Time is one of the fundamental concepts that a person tries to comprehend and understand until now. The concepts of time changed with the development of science and technology, and along with the change in ideas, the instruments for measuring them, that is, chronometers, or, speaking simple language, watch. In this article we will talk about who, when and where invented the first watches of various types, talk about the evolution and history of the invention of watches, and also tell Interesting Facts about the clock.
The invention of the sundial
Budget version of a sundial
The change of seasons, the change of day and night pushed the first people to the idea of changing the surrounding reality, moreover, a regular, periodic change. The development of society went on, so there was a need to synchronize their actions in space and time, and for this a time meter was needed. Most likely, the first sundial had in the first place religious meaning and were used for rituals. It is now difficult to establish exactly when human mind saw the relationship between the length of the shadow from various subjects and where the sun is now.
The general principle of a sundial is that there is some kind of elongated pointer that casts a shadow. This pointer acts as an hour hand. A dial is placed around the index, where various divisions are applied (divisions, generally speaking, can be any), which correspond to certain units of time adopted in a particular culture. The earth moves around the sun, so the shadow changes its position, as well as lengthens and shortens, which makes it possible to determine the time, albeit very inaccurately.
The earliest known sundial is a shadow clock used in ancient Egyptian and Babylonian astronomy dating back to 1500 BC. Although later scientists announced about some limestone clock, the age of which reached 3300 BC.
Oldest sundial from the Valley of the Kings of Egypt (c. 1500 BC)
Also, various sundials were later found in ancient Egyptian temples, tombs and memorials. Later, ordinary vertically installed obelisks showed a flaw, as their shadow went beyond the boundaries of the plate with divisions. They were replaced by a sundial that casts a shadow on inclined surface or steps.
Drawing of a sundial from Kantara, where a shadow falls on an inclined plane
There are finds of sundials in other countries. For example, there is a sundial from China, which is distinguished by its design.
Equatorial sundial. China. Forbidden City
Interesting fact. The division of the dial into 12 parts is inherited from the 12-ary number system of ancient Sumer. If you look at your palm with inside, then note that each finger (do not count the thumb) consists of three phalanges. We multiply 3 by 4 and we get the same 12. Later this number system was developed by the Babylonians and from them it most likely passed into ancient Egypt, as a tradition. And now, thousands of years later, you and I see the same 12 parts on the dial.
The sundial was further developed in Ancient Greece, where the ancient Greek philosophers Anaximander and Anaximenes were engaged in their improvement. It is from Ancient Greece that the second name for the sundial "gnomon" originates. Then, after the Middle Ages, scientists began to improve the gnomon, who even singled out the creation and adjustment of such a sundial in a separate section and called it gnomon. As a result, the sundial was used right up to the end of the 18th century, since its creation was affordable and did not require any technological problems. Even now, you can find similar sundials in cities, which have lost their practical meaning and have become common attractions.
TO the main disadvantages of such watches it is worth mentioning that they can only be used in sunny weather. They also do not have sufficient accuracy.
Modern sundial
Modern sundials usually play the role of interesting monuments and attractions. Here is some of them.
Nowadays, the sundial is just funny historical artifact and wide practical application Dont Have. But some craftsmen and inventors continue to improve them. For example, a French engineer invented the digital sundial. Their peculiarity is that they depict time in digital format with the help of shadows.
True, the step for such hours is 20 minutes and digital version time will only be available from 10 am to 4 pm.
The invention of the water clock
It is impossible to say exactly when the water clock was invented (the first name for clepsydra), since along with sundial are among the most ancient human inventions. We can reliably say that the ancient Babylonians and the ancient Egyptians were familiar with the water clock. Roughly the date of invention of the clock is considered 1600 - 1400 BC, but some researchers argue that the first watch was known in China in 4000 BC.
Water clocks were known in Persia, Egypt, Babylon, India, China, Greece, Rome, and in the Middle Ages reached the Islamic world and Korea.
The Greeks and Romans loved the water clock, so they did a lot to improve it. They developed new design water clock, thereby increasing the accuracy of time measurement. Later improvements took place in Byzantium, Syria and Mesopotamia, where more and more accurate versions of water clocks were complemented by complex segmental and planetary gears, water wheels and even programmability. Interestingly, the Chinese developed their own advanced water clock, which included an escapement mechanism and a water wheel. The ideas of the Chinese passed on to Korea and Japan.
Ancient Greek water clock "klepsydra". They looked like a vessel with a hole at the bottom through which water flowed out. Time with the help of this clock was determined by the amount of leaked water. The numbering corresponds to 12 o'clock.
It is also interesting to look at the medieval "Elephant" clock by the inventor Al-Jazari, who was a Muslim engineer and inventor. of various kinds hours. He built a clock that is interesting in design and symbolism. When he finished his work, he described it like this:
"The elephant represents Indian and African cultures, the two dragons represent ancient Chinese culture, the phoenix represents Persian culture, the work of the water represents ancient Greek culture, and the turban represents Islamic culture."
Scheme of the watch "Elephant"
Reconstruction of the watch "Elephant"
Interesting fact. You may have seen a "clepsydra" watch on the Ford Boyard TV show. This clock was hung by every test room.
Watch from the program "Ford Boyard"
Early water clocks were calibrated with a sundial. Though the water clock never reached modern level accuracy, but for their time they remained the most accurate and frequently used movement for thousands of years, until they were replaced in Europe by more accurate pendulum clocks.
The main disadvantage of water clocks is the liquid itself, which can condense, evaporate or freeze. Therefore, they were quickly ousted. hourglass.
Modern water clock
Today there are only a few modern water clocks. In 1979, the French scientist Bernard Guitton began to create his time-flow watch, which represents a modern approach to the design of ancient movements. Gitton's design is based on gravity. Several siphons are fed according to the same principle as the Pythagorean bowl (a special vessel invented by Pythagoras that pours excess water out of the vessel).
For example, after the water level in the tubes is reached with minutes or hours displayed, the overflow line acts as a siphon and thus empties the indicator tube. The actual time keeping is performed by a calibrated pendulum, which is powered by a stream of water from the clock reservoir. There are others modern designs water clocks, including the Royal Gorge water clock in Colorado, in mall Woodgrove Mall in Nanaimo in British Columbia and the Hornsby water clock in Sydney, Australia.
The invention of the hourglass
An hourglass is a device used to measure time. It consists of two glass vessels connected vertically by a narrow neck, which allows you to regulate the trickle of a certain substance (historically, sand was the first) from the top of the flask to the bottom. Factors affecting the measured time interval include the amount of sand, the size of the sand, the size of the vessel, and the width of the throat. The hourglass can be reused indefinitely by inverting the vessels as soon as the top one is empty.
The origin of the hourglass is not entirely clear. According to the American Institute of New York, the hourglass was invented in Alexandria around 150 BC
In Europe, until the 8th century, the hourglass was known only in Ancient Greece, and in the 8th century, a Frankish monk named Luitprand created the first French hourglass. But only in the XIV century the hourglass became common, the earliest evidence was the image on the fresco of 1338 "Allegory of Good Government" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
The image of the clock on the fresco "Allegory of good government"
The use of nautical hourglasses has been documented since the 14th century. The nautical hourglass was very popular on board ships as it was the most reliable means of measuring time while at sea. Unlike the water clock, the movement of the ship while sailing did not affect the hourglass. The fact that the hourglass also used granular materials instead of liquids provided more accurate measurements as the water clock tended to condense within it during temperature changes. The sailors found that the hourglass was able to help them determine the longitude, distance east or west of a certain point with reasonable accuracy.
The hourglass has also found popularity on land. Since the use of mechanical clocks to indicate the time of events such as church services Since it has become more common to create the need to track time, the demand for timing devices has increased. Hourglasses were essentially inexpensive as they did not require rare technology and their contents were not difficult to find, and as the production of these tools became more common, their use became more practical.
Hourglass in the church
The hourglass was commonly used in churches, homes, and workplaces to measure sermons, cooking, and time spent on work breaks. As they were used for more mundane tasks, the hourglass model began to decline. Small models were more practical and very popular as they increased the level of punctuality.
After 1500, the hourglass began to lose its popularity. This was due to the development of mechanical watches, which became more accurate, compact and cheaper, and made it easier to measure time.
The hourglass, however, has not completely disappeared. Although they have become relatively less useful since the advanced watch technology, the hourglass has remained coveted in its design. The oldest surviving hourglass is in British Museum in London.
Modern hourglass
Like a sundial, an hourglass is often made as an object of attraction:
The world's largest hourglass. Moscow.
This hourglass stands in honor of Hungary's accession to the European Union. They are able to count down the time for a whole year.
But there are also miniature versions that are used as souvenirs and key rings. For example, children's hourglass toys are quite popular, which allow you to measure the time that needs to be spent on brushing your teeth. They can be purchased on aliexpress for a fairly low price.
But in fact, the hourglass is still used in practice! Where, you ask? The answer is in clinics and hospitals. It is convenient to use this watch to guide patient visits. They are also convenient to use as a timer when preparing food in the kitchen. These watches are sold around the dollar on the same aliexpress.
Well, very interesting option hourglass, where magnetized shavings are used instead of sand. When sprinkled in lower part hours, a bunch of a specific shape is formed, which can be looked at for relaxation (an effect like spinning a spinner). To buy such a watch, and people from Russia write that the delivery works fine and the watch is packed well.
Physicists have made a shocking discovery - in nature, time does not exist and never existed! In nature, only processes take place, they can be periodic or non-periodic. The concept of "time" was invented by people for their own convenience. Time is a measure of the distance between two events.
Who invented the first watch?
Man has invented many ways to measure time. First, the time at sunrise and sunset was measured. Increase or decrease the shadow falling from different subjects- stones, trees, helped a person somehow navigate in time. The time was also determined by the stars (at night in different time visible different stars).
The ancient Egyptians divided the night into twelve intervals. Each gap began with the rise of one of twelve specific stars. The Egyptians divided the day into the same number of intervals. Our division of the day into 24 hours is based on this.
Later, the Egyptians created a shadow clock (we call it a sundial). They are a simple wooden stick with marks. The shadow clock became the first human invention designed to measure time. Of course, the sundial could not tell the time on a cloudy day and at night. One of the oldest written documents dating back to 732 BC. about the sundial is the Bible (the twentieth chapter of the Book of Kings). It mentions the obelisk clock of King Ahaz. A sundial of the 13th and 15th centuries discovered during excavations. BC. indicate that in reality the sundial appeared much earlier than the writing suggests.
The ancient Egyptians also created a water clock. They measured the length of time during which the liquid flows from one vessel to another.
The hourglass appeared in the 8th century. They are two welded flasks. The sand poured into one of the flasks is poured through the narrow neck of the other flask over a certain period of time, for example, an hour. After that, the clock is turned over. The hourglass is cheap, reliable, so it still hasn't disappeared from.
Mechanical watches appeared in Europe in the 1300s, they worked with help and springs. They had no hands, and the call signaled the passage of an hour.
In modern electronic and quartz watches, vibrations of quartz crystals are used.
The atomic balance is the benchmark. They measure the transition time of an atom from a negative to a positive energy state and back.
Very old. Since ancient times, man has tried to somehow define himself in time and space. He tried to find out his land and get to new, strangers, made various discoveries. Naturally, the person understood that there is a relationship between the changes of the seasons, days, hours. And I wanted to understand this relationship and somehow calculate it in order to feel more confident.
The Sumerians were the first to measure time. They came up with a sundial. Simple enough invention, but it worked well for them. 
The Sumerians lived in the territory of today's Iraq, there sunny days a lot a year. And for the sundial to work, this is a decisive factor. At night and on cloudy days, the sundial was, alas, useless.
At first it was just a stick stuck into the ground, and divisions (hours) were marked around it, and the time could be determined by the shadow cast from the stick (gnomon). Then the invention was improved. Instead of a stick, they began to build beautiful steles and columns.
The ancient sundial has survived to this day.
They even invented a portable sundial. The design consisted of two rings with a hole for the sunbeam.
Around the same time, the water clock appeared. It was a vessel with carved marks, from which water was poured drop by drop. They were used right up to the 17th century!
It is believed that the first alarm clock was also water-based and was invented by Plato for his school. It consisted of two vessels, water slowly poured from one to the other, displacing the air, and a pipe was attached to the second vessel, and, at a certain moment, it began to whistle.
Later, the fire clock was invented. They were long thin candles with graduations, which were lit, and as they burned, time was measured in graduations. Several such candles were consumed per day.
Then they were improved. Beads were attached to some divisions on a strong thread. And the flame, as the candle burned out, burned out this thread, and the beads fell with a roar on the metal tray. It was a kind of alarm clock.
There was also the oily clock. A wick was installed in the lamp with oil, and divisions were applied on the lamp itself, as the oil burned out, its level changed and by divisions it was possible to determine the time.
They also came up with a flower clock. We planted certain varieties of flowers in a sunny place and determined the time as the flowers open and close in the morning and evening.
Later, about 1000 years ago, with the development of glass-blowing art, the familiar hourglass appeared. They determine rather accurately small periods of time, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, half an hour. They even made sets consisting of several vessels with sand of different sizes, each of which determined a different period of time.
But all these watches were imperfect, they did not work under all conditions, they had to be constantly monitored. Therefore, it was impossible to determine the exact time from them. But, in any case, they gave some guidelines in time.
Mechanical watches
And only with the advent of mechanical watches, people were able to accurately recognize the time and not constantly track the work of the watch.
The first mechanical watches were made in China in 725 A.D.
The pendulum and the pendulum clock were invented in the 11th century by Abbot Herbert, and after a while, already in the 17th century, they were improved by Galileo Galilei, but they began to use it in watches much later. In 1675 H. Huygens patented a pocket watch. And only after a while did they appear wrist watch, at first they were only female. They were richly decorated with stones, but they showed the time extremely inaccurately. And at the end of the 19th century, men's wristwatches also appeared.
Further, with the development of progress, quartz, electronic, atomic clock... Everything is constantly changing, improving at a breakneck speed. And the watch is no exception. New functions appear, new models are introduced, new developments are introduced.
Which further development waiting for the clock is even difficult to predict!
If you know about watch history some more facts, be sure to share in the comments!
And for your little ones it will be interesting to see which tell about the history of the watch, how the clock works and how you can slow down the time. Enjoy watching!
The first indicators for counting time were the movement of the sun. The rising and setting of the daylight meant a new time period. Increasing the shadows from rocks and trees made it possible to tell the time. The movement of the stars in the night sky indicated a change in time and served the ancient people as a kind of huge clock, because long ago people began to notice that the firmament changes during the night and different stars can be observed in the sky. The ancient Egyptians divided the night into 12 hour periods, which corresponded to the appearance of the twelve different stars... Similarly, they shared daytime, which is why our day is 24 hours. The very first sundial also appeared for the first time in ancient egypt... Most likely it was a simple pillar dug into the ground. The stones around it showed the movement of the shadow cast by the column throughout the day. So people got the opportunity to measure the current time.
About 300 BC in Babylon invented the new kind sundial, which was a bowl with an arrow in the middle. The shadow cast by the arrow moved in a circle and marked 12 hours a day. Later, people invented the fire and water clock. Notches were applied to the candle, which corresponded to a certain time interval. As the candle burned out, the elapsed time was determined. For the water clock, they took a plate with a small hole in the bottom and lowered it into a container of water. Across certain time the floating saucer filled with water and sank. The ancient Greeks improved the water clock by using a cogwheel. A float was placed in the container, which was gradually filled with water, transmitting the translational movement to the gear wheel. It was this wheel that moved the arrow, marking the passed periods of time. Another type of clock was invented about 2000 years ago - the hourglass. They consisted of two glass vessels connected in such a way that sand could freely pour from one container to another. The upper bowl of the hourglass was filled with sand in a predetermined amount to pour into the lower bowl within an hour. And now we sometimes use an hourglass, only this is a smaller clock that measures a few minutes.
The first mechanical watches were invented around 1350. In the center of the round dial was an arrow connected by an axis to a system of toothed wheels and gears. The load, tied with a rope to the reel, turned it by gravity, which, in turn, set the entire system in motion, turning the arrow around its axis. The first hours appeared in medieval monasteries to summon monks to services. The oldest clock in operation today was installed at the cathedral. English city Salisbury. And for more than six hundred years they have been regularly counting the time. TO mid XVI century in most European cities, public clocks appeared on city halls, towers and cathedrals. In the middle of the 15th century, a room clock appeared. Initially, they were too bulky and propelled by a load. The stroke length of such a watch was only 12 hours, and then the load had to be tightened. A little later, to power the watch, they decided to use the mainspring. The very first watches with a spring mechanism had a gold-plated metal case rectangular with a dial in its upper part and a hinged lid for adjusting the course of the watch and winding it in time. Over time appears great amount all kinds of hours. These are floor watches, coach watches, mantel clocks, wall clocks, console clocks, and pocket clocks.
In 1656, Christian Huygens proposed the use of a pendulum in a grandfather clock. Around 1675, a spiral was introduced in pocket watches, which significantly increased the accuracy of the movement. If earlier the lag or advance of time was from half an hour to a quarter of an hour, then after improvement the deviation was no more than three minutes. Minute hands appeared, and the watch could only be wound once every eight days. Over time, a second hand appears in the watch, and some watches could go without a winding for several months. Already in early XVII century, some watch mechanisms include details such as an alarm clock or even a calendar. Watches are becoming a luxury item. Some watches were adorned with gold precious stones, enamel, pearls and were more works of art than a mechanism for measuring time.
First attempts to use electrical appliances in hours occurred in the 40s of the XIX century. Initially, too bulky electronic-mechanical watches appeared, and only when the production of compact batteries was established did the production of electric wristwatches begin. Later they switched to the production of watches on semiconductors and integrated circuits. Quartz watches, where electrical impulses drive a miniature electric motor, are highly accurate. Their error is only 2 seconds per day. Recently, an electronic clock has appeared - with electronic circuit and digital indicator on liquid crystals or LEDs. We can say that this is a mini-computer. For greater stability of the clockwork, a crystal oscillator... Such watches are called electronic. Their mechanism is very compact and can fit on a plate measuring 0.5 square centimeters with a thickness of 0.1 millimeter.
Changed over the centuries appearance hours, the timing technologies have improved, the materials for their manufacture have completely changed, but the purpose of the watches remains the same. People use clocks to keep track of a period of time. And although in modern world Often mobile phones or another technique displaces from our Everyday life watch dial, most people remain true to tradition.
Instructions
The very first hours, by which it became possible to know the approximate time, were solar. The dial of such a watch was placed in a lighted place. A rod served as an arrow on them, from which a shadow fell on the dial. The sundial is called a gnomon (pointer). The first such devices appeared in Babylon, more than 4.5 thousand years BC. Sundials have created many varieties: horizontal, vertical, morning, evening, tapered, spherical, and even portable for sailors. Mathematician Vitruvius described 30 types of sundials in his articles. All of these devices had the main problem- they worked only when there was lighting.
To improve the quality of life, mankind has invented other devices for setting the time. A water clock (clepsydra) measured time intervals using a certain flow of liquid and measuring the amount of water in a vessel. The fire clock was a candle good quality or incense sticks. Sticks, for example, were marked with marks that signaled the elapsed period of time. Each part of the wand exuded a different scent.
The hourglass is widespread. Most of them were used as a timer. The first hourglass appeared in the 11th century AD. This has become convenient for scholars, priests, and artisans. In the 11th century, Europe acquired a tower clock. They had a single arrow, heavy weights set the bells in motion. On the sun, the hand was set at 0 o'clock, and during the day the watch keeper checked them with the sun.
The chime clock was made in the 14th century; it was installed in 1354 at the Strasbourg Cathedral. This clock was struck every hour of the day. They depicted a starry sky, a perpetual calendar and moving figures of the Mother of God and the Child. In Russia, the tower clock appeared in 1404 in the Moscow Kremlin. The monk Lazar Serbin became the inventor of the kettlebell engine and the mechanism with a fight. Later, tower clocks began to be installed in various Russian cities.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the mechanic P. Henlein made a pocket watch. They had a spindle mechanism, the weight was replaced with a steel spring. The accuracy of the watch depended on the degree of the spring winding. Over time, a device was created to equalize the force of the spring. Such clocks existed until the end of the 19th century.
The end of the 16th century became famous for the discovery pendulum clock... The scientist Galileo Galilei drew attention to the movement of the lamps in the Pisa Cathedral. He realized that the length of the chains on which the lamps are suspended determines the periods of their oscillation. It was Galileo who gave the idea of creating a pendulum clock.
