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.

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.

Prior to 1912 all clocks were operated either by winding the main spring or the mechanical action of a pendulum. In this year the Warren Clock Company introduced old clocks that were operated by battery. As pocket watches became prevalent in the early 17th century, a French mathematician tied a strong to it and wore it around his wrist, becoming the first person to wear a wrist watch, the most common timepiece now in use.

The weights used in many old clocks made them difficult to move around. Grandfather style clocks were used frequently, and then a smaller version was created that could fit on top of a table. Throughout time, various sizes and shapes of clocks have been made to satisfy people’s interest in time.

Categories : Lora's Posts