The Evolution of Time-keeping
Time today is especially important in maintaining jobs, school, and progress in everyday life. It’s contribution to society has been able to make us more civilized and productive. A concept of time can increase productivity and make us able to plan things accordingly, it is a major contributor to today’s society. There have been clocks since the dawn of civilization, they’re critical in timekeeping and have made huge leaps in their existence.
(Referring to sundials because it was one of the first known ways of timekeeping)Sundials were originally invented in ancient Babylon. But after the fall of the Roman empire they weren’t used much until the 12th and 13th century. the invention of the sundial started it all but eventually we moved into mechanically and now within the last couple decades we have digital. Sundials started out larger than mechanical clocks started out larger but evolved and got smaller and smaller, and digital/electric clocks can be very small. Throughout the years we’ve been changing clocks so they are smaller or easier to transport.
Clocks are important because they give us a schedule for everyday, without them we wouldn’t be nearly as developed. Clocks give us the ability to make as much progress as we can in the hours we have. They give us the ability to fit everything we can, into the day. But I also think since we’re the only species who have a concept of time that also makes us stressed about time running out. Water clocks along with Sundials are some of the oldest timekeeping instruments.
The bowl shaped outflow is the simplest form ofa water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon and in Egypt around the 16th Century B.C. India and China also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earlier dates are less certain. However some authors claim that water clocks appear as early as 4000 B.C.
The earliest sundials were known as shadow clocks and date back to 1500 B.C. Its the world’s oldest sundial, it was located in ancient egypt and used to measure work hours. Sundials are believed to be introduced to Greece by Anaximander Of Miletus (560 B.C.
) According to Herodotus(a famous Greek historian) the Greek Sundials were initially derived from the Babylonian counterparts. Greeks were well-positioned to develop the science of sundials since they founded the science of geometry. The Romans adopted the Greek sundials, and the first record of a sundial in Rome is 293 B.C. Even long after the invention of mechanical clocks sundials were still used as reliable time devices during the modern era. Gears are pivoted circles originally invented by “Hero of Alexandria” (AD 50) for astronomical positions.
Though he was thought to be the inventor they’ve been around since the beginning of rotating machinery. It was originally believed to be greek mechanics, even though gears can be traced all the way back to 27th Century BC China with the south pointing chariot. For a long time after the recognition of the gear, there wasn’t too much major development in that area, until about the 17th Century. Gears are a common similarity between most basic inventions. A lot of popular inventions involved gears including the bike, cars, airplanes(propelled not jets), boats, lawn mowers, etc. The gear continues to be a huge contribution to new and evolving inventions The first mechanical clock was made in 723 A.
D. by a monk and mathematician I-Hsing. It was an astronomical clock and he called it “Water Driven Spherical Bird-Eye-View Map of The Heavens”. In a few years after it was built the bronze and iron started to corrode, and in cold weather and water it would freeze.Another clock was made in 976 A.D.
by Chang Ssu Hsiin, he built the same clock except he used mercury instead of water, but few details of this clock survive.This was the first successful clock that did not have serious defect. An electric clock is a clock that is powered by electricity rather than a mechanical clock which is powered by a hanging weight or a main spring. In 1814, Sir Francis Ronalds of London invented something very close to an electric clock but his prototype was powered by a battery, and it proved unreliable in timekeeping. Still many continued in research because of the stable ‘weather conditions’ it could handle. The first experimental electric clocks were constructed around 1840 by Alexander Bain, but were not widely manufactured until 1890.
Matthias Hipp was a clockmaker born in Germany, he is credited with establishing the mass marketable electric clock. He also introduced what he called the ‘Hipp- toggle’ the hip toggle is a device attached to a pendulum or balance wheel allowing the clock to remain reliable for a very long period of time, making a huge contribution to modern clocks. The first Digital clock was called the Plato clock it was found in England around 1910 andwas patented by Eugene L. Fitch in New York in 1903. The plato clock was structured with a metal round body and glass on each side. Worked in a interesting way, there were metal pieces inside the clock that held the number back and the springs would flip the time the springs were timed on about 54-59 seconds.
The plato clock was used by mostly Americans. This clock was the beginning of a big start to the digital clock. there were many more versions of the plato clock coming all the way up to the first working digital clock Quartz clock is a clock that uses an electronic oscillator that is regulated by a quartz crystal to keep time it creates a with a very precise frequency these clocks are typically more precise than mechanical clocks. Some form of digital logic counts the cycles of this signal and provides a numeric time display, the first quartz clock was built in 1927 by Warren Marrison and J.W.
Horton at a telephone company since then quartz have become the most widely used timekeeping technology, used in most timekeeping technology(clocks, watches, computers and kitchen appliances. An atomic clock is a clock that uses an electronic transition frequency for its timekeeping element. Atomic clocks have the most accurate time and frequency standards known,and are used as primary standards for international time distribution services. To control the wave frequency of television broadcasts and in global satellite systems such as GPS. Gears are almost a necessity to today’s modern world, so tell me what you guys think? Below are some types of clocks The Different Varieties of Clocks Weight or spring – This provides the energy to turn the hands of the clock.
Weight gear train – A high-ratio gear train gears the weight drum way up so that you don’t have to rewind the clock very often. Escapement – Made up of the pendulum, the anchor and the escapement gear, the escapement precisely regulates the speed at which the weight’s energy is released. Hand gear train – The train gears things down so the minute and hour hands turn at the right rates. Setting mechanism – This somehow disengages, slips or ratchets the gear train so the clock can be rewound and set. Digital Clocks – Referring to the display usually involves a chipset (On rare occasions it doesn’t) Syncrosis – These clocks are usually connected to the radio, if not then they still involve radio waves but they sync the time with radio waves from Antennas/ Satellites. Atomic Clocks – Can be influenced by temperature and frequencies.
Involves Atomic physics and uses the microwave signal that electrons in atoms emit when they change energy levels.
