Once upon a time, a calendar was enough for people to keep track of the time. But crafts appeared, and therefore, there was a need for an invention that would measure the duration of time intervals, less than one day. This invention was the watch. Today we will talk about their evolution.
When there was no clock ...
The history of watches has much deeper roots than is commonly believed today. Experts say that the first to keep track of time were primitive people that somehow could determine when hunting or fishing would be most successful. Perhaps they were watching the flowers. Their daily disclosure is believed to indicate certain time days. So, the dandelion opens at about 4:00, and moonflower- only with the onset of darkness. But the main instruments with which a person could determine the time before the appearance of the clock were the sun, stars, water, fire and sand. Such "clocks" are usually called the simplest.
Ancient Egyptians were one of the first to use the simplest clocks.
In 3500 BC. in Egypt, a kind of sundial appeared - obelisks - slender, four-sided structures tapering upward. The shadow falling from them allowed the Egyptians to divide the day into two parts, 12 hours each, so people could know exactly when it was noon. A little later, markings appeared on the obelisks, which made it possible to determine not only the time before and after noon, but also other periods of the day.
Technology gradually developed, and in 1500 BC. more convenient sundial... They divided the day into 10 parts, as well as into two "twilight" time periods. The disadvantage of such an invention was that it had to be rearranged every day at noon from east to west.
The first sundial changed more and more every year, and already in the 1st century. BC. the famous Roman architect and mechanic Mark Vitruvius Pollio described 13 different types of sundials that were used throughout Egypt, Greece, Asia Minor, Italy, Rome and India. By the way, today, in Piazza del Popolo, located in Rome, everyone can admire the Egyptian obelisk, which has survived to this day, with a height of 36 m.
In addition to the sundial, there were also water, sand and fire clocks. The water clock was a vessel cylindrical from which water flowed out drop by drop. It was considered than less water remained, the more time passed. Such clocks were used in Egypt, Babylon and Rome. In Asian countries, Roman and Arabic numerals which meant day and night, respectively. To find out the time, this hemispherical vessel was placed in a pool, and water entered it through a small hole. The rise in the liquid level raised the float, so that the time indicator began to move.
Everyone is also familiar with the hourglass, with the help of which the time was determined even before our era. In the Middle Ages, their development was improved, they became more accurate due to the use of high-quality sand in them - fine powder of black marble, as well as sand from lead and zinc dust.
Once upon a time, the time was determined with the help of fire. Fire clocks were of three types: candle, wick and lamp. In China, they used a special variety, it consisted of a base made of a combustible material (in the form of a spiral or stick), and metal balls attached to it. When some part of the base burned out, the balls fell, thus beating off the time.
Note that candle clocks were popular in Europe, they made it possible to determine the time by the amount of burned wax. By the way, this variety was especially common in monasteries and churches.
It is necessary to mention also such a way of determining the time as orientation by the stars. In ancient Egypt, there were star cards, by which the stargazers, using the transit instrument, navigated at night.
The advent of mechanical watches
With the development of production and public relations the need for more accurate time measurement has steadily increased. The best minds have worked to create mechanical watch, in the Middle Ages, the world saw their first sample.
The first mechanical watch with an escapement mechanism was made in China in 725 AD. masters Yi Xing and Liang Lingzan. Later, the secret of the device of their invention fell to the Arabs, and then to everyone else.
It is worth noting that mechanical watches have absorbed much from the simplest. The dial, gear train and battle have been preserved. It was only necessary to replace driving force- a stream of water - a heavy weight, which is much easier to handle, as well as add a trigger and a regulator.
On this basis, a tower clock was created, which was installed in 1354 in the French city of Strasbourg. They had only one hand - hour, with which people could determine the parts of the day, holidays church calendar, for example Easter and its dependent days. At noon, the figures of the three wise men bowed before the figure of the Virgin Mary, and the gilded rooster crowed and beat its wings. A special mechanism was installed in this watch, which sets in motion small cymbals - string percussion musical instruments, - who beat off the time. By now, only the rooster has remained from the Strasbourg clock.
The era of quartz watches is coming
As you remember, on the first mechanical watches there was only one hand - the hour. The minute appeared much later, in 1680, and in the 18th century. they began to install the second, at first it was lateral, and then central. By this time, the watch not only acquired the look familiar to us, but also improved internally. Ruby and sapphire stones were used as new supports for the balance bar and gears. This reduced friction, improved accuracy and increased power reserve. There are also interesting complications: a perpetual calendar, automatic winding and a power reserve indicator.
Further improvement of instruments for measuring time went on like an avalanche.
The development of electronics and radio engineering has contributed to the emergence of quartz watches, which have a mechanism consisting of electronic unit and the so-called stepper motor. This engine, receiving a signal from the electronic unit, moves the arrows. A digital display can be used instead of a dial in a quartz watch.
Also, quartz watches have many interesting additions such as stopwatch, moon phase indicator, calendar, alarm and more. Unlike classic mechanical quartz models, they show the time more accurately. Their error is ± 15 seconds / month, so it is enough to correct their readings twice a year.
Time in electronic clock
Today, most people use an electronic watch that has truly eclipsed the rest. Where we just do not see them: and on dashboard car, and in mobile phone, both in the microwave and on the TV ... Such watches attract users with their compactness and functionality. By the type of display, they are liquid crystal and LED, they can be powered both from the 220V network and from batteries.
Well, the history of watches goes back many centuries. If you make a rating of the "greatest inventions of mankind", then the clock will certainly take second place in it after the wheel. After all, today you really can't do without them.
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The first primitive concepts for measuring time (day, morning, day, noon, evening, night) were subconsciously prompted to ancient people by the regular change of the season, the change of day and night, the movement of the Sun and Moon across the firmament. As time went. Methods for measuring time have gradually improved. For a long period, people got by with the calendar measurement of time, counting the number of elapsed or forthcoming days. The primitive timing devices were a knotted strap and a notched plaque. Making a notch every day, a person could count the number of days that had passed; by untying a knot every day, it was possible to determine the number of days remaining before any expected event.
Since ancient times, the change of day and night (day) has served as a unit of measurement for relatively short time intervals. The position of the Sun in the sky was used as the hour hand by which people determined the time during the daytime. It was the movement of the sun that formed the basis for the sundial, which appeared about 5.5 thousand years ago. The principle of operation of a sundial is based on the movement of a shadow cast by a fixed landmark during the day.
The sundial consists of a pointer that casts a shadow and plays the role of an arrow, as well as a dial with graduations marked on it, indicating the hours of the day. Move the shadow arrow reflecting diurnal rotation Earth, allows you to determine the time.
Sundial - "Gnomon"
A sundial is the simplest device for counting time, it is customary to call it ancient Greek name- Gnomon.
On such a clock, it was possible to determine the time to the nearest hour. Of course, such a watch could only be used during daylight hours. The first gnomons were tricky architectural structures in the form of high obelisks, surrounded by a semicircle of stone pillars, which were a reference point for determining the time. Then the sundial became more perfect, decreased in size, received a line scale. Even pocket sundials were known. Many of the first hours served for a long time and faithfully to man, but new, more comfortable models appeared. The main disadvantage of the sundial was its absolute uselessness on a cloudy day or at night. Attempts to measure night time have led to the creation of a fiery clock.
The fire (fire) clock measured time by the amount of oil burned in a lamp, or wax in a candle. The prevalence of the fire clock was so great that the candle became the unit of measurement of time. To the question: - "What time is it?" followed the answer: - "Two candles"; which corresponded to about three o'clock in the morning, since the whole night was divided into three candles. These watches were cheap and convenient, but inaccurate. It was during these years that the alarm clock was first invented. Naturally he was fiery. The disadvantage of such watches was the unprofitability of their use in daytime days, and in addition, the accuracy of their readings was low due to different speed burnout of oil and wax from different lamps and candles.
Water clock - "Clepsydra"
The sun and fire clocks were replaced 2500 years ago by the water clock. They were more precise and perfect. This watch worked reliably day and night. Their device was simple: a vessel with a hole in the bottom and division on the walls, along which one can follow the drop in the water level. The vessel was made, as a rule, of metal, clay or glass, filled with water, which slowly, drop by drop, flowed out, lowering the water level, and the divisions on the vessel determined what time it was.
The water clock quickly became popular. They were used both at home and in the troops, government agencies, and schools. They have been to racetracks, stadiums, and judicial institutions.
The water clock was called "Clepsydra", which in Greek means "Thief." It is to the clepsydra that we owe the appearance of the expression - "The passage of time".
In the richest trading city of Egypt - Alexandria, klepsydra was most developed. It was in Alexandria that the world's first watch workshops were opened, which produced a variety of clepsydras. Craftsmen, who were called the masters of automatic water clocks, were engaged in the production of clepsydras. Most klepsydras were complex automatic device equipped with signaling mechanisms and various moving figures that produced various movements in a certain hour... From that moment on, interest in water watches increased as the watch began to carry an entertainment function. The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) developed the technical and cultural traditions of antiquity, and the automatic water clock served as an adornment of many rooms of the imperial palace in Constantinople.
The hourglass consists of two communicating vessels fixed in a wooden frame. Work hourglass It is based on pouring precisely calibrated river sand from one vessel to another through a narrow hole, into one grain of sand at regular intervals, the principle of operation is identical to a water clock, but it is not water that runs from vessel to vessel, but sand.
The halves of the glass vessel were in the shape of a bowl and were intended for measuring short periods of time. Such a clock could measure various time intervals from 15 minutes to several hours, depending on the capacity of the vessels and the size of the opening between them. The disadvantage of this watch is the need to turn the hourglass after pouring sand from the upper vessel to the lower one.
Tower clock
Mechanical clocks, which in their structure are reminiscent of modern ones, appeared in the 14th century.
These were huge heavy tower clock mechanisms, which were driven by a weight suspended on a rope from the drive shaft of the mechanism. The regulator of the course of this watch was the so-called spindle, which is a rocker with heavy weights, mounted on a vertical axis and driven alternately in right or left rotation. The inertia of the weights had a braking effect on the watch mechanism, slowing down the rotation of its wheels. The accuracy of such a watch with a spindle governor was low, and the daily error exceeded 60 minutes.
For the further improvement of clocks, the discovery of the laws of oscillation of a pendulum made by Galileo, who came up with the idea of creating a mechanical pendulum clock, was of great importance. The real design of such a watch appeared in 1658 thanks to the talented Dutch inventor and scientist Christian Huygens (1629-1695). He also invented the balance regulator, which made it possible to create pocket and wrist watch... Moreover, the basic structural diagram of which has remained almost unchanged in modern watches.
The first pocket watches appeared in 1500 after the invention of the mainspring by the famous Nuremberg watchmaker Peter Henleina, but these first pocket watches had a spindle governor and had low precision. It was only after the invention of balance that the pocket watch was transformed from a fashionable, expensive and useless toy into a precise and functional item.
The seventeenth century was the century of the rapid development of watchmaking. Since the invention of the coil spring-balancer, the torsional pendulum in wearable watches has completely replaced the conventional one. After the introduction of the horizontal escapement, the accuracy of the wearable watch significantly increased, which led to the need to add the minute and later the second hands to the mechanism.
Since its inception, pocket watches have become a luxury item and sophisticated design. The bodies were made in the form of animals and various geometric shapes, and enamel was used to decorate the dial. It was at that time that the dial of a pocket watch was covered with glass for the first time.
With the development of science, the clockwork became more complex, and the accuracy of the movement increased. Thus, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, ruby and sapphire bearings were first used for the balance bar and gears, which increased accuracy and power reserve and reduced friction. Gradually, pocket watches were supplemented with more and more sophisticated devices, and some samples had a perpetual calendar, self-winding, independent stopwatch, thermometer, power reserve indicator, minute repeater, and the movement made it possible to see the case back, made of rock crystal.
The greatest achievement in the watch industry is still considered to be the invention of the tourbillon by A. Breguet. By rotating the oscillatory system of the watch with the help of it, it is possible to compensate for the influence of gravity on the accuracy of the movement. The creation of quality watches has become a whole art.
The watch continues to amaze and delight its owners with unique qualities and functions, as well as original design... Anyone today can not only find out the time to the nearest second, but also decorate their wardrobe with a magnificent copy of well-known watch companies.
A clock today is not only a device necessary for determining the time of day, but also a sign of prestige and dignity, style, which has a symbolic meaning. Watches have long ceased to fulfill their main function, indicating the time - they defend the right to aesthetic appeal and personal respect.
p.s. But this is just a small fraction of the history of development and the history of inventions of time devices. ...
We have to measure, compare, count time in life in the most different areas activities - technology, science, in everyday life. All kinds of devices help us in this, the general name of which is watches. Time mechanical watch inventions it is not known exactly. There is a version that they were invented by the monk Herbert of Auvergne, who later became Pope Sylvester II. And it was at the end of the 10th century, but nothing specific about the structure of the tower clock he created for Magdeburg is known, because These watches have not survived. The first mentions of mechanical watches in Europe date back to the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. The emergence of the oldest watch movements in England is attributed to the 2nd half of the 13th century, Pierre Pipenard is considered the inventor of the first watches in Paris (around 1300), but the continuous production of mechanical watches began in Italy only at the beginning of the 14th century. In Russia, the first tower clock was installed in the Moscow Kremlin in 1404 by the monk Lazar Serbin.
The design of all watches was approximately the same. The main components of the clockwork were: engine; a gear system, which is a transmission mechanism; regulator to create uniform movement; distributor or trigger; a pointer mechanism, as well as a mechanism designed for winding and transferring watches. The first mechanical watches were set in motion by a descending weight. The driving mechanism was a smooth wooden horizontal shaft with a rope wound on it, to the end of which a stone, and later a metal weight was attached. Under the weight of the kettlebell, the rope gradually unwound and began to rotate the shaft, on which a large gearwheel was fixed. This wheel was in direct engagement with the gear wheels. Rotation from the shaft through a system of toothed wheels was transmitted to the main (ratchet) wheel, which was connected to the hands indicating the time. To measure the time correctly, the watch hand must rotate at the same frequency. If the weight drops freely, the shaft will begin to rotate at an accelerated rate, which means that each next revolution of the arrow will make faster.
Medieval mechanics decided to supplement the mechanism with a regulator of uniform rotation of the ratchet wheel. Bilyanets (rocker) became such a regulator. Since ancient times, the property of the rocker arm has been applied 
in the scales. If weights of the same weight are placed on each pan of the scales, and then their balance is disturbed, then the rocker arm will begin to perform almost equal oscillations, similar to a pendulum. Such an oscillatory system began to be successfully used in watches, although in many respects it was inferior to the pendulum, which was used as a regulator only in the second half of the 17th century. If the fluctuations of the regulator are not constantly maintained, then it will stop. In order to direct part of the motor energy from the wheel to the bilian or pendulum, a trigger distributor was invented.
The descent is the most difficult part, the exact course of the watch depends on it. The connection between the transmission and the governor is through the escapement. It transfers shock directly from the engine to the governor to keep it vibrating at all times. At the same time, it subordinates the movement of the transmission mechanism to the laws of motion of the regulator. The first trigger was the spindle with raids, the trigger mechanism is called the spindle trigger. True, the accuracy with such a regulator was low, and the error was more than 60 minutes per day.
The first watches did not have a special winding mechanism, which made it very difficult to prepare the watch for work. T 
The yellow weight had to be lifted to great heights several times a day. In addition, it was necessary to overcome the strong resistance of the gear wheels of the transmission mechanism. In this regard, the main wheel began to be fastened so that when the shaft was rotated counterclockwise (reverse rotation), it remained stationary.
Over the years, watchmaking has become more complex. Many arrows appeared in them, additional intermediate wheels in the transmission mechanism, a varied combat system. In 1657, H. Huygens first assembled a mechanical watch using a pendulum as a regulator of the clock. The daily error of such a clock did not exceed 10 seconds. Huygens is rightfully considered the creator of modern mechanical watches. Later, the rope with the load was replaced by a spring, the pendulum was replaced by a small flywheel, oscillating about the equilibrium position in one direction and the other. This is how pocket watches were invented, and later wristwatches.
My everyday life we cannot imagine without such a wise instrument as a clock. But, it is much more interesting to find out how it all began. How did the first clocks appear on earth?
In general, their history lasts for many centuries; in the entire history of its transformations, the watch has changed its image and shape several times. The word "clock" appeared in the 14th century. Translated from Latin, this word meant "call". Ancient people knew how to determine time by the movement of the sun in the sky. But this time cannot be called exact. It was determined by the location of the sun in one or another part of the sky - at sunrise - it means morning, in the middle - noon, sunset - respectively, evening.
The very first clock is a sundial. They were first used as early as 3500 BC. NS. The principle of their work was to determine the time by the shade from the sun - a stick was placed from which a shadow fell. The shadow pointed to a specific number on the disk, so the time was looked. In 1400 BC. the water clock appears in ancient Egypt. Their first name is klepsirda. This watch was made from two different containers of water. The level in one container was higher than in the other. One container was installed above the other, they were connected by a pipe through which water from this container flowed into the container below. On the containers there were marks, which were used to determine the time, based on the water level. The water clock was popular and loved in Greece. They were immediately improved. Water from a high-placed container also dripped into a container located below, from which a float rose, with a graduated stick, which was used to determine the time.
Also, the ancient Greeks divided the year into 12 months, each month was divided into 30 equal days. Thus, as we can see, there were 360 days in the "ancient Greek" year. Then the ancient Greeks and the people of Babylon decided to divide the day into equal parts - hours, minutes and seconds. First, the day from sunrise to sunset was divided into 12 equal parts. Later, these parts were called watches. But the problem remained that in different time the length of the night was different. And it was necessary to reconcile this difference. Therefore, soon the day began to be divided into 24 hours. But another question remains - why were night and day divided exactly into 12 equal parts? It turns out that 12 is a number lunar cycles a year. The idea of dividing an hour by 60 minutes, and a minute by 60 seconds came to people from Sumerian culture, in general, numbers in ancient times played big role in many cultures.
The very first watches with a minute hand were born in 1577. But, nevertheless, there were some drawbacks in them. The most accurate were pendulum clock which vibrated between 1656 and 1660. The disadvantage of this clock was that the pendulum could stop after a while, it was wound up again. The dial shows only 12 digits, as we all know, therefore, the hand has to go around the circle twice to mark the day. It is for this reason, in some countries, abbreviations have been introduced to denote the time before noon (A.M.) and after noon (R.M.)
And in 1504 wrist watches appeared. They were attached to the hand with a thread. Born in Germany. Quartz watches (quartz is a crystal) were invented only in 1927. It was the most accurate watch ever.
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 replaced by the 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.
