Clocks, Wall, Digital, Alarm

Clocks are one of the oldest and most useful devices known to man. From the earliest times people have wanted to tell time and needed mechanisms to help them do so. The earliest clocks were water clocks which were used by the ancient Chinese, the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans. A water clock was a simple mechanism a container was filled with water and when it ran out a set period of time had passed. A similar device to a water clock is a sand clock or hour glass. The difference is that an hour glass uses sand to tell the time rather than water.

Another primitive but effective clock is a sundial this is a device that throws a shadow on a different corner of a circle as the sun passes over. Sundials allowed people to tell what hour of the day it was for the first time in human history. The face of the sundial is the basis of the traditional clock face.

People needed better means of telling time than these primitive devices so they developed mechanical clocks. Experts who have studied remains from shipwrecks believe that the Ancient Greeks and Romans may have developed mechanical clocks but don’t think they were widely used. 

Mechanical clocks first became popular in Medieval Europe when clocks were placed in towers in the center of cities so everybody could tell the time. This where the tradition of placing clock towers on public buildings began. Many of these clocked chimed in order to tell everyone what time it was.

In the 16th and 17th centuries smaller clocks started appearing in the homes of the upper classes. Rich people were able to afford clocks in their homes for the first time but average people weren’t.

It wasn’t until the mass production of metal parts began during the Industrial Revolution that average people were able to afford clocks for the first time. The Industrial Revolution also gave people a reason to tell time they had to get to the factory to start working shifts at a certain time.

Time became standardized in the 19th Century when the railroads started crossing the country.  The railroads needed good timepieces and consistent time zones in order to keep their trains on schedule.

Today clocks are everywhere both in standalone devices and as parts of other gadgets such as computers and VCRs. Clocks have become so common that most people today take them for granted.

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