the
nearest 15 minutes.
The massive clock on Big Ben, London, England is, of course, a
landmark in the history of clocks.. The hour hand is 9 feet (2.7
m) long and the minute hand is 14 feet (4.3 m).
The next major development in the history of clocks occurred in
1657 with the invention of the pendulum clock. Galileo had the idea,
but Christiaan Huygens, however, is usually credited as the inventor,
he had the first pendulum driven clock made.
In 1670, in the history of clocks, English clockmaker William Clement
created the anchor escapement, an improvement over Huygens' crown
escapement. Within just one generation, minute hands and then second
hands were added.
The excitement over the pendulum clock attracted the attention
of designers resulting in a plethora of new inventions and designs.
There are so many of them in the history of clocks, that I will
only be able to provide this introduction. Yet, even today we continue
to improve our clocks. Whether it be adding features like alarms,
current temperature readings etc., there is more history to be added
to the history of clocks.
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