Inventing Clocks Elimated Counting Days

Throughout recorded history and possibly before humans had an infatuation with time, apparently never having enough of it. From Stonehenge and sundials to pocket watches and alarm clocks, the old clocks and new all share the same common goal of helping people know what time it is.

From the time that ancient Egyptians realized the dog star, now known as Sirius rose next to the sun every 365 days, they devised a calendar based on that annual arrival, which included the flooding of the Nile River. That was 4236 BC and is the first recorded year in history. From this many old clocks were developed to count the number of hours and days, as well as the lunar activity and rising and falling tides. Most of these old clocks were nothing more than sticks with holes in them that were manually advanced as the sun progressed through the sky.

During their brief popularity sundials told time based on the rotation of the Earth, but cloudy days and periods of darkness made them useless. Many primitive timepieces relied on the shifting of the sun to tell time and had to be modified seasonally to be better understood.

First Alarm Clock Only Had One Setting

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.

Lots of old clocks used weight mechanisms to operate. This meant that the clocks tended to be quite large and not very portable. Grandfather clocks are a good example. Even relative smaller mantel clocks were quite bulky. Innovation in the methods of clock construction have evolved over the years. The one thing which has not changed is man’s fascination with time.