CLOCKS: FROM PAST TO FUTURE

Time is very important to all of us. According to Immanuel Kant, it is a deduced intuition that allows us to discern sense experience. With this, we could present to ourselves that things exist together (Kant, 1781). Because of this, people, even from the earliest civilization develop items to predict time and in the present time, our society now has what we called “clock”.

During the 1500 B.C., Egyptians and Babylonians used shadow clocks to tell time. It consists of a straight base with raised crossed piece at one end. The base, on which is inscribed a scale of six time divisions, is placed in an east-west direction with the crosspiece at the east end in the morning and at the west end in the afternoon. The shadow of the crosspiece on this base indicates the time. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). This inspired the development of the sundial. Sundial uses the position of the sun to tell time with the help of gnomon, the part of the sundial that casts the shadow. As the sun moves through the sky, the gnomon produces shadow that align with the different hour lines in its base. During the 16^th century B.C., Babylonians and Egyptians developed a new instrument to tell time, the clepsydra. This time telling device operates with the help of viscosity and temperature. Apparently, as temperature increases, liquids become less viscous (factmonster, 2007). These devices were used by the early civilization as their time telling devices that don’t depend in the astrology.

Yi Xing and Liang Lingzan invented the first mechanical clock in 725 A.D. that was incorporated in the astronomical tower created by Su Song. In Europe, clocks were mostly found in churches during the early times but they were always off 2 hours a day but this was improved by the great contribution of Galileo Galilei in the world of time, the pendulum (thinkquest.org). This was further improved by Christian Huygens when he patented the first pendulum clock. The first portable timepiece first came into action in 1504 when Peter Henlein invented it and was wore by Blaise Pascal (Bellis, 2014). During the 18^th century, clock ownership and manufacturing became widespread. Different styles and sizes came into light from grandfather clocks to table clocks (Torneau,2011). In the 20^th century, the discovery of quartz gave a more precise way to tell time. This crystal oscillator emits a signal with very precise frequency which made the quartz clock more accurate than the mechanical clocks which are regulated by the pendulum (Dwyer,2014). With the advancement of technology, the quartz clock were further improved to digital one by the Hamilton Watch Company that uses light-emitting diode(LED) to show time. As time pass by, more improvements were made to cater the needs of the people like the waterproof technology and addition of lights.

Truly, life nowadays will be problematic without clocks. It became a tool that everyone uses every day. Everyday living might go into chaos if we don’t know when to do things and when to meet.

Reference:

Bellis, Mary. 2014. Clock and Calendar History. Abou.com Inventors. http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/clock.htm. Accessed date: March 1, 2014.

Dwyer, Douglas. 2014. How Quartz Watches Work. How Stuff Works. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/clocks-watches/quartz-watch.htm. Accessed date: March 1, 2014.

Encyclopedia Britannica. 2014. Sundial(timekeeping device). http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/770909/shadow-clock. Accessed date: March 1, 2014.

Fact Monster. 2007. Water Clocks. Pearson Education Inc. http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0855491.html. Accessed date: March 1, 2014.

Kant, Immanuel. 1781. The Critique of Pure Reason. Meiklejohn, J.M.D. PDF. http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/kant/critique-pure-reason6x9.pdf. Accessed date: March 1, 2014.

Torneau. 2011. History of Timekeeping. https://www.tourneau.com/catalog/editorial_onecolumn.jsp?pageName=HistoryOfTimeKeepingTimeline. Accessed date: March 1, 2014.