Pre-historic man did not have a need for clocks, but as civilization evolved, that

all chnaged. The historical record reveals that approximatley 5000 to 6000
years ago great civilizations in the Middle East and North Africa began to make
clocks to augment their calendars. With their attendant bureaucracies, formal
religions, and other burgeoning societal activities, these cultures apparently
found a need to organize their time more efficiently.

A clock (from the Latin cloca - bell) is an instrument for measuring time and
for measuring time intervals of less than a day - as opposed to a calendar.
Those used for technical purposes, of very high accuracy, are usually called
chronometers. A portable clock is called a watch. The clock in its most
common modern form (in use since at least the 14th century) displays the
hours, minutes and, sometimes, seconds that pass during a twelve- or twenty-
four-hour period.

One of the key drivers of inventing methods of keeping track of time were the
farmers needs to determine the best time to plant. Archaeologists have
discovered bones with inscriptions that are believed to have been used to track
lunar cycles.

The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, requiring a physical process
that will proceed at a known rate and a way to gauge how long that process has
run. As the seasons and the phases of the moon can be used to measure the
passage of longer periods of time, shorter processes had to be used to measure
off hours and minutes.

China

Incense Alarm Clock

Candles and sticks of incense that burn down at approximate predictable speeds
were also used as to estimate the passage of time. The image above of an
ancientChinese dragon shaped device was constructed with a sequence of bells
tied to a horizontally mounted burning incense. When the burning incense burnt
and broke the threads, the bells fell down at preset interval to give an alarm.

Hourglass
 An hourglass filled with fine sand, poured through a tiny hole,

at a constant rate, indicated a predetermined passage of time.

An hour glass is basically 2 bubbles of glass with a narrow middle; wood is

used to close off the sand. The sand is measured and sealed and the hour glass
is turned over and over. This type of clock was the first one to not be dependent
on the weather. It's used for short periods of time such as speeches, sermons,
watch duty, cooking, and at sea to calculate one's position.

To calculate the speed at sea, one would throw a piece of wood overboard tied
with a knotted rope. When a knot ran through one's fingers in 1/2 a minute
measured by the hour glass, it indicated that the vessel was going at the speed
of 1 nautical mile an hour. The knots were very wide apart and one just counted
the knots. Hence the phrase "knots an hour".

The center of the hour glass would get clogged. Course sand wore away at the
center and made the opening wider. An hour glass had to be on a flat surface in
order to work properly.

Sundial

Sundials were another early method for marking time.

The sundial, which measures the time of day by the direction of shadows cast
by the sun, was widely known in ancient times.

Sumer

The Sumerians used sundials. They divided the day into 12 parts and each part
was about 2 hours long. They measured the length of shadows to determine
how much time had passed. No one is really sure why the Sumerians kept track
of time; maybe it was for religious purposes. Sundials were dependent on the
weather; it would be useless on a cloudy day and the winter and summer
shadows would not correspond with the markings. In order for the sundial to
work correctly, it had to be positioned correctly.

Egypt

The Egyptians, by 2100 BC, had invented a means to divide the day into 24
hours using sundials or shadow clocks to measure the time of day. The Sundial
indicates the time of day by the positioning of the shadow of some object on
which the sun's rays fall. The shadow clock consists of a straight base with a
raised crosspiece at one end. A scale with time divisions is inscribed on the
base. The clock is set east-west and is reversed at midday.
The Egyptians also divided the day into 12 parts as well. They used huge
granite columns called Cleopatra Needles, a trio of obelisks, to keep track of
time periods. They had 12 marks on the ground that equalled 12 parts of the
day. When the sun touched the top, a shadow was created and the length and
position of the shadow told the Egyptians how much daylight remained. They
invented a portable piece called a sundial. It contains 3 parts: a circular dial, a
needle and a style (gnomon) to keep the needle in place. Cleopatra's needles
were inconvient and impractical for the average person.

Merkhet
The 'merkhet', the oldest known astronomical tool, was an Egyptian
development of around 600 B.C. A pair of merkhets were used to establish a
north-south line by lining them up with the Pole Star. They could then be used
to mark off nighttime hours by determining when certain other stars crossed the
meridian. The Merkhet, known as the "instrument of knowing" was a sighting
tool made from the central rib of a palm leaf and was similar in function to an
astrolobe. The merkhet was used for aligning the foundations of the pyramids
and sun temples with the cardinal points, and was usually correct to within less
than half a degree.

Rome

The Romans divided time into night and day. According to the writer Pliny,
criers announced the rising/setting of the sun. In 30 B.C, they stole Cleopatra's
Needle but were unable to adapt. Al-Battani realized that the gnomon (pointer)
had to point towards the North Star and the length and size of the gnomon
varied with the distance from the equator.

In the quest for more 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 and scribed with sets of hour lines for different
seasons. The hemicycle, said to have been invented about 300 B.C., 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 B.C., Vitruvius could describe 13 different
sundial styles in use in Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy.
 Water Clock

Water clocks were among the earliest timekeepers that didn't depend on the
observation of celestial bodies. Water clocks were used in ancient Babylon,
Mesopotami, China, Korea, Egypt, Greece, India, Arabia, Muslim and
civilizations.

One of the oldest water clocks was found in the tomb of Amenhotep I, buried
around 1500 B.C.
Later they were named clepsydras ('water thief') by the Greeks, who began
using them about 325 B.C. These were stone vessels with sloping sides that
allowed water to drip at a nearly constant rate from a small hole near the
bottom.

Other Egyptian clepsydras were cylindrical or bowl-shaped containers designed

to slowly fill with water coming in at a constant rate. Markings on the inside
surfaces measured the passage of "hours" as the water level reached them.
These clocks were used to determine hours at night, but may have been used in
daylight as well. Another version consisted of a metal bowl with a hole in the
bottom; when placed in a container of water the bowl would fill and sink in a
certain time. These were still in use in North Africa this century. The need to
track night hours lead to the invention of the water clock by 1500 BC, the
Egyptians. This clock uses the steady dripping of water from a vessel to drive a
mechanical device that tells the time. It was basically a bucket of water with a
hole in the bottom. A water clock showed the passage of time but it didn't keep
exact hours in a day. Egyptians were the people most likely to have invented
them but the Greeks had the most advanced ones.

The historian Vitruvius reported that the ancient Egyptians used a clepsydra, a
time mechanism using flowing water. Herodotus had mentioned an ancient
Egyptian time-keeping device that was based on mercury. By the 9th century
AD a mechanical timekeeper had been developed that lacked only an
escapement mechanism.
In 250 B.C, Archimedes built a more elaborate water clock; he added gears and
showed the planets and moon orbiting.

In order for a water clock to work properly, someone had to keep an eye on it;
to make sure that no pebbles were in the bowl to increase talking time. These
clocks were never exact; each clock had its own pace. And they couldn't be
used in winter.

These clocks were used for nearly 3,000 years and grew more and more
sophisticated. Water clocks were designed with ringing bells, moving puppets
and mechanical singing birds.

More elaborate and impressive mechanized water clocks were developed

between 100 B.C. and 500 A.D. by Greek and Roman horologists and
astronomers. The added complexity was aimed at making the flow more
constant by regulating the pressure, and at providing fancier displays of the
passage of time. Some water clocks rang bells and gongs, others opened doors
and windows to show little figures of people, or moved pointers, dials, and
astrological models of the universe.
Greek astronomer, Andronikos, supervised the construction of the Tower of the
Winds in Athens in the 1st century B.C. This octagonal structure showed
scholars and marketplace shoppers both sundials and mechanical hour
indicators. It featured a 24-hour mechanized clepsydra and indicators for the
eight winds from which the tower got its name, and it displayed the seasons of
the year and astrological dates and periods. The Romans also developed
mechanized clepsydras, though their complexity accomplished little
improvement over simpler methods for determining the passage of time.
In the Far East, mechanized astronomical/astrological clock-making developed
from 200 to 1300 A.D. Third-century Chinese clepsydras drove various
mechanisms that illustrated astronomical phenomena. One of the most
elaborate clock towers was built by Su Sung and his associates in 1088 A.D. Su
Sung's mechanism incorporated a water-driven escapement invented about 725
A.D. The Su Sung clock tower, over 30 feet tall, possessed a bronze power-
driven armillary sphere for observations, an automatically rotating celestial
globe, and five front panels with doors that permitted the viewing of changing
mannikins which rang bells or gongs, and held tablets indicating the hour or
other special times of the day.

Early Mechanical Clocks

The first clock used gravity pulled weights which moved gears, which moved
the hands of the clock. The problem with this device was someone had to
constantly reset the weights.
14th century clocks show the four key elements common to all clocks in
subsequent centuries, at least up to the digital age:

• the power, supplied by a falling weight, later by a coiled spring

• the escapement, a periodic repetitive action that allows the power to
escape in small bursts rather than drain away all at once
• the going train, a set of interlocking gear wheels that controls the speed
of rotation of the wheels connected between the power supply and the
indicators
• indicators, such as dials, hands, and bells

No clocks survive from medieval Europe but various mentions in church

records reveal some of the early history of the clock.

Medieval religious institutions required clocks to measure and indicate the

passing of time because, for many centuries, daily prayer and work schedules
had to be strictly regulated. This was done by various types of time-telling and
recording devices, such as water clocks, sundials and marked candles, probably
used in combination. Important times and durations were broadcast by bells,
rung either by hand or by some mechanical device such as a falling weight or
rotating beater.

The word 'horologia' (from the Greek hora, hour, and legein, to tell) was used
to describe all these devices but the use of this word (still used in several
romance languages) for all timekeepers conceals from us the true nature of the
mechanisms. For example, there is a record that in 1176 Sens Cathedral
installed a 'horologe' but the mechanism used is unknown.

In 1198, during a fire at the abbey of St Edmundsbury (now Bury St Edmunds)

the monks 'ran to the clock' to fetch water, indicating that their water clock had
a reservoir large enough to help extinguish the occasional fire.These early
clocks may not have used hands or dials but ³told² the time with audible
signals.

The word 'clock' (from the Latin word for "bell") which gradually supersedes
'horologe' suggests that it was the sound of bells which also characterized the
prototype mechanical clocks that appeared during the 13th century.

Between 1280 and 1320 there is an increase in the number of references to

clocks and horologes in church records, and this probably indicates that a new
type of clock mechanism had been devised. Existing clock mechanisms that
used water power were being adapted to take the driving power from falling
weights. This power was controlled by some form of oscillating mechanism,
probably derived from existing bell-ringing or alarm devices. This controlled
release of power - the escapement - marks the beginning of the true mechanical
clock.

These mechanical clocks were intended for two main purposes: for signalling
and notification (e.g. the timing of services and public events), and for
modelling the solar system. The former purpose is administrative, the latter
arises naturally given the scholarly interest in astronomy, science, astrology,
and how these subjects integrated with the religious philosopy of the time.

Astrolabe

The astrolabe was used both by astronomers and astrologers, and it was natural
to apply a clockwork drive to the rotating plate to produce a working model of
the solar system.

Simple clocks intended mainly for notification were installed in towers, and did
not always require dials or hands. They would have announced the canonical
hours or intervals between set times of prayer. Canonical hours varied in length
as the times of sunrise and sunset shifted.

The more sophisticated astronomical clocks would have had moving dials or
hands, and would have shown the time in various time systems, including
Italian hours, canonical hours, and time as measured by astronomers at the
time. Both styles of clock started acquiring extravagant features such as
automata.
In 1283 a large clock was installed at Dunstable Priory; its location above the
rood screen suggests that it was not a water clock.

In 1292, Canterbury Cathedral installed a 'great horloge'. Over the next 30

years there are brief mentions of clocks at a number of ecclesiastical
institutions in England, Italy, and France.

In 1322 a new clock was installed in Norwich, an expensive replacement for an

earlier clock installed in 1273. This had a large (2 metre) astronomical dial with
automata and bells. The costs of the installation included the full-time
employment of two technicians for two years.

The first major advance in clock construction occurred in Europe during the
14th century. It was found that the speed of a falling weight could be controlled
by using a oscillating horizontal bar attached to a vertical spindle with two
protrusions on it which acted like escapements, (cliff like ridges). When the
protrusions meshed with a tooth of a gear driven by the weight, it momentarily
stopped the revolving wheel and weight. These oldest type of mechanical
clocks can still be seen in France and England.

Strasbourg Cathedral
View my trip there in 2005

The Strasbourg Cathedral was the first clock tower built (1352-54) and still
works today.
As Europe grew, each town had to find a way to tell time; there was an
emphasis on productivity and work.

14th Century

Near the end of the 14th century, the spring had begun to replace the weight in
some clocks. This advancement allowed for clocks which could be carried. One
problem with a spring clock is that the escapement mechanism must always be
operated with a constant force. The problem was that as the spring unwound, it
lost power. To solve this, the stackfreed was introduced. This is an extra spring
that works against the motion when the watch is fully wound.

15th Century

Spring-driven clocks were developed during the 15th century, and this gave
the clockmakers many new problems to solve, such as how to compensate for
the changing power supplied as the spring unwound.

The first record of a minute hand on a clock is 1475, in the Almanus

Manuscript of Brother Paul.

16th Century

In 1504 the first portable time piece was invented in Nuremberg, Germany by
Peter Henlein. Replacing the heavy drive weights permitted smaller (and
portable) clocks and watches. Although they slowed down as the mainspring
unwound, they were popular among wealthy individuals due to their size and
the fact that they could be put on a shelf or table instead of hanging from the
wall. These advances in design were precursors to truly accurate timekeeping.

In 1577 the minute hand was invented by Jost Burgi for Tycho Brahe; he was
an astronomer who needed accurate clocks to track stars.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, clockmaking flourished, particularly in the
metalworking towns of Nuremberg and Augsburg, and, in France, Blois. Some
of the more basic table clocks have only one time-keeping hand, with the dial
between the hour markers being divided into four equal parts making the clocks
readable to the nearest 15 minutes. Other clocks were exhibitions of
craftsmanship and skill, incorporating astronomical indicators and musical
movements.
The cross-beat escapement was developed in 1585 by Jobst Burgi, who also
developed the remontoire. Burgi's accurate clocks helped Tycho Brahe and
Johannes Kepler to observe astronomical events with much greater precision
than before.The first record of a second hand on a clock is about 1560, on a
clock now in the Fremersdorf collection.

However, this clock could not have been accurate, and the second hand was
probably for indicating that the clock was working.The next development in
accuracy occurred after 1657 with the invention of the pendulum clock.

17th Century

By 1656, the pendulum was incorporated into clocks, which lead to better
paced and more accurate clocks. Although fairly accurate, clocks accuracy was
dramatically improved by the introduction of the pendulum. Galileo had the
idea to use a swinging bob to propel the motion of a time telling device earlier
in the 17th century. Although Galileo Galilei, sometimes credited with
inventing the pendulum, studied its motion as early as 1582, Galileo's design
for a clock was not built before his death.

Christiaan Huygens' pendulum clock was regulated by a mechanism with a

"natural" period of oscillation. Huygens' pendulum clock had an error of less
than 1 minute a day, the first time such accuracy had been achieved. His later
refinements reduced his clock's errors to less than 10 seconds a day.
Around 1675 Huygens developed the balance wheel and spring assembly, still
found in some of today's wrist watches. This improvement allowed 17th
century watches to keep time to 10 minutes a day. And in London in 1671
William Clement began building clocks with the new "anchor" or "recoil"
escapement, a substantial improvement over the verge because it interferes less
with the motion of the pendulum.

In 1670, the 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.

A major stimulus to improving the accuracy and reliability of clocks was the
importance of precise time-keeping for navigation. The position of a ship at sea
could be determined with reasonable accuracy if a navigator could refer to a
clock that lost or gained less than about 10 seconds per day. Many European
governments offered a large prize for anyone that could determine longitude
accurately.

Christiaan Huygens, however, is usually credited as the inventor. He

determined the mathematical formula that related pendulum length to time
(99.38 cm or 39.13 inches for the one second movement) and had the first
pendulum-driven clock made.

The pendulums swinging ensures that the protrusions move the gears wheels
tooth by tooth while the motion of the protrusions keeps the pendulum moving.
It was improved further by the Englishmen Robert Hooke who invented the
anchor or recoil escapement.

During the 16th and 17th centuries the need for accurate clocks while sailing
across the oceans arose. While springs made clocks portable, they were not
accurate for long periods. Hooke realized that a spring would not be affected by
the ship's motion as a pendulum would, but the available mainspring devices
were not accurate enough for long periods of time until 1675, when the balance
wheel, a very thin spiral hairspring (separate from the mainspring) whose inner
end was secured to the spindle of a rotatable balance and whose outer end was
fixed to the case of the timepiece. The spring stored or released energy during
the rotation of the balance. John Harrison's chronometer no. 4, was in error by
only 54 seconds after a sea voyage of 156 days.

The balance wheel, hairspring, and mainspring, together with the anchor
escapement, or improved escapements, still make up the basics of even todays
modern watches. Introduction of jewels as bearings have further improved on
this basic system.

This improved the functioning of the gear train. Infact, this method is still used
today. The greatest benefit of this method was that it allowed for very long
pendulums with a swing of one second. The out growth of this invention was
the walled pendulum clock where the weights and pendulum are completely
enclosed in a case. Of course, most people are very familiar with these clocks
with the most common being the 'Grandfather Clock'.

The reward was eventually claimed in 1761 by John Harrison, who dedicated
his life to improving the accuracy of his clocks. His H5 clock is reported to
have lost less than 5 seconds over 10 days.

The excitement over the pendulum clock had attracted the attention of
designers resulting in a proliferation of clock forms. Notably, the longcase
clock (also known as the grandfather clock) was created to house the pendulum
and works. The English clockmaker William Clement is also credited with
developing this form in 1670 or 1671. It was also at this time that clock cases
began to be made of wood and clock faces to utilize enamel as well as hand-
painted ceramics.

18th Century

In 1721 George Graham improved the pendulum clock's accuracy to 1 second a

day by compensating for changes in the pendulum's length due to temperature
variations. John Harrison, a carpenter and self-taught clock-maker, refined
Graham's temperature compensation techniques and added new methods of
reducing friction.

By 1761 he had built a marine chronometer with a spring and balance wheel
escapement that won the British government's 1714 prize (of over $2,000,000
in today's currency) offered for a means of determining longitude to within one-
half degree after a voyage to the West Indies. It kept time on board a rolling
ship to about one-fifth of a second a day, nearly as well as a pendulum clock
could do on land, and 10 times better than required.

On November 17, 1797, Eli Terry received his first patent for a clock. Terry is
known as the founder of the American clock-making industry.

19th Century

Alexander Bain, Scottish clockmaker, patented the electric clock in 1840. The
electric clock's mainspring is wound either with an electric motor or with an
electro-magnet and armature. In 1841, he first patented the electromagnetic
pendulum.

Over the next century refinements led in 1889 to Siegmund Riefler's clock with
a nearly free pendulum, which attained an accuracy of a hundredth of a second
a day and became the standard in many astronomical observatories. A true free-
pendulum principle was introduced by R. J. Rudd about 1898, stimulating
development of several free-pendulum clocks.

20th Century

One of the most famous, the W. H. Shortt clock, was demonstrated in 1921.
The Shortt clock almost immediately replaced Riefler's clock as a supreme
timekeeper in many observatories. This clock consists of two pendulums, one a
slave and the other a master. The slave pendulum gives the master pendulum
the gentle pushes needed to maintain its motion, and also drives the clock's
hands. This allows the master pendulum to remain free from mechanical tasks
that would disturb its regularity.

Watches run by small batteries were introduced in the 1950s. The balance of
such an electric watch is kept in motion electromagnetically by a coil that is
energized by an electronic circuit.

The development of electronics in the twentieth century led to clocks with no

clockwork parts at all. Time in these cases is measured in several ways, such as
by the vibration of a tuning fork, the behavior of quartz crystals, the decay of
radioactive elements or resonance of polycarbonates. Even mechanical clocks
have since come to be largely powered by batteries, removing the need for
winding.

Types of Clocks Wikipedia

Analog, Digital, Auditory, Quartz, Binary, Astronomical, Cartel, Cuckoo,
Chiming, Floral, Other

12 Hour Clock
The 12-hour clock is a timekeeping convention in which the 24 hours of the
day are divided into two periods called ante meridiem (a.m., from Latin,
literally "before midday") and post meridiem (p.m., "after midday"). Each
period consists of 12 hours numbered 12 (acting as a zero), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11. The a.m. period runs from midnight to noon, while the p.m. period
runs from noon to midnight. The most common convention is to assign 12 a.m.
to midnight (at the beginning of the day) and 12 p.m. to noon, defining both
half days to have a closed (inclusive) beginning and open (exclusive) end. 12
noon and 12 midnight can more clearly express these times (except that for
midnight one may need to also specify whether it is the midnight at the
beginning or the end of the day in question).

Berlin instruments of the old Egyptian time of day destination

The 12-hour clock originated in Egypt. However, the lengths of their hours
varied seasonally, always with 12 hours from sunrise to sunset and 12 hours
from sunset to sunrise, the hour beginning and ending each half-day (four hours
each day) being a twilight hour. An Egyptian sundial for daylight use and an
Egyptian water clock for nighttime use found in the tomb of Pharaoh
Amenhotep I, both dating to c. 1500 BC, divided these periods into 12 hours
each. The Romans also used a 12-hour clock: the day was divided into 12 equal
hours (of, thus, varying length throughout the year) and the night was divided
into three watches. The Romans numbered the morning hours originally in
reverse. For example, "3 a.m." or "3 hours ante meridiem" meant "three hours
before noon", compared to the modern meaning of "three hours after midnight".

12-hour clock Wikipedia

Clocks in the News ...

A clock more accurate than time itself New Scientist - February 9, 2009

Most Accurate Clock Ever: 'Crystal Of Light' Clock Science Daily - February
18, 2008

Big Ben silenced for repair work BBC - August 12, 2007
Climate resets 'Doomsday Clock' BBC - January 17, 2007

Doomsday Clock Wikipedia

Atomic Time Lords: Atomic ticker clocks up 50 years BBC - June 2, 2005

The most accurate clock of all time New Scientist - May 18, 2005

The clock that wakes you when you are ready New Scientist - April 2005

Discovery of an early historic clock dating to 6500 years

AP - April 10, 2001

The joint archaeological mission of the University of Dallas made huge
discoveries in the area of Nabta 100 km west of Abu Simbel. The
discoveries relate to prehistoric times, tools, clay vessels, and skeletons.
The area of Nabta is one of the most important areas for archaeological
excavation related to prehistoric times. It measures 5,000 square meters
and includes the remains of stores, wells and houses. The mission also
found tombs where in one of them there were 30 skeletons and some
bracelets made of the teeth of animals and many clay vessels. Most
important is what is thought to be the first clock. It is shaped as a circle
made of stones whose diameter is 4 meters. There are 6 stones near the
center and arranged in two lines extending east and west. Time is
measured by this clock through the shade of the stones in the center
which falls on the stones of the circle. Archaeologists found bulks of
stones placed in correspondence with the positions of the stars in order to
know the time of the different seasons especially the rainy ones. They
also found a tomb of a cow which indicates the beginning of cow-
worship identified later with the cow-goddess Hathor.