| | Featured Article
The oldest known clocks and time keepers
The oldest known clocks started way back in the Ancient Egypt. The Roman architect and writer Vitruvius stated that early Egyptians created a time instrument powered by flowing waters. The Greeks named it the Clepsydras clock which literally means water thieves". This time tool did not depend its methodology on the movements of celestial bodies but instead utilizes stone vessels with sloping sides. This lets water to seep at a steady rate. Some of Clepsydras clock's forms include a bowl-shaped jug and a metal basin with a hole in its foundation. The later version is still applied in some North African countries at present. Among the oldest Clepsydras clocks was excavated in the royal burial ground of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep I, also known as Amenophis (1546 to 1526 BC). The Greeks began upgrading the Clepsydras in 325 BCE.
However, as early as 20,000 years ago, European ice-age hunters have used a primitive technique in counting time. They scratched a number of lines and gouged holes in sticks and animal bones. In relation, Sumerians in the Tigris-Euphrates valley (southeast Mesopotamia) in the present day Diwaniyah, Amara, and Basra (Iraq), have used a time telling device capable of counting 30 day months. The Stonehenge, which is an ancient building of great upright stones measuring a total of eight miles, was highly believed to be an ancient form of a clock. It was created 4000 years ago in the present day Salisbury, England.
The ancient Sumerian civilization handed down their knowledge to the Egyptians. The Egyptians then invented the hour which is very similar to what we use today. In 3500 BCE (Before the Common Era), they created the Obelisks. It is a massive stone monument typically erected in duos. The Egyptians connected it with the sun's ray which in turn increases its shadow width as they come nearer to Earth. The Obelisks' stirring shadows will then shape like a sundial. This allows them to differentiate between morning and afternoon. In 1500 BCE, the first handy clock was developed by the Egyptians. It was modeled after the shadow clock or sundial. The portable clock partitioned the day into ten divisions.
Andronikos, one of Macedonia's main astronomers, managed the development of the Horologion in the early 1st century BCE. He built it in one of Athens' marketplaces. This octagonal time keeper is a major upgrade of the Clepsydra clock. The Horologion aspects include a sundial, mechanical hour indicators, and a 24 hour automated clepsydra. At present, this great construction is now known as the Tower of the Winds. The Romans also created a much more complicated form of automated clepsydra.
In 1088, Su Sung (a Chinese inventor), developed a 30 feet high water-powered clock tower. It has a bronze motorized ball for annotations, a mechanically revolving celestial globe, and panels with doors. It became one of the earliest pieces of clocks in Asia.
The oldest recognized astronomical tool was first initiated at some point in 600 BCE. The ancient Egyptians named it merkhet. This early time device usually comes in pairs. It lines up with Pole Star to create a meridian.
In the quest for better year-round accuracy, sundials evolved from flat horizontal or vertical plates to more elaborate forms. One version was the hemispherical dial, a bowl-shaped depression cut into a block of stone, carrying a central vertical gnomon (pointer) and scribed with sets of hour lines for different seasons. The hemicycle, said to have been invented about 300 BCE, removed the useless half of the hemisphere to give an appearance of a half-bowl cut into the edge of a squared block. By 30 BCE, Vitruvius could describe 13 different sundial styles in use in Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy.
During the 9th century AD a clock that has an escapement method deficiency was invented. At some point in 1176, the French created the Horologe (named after the Greek term hora and legein which respectively means hour & tell) and mounted it in Sens Cathedral. The Horologe became the forefather of the present day large tower clocks. However, according to time and clock experts, the tower clocks that were created by Northern Italian monks in the 13th century AD are the first precise time device ever made. The monks used this type of clock to broadcast their prayer gaps or more commonly called as the canonical hours. The 16th century clocks of Nuremberg and Augsburg in southern Germany became the most primitive table clocks to have survived. It has a one hand dial separated into 4 fractions.
In 1657, the pendulum clock was invented. This key advancement led to a more accurate clocking system. During the early part of the 17th century, Italian physicist and telescopic astronomist Galileo Galilei initiated the idea of a swinging bob clock that is used to power a particular time machinery. Nonetheless, it was Dutch natural philosopher Christiaan Huygens (April 14, 1629 - July 8, 1695) who became the recognized inventor of the pendulum clock. Huygens resolved the mathematical principle of the pendulum length to time. William Clement, an English clockmaker, developed the first ever anchor escapement. His technology was modeled after Huygens' crown escapement clocking system. With the pendulum clock's fad effect, the grandfather clock, also known as the longcase clock, was invented. Again, William Clement industrialized the invention of the grandfather clock in 1670. During this period, clock cases were made out of wood and its face was utilized with the use of enamel.
American inventor Eli Terry established his first patented clock on November 17, 1797. He then became the Father of American Clock-making Industry.
Copyright © 2005 e Collectible Deals. All rights reserved. |
| |