History of the Clock

Lives have been planned and timed, thanks to clocks. While the first clocks had no internal mechanics, and without the accuracy enjoyed today, they were capable of doing some functions.

The term "clock" came into use in the 14th century and its meaning was not the one we know today. It meant "bell" or "alarm."

There is no exact date as to the invention of the first timekeeping device. Timekeeping dates back five to six thousand years ago with the civilization inhabiting the Middle East and North Africa. The Egyptians in 3500 B.C. had a way of keeping time in the form of obelisks. These were slender, four-sided, tapered monuments that cast shadows on the sand and denoted the passing of time.


Sundials and the Egyptians

Around the same time, the sundial also came into use. This consisted of a round plate with a slanted protrusion coming from its centre. As the sun moved, the shadow cast onto the dial marked the time. In 1500 B.C. the Egyptians were even able to create the first portable sundial, what could be called the grandfather to the watches of today. Sundials tell sun time, while our current clocks keep mean solar time.

First Alarm Clock and Water Clock

The first alarm clock dates back to ancient times. Simple in design, it consisted of a candle with lines inscribed into it denoting the passing hours. To "set" the alarm, a nail was pushed into the wax at the appropriate hour. When the candle burned down to the nail, the nail fell into a tin pan at its base, thus awakening the sleeper.

Water clock is another ancient civilization invention. They worked by dripping water into a container, which slowly raised a float that was kept in the container, which in turn carried a pointer to note the hours. The oldest known water clock was found in the tomb of Amenhotep I.

First Mechanical Clock

The first mechanical clock with escapements appeared in 1285. Escapement is a mechanism that ticks in a steady rhythm and moves the gears forward in a series of equal jumps. The first public clock to strike the hour was in Milan in about A.D. 1335. Still these clocks had only one hand, so it was not that accurate.

16th Century Improvements

In 1510 Peter Henlien of Nuremberg, Germany came up with the invention with his creation of the spring-powered clock. While this was a more accurate device, there was a slowing down when the "mainspring" unwound.

In 1525, Jacob Zech of Prague improved it by using a "Spiral pulley" therefore equalizing the pull of the spring. Despite improvement, clock still operated only with an hour hand.

In 1577, Jost Burgi invented the first clock with a minute hand but it was in 1656, with the invention of the pendulum-regulated clock, that a more practical minute hand came about.

In 1580, with the ingenuity of Galileo Galilei, the first pendulum was produced. He found that successive beats of a pendulum always took place in the same amount of time. He and his son, Vincenzo, began to make drawings to find a suitable design. Unfortunately, Galileo died during the construction of the instrument but his son was able to produce a model in 1649.

Christiaan Huygens perfected Galileo's concept by inventing the first weight-driven clock through the use of a pendulum, although it was still only an hour hand.

17th to 19th Century

In 1680, the minute hand was finally conceived, to be followed by the second hand few years.

In 1889, Siegmund Riefler built a pendulum clock with accuracy within one hundredth of a second.

Clocks of the 20th Century, and Beyond

In 1921, W.H. Shortt invented the double pendulum which operated with one master and one slave pendulum. It was accurate to a few milliseconds a day.

In the 1930s and 1940s, pendulum clock started to be replaced by quartz clocks which are still used today, although the atomic clock precision has surpassed it.  The digital clock is commonly used at the present time.