The Development Of Old Clocks

Time piece inventors throughout recorded history have had one common objective.They have all tried to accurately measure time so that people could use it better. They have constructed a number of time measurement mechanisms.. Among them are sundials, stone structures like Stonehenge, pocket watches, and various clocks.

The star sirius appears near the sun every 365 days. The ancient Egyptians developed a calendar knowing this in the year 4236 BC. Old clocks, many made of sticks, were based on this calendar and lunar and tidal acitivity and were operated manually by moving the stick to align with the sun. Other indicators to help gauge the annual time included the flooding of the nile river.

Sundials made their appearance briefly and while based on a fascinating theory, the shifting of the Earth's rotation as well as cloudy days rendered them unreliable. Additionally, they were worthless during the dark. Although many of the old clocks were based on the movement of the sun and over time were adjusted according to the seasons as they became better understood.

Old Alarm Clocks Came Preset

In 1787 in New Hampshire, the very first mechanical alarm was made. This alarm had one problem. The bell only went off at one time of the day, 4 am. Then in 1876 and alarm that was adjustable was made. Seth Thomas had the patent for that basic alarm and many of those manufactured today.

Before 1912 there were only two possible operating systems for old clocks. They either utilized a pendulum's mechanical action or they kept time by winding a main spring. In 1912 the Warren Clock Company began to produce battery operated clocks. The first wrist watch was invented in the early 17th century when a French mathematician attached a string to a pocket watch. Wrist watches are now the most popular timepieces in the world.

Since many of the old clocks were operated by weights, the size was such that portability was a problem. Grandfather clocks became one of the most widely used type of old clocks followed by a smaller version that could fit on the mantle of a home's fireplace or tabletop. The sizes and shapes of clocks have gone through many changes over the centuries with the only thing remaining constant is the human's fascination with time.