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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Timepiece" redirects here. For other uses, see Clock
(disambiguation) and Timepiece (disambiguation).
"Clocks" redirects here. For song by Coldplay, see Clocks (song).

An analog pendulum clock made around 18th century

Casio F-91W digital watch, one of the most popular watches ever

A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The

clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure
intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar
month, and the year. Devices operating on several physical processes
have been used over the millennia.

Some predecessors to the modern clock may be considered "clocks" that

are based on movement in nature: A sundial shows the time by displaying
the position of a shadow on a flat surface. There is a range of duration
timers, a well-known example being the hourglass. Water clocks, along
with sundials, are possibly the oldest time-measuring instruments. A major
advance occurred with the invention of the verge escapement, which made
possible the first mechanical clocks around 1300 in Europe, which kept
time with oscillating timekeepers like balance wheels.[1][2][3][4]

Traditionally, in horology (the study of timekeeping), the term clock was

used for a striking clock, while a clock that did not strike the hours audibly
was called a timepiece. This distinction is not generally made any
longer. Watches and other timepieces that can be carried on one's person
are usually not referred to as clocks.[5] Spring-driven clocks appeared during
the 15th century. During the 15th and 16th
centuries, clockmaking flourished. The next development in accuracy
occurred after 1656 with the invention of the pendulum clock by Christiaan
Huygens. A major stimulus to improving the accuracy and reliability of
clocks was the importance of precise time-keeping for navigation. The
mechanism of a timepiece with a series of gears driven by a spring or
weights is referred to as clockwork; the term is used by extension for a
similar mechanism not used in a timepiece. The electric clock was patented
in 1840, and electronic clocks were introduced in the 20th century,
becoming widespread with the development of small battery-
powered semiconductor devices.

The timekeeping element in every modern clock is a harmonic oscillator, a

physical object (resonator) that vibrates or oscillates at a particular
frequency.[2] This object can be a pendulum, a balance wheel, a tuning fork,
a quartz crystal, or the vibration of electrons in atoms as they
emit microwaves, the last of which is so precise that it serves as the
definition of the second.

Clocks have different ways of displaying the time. Analog clocks indicate
time with a traditional clock face and moving hands. Digital clocks display a
numeric representation of time. Two numbering systems are in use: 12-
hour time notation and 24-hour notation. Most digital clocks use electronic
mechanisms and LCD, LED, or VFD displays. For the blind and for use
over telephones, speaking clocks state the time audibly in words. There are
also clocks for the blind that have displays that can be read by touch.

Etymology
[edit]
The word clock derives from the medieval Latin word for 'bell'—clocca—
and has cognates in many European languages. Clocks spread to England
from the Low Countries,[6] so the English word came from the Middle Low
German and Middle Dutch Klocke.[7] The word derives from the Middle
English clokke, Old North French cloque, or Middle Dutch clocke, all of
which mean 'bell'.

History of time-measuring devices

[edit]
Main article: History of timekeeping devices
Sundials
[edit]
Main article: Sundial

Simple horizontal sundial

The apparent position of the Sun in the sky changes over the course of
each day, reflecting the rotation of the Earth. Shadows cast by stationary
objects move correspondingly, so their positions can be used to indicate
the time of day. A sundial shows the time by displaying the position of a
shadow on a (usually) flat surface that has markings that correspond to the
hours.[8] Sundials can be horizontal, vertical, or in other orientations.
Sundials were widely used in ancient times.[9] With knowledge of latitude, a
well-constructed sundial can measure local solar time with reasonable
accuracy, within a minute or two. Sundials continued to be used to monitor
the performance of clocks until the 1830s, when the use of the telegraph
and trains standardized time and time zones between cities.[10]
Devices that measure duration, elapsed time and intervals
[edit]
 The flow of sand in an hourglass can be used to keep
track of elapsed time.
Many devices can be used to mark the passage of time without respect to
reference time (time of day, hours, minutes, etc.) and can be useful for
measuring duration or intervals. Examples of such duration timers
are candle clocks, incense clocks, and the hourglass. Both the candle clock
and the incense clock work on the same principle, wherein the
consumption of resources is more or less constant, allowing reasonably
precise and repeatable estimates of time passages. In the hourglass,
fine sand pouring through a tiny hole at a constant rate indicates an
arbitrary, predetermined passage of time. The resource is not consumed,
but re-used.
Water clocks
[edit]
Main article: Water clock
 A water clock
for goldbeating goldleaf in Mandalay (Myanmar)
Water clocks, along with sundials, are possibly the oldest time-measuring
instruments, with the only exception being the day-counting tally stick.
[11]
Given their great antiquity, where and when they first existed is not
known and is perhaps unknowable. The bowl-shaped outflow is the
simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon and
Egypt around the 16th century BC. Other regions of the world, including
India and China, also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earliest
dates are less certain. Some authors, however, write about water clocks
appearing as early as 4000 BC in these regions of the world.[12]

The Macedonian astronomer Andronicus of Cyrrhus supervised the

construction of the Tower of the Winds in Athens in the 1st century BC,
which housed a large clepsydra inside as well as multiple prominent
sundials outside, allowing it to function as a kind of early clocktower.
[13]
The Greek and Roman civilizations advanced water clock design with
improved accuracy. These advances were passed on
through Byzantine and Islamic times, eventually making their way back to
Europe. Independently, the Chinese developed their own advanced water
clocks (水鐘) by 725 AD, passing their ideas on to Korea and Japan.[14]

Some water clock designs were developed independently, and some

knowledge was transferred through the spread of trade. Pre-
modern societies do not have the same precise timekeeping requirements
that exist in modern industrial societies, where every hour of work or rest is
monitored and work may start or finish at any time regardless of external
conditions. Instead, water clocks in ancient societies were used mainly
for astrological reasons. These early water clocks were calibrated with a
sundial. While never reaching the level of accuracy of a modern timepiece,
the water clock was the most accurate and commonly used timekeeping
device for millennia until it was replaced by the more accurate pendulum
clock in 17th-century Europe.

Islamic civilization is credited with further advancing the accuracy of clocks

through elaborate engineering. In 797 (or possibly 801),
the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid,
presented Charlemagne with an Asian elephant named Abul-
Abbas together with a "particularly elaborate example" of a
water[15] clock. Pope Sylvester II introduced clocks to northern and western
Europe around 1000 AD.[16]
Mechanical water clocks
[edit]
See also: Automaton § Ancient
The first known geared clock was invented by the great mathematician,
physicist, and engineer Archimedes during the 3rd century BC. Archimedes
created his astronomical clock,[17][citation needed] which was also a cuckoo clock
with birds singing and moving every hour. It is the first carillon clock as it
plays music simultaneously with a person blinking his eyes, surprised by
the singing birds. The Archimedes clock works with a system of four
weights, counterweights, and strings regulated by a system of floats in a
water container with siphons that regulate the automatic continuation of the
clock. The principles of this type of clock are described by the
mathematician and physicist Hero,[18] who says that some of them work with
a chain that turns a gear in the mechanism.[19] Another Greek clock probably
constructed at the time of Alexander was in Gaza, as described by
Procopius.[20] The Gaza clock was probably a Meteoroskopeion, i.e., a
building showing celestial phenomena and the time. It had a pointer for the
time and some automations similar to the Archimedes clock. There were 12
doors opening one every hour, with Hercules performing his labors, the
Lion at one o'clock, etc., and at night a lamp becomes visible every hour,
with 12 windows opening to show the time.
 A scale model of Su Song's Astronomical Clock
Tower, built in 11th-century Kaifeng, China. It was driven by a
large waterwheel, chain drive, and escapement mechanism.
The Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Yi Xing along with government
official Liang Lingzan made the escapement in 723 (or 725) to the workings
of a water-powered armillary sphere and clock drive, which was the world's
first clockwork escapement.[21][22] The Song dynasty polymath and genius Su
Song (1020–1101) incorporated it into his monumental innovation of the
astronomical clock tower of Kaifeng in 1088.[23][24][page needed] His astronomical
clock and rotating armillary sphere still relied on the use of either flowing
water during the spring, summer, and autumn seasons or liquid
mercury during the freezing temperatures of winter (i.e., hydraulics). In Su
Song's waterwheel linkwork device, the action of the escapement's arrest
and release was achieved by gravity exerted periodically as the continuous
flow of liquid-filled containers of a limited size. In a single line of evolution,
Su Song's clock therefore united the concepts of the clepsydra and the
mechanical clock into one device run by mechanics and hydraulics. In his
memorial, Su Song wrote about this concept:

According to your servant's opinion there have been many systems and
designs for astronomical instruments during past dynasties all differing from
one another in minor respects. But the principle of the use of water-power
for the driving mechanism has always been the same. The heavens move
without ceasing but so also does water flow (and fall). Thus if the water is
made to pour with perfect evenness, then the comparison of the rotary
movements (of the heavens and the machine) will show no discrepancy or
contradiction; for the unresting follows the unceasing.
Song was also strongly influenced by the earlier armillary sphere created
by Zhang Sixun (976 AD), who also employed the escapement mechanism
and used liquid mercury instead of water in the waterwheel of his
astronomical clock tower. The mechanical clockworks for Su Song's
astronomical tower featured a great driving-wheel that was 11 feet in
diameter, carrying 36 scoops, into each of which water was poured at a
uniform rate from the "constant-level tank". The main driving shaft of iron,
with its cylindrical necks supported on iron crescent-shaped bearings,
ended in a pinion, which engaged a gear wheel at the lower end of the
main vertical transmission shaft. This great astronomical hydromechanical
clock tower was about ten metres high (about 30 feet), featured a
clock escapement, and was indirectly powered by a rotating wheel either
with falling water or liquid mercury. A full-sized working replica of Su Song's
clock exists in the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s National Museum of
Natural Science, Taichung city. This full-scale, fully functional replica,
approximately 12 meters (39 feet) in height, was constructed from Su
Song's original descriptions and mechanical drawings.[25] The Chinese
escapement spread west and was the source for Western escapement
technology.[26]

An elephant clock in a manuscript by Al-Jazari (1206

AD) from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices[27]
In the 12th century, Al-Jazari, an engineer from Mesopotamia (lived 1136–
1206) who worked for the Artuqid king of Diyar-Bakr, Nasir al-Din, made
numerous clocks of all shapes and sizes. The most reputed clocks
included the elephant, scribe, and castle clocks, some of which have been
successfully reconstructed. As well as telling the time, these grand clocks
were symbols of the status, grandeur, and wealth of the Urtuq State.
 Knowledge of these mercury escapements may have spread through
[28]

Europe with translations of Arabic and Spanish texts.[29][30]

Fully mechanical
[edit]
This section needs additional citations
for verification. Please help improve this article by adding
citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced
material may be challenged and removed. (January
2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The word horologia (from the Greek ὥρα—'hour', and λέγειν—'to tell') was
used to describe early mechanical clocks,[31] but the use of this word (still
used in several Romance languages)[32] for all timekeepers conceals the
true nature of the mechanisms. For example, there is a record that in
1176, Sens Cathedral in France installed an 'horologe',[33][34] but the
mechanism used is unknown. According to Jocelyn de Brakelond, 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.[35] The
word clock (via Medieval Latin clocca from Old Irish clocc, both meaning
'bell'), which gradually supersedes "horologe", suggests that it was the
sound of bells that also characterized the prototype mechanical clocks that
appeared during the 13th century in Europe.

A 17th-century weight-driven clock in Läckö

Castle, Sweden
In Europe, between 1280 and 1320, there was 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 their
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, which differed from the
previously mentioned cogwheel clocks. The verge escapement mechanism
appeared during the surge of true mechanical clock development, which
did not need any kind of fluid power, like water or mercury, to work.

These mechanical clocks were intended for two main purposes: for
signalling and notification (e.g., the timing of services and public events)
and for modeling the solar system. The former purpose is administrative;
the latter arises naturally given the scholarly interests in astronomy,
science, and astrology and how these subjects integrated with the religious
philosophy of the time. 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 faces 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 clocks started acquiring extravagant features, such
as automata.

In 1283, a large clock was installed at Dunstable Priory in Bedfordshire in

southern England; its location above the rood screen suggests that it was
not a water clock.[36] In 1292, Canterbury Cathedral installed a 'great
horloge'. Over the next 30 years, there were 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 clockkeepers for two years.[36]
Astronomical
[edit]
 Richard of Wallingford pointing to a clock, his gift

to St Albans Abbey 16th-century clock

machine Convent of Christ, Tomar, Portugal
An elaborate water clock, the 'Cosmic Engine', was invented by Su Song, a
Chinese polymath, designed and constructed in China in 1092. This great
astronomical hydromechanical clock tower was about ten metres high
(about 30 feet) and was indirectly powered by a rotating wheel with falling
water and liquid mercury, which turned an armillary sphere capable of
calculating complex astronomical problems.

In Europe, there were the clocks constructed by Richard of

Wallingford in Albans by 1336, and by Giovanni de Dondi in Padua from
1348 to 1364. They no longer exist, but detailed descriptions of their design
and construction survive,[37][38] and modern reproductions have been made.
[38]
They illustrate how quickly the theory of the mechanical clock had been
translated into practical constructions, and also that one of the many
impulses to their development had been the desire of astronomers to
investigate celestial phenomena.

The Astrarium of Giovanni Dondi dell'Orologio was a complex astronomical

clock built between 1348 and 1364 in Padua, Italy, by the doctor and clock-
maker Giovanni Dondi dell'Orologio. The Astrarium had seven faces and
107 moving gears; it showed the positions of the sun, the moon and the
five planets then known, as well as religious feast days. The astrarium
stood about 1 metre high, and consisted of a seven-sided brass or iron
framework resting on 7 decorative paw-shaped feet. The lower section
provided a 24-hour dial and a large calendar drum, showing the fixed feasts
of the church, the movable feasts, and the position in the zodiac of the
moon's ascending node. The upper section contained 7 dials, each about
30 cm in diameter, showing the positional data for the Primum Mobile,
Venus, Mercury, the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. Directly above the
24-hour dial is the dial of the Primum Mobile, so called because it
reproduces the diurnal motion of the stars and the annual motion of the sun
against the background of stars. Each of the 'planetary' dials used complex
clockwork to produce reasonably accurate models of the planets' motion.
These agreed reasonably well both with Ptolemaic theory and with
observations.[39][40]

Wallingford's clock had a large astrolabe-type dial, showing the sun, the
moon's age, phase, and node, a star map, and possibly the planets. In
addition, it had a wheel of fortune and an indicator of the state of the tide
at London Bridge. Bells rang every hour, the number of strokes indicating
the time.[37] Dondi's clock was a seven-sided construction, 1 metre high,
with dials showing the time of day, including minutes, the motions of all the
known planets, an automatic calendar of fixed and movable feasts, and an
eclipse prediction hand rotating once every 18 years.[38] It is not known how
accurate or reliable these clocks would have been. They were probably
adjusted manually every day to compensate for errors caused by wear and
imprecise manufacture. Water clocks are sometimes still used today, and
can be examined in places such as ancient castles and museums.
The Salisbury Cathedral clock, built in 1386, is considered to be the world's
oldest surviving mechanical clock that strikes the hours.[41]
Spring-driven
[edit]

 Examples of spring-driven clocks


 

Clockmakers developed their art in various ways. Building smaller clocks

was a technical challenge, as was improving accuracy and reliability.
Clocks could be impressive showpieces to demonstrate skilled
craftsmanship, or less expensive, mass-produced items for domestic use.
The escapement in particular was an important factor affecting the clock's
accuracy, so many different mechanisms were tried.

Spring-driven clocks appeared during the 15th century,[42][43][44] although they

are often erroneously credited to Nuremberg watchmaker Peter Henlein (or
Henle, or Hele) around 1511.[45][46][47] The earliest existing spring driven clock
is the chamber clock given to Phillip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, around
1430, now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.[4] Spring power
presented clockmakers with a new problem: how to keep the
clock movement running at a constant rate as the spring ran down. This
resulted in the invention of the stackfreed and the fusee in the 15th century,
and many other innovations, down to the invention of the
modern going barrel in 1760.

Early clock dials did not indicate minutes and seconds. A clock with a dial
indicating minutes was illustrated in a 1475 manuscript by Paulus Almanus,
[48]
and some 15th-century clocks in Germany indicated minutes and
seconds.[49] An early record of a seconds hand on a clock dates back to
about 1560 on a clock now in the Fremersdorf collection.[50]: 417–418 [51]

During the 15th and 16th centuries, clockmaking flourished, particularly in

the metalworking towns of Nuremberg and Augsburg, and in Blois, France.
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 invented in 1584
by Jost Bürgi, who also developed the remontoire. Bürgi's clocks were a
great improvement in accuracy as they were correct to within a minute a
day.[52][53] These clocks helped the 16th-century astronomer Tycho Brahe to
observe astronomical events with much greater precision than before.[citation
needed][how?]

Lantern clock, German, c. 1570

Pendulum
[edit]
The first pendulum clock, designed by Christiaan Huygens in 1656

The next development in accuracy occurred after 1656 with the invention of
the pendulum clock. Galileo had the idea to use a swinging bob to regulate
the motion of a time-telling device earlier in the 17th century. Christiaan
Huygens, however, is usually credited as the inventor. He determined the
mathematical formula that related pendulum length to time (about 99.4 cm
or 39.1 inches for the one second movement) and had the first pendulum-
driven clock made. The first model clock was built in 1657 in the Hague, but
it was in England that the idea was taken up.[54] The longcase clock (also
known as the grandfather clock) was created to house the pendulum and
works by the English clockmaker William Clement in 1670 or 1671. It was
also at this time that clock cases began to be made of wood and clock
faces to use enamel as well as hand-painted ceramics.

In 1670, William Clement created the anchor escapement,[55] an

improvement over Huygens' crown escapement. Clement also introduced
the pendulum suspension spring in 1671. The concentric minute hand was
added to the clock by Daniel Quare, a London clockmaker and others, and
the second hand was first introduced.
Hairspring
[edit]
In 1675, Huygens and Robert Hooke invented the spiral balance spring, or
the hairspring, designed to control the oscillating speed of the balance
wheel. This crucial advance finally made accurate pocket watches possible.
The great English clockmaker Thomas Tompion, was one of the first to use
this mechanism successfully in his pocket watches, and he adopted the
minute hand which, after a variety of designs were trialled, eventually
stabilised into the modern-day configuration.[56] The rack and snail striking
mechanism for striking clocks, was introduced during the 17th century and
had distinct advantages over the 'countwheel' (or 'locking plate')
mechanism. During the 20th century there was a common misconception
that Edward Barlow invented rack and snail striking. In fact, his invention
was connected with a repeating mechanism employing the rack and snail.
[57]
The repeating clock, that chimes the number of hours (or even minutes)
on demand was invented by either Quare or Barlow in 1676. George
Graham invented the deadbeat escapement for clocks in 1720.
Marine chronometer
[edit]
Main article: Marine chronometer
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. This
clock could not contain a pendulum, which would be virtually useless on a
rocking ship. In 1714, the British government offered large financial
rewards to the value of 20,000 pounds[58] for anyone who could determine
longitude accurately. John Harrison, who dedicated his life to improving the
accuracy of his clocks, later received considerable sums under the
Longitude Act.

In 1735, Harrison built his first chronometer, which he steadily improved on

over the next thirty years before submitting it for examination. The clock
had many innovations, including the use of bearings to reduce friction,
weighted balances to compensate for the ship's pitch and roll in the sea
and the use of two different metals to reduce the problem of expansion
from heat. The chronometer was tested in 1761 by Harrison's son and by
the end of 10 weeks the clock was in error by less than 5 seconds.[59]
Mass production
[edit]
The British had dominated watch manufacture for much of the 17th and
18th centuries, but maintained a system of production that was geared
towards high quality products for the elite.[60] Although there was an attempt
to modernise clock manufacture with mass-production techniques and the
application of duplicating tools and machinery by the British Watch
Company in 1843, it was in the United States that this system took off. In
1816, Eli Terry and some other Connecticut clockmakers developed a way
of mass-producing clocks by using interchangeable parts.[61] Aaron Lufkin
Dennison started a factory in 1851 in Massachusetts that also used
interchangeable parts, and by 1861 was running a successful enterprise
incorporated as the Waltham Watch Company.[62][63]
Early electric
[edit]
Main article: Electric clock

Early French electromagnetic clock

In 1815, the English scientist Francis Ronalds published the first electric
clock powered by dry pile batteries.[64] Alexander Bain, a Scottish
clockmaker, patented the electric clock in 1840. The electric clock's
mainspring is wound either with an electric motor or with
an electromagnet and armature. In 1841, he first patented
the electromagnetic pendulum. By the end of the nineteenth century, the
advent of the dry cell battery made it feasible to use electric power in
clocks. Spring or weight driven clocks that use electricity, either alternating
current (AC) or direct current (DC), to rewind the spring or raise the weight
of a mechanical clock would be classified as an electromechanical clock.
This classification would also apply to clocks that employ an electrical
impulse to propel the pendulum. In electromechanical clocks the electricity
serves no time keeping function. These types of clocks were made as
individual timepieces but more commonly used in synchronized time
installations in schools, businesses, factories, railroads and government
facilities as a master clock and slave clocks.

Where an AC electrical supply of stable frequency is available, timekeeping

can be maintained very reliably by using a synchronous motor, essentially
counting the cycles. The supply current alternates with an accurate
frequency of 50 hertz in many countries, and 60 hertz in others. While the
frequency may vary slightly during the day as the load changes, generators
are designed to maintain an accurate number of cycles over a day, so the
clock may be a fraction of a second slow or fast at any time, but will be
perfectly accurate over a long time. The rotor of the motor rotates at a
speed that is related to the alternation frequency. Appropriate gearing
converts this rotation speed to the correct ones for the hands of the analog
clock. Time in these cases is measured in several ways, such as by
counting the cycles of the AC supply, vibration of a tuning fork, the
behaviour of quartz crystals, or the quantum vibrations of atoms. Electronic
circuits divide these high-frequency oscillations to slower ones that drive
the time display.
Quartz
[edit]

Picture of a quartz crystal resonator, used as the

timekeeping component in quartz watches and clocks, with the case
removed. It is formed in the shape of a tuning fork. Most such quartz clock
crystals vibrate at a frequency of 32768 Hz.
The piezoelectric properties of crystalline quartz were discovered
by Jacques and Pierre Curie in 1880.[65][66] The first crystal oscillator was
invented in 1917 by Alexander M. Nicholson, after which the first quartz
crystal oscillator was built by Walter G. Cady in 1921.[2] In 1927 the
first quartz clock was built by Warren Marrison and J.W. Horton at Bell
Telephone Laboratories in Canada.[67][2] The following decades saw the
development of quartz clocks as precision time measurement devices in
laboratory settings—the bulky and delicate counting electronics, built
with vacuum tubes at the time, limited their practical use elsewhere. The
National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) based the time standard of the
United States on quartz clocks from late 1929 until the 1960s, when it
changed to atomic clocks.[68] In 1969, Seiko produced the world's first
quartz wristwatch, the Astron.[69] Their inherent accuracy and low cost of
production resulted in the subsequent proliferation of quartz clocks and
watches.[65]
Atomic
[edit]
Currently, atomic clocks are the most accurate clocks in existence. They
are considerably more accurate than quartz clocks as they can be accurate
to within a few seconds over trillions of years.[70][71] Atomic clocks were first
theorized by Lord Kelvin in 1879.[72] In the 1930s the development
of magnetic resonance created practical method for doing this.[73] A
prototype ammonia maser device was built in 1949 at the U.S. National
Bureau of Standards (NBS, now NIST). Although it was less accurate than
existing quartz clocks, it served to demonstrate the concept.[74][75][76] The first
accurate atomic clock, a caesium standard based on a certain transition of
the caesium-133 atom, was built by Louis Essen in 1955 at the National
Physical Laboratory in the UK.[77] Calibration of the caesium standard
atomic clock was carried out by the use of the astronomical time
scale ephemeris time (ET).[78] As of 2013, the most stable atomic clocks
are ytterbium clocks, which are stable to within less than two parts in 1
quintillion (2×10−18).[71]

Operation
[edit]
The invention of the mechanical clock in the 13th century initiated a change
in timekeeping methods from continuous processes, such as the motion of
the gnomon's shadow on a sundial or the flow of liquid in a water clock, to
periodic oscillatory processes, such as the swing of a pendulum or the
vibration of a quartz crystal,[3][79] which had the potential for more accuracy.
All modern clocks use oscillation.
 Although the mechanisms they use vary, all oscillating clocks, mechanical,
electric, and atomic, work similarly and can be divided into analogous parts.
[80][81][82]
They consist of an object that repeats the same motion over and over
again, an oscillator, with a precisely constant time interval between each
repetition, or 'beat'. Attached to the oscillator is a controller device, which
sustains the oscillator's motion by replacing the energy it loses to friction,
and converts its oscillations into a series of pulses. The pulses are then
counted by some type of counter, and the number of counts is converted
into convenient units, usually seconds, minutes, hours, etc. Finally some
kind of indicator displays the result in human readable form.
Power source
[edit]

 In mechanical clocks, the power source is typically either a weight

suspended from a cord or chain wrapped around a pulley, sprocket or
drum; or a spiral spring called a mainspring. Mechanical clocks must
be wound periodically, usually by turning a knob or key or by pulling on the
free end of the chain, to store energy in the weight or spring to keep the
clock running.
 In electric clocks, the power source is either a battery or the AC power line.
In clocks that use AC power, a small backup battery is often included to
keep the clock running if it is unplugged temporarily from the wall or during
a power outage. Battery-powered analog wall clocks are available that
operate over 15 years between battery changes.
Oscillator
[edit]

Balance wheel, the oscillator in a

mechanical mantel clock.
The timekeeping element in every modern clock is a harmonic oscillator, a
physical object (resonator) that vibrates or oscillates repetitively at a
precisely constant frequency.[2][83][84][85]

 In mechanical clocks, this is either a pendulum or a balance wheel.

 In some early electronic clocks and watches such as the Accutron, it is
a tuning fork.
 In quartz clocks and watches, it is a quartz crystal.
 In atomic clocks, it is the vibration of electrons in atoms as they emit
microwaves.
 In early mechanical clocks before 1657, it was a crude balance wheel
or foliot which was not a harmonic oscillator because it lacked a balance
spring. As a result, they were very inaccurate, with errors of perhaps an
hour a day.[86]
The advantage of a harmonic oscillator over other forms of oscillator is that
it employs resonance to vibrate at a precise natural resonant frequency or
"beat" dependent only on its physical characteristics, and resists vibrating
at other rates. The possible precision achievable by a harmonic oscillator is
measured by a parameter called its Q,[87][88] or quality factor, which increases
(other things being equal) with its resonant frequency.[89] This is why there
has been a long-term trend toward higher frequency oscillators in clocks.
Balance wheels and pendulums always include a means of adjusting the
rate of the timepiece. Quartz timepieces sometimes include a rate screw
that adjusts a capacitor for that purpose. Atomic clocks are primary
standards, and their rate cannot be adjusted.
Synchronized or slave clocks
[edit]

The Shepherd Gate Clock at the Royal

Observatory, Greenwich receives its timing signal from within the Royal
Observatory, Greenwich.
Some clocks rely for their accuracy on an external oscillator; that is, they
are automatically synchronized to a more accurate clock:

 Slave clocks, used in large institutions and schools from the 1860s to
the 1970s, kept time with a pendulum, but were wired to a master
clock in the building, and periodically received a signal to synchronize
them with the master, often on the hour.[90] Later versions without
pendulums were triggered by a pulse from the master clock and certain
sequences used to force rapid synchronization following a power failure.

Synchronous electric clock, around 1940. By

1940 the synchronous clock became the most common type of clock in the
U.S.

 Synchronous electric clocks do not have an internal oscillator, but count

cycles of the 50 or 60 Hz oscillation of the AC power line, which is
synchronized by the utility to a precision oscillator. The counting may be
done electronically, usually in clocks with digital displays, or, in analog
clocks, the AC may drive a synchronous motor which rotates an exact
fraction of a revolution for every cycle of the line voltage, and drives the
gear train. Although changes in the grid line frequency due to load
variations may cause the clock to temporarily gain or lose several
seconds during the course of a day, the total number of cycles per 24
hours is maintained extremely accurately by the utility company, so that
the clock keeps time accurately over long periods.
 Computer real-time clocks keep time with a quartz crystal, but can be
periodically (usually weekly) synchronized over the Internet to atomic
clocks (UTC), using the Network Time Protocol (NTP).
 Radio clocks keep time with a quartz crystal, but are periodically
synchronized to time signals transmitted from dedicated standard time
radio stations or satellite navigation signals, which are set by atomic
clocks.
Controller
[edit]
This has the dual function of keeping the oscillator running by giving it
'pushes' to replace the energy lost to friction, and converting its vibrations
into a series of pulses that serve to measure the time.

 In mechanical clocks, this is the escapement, which gives precise

pushes to the swinging pendulum or balance wheel, and releases one
gear tooth of the escape wheel at each swing, allowing all the clock's
wheels to move forward a fixed amount with each swing.
 In electronic clocks this is an electronic oscillator circuit that gives the
vibrating quartz crystal or tuning fork tiny 'pushes', and generates a
series of electrical pulses, one for each vibration of the crystal, which is
called the clock signal.
 In atomic clocks the controller is an evacuated
microwave cavity attached to a microwave oscillator controlled by
a microprocessor. A thin gas of caesium atoms is released into the
cavity where they are exposed to microwaves. A laser measures how
many atoms have absorbed the microwaves, and an electronic
feedback control system called a phase-locked loop tunes the
microwave oscillator until it is at the frequency that causes the atoms to
vibrate and absorb the microwaves. Then the microwave signal is
divided by digital counters to become the clock signal.[91]
In mechanical clocks, the low Q of the balance wheel or pendulum
oscillator made them very sensitive to the disturbing effect of the impulses
of the escapement, so the escapement had a great effect on the accuracy
of the clock, and many escapement designs were tried. The higher Q of
resonators in electronic clocks makes them relatively insensitive to the
disturbing effects of the drive power, so the driving oscillator circuit is a
much less critical component.[2]
Counter chain
[edit]
This counts the pulses and adds them up to get traditional time units of
seconds, minutes, hours, etc. It usually has a provision for setting the clock
by manually entering the correct time into the counter.

 In mechanical clocks this is done mechanically by a gear train, known

as the wheel train. The gear train also has a second function; to transmit
mechanical power from the power source to run the oscillator. There is a
friction coupling called the 'cannon pinion' between the gears driving the
 hands and the rest of the clock, allowing the hands to be turned to set
the time.[92]
 In digital clocks a series of integrated circuit counters or dividers add the
pulses up digitally, using binary logic. Often pushbuttons on the case
allow the hour and minute counters to be incremented and decremented
to set the time.
Indicator
[edit]
Duration: 36 seconds.0:36A cuckoo clock with mechanical automaton
and sound producer striking on the eighth hour on the analog dial
This displays the count of seconds, minutes, hours, etc. in a human
readable form.

 The earliest mechanical clocks in the 13th century did not have a visual
indicator and signalled the time audibly by striking bells. Many clocks to
this day are striking clocks which strike the hour.
 Analog clocks display time with an analog clock face, which consists of
a dial with the numbers 1 through 12 or 24, the hours in the day, around
the outside. The hours are indicated with an hour hand, which makes
one or two revolutions in a day, while the minutes are indicated by
a minute hand, which makes one revolution per hour. In mechanical
clocks a gear train drives the hands; in electronic clocks the circuit
produces pulses every second which drive a stepper motor and gear
train, which move the hands.
 Digital clocks display the time in periodically changing digits on a digital
display. A common misconception is that a digital clock is more accurate
than an analog wall clock, but the indicator type is separate and apart
from the accuracy of the timing source.
 Talking clocks and the speaking clock services provided by telephone
companies speak the time audibly, using either recorded or
digitally synthesized voices.
Types
[edit]
Clocks can be classified by the type of time display, as well as by the
method of timekeeping.
Time display methods
[edit]
Analog
[edit]
See also: Clock face

A modern quartz clock with a 24-hour face

A linear clock at London's Piccadilly Circus tube

station. The 24 hour band moves across the static map, keeping pace with
the apparent movement of the sun above ground, and a pointer fixed on
London points to the current time.
Analog clocks usually use a clock face which indicates time using rotating
pointers called "hands" on a fixed numbered dial or dials. The standard
clock face, known universally throughout the world, has a short "hour hand"
which indicates the hour on a circular dial of 12 hours, making two
revolutions per day, and a longer "minute hand" which indicates the
minutes in the current hour on the same dial, which is also divided into 60
minutes. It may also have a "second hand" which indicates the seconds in
the current minute. The only other widely used clock face today is the 24
hour analog dial, because of the use of 24 hour time in military
organizations and timetables. Before the modern clock face was
standardized during the Industrial Revolution, many other face designs
were used throughout the years, including dials divided into 6, 8, 10, and
24 hours. During the French Revolution the French government tried to
introduce a 10-hour clock, as part of their decimal-based metric system of
measurement, but it did not achieve widespread use. An Italian 6 hour
clock was developed in the 18th century, presumably to save power (a
clock or watch striking 24 times uses more power).

Another type of analog clock is the sundial, which tracks the sun
continuously, registering the time by the shadow position of its gnomon.
Because the sun does not adjust to daylight saving time, users must add
an hour during that time. Corrections must also be made for the equation of
time, and for the difference between the longitudes of the sundial and of the
central meridian of the time zone that is being used (i.e. 15 degrees east of
the prime meridian for each hour that the time zone is ahead of GMT).
Sundials use some or part of the 24 hour analog dial. There also exist
clocks which use a digital display despite having an analog mechanism—
these are commonly referred to as flip clocks. Alternative systems have
been proposed. For example, the "Twelv" clock indicates the current hour
using one of twelve colors, and indicates the minute by showing a
proportion of a circular disk, similar to a moon phase.[93]
Digital
[edit]
Main article: Digital clock

 Examples of digital clocks


 

Digital clocks display a numeric representation of time. Two numeric

display formats are commonly used on digital clocks:

 the 24-hour notation with hours ranging 00–23;

 the 12-hour notation with AM/PM indicator, with hours indicated as
12AM, followed by 1AM–11AM, followed by 12PM, followed by 1PM–
11PM (a notation mostly used in domestic environments).
Most digital clocks use electronic mechanisms and LCD, LED,
or VFD displays; many other display technologies are used as well
(cathode-ray tubes, nixie tubes, etc.). After a reset, battery change or
power failure, these clocks without a backup battery or capacitor either start
counting from 12:00, or stay at 12:00, often with blinking digits indicating
that the time needs to be set. Some newer clocks will reset themselves
based on radio or Internet time servers that are tuned to national atomic
clocks. Since the introduction of digital clocks in the 1960s, there has been
a notable decline in the use of analog clocks.[94]

Some clocks, called 'flip clocks', have digital displays that work
mechanically. The digits are painted on sheets of material which are
mounted like the pages of a book. Once a minute, a page is turned over to
reveal the next digit. These displays are usually easier to read in brightly lit
conditions than LCDs or LEDs. Also, they do not go back to 12:00 after a
power interruption. Flip clocks generally do not have electronic
mechanisms. Usually, they are driven by AC-synchronous motors.
Hybrid (analog-digital)
[edit]
Clocks with analog quadrants, with a digital component, usually minutes
and hours displayed analogously and seconds displayed in digital mode.
Auditory
[edit]
Main article: Talking clock
For convenience, distance, telephony or blindness, auditory clocks present
the time as sounds. The sound is either spoken natural language, (e.g.
"The time is twelve thirty-five"), or as auditory codes (e.g. number of
sequential bell rings on the hour represents the number of the hour like the
bell, Big Ben). Most telecommunication companies also provide a speaking
clock service as well.
Word
[edit]
 Software word clock
Word clocks are clocks that display the time visually using sentences. E.g.:
"It's about three o'clock." These clocks can be implemented in hardware or
software.
Projection
[edit]
Main article: Projection clock
Some clocks, usually digital ones, include an optical projector that shines a
magnified image of the time display onto a screen or onto a surface such
as an indoor ceiling or wall. The digits are large enough to be easily read,
without using glasses, by persons with moderately imperfect vision, so the
clocks are convenient for use in their bedrooms. Usually, the timekeeping
circuitry has a battery as a backup source for an uninterrupted power
supply to keep the clock on time, while the projection light only works when
the unit is connected to an A.C. supply. Completely battery-powered
portable versions resembling flashlights are also available.
Tactile
[edit]
Auditory and projection clocks can be used by people who are blind or
have limited vision. There are also clocks for the blind that have displays
that can be read by using the sense of touch. Some of these are similar to
normal analog displays, but are constructed so the hands can be felt
without damaging them. Another type is essentially digital, and uses
devices that use a code such as Braille to show the digits so that they can
be felt with the fingertips.
Multi-display
[edit]
Some clocks have several displays driven by a single mechanism, and
some others have several completely separate mechanisms in a single
case. Clocks in public places often have several faces visible from different
directions, so that the clock can be read from anywhere in the vicinity; all
the faces show the same time. Other clocks show the current time in
several time-zones. Watches that are intended to be carried by travellers
often have two displays, one for the local time and the other for the time at
home, which is useful for making pre-arranged phone calls. Some equation
clocks have two displays, one showing mean time and the other solar time,
as would be shown by a sundial. Some clocks have both analog and digital
displays. Clocks with Braille displays usually also have conventional digits
so they can be read by sighted people.

Purposes
[edit]

Many cities and towns traditionally have public clocks

in a prominent location, such as a town square or city center. This one is on
display at the center of the town of Robbins, North Carolina

A clock on sale in the store from Taipei, Taiwan.

A Napoleon III mantel clock, from the third quarter of

the 19th century, in the Museu de Belles Arts de València from Spain
Clocks are in homes, offices and many other places; smaller ones
(watches) are carried on the wrist or in a pocket; larger ones are in public
places, e.g. a railway station or church. A small clock is often shown in a
corner of computer displays, mobile phones and many MP3 players.

The primary purpose of a clock is to display the time. Clocks may also have
the facility to make a loud alert signal at a specified time, typically to waken
a sleeper at a preset time; they are referred to as alarm clocks. The alarm
may start at a low volume and become louder, or have the facility to be
switched off for a few minutes then resume. Alarm clocks with visible
indicators are sometimes used to indicate to children too young to read the
time that the time for sleep has finished; they are sometimes called training
clocks.

A clock mechanism may be used to control a device according to time, e.g.

a central heating system, a VCR, or a time bomb (see: digital counter).
Such mechanisms are usually called timers. Clock mechanisms are also
used to drive devices such as solar trackers[broken anchor] and astronomical
telescopes, which have to turn at accurately controlled speeds to
counteract the rotation of the Earth.

Most digital computers depend on an internal signal at constant frequency

to synchronize processing; this is referred to as a clock signal. (A few
research projects are developing CPUs based on asynchronous circuits.)
Some equipment, including computers, also maintains time and date for
use as required; this is referred to as time-of-day clock, and is distinct from
the system clock signal, although possibly based on counting its cycles.
Time standards
[edit]
Main articles: Time standard and Atomic clock
For some scientific work timing of the utmost accuracy is essential. It is
also necessary to have a standard of the maximum accuracy against which
working clocks can be calibrated. An ideal clock would give the time to
unlimited accuracy, but this is not realisable. Many physical processes, in
particular including some transitions between atomic energy levels, occur
at exceedingly stable frequency; counting cycles of such a process can
give a very accurate and consistent time—clocks which work this way are
usually called atomic clocks. Such clocks are typically large, very
expensive, require a controlled environment, and are far more accurate
than required for most purposes; they are typically used in a standards
laboratory.
Navigation
[edit]
Until advances in the late twentieth century, navigation depended on the
ability to measure latitude and longitude. Latitude can be determined
through celestial navigation; the measurement of longitude requires
accurate knowledge of time. This need was a major motivation for the
development of accurate mechanical clocks. John Harrison created the first
highly accurate marine chronometer in the mid-18th century. The Noon
gun in Cape Town still fires an accurate signal to allow ships to check their
chronometers. Many buildings near major ports used to have (some still do)
a large ball mounted on a tower or mast arranged to drop at a pre-
determined time, for the same purpose. While satellite navigation systems
such as GPS require unprecedentedly accurate knowledge of time, this is
supplied by equipment on the satellites; vehicles no longer need
timekeeping equipment.
Sports and games
[edit]
Clocks can be used to measure varying periods of time in games and
sports. Stopwatches can be used to time the performance of track
athletes. Chess clocks are used to limit the board game players' time to
make a move. In various sports, game clocks measure the duration the
game or subdivisions of the game,[95][96] while other clocks may be used for
tracking different durations; these include play clocks, shot clocks,
and pitch clocks.

Culture
[edit]
Folklore and superstition
[edit]
 A seventeenth century watch in the shape of a
skull
In the United Kingdom, clocks are associated with various beliefs, many
involving death or bad luck. In legends, clocks have reportedly stopped of
their own accord upon a nearby person's death, especially those of
monarchs. The clock in the House of Lords supposedly stopped at "nearly"
the hour of George III's death in 1820, the one at Balmoral Castle stopped
during the hour of Queen Victoria's death, and similar legends are related
about clocks associated with William IV and Elizabeth I.[97] Many
superstitions exist about clocks. One stopping before a person has died
may foretell coming death.[98] Similarly, if a clock strikes during a church
hymn or a marriage ceremony, death or calamity is prefigured for the
parishioners or a spouse, respectively.[99] Death or ill events are
foreshadowed if a clock strikes the wrong time. It may also be unlucky to
have a clock face a fire or to speak while a clock is striking.[100]

In Chinese culture, giving a clock (traditional Chinese: 送鐘; simplified

Chinese: 送钟; pinyin: sòng zhōng) is often taboo, especially to the elderly,
as it is a homophone of the act of attending another's funeral (traditional
Chinese: 送終; simplified Chinese: 送终; pinyin: sòngzhōng).[101][102][103]

Specific types