Mechanical watch message. Mechanical watches. History of watches. History of the sundial

Since ancient times, people have not only existed in time, but also tried to comprehend its essence. What is time? More than one generation of philosophers, astronomers, physicists, mathematicians, theologians, poets and writers is looking for the answer to this question, and each era has its own idea of ​​the nature of time and ways of measuring it.
History of the watch
The first simple device for measuring time - sundial- was invented by the Babylonians about 3.5 thousand years ago. No less common in Europe and China were the so-called “fire” clocks - in the form of candles with divisions applied to them.
Hourglass appeared about a thousand years ago. History knows many loose time indicators, but only the development of glassblowing made it possible to create a relatively accurate device. However, with the help hourglass it was possible to measure only short periods of time, no more than half an hour. In the Middle Ages, at first, only prayer times in monasteries were determined using mechanical tower clocks. But soon this revolutionary device began to coordinate the life of entire cities. Its history is as follows: the very first mechanical watches, which did not yet have a pendulum, were developed in the second half of the thirteenth century, where and when the first mechanical clocks appeared is not known exactly, but the oldest, although not documented, reports about them are considered to be references dating back to the 10th century.
The first church clock was very large, its design included a heavy iron frame and several gears forged by local blacksmiths; they had neither a dial nor a clock hand, but simply struck a bell every hour. The first mechanical watches in Russia appeared in the 15th century. On watches of that time, instead of numbers, letters were applied to the dial. The first wearable watch was made in the second half of the fifteenth century by master Peter Haenlein from German city Nuremberg, after the flat spring was invented, replacing weights. Their case, which had only one hour hand, was made of gilded brass and was shaped like an egg. The first “Nuremberg eggs” were 100-125 mm in diameter, 75 mm thick and were worn in the hand or around the neck. By the end of the nineteenth century, advances in science and technology ushered in the mass production of mass-produced watches, making them more accessible to a wider audience. Since the widespread use of clocks, the problem of time synchronization and determining its most accurate value has become acute. Atomic clocks, where radio emission served as a source of oscillation instead of a pendulum, made it possible to solve this problem. In general, since the invention of atomic clocks, their accuracy has increased on average twice every 2 years, and although the limit to perfection in this matter is not visible to this day.
Sundial - a device for determining time by changing the length of the shadow from the gnomon and its movement along the dial. The appearance of these watches is associated with the moment when a person realized the relationship between the length and position of the sun's shadow from certain objects and the position of the Sun in the sky. The simplest sundial shows solar time, not local time, that is, it does not take into account the division of the Earth into time zones.

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The oldest tool for determining time was the gnomon. The change in the length of its shadow indicated the time of day. Such a simple sundial is mentioned in the Bible.
Ancient Egypt . The first known description of a sundial in ancient Egypt is an inscription in the tomb of Seti I, dating from 1306–1290. BC. It talks about a sundial that measured time by the length of the shadow and was a rectangular plate with divisions. At one end of it is attached a low block with a long horizontal bar, which cast a shadow. The end of the plate with the bar was directed to the east, and the hour of day was established by the marks on the rectangular plate, which in Ancient Egypt was defined as 1/12 of the time period from sunrise to sunset. After noon, the end of the plate was heading west. Instruments made using this principle have also been found. One of them dates back to the reign of Thutmose III and dates from 1479-1425. BC, the second is from Sais, he is 500 years younger. At the end they have only a bar, without a horizontal bar, and also have a groove for a plumb line to give the device a horizontal position. The other two types of ancient Egyptian clocks that measured time by the length of the shadow were those in which the shadow fell on an inclined plane or on steps. They were deprived of the lack of watches with a flat surface: in the morning and evening hours the shadow extended beyond the plate. These types of clocks were combined into a limestone model kept in the Cairo Egyptian Museum and dates back to a slightly later time than the clock from Sais. It consists of two inclined planes with steps, one of them was oriented to the east, the other pointed to the west. Before noon, the shadow fell on the first plane, gradually descending along the steps from top to bottom, and in the afternoon - on the second plane, gradually rising from bottom to top; at noon there was no shadow. A specific implementation of a sundial type with inclined plane was a portable clock from Kantara, created around 320 BC. with one inclined plane on which the divisions were marked, and a plumb line. The plane was oriented towards the Sun.
Ancient China. The first mention of a sundial in China is probably the problem of the gnomon, given in the ancient Chinese problem book Zhou Bi, compiled around 1100 BC. In the Zhou era in China, an equatorial sundial was used in the form of a stone disk installed parallel to the celestial equator and piercing it in the center of a rod installed parallel earth's axis. During the Qing era in China, portable sundials with a compass were made: either equatorial - again with a rod in the center of the disk, installed parallel to the celestial equator, or horizontal - with a thread as a gnomon above the horizontal dial.
Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome . Skafis - sundial of the ancients. The spheroidal notch has clock lines. The shadow was cast by a horizontal or vertical rod, or a ball in the center of the instrument. According to the story of Vitruvius, the Babylonian astronomer Berossus, who settled in the 6th century. BC e. on the island of Kos, introduced the Greeks to the Babylonian sundial, which had the shape of a spherical bowl - the so-called scaphis. This sundial was improved by Anaximander and Anaximenes. In the middle In the 18th century, during excavations in Italy, they found exactly the same instrument as described by Vitruvius. The ancient Greeks and Romans, like the Egyptians, divided the time period from sunrise to sunset into 12 hours, and therefore their hour was of different lengths depending on the time of year. The surface of the recess in the sundial and the “hour” lines on it were selected so that the end of the rod’s shadow indicated the hour. The angle at which the top of the stone is cut depends on the latitude of the place for which the watch is made. Subsequent geometers and astronomers came up with various forms of sundials. Descriptions of such instruments have been preserved, bearing the strangest names according to their appearance. Sometimes the gnomon, casting a shadow, was located parallel to the axis of the earth. The first sundial was brought to Rome by consul Valerius Massala from Sicily in 263 BC. e. Designed for a more southern latitude, they showed the hour incorrectly. For the latitude of Rome, the first clock was built around 170 by Marcius Philip.
Ancient Rus' and Russia. In ancient Russian chronicles, the hour of some event was often indicated, this suggested that at that time in Rus' certain instruments or objects were already used to measure time, at least during the day. Chernigov artist Georgy Petrash drew attention to the patterns in the illumination by the Sun of the niches of the northwestern tower of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernigov and to the strange pattern above them. Based on a more detailed study of them, he suggested that the tower is a sundial, in which the hour of the day is determined by the illumination of the corresponding niche, and the meanders serve to determine the five-minute interval. Similar features were noted in other churches in Chernigov, and it was concluded that the sundial in Ancient Rus' used back in the 11th century. In the 16th century, Western European portable sundials appeared in Russia. In 1980, there were seven such clocks in Soviet museums. The earliest of them date back to 1556 and are kept in the Hermitage; they were designed to be worn around the neck and represent a horizontal sundial with a sector gnomon to indicate the time, a compass to orient the clock in the north-south direction, and a plumb line on the gnomon to give the clock a horizontal provisions.

Middle Ages. Arab astronomers left extensive treatises on gnomonics, or the art of constructing sundials. The basis was the rules of trigonometry. In addition to the “hour” lines, the direction to Mecca, the so-called qibla, was also marked on the surface of the Arab clock. The moment of the day when the end of the shadow of a vertically placed gnomon fell on the qibla line was considered especially important. Together with the introduction of equal hours of day and night, the task of gnomonics was greatly simplified: instead of noticing the end of the shadow on complex curves, it became enough to notice the direction of the shadow. If only the pin is located in the direction of the earth's axis, then its shadow lies in the plane of the hour circle of the sun, and the angle between this plane and the plane of the meridian is the hour angle of the sun or true time. All that remains is to find the intersection of successive planes with the surface of the watch “dial”. Most often it was a plane perpendicular to the pin, that is, parallel to the celestial equator; on it the direction of the shadow changes by 15° every hour. In all other positions of the dial plane, the angles formed on it by the direction of the shadow with the noon line do not grow evenly.
Water clock, clepsydra - a device known since the times of the Assyro-Babylonians and ancient Egypt for measuring time intervals in the form of a cylindrical vessel with a flowing stream of water. Was in use until the 17th century.
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The Romans had in wide use water clocks of the simplest design; for example, they determined the length of speeches of orators in court. The first water clock was built in Rome by Scipio Nazica. Pompey's water clock was famous for its decorations made of gold and stones. At the beginning of the 6th century, Boethius’ mechanisms were famous, which he arranged for Theodoric and for the Burgundian king Gundobad. Then, apparently, this art fell, since Pope Paul I sent Pepin the Short a water clock as an extreme rarity. Harun al-Rashid sent Charlemagne to Aachen (809) a water clock of a very complex device. Apparently, a certain monk Pacificus in the 9th century began to imitate the art of the Arabs. At the end of the 10th century, Herbert became famous for his mechanisms, also partly borrowed from the Arabs. The water clocks of Orontius Phineus and Kircher, based on the siphon principle, were also famous. Many mathematicians, including in later times Galileo, Varignon, Bernoulli, solved the problem: “what should be the shape of a vessel so that water flows out quite evenly.” IN modern world The clepsydra is widely used in France in the television game Fort Boyard during the challenges of players and is a turning mechanism with blue water.
In the Middle Ages, water clocks of a special design, described in the treatise of the monk Alexander, became widespread. The drum, divided by walls into several radial longitudinal chambers, was suspended by an axis so that it could be lowered by unrolling the ropes wound on the axis, that is, rotating. The water in the side chamber pressed in the opposite direction and, gradually pouring from one chamber to another through small holes in the walls, slowed down the unwinding of the ropes so much that time was measured by this unwinding, that is, by lowering the drum.
Mechanical watches - watches using a weight or spring energy source. A pendulum or balance regulator is used as an oscillatory system. Craftsmen who make and repair watches are called watchmakers. In art, mechanical watches are a symbol of time. Mechanical watches are inferior in accuracy to electronic and quartz watches. Therefore, at present, mechanical watches are turning from an indispensable tool into a symbol of prestige.
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The prototype of the first mechanical watch can be considered the Antikythera mechanism, dating back to around the 2nd century BC. The first mechanical watch with an anchor mechanism was made in Tang China in 725 AD by Yi Xing and Liang Lingzan. From China the secret of the device,
apparently fell to the Arabs. The first pendulum clock was invented in Germany around the year 1000 by Abbot Herbert, the future Pope Sylvester II, but was not widely used. The first tower clock in Western Europe was built in 1288 by English craftsmen in Westminster. Around the same time, Dante Alighieri talks about striking wheel clocks in his “ Divine Comedy" The first mechanical clocks in Western Europe, installed on towers in order to accommodate the weight-bearing mover of their mechanism, had only one hand - the hour hand. Minutes were not measured at all then; but such hours often marked church holidays. There was also no pendulum in such clocks. The tower clock, installed in 1354 in Strasbourg, did not have a pendulum, but it marked the hours, parts of the day, holidays of the church calendar, Easter and days depending on it. At noon, the figures of the three wise men bowed before the figurine of the Virgin Mary, and a gilded rooster crowed and beat its wings; a special mechanism set in motion small cymbals that struck the time. To date, only the rooster has survived from the Strasbourg clock. The earliest tower clock mechanism that has survived to this day is located in the cathedral English city Salisbury, and dates back to 1386.
Later, pocket watches appeared, patented in 1675 by H. Huygens, and then - much later - wristwatches. In the beginning, wristwatches were only for women, jewelry richly decorated with precious stones, and characterized by low accuracy. No self-respecting man of that time would have put a watch on his hand. But the wars changed the order of things and in 1880 mass production The Girard-Perregaux company began producing wristwatches for the army.
Quartz watch - a watch in which a quartz crystal is used as an oscillating system. Although electronic watches are also quartz watches, the expression "quartz watch" usually applies only to electromechanical watches. The operation of an electromechanical watch does not depend at all on the quality of the gears; A simple, if noisy, plastic alarm clock can cost less than $1. High-quality household quartz clocks have an accuracy of ±15 seconds/month. Thus, they must be exhibited twice a year. However, the quartz crystal is subject to aging, and over time, the clock tends to rush.

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Quartz watches were released in 1969. In 1978, the American company Hewlett Packard first released a quartz watch with a microcalculator. It was possible to perform mathematical operations with six-digit numbers. Its keys were pressed with a ballpoint pen. The size of this watch was several square centimeters. In the 1990s, original watches were introduced to the market - a hybrid of self-winding and quartz watches. Japan presented the Kinetic model from Seiko, and Switzerland presented the Autoquartz model from Tissot and Certina. The peculiarity of this watch was that it did not contain a battery, but an accumulator, which was recharged by an automatic winding device, as is usually installed on mechanical watches.
Interesting about the clock.
*1485 Leonardo da Vinci sketched a fusee device for a tower clock. As it turned out, pocket watches differ from tower watches only in size - the principle is the same.
*The clock, which is based on a mechanism with an oscillating pendulum, was created by the Dutchman Christiaan Huygens. However, this became possible thanks to experiments and research conducted by the famous mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1580.
*The invention of the pendulum around the beginning of the 15th century contributed to the appearance of the first home clocks, which were made by local blacksmiths and craftsmen. At first, home clocks were hung on the wall because their pendulums were really huge. With further improvements in watch mechanisms, the watches became lighter and more compact, and soon a desktop version was created.
*Thanks to Galileo's invention, the error in time measurement decreased from 20-30 minutes per day to 3 minutes, and the invention of the anchor mechanism made it possible to reduce this error to 3 s per week, which was considered great accuracy.
*To produce mechanical watches, such as the first examples, required much more accurate machines than all the previous tools. Modern precision engineering was born from the skill of watchmakers.
*The earliest date that can be reliably given for the use of spindle mechanical clocks is approximately 1340 or slightly later. Since then, they quickly came into general use and became the pride of cities and cathedrals. In 1450, spring clocks appeared, and by the end of the 15th century, portable clocks appeared, but they were still too large to be called pocket or wrist watches.

The first hours were... stellar. Based on observations of the movements of the Moon and the Sun in Mesopotamia and Egypt, about 4,000 years ago, methods for the sexagesimal time system arose.


A little later, the same system independently arose in Mesoamerica - the cultural region of Northern and South America, stretching from the center of modern Mexico to Belize. Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica.

All these ancient clocks, in which the “hands” were the rays of the Sun or shadows, are now called solar. Some scientists refer to sundials as stone circle structures similar to Stonehenge, discovered in different parts peace.

But megalithic civilizations (the ancient ones, those that made structures from large stones without using a binding solution) did not leave behind written evidence of time tracking, so scientists have to build and prove very complex hypotheses about the understanding of time as matter and the actual origin of clocks.

The inventors of sundials are called the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians. However, they were the first to calculate time: they divided the year into 12 months, day and night into 12 hours, an hour into 60 minutes, a minute into 60 seconds - after all, in Mesopotamia, or Mesopotamia, the kingdom of Babylonia.


This was done by the Babylonian priests using a sundial. At first, their instrument was a simple clock with a flat dial and a central rod that cast a shadow. But over the course of a year, the sun set and rose differently, and the clock began to “lie.”

The priest Beros improved the ancient sundial. He made the watch dial in the form of a bowl, exactly repeating the visible shape of the sky. At the end of the needle-rod, Beros attached a ball, whose shadow measured the hours. The path of the sun in the sky was accurately reflected in the bowl, and the priest made markings on its edges so cleverly that at any time of the year his watch showed the correct time. They had only one drawback: the watch was useless in cloudy weather and at night.

Beroza's watch served for many centuries. They were used by Cicero and were found in the ruins of Pompeii.

The origin of the hourglass is still unclear. They were preceded by water clocks - clepsydras and fire clocks. Sand, according to the American Institute (New York), could have been invented in Alexandria in 150 BC. e.


Then their trace in history disappears and appears already in the early Middle Ages. The first mention of an hourglass at this time is associated with a monk who served in the Cathedral of Chartres (France) using a sand chronometer.

Frequent mentions of hourglasses begin around the 14th century. Most of them are about the use of clocks on ships, where it is simply impossible to use fire as time meters. The movement of the ship does not affect the movement of sand between two vessels, just as the change in temperature does not affect it, therefore the sailors' hourglasses - flasks - showed more accurate time in any conditions.

There were many models of hourglasses - huge and tiny, serving for various household needs: from performing a church service to measuring the time needed to prepare baked goods.

The use of hourglasses began to decline after 1500, when mechanical watches began to be actively used.

Information on this issue is contradictory. But most scientists are inclined to believe that mechanical watches were the first to be created in 725 AD. e. Chinese masters Liang Lingzan and Yi Xing, who lived during the Tang dynasty.


They used a liquid escapement mechanism in the watch. Their invention was improved by the masters Zhang Xisun and Su Song of the Song Empire (late 10th – early 11th centuries).

However, later in China the technology fell into decay, but was mastered by the Arabs. Apparently, it was from them that the liquid (mercury) anchor mechanism became known to Europeans, who from the 12th century began to install tower clocks with a water/mercury escapement mechanism.

The next clock mechanism is weights on chains: the wheel drive is driven by a chain, and the spindle stroke and folio balancer in the form of a rocker with moving weights are regulated. The mechanism was very inaccurate.

In the 15th century, devices with a spring action appeared, which made it possible to make clocks small and use them not only on towers, but also in homes, to wear in a pocket and even on a hand.

There is no exact information about the invention. Some sources name the year 1504 and a resident of Nuremberg, Peter Henlein. Others associate the appearance of wristwatches with the name of Blaise Pascal, who simply tied a pocket watch to his wrist with a thin rope.


Their appearance dates back to 1571, when the Earl of Leicester gave Queen Elizabeth I a bracelet with a watch. Since then, wristwatches have become a women's accessory, and English men have adopted the saying that it is better to wear a skirt than a watch on your wrist.

There is another date - 1790. It is believed that it was then that the Swiss company Jacquet Droz et Leschaux was the first to produce wristwatches.

It seems that everything connected with watches is somehow mysteriously hidden either by time or by history. This is also true for electronic watches, for the invention of which there are several contenders.


The “Bulgarian version” seems to be the most likely. In 1944, Bulgarian Petir Dimitrov Petrov left to study in Germany, and in 1951 - to Toronto. A talented engineer becomes a participant in NASA programs, and in 1969, using his knowledge of space technology, he creates the filling for the first electronic watch, the Pulsar.

The watch is produced by the Hamilton Watch Company, and the most authoritative watch expert G. Fried calls its appearance “the most significant leap forward since the hairspring was invented in 1675.”

The history of watches goes back thousands of years.

The very first clock on earth is the sun. They were brilliantly simple: a pole stuck into the ground. A time scale is drawn around it. The shadow of the pole, moving along it, showed what time it was. Later, such clocks were made of wood or stone and installed on the walls of public buildings. Then portable sundials appeared, which were made of valuable wood, ivory or bronze. There were even watches that could roughly be called pocket watches; they were found during excavations of an ancient Roman city. This sundial, made of silver-plated copper, was shaped like a ham with lines drawn on it. The spire - the clock hand - was a pig's tail. The clock was small. They could easily fit in a pocket. But the inhabitants of the pockets ancient city haven't figured it out yet. So such watches were worn on a cord, chain, or attached to canes made of expensive wood.

The sundial had one significant drawback: it could only “walk” outside, and even then on the sunlit side. This, of course, was extremely inconvenient. Apparently, this is why the water clock was invented. Water flowed drop by drop from one vessel to another, and how much time had passed was determined by how much water flowed out. For many hundreds of years, such clocks - they were called clepsydras - served people. In China, for example, they were used 4.5 thousand years ago. By the way, the first alarm clock on earth was also a water alarm clock - both an alarm clock and a school bell at the same time. Its inventor is considered to be the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who lived 400 years BC. This device, invented by Plato to convene his students for classes, consisted of two vessels. Water was poured into the upper one, from where it gradually flowed into the lower one, displacing the air from there. The air flowed through the tube towards the flute, and it began to sound. Moreover, the alarm clock was adjusted depending on the time of year. Clepsydra were very common in ancient world.

Sundial. Hourglass.

A thousand years ago, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, the hero of many Arabian Nights fairy tales, ruled in Baghdad. True, in fairy tales he is depicted as a kind and fair sovereign, but in reality he was treacherous, cruel and vengeful. The Caliph maintained trade and diplomatic relations with the rulers of many countries, including the Frankish king Charlemagne. In 807, Harun ar-Rashid gave him a gift worthy of a caliph - a water clock made of gilded bronze. The hand could show the time from 1 hour to 12. When it approached the number, a ringing sound was heard, which was produced by balls falling on a bronze sheet.

At the same time, figures of knights appeared, passed in front of the audience and moved away.

In addition to water clocks, sand clocks and fire clocks (most often alarm clocks) were also known. In the East, the latter were sticks or cords made from a slow-burning composition.

They were placed on special stands and hung low on a thread above the section of the stick where the fire was supposed to reach at a certain time. metal balls. The flame approached the thread, it burned out, and the balls fell into the copper cup with a ringing sound. In Europe, a candle with divisions marked on it was used for these purposes. A pin with a weight attached to it was stuck into the required division. When the candle burned down to this division, the weight fell onto a metal tray or simply onto the floor.

There is hardly a person who can name the first inventor of a mechanical watch. Such watches were first mentioned in ancient Byzantine books (late 6th century). Some historians attribute the invention of purely mechanical clocks to Pacificus of Verona (early 9th century), others to the monk Herbert, who later became Pope. He made a tower clock for the city of Magdeburg in 996. In Russia, the first tower clock was installed in 1404 in the Moscow Kremlin by the monk Lazar Serbin. They were an intricacy of gears, ropes, shafts and levers, and a heavy weight chained the clock into place. Such structures have been created for years. Not only watchmakers, but also watch owners sought to keep secret the secrets of the mechanisms.

The first personal mechanical watch was carried by a horse, and a groom monitored its serviceability. Only with the invention of the elastic spring did watches become comfortable and trouble-free. The first spring for pocket watches was a pig bristle. It was used by the Nuremberg watchmaker and inventor Peter Henlein at the beginning of the 15th century.

And at the end of the 16th century a new discovery was made. The young scientist Galileo Galilei, observing the movement of a variety of lamps in the Pisa Cathedral during worship, established that neither the weight nor the shape of the lamps, but only the length of the chains on which they are suspended, determines the periods of their oscillations from the wind rushing through the windows. He came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a clock with a pendulum.

The Dutchman Christiaan Huygens knew nothing about Galileo's discovery and repeated it 20 years later. But he also invented a new regularity regulator, which significantly increased the accuracy of the watch.

Many inventors tried to improve watches, and late XIX centuries they have become an ordinary and necessary thing.

In the 30s of the 20th century, quartz watches were created that had daily deviations of about 0.0001 seconds. In the 70s, atomic clocks appeared with an error of 10" 13 seconds.

Nowadays, many different watches have been created. The most common are wrist ones.

Modern watches.

Their dials are becoming more and more like the dashboard of an airplane, or at least a car. In addition to the time of day, the clock often shows the month, day and day of the week. Thanks to waterproof watches, scuba divers know the depth of their dive and when their air tanks run out. Sometimes another indication is displayed on the dial - pulse rate. There is a solar powered radio controlled clock. They allow a time deviation of 1 second from the astronomical time over 150 thousand years, and automatically switch taking into account seasonal and standard time. A wristwatch with a built-in TV, a thermometer watch that measures air or water temperature, and a dictionary watch with 1,700 words have been created.

Modern alarm clocks have also become more complex and more advanced. French mechanics, for example, designed such that at a given time they begin not only to ring, but also... to dance: two wide legs on which the mechanism is installed rhythmically hit the table; They can tap dance and twist. There is an alarm clock for sleep snorers. It looks like a regular soap dish, only it contains not soap, but a microphone, an amplifier and a vibrator. The device is placed under the mattress, and as soon as a person snores more than five times, the alarm clock begins to shake so much that the sleeper will definitely turn over from his back and the snoring will stop. There is also an alarm clock for couch potatoes. At the appointed time, he pumps air into a chamber placed under the mattress, which swells and... throws the sleeper out of bed. In a word, the inventive thought does not sleep...

Once upon a time, a calendar was enough for people to keep track of time. But crafts appeared, and therefore, there was a need for an invention that would measure the duration of periods of time less than one day. This invention was the clock. Today we will talk about their evolution.

When there were no clocks...

The history of watches has much deeper roots than is commonly believed today. Experts say that the first people to keep track of time were primitive people, who could somehow determine when hunting or fishing would be most successful. Perhaps they were watching the flowers. It is believed that their daily opening indicates a certain time of day. So, the dandelion opens around 4:00, and the moon flower only opens after dark. But the main tools with which man could determine time before the advent of clocks were the sun, stars, water, fire and sand. Such “clocks” are usually called the simplest.

One of the first who began to use the simplest clocks were the ancient Egyptians.

In 3500 B.C. In Egypt, a semblance of a sundial appeared - obelisks - slender, four-sided structures tapering upward. The shadow cast from them allowed the Egyptians to divide the day into two parts of 12 hours, so people could know exactly when noon came. 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 sundials were invented. They divided the day into 10 parts, as well as into two “twilight” periods of time. The inconvenience of such an invention was that it had to be moved 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 Marcus Vitruvius Pollio described 13 various types sundials, which were used everywhere in 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, having a height of 36 m.

In addition to sundials, there were also water, sand and fire ones. The water clock was a cylindrical vessel from which water flowed drop by drop. It was believed that the 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 through a small hole. An increase in the liquid level raised the float, causing the time indicator to move.

Everyone is also familiar with the hourglass, which was used to determine time even before our era. In the Middle Ages, their development was improved, they became more accurate due to the use of high-quality sand - fine powder of black marble, as well as sand from lead and zinc dust.

Once upon a time, time was determined using fire. There were three types of fire clocks: candle, wick and lamp. In China, a special variety of them was used; it consisted of a base made of flammable material (in the form of a spiral or stick) and metal balls attached to it. When some part of the base burned, the balls fell, thus beating time.

Note that candle clocks were popular in Europe; they made it possible to determine the time by the amount of burnt wax. By the way, this variety was especially common in monasteries and churches.

It is necessary to mention such a method of determining time as orientation by the stars. In Ancient Egypt, there were star maps, according to which astrologers, using a passage instrument, navigated at night.

The emergence of mechanical watches

With the development of production and social relations, the need for more accurate measurement of time periods has steadily increased. The best minds worked on the creation of mechanical watches; in the Middle Ages, the world saw their first example.

The first mechanical watch with an anchor mechanism was made in China in 725 AD. masters Yi Xing and Liang Lingzan. Later, the secret of their invention came to the Arabs, and then to everyone else.

It is worth noting that mechanical watches have absorbed much of the simplest ones. The dial, gear train and striker have been preserved. Just needed to be replaced driving force- a stream of water - a heavy weight, which is much easier to handle, and also add a release device and a stroke 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 - an hour hand, with the help of which people could determine parts of the day, holidays of the church calendar, for example Easter and the days depending on it. At noon, the figures of the three wise men bowed before the figurine of the Virgin Mary, and a gilded rooster crowed and beat its wings. This clock had a special mechanism installed that set in motion small cymbals - stringed percussion musical instruments - which struck the time. To date, only the rooster remains from the Strasbourg clock.

The era of quartz watches is coming

As you remember, the first mechanical watch had only one hand - the hour hand. The minute appeared much later, in 1680, and in the 18th century. they began to install a second, at first it was lateral, and then central. By this time, the watch not only acquired the appearance familiar to us, but also improved internally. Ruby and sapphire stones were used as new supports for the balancer and gears. This reduced friction, increased accuracy and increased power reserve. Interesting complications also appeared: a perpetual calendar, automatic winding and a power reserve indicator.

Further improvement of instruments for measuring time occurred like an avalanche.

The development of electronics and radio engineering contributed to the emergence of quartz watches, which have a mechanism consisting of an electronic unit, etc. stepper motor. This engine, receiving a signal from the electronic unit, moves the arrows. Instead of a dial, quartz watches can use a digital display.

Also, quartz watches have many interesting additions, such as a stopwatch, moon phase indicator, calendar, alarm clock and much more. Unlike classic mechanical ones, quartz models show time more accurately. Their error is ±15 seconds/month, so it is enough to adjust their readings twice a year.

Time in electronic clock

Today, most people use digital watches, which have truly eclipsed all others. Where do we not see them: on the dashboard of a car, and in mobile phone, and in the microwave, and on the TV... Such watches attract users with their compactness and functionality. According to the type of display, they are liquid crystal and LED; they can be powered either from a 220V network or from batteries.

Well, the history of watches goes back many centuries. If we were to rank “the greatest inventions of mankind,” the clock would probably take second place after the wheel. After all, today you really can’t do without them.

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The first science of time is astronomy. The results of observations at ancient observatories were used to guide Agriculture and the performance of religious rites. However, with the development of crafts, the need arose to measure short periods of time. Thus, humanity came to the invention of watches. The process was long, filled with hard work from the best minds.

The history of watches goes back many centuries; it is the oldest invention of mankind. From a stick stuck in the ground to an ultra-precise chronometer, the journey is hundreds of generations long. If we make a rating of the achievements of human civilization, then in the category “great inventions” the clock will be in second place after the wheel.

There was a time when a calendar was enough for people. But crafts appeared, and the need arose to record the duration of technological processes. It took a clock, the purpose of which was to measure periods of time shorter than a day. To achieve this, humans have used various physical processes over the centuries. The designs implementing them were also corresponding.

The history of watches is divided into two large periods. The first is several thousand years long, the second is less than one.

1. The history of the emergence of clocks called simplest. This category includes solar, water, fire and sand devices. The period ends with the study of mechanical clocks of the pre-pendulum period. These were medieval chimes.

2. New story clock, starting with the invention of the pendulum and balance, which marked the beginning of the development of classical oscillatory chronometry. This period is still

Sundial

The most ancient ones that have reached us. Therefore, it is the history of the sundial that opens the parade of great inventions in the field of chronometry. Despite their apparent simplicity, they were distinguished big variety designs.

The basis is the apparent movement of the Sun throughout the day. Counting is carried out according to the shadow cast by the axis. Their use is possible only on a sunny day. Ancient Egypt had favorable climatic conditions for this. The most widespread on the banks of the Nile were sundials in the form of obelisks. They were installed at the entrance to temples. A gnomon in the form of a vertical obelisk and a scale marked on the ground - this is what an ancient sundial looked like. The photo below shows one of them. One of the Egyptian obelisks transported to Europe has survived to this day. The 34-meter-high gnomon currently stands on one of the piazzas in Rome.

Conventional sundials had a significant drawback. They knew about him, but they put up with him for a long time. In different seasons, that is, summer and winter, the duration of the hour was not the same. But during the period when the agrarian system and craft relations dominated, there was no need for an accurate measurement of times. Therefore, the sundial successfully existed until the late Middle Ages.

The gnomon was replaced by more progressive designs. Improved sundials, in which this drawback was eliminated, had curved scales. In addition to these improvements, various options execution. Thus, wall and window sundials were common in Europe.

Further improvements took place in 1431. It consisted in orienting the shadow arrow parallel to the earth's axis. Such an arrow was called a semi-axis. Now the shadow, rotating around the semi-axis, moved evenly, turning 15° per hour. This design made it possible to produce a sundial that was quite accurate for its time. The photo shows one of these devices preserved in China.

For correct installation the structure began to be equipped with a compass. It became possible to use the watch everywhere. It was even possible to produce portable models. Since 1445, sundials began to be built in the form of a hollow hemisphere, equipped with an arrow, the shadow of which fell on the inner surface.

Searching for an alternative

Despite the fact that sundials were convenient and accurate, they had serious objective flaws. They were completely dependent on the weather, and their functioning was limited to the part of the day contained in the interval between sunrise and sunset. In search of an alternative, scientists sought to find other ways to measure periods of time. It was required that they should not be associated with the observation of the movement of stars and planets.

The search led to the creation of artificial time standards. For example, it was the interval required for the flow or combustion of a certain amount of a substance.

The simplest watches created on this basis have gone a long way in developing and improving designs, thereby preparing the ground for the creation of not only mechanical watches, but also automation devices.

Clepsydra

The name “clepsydra” has been assigned to water clocks, so there is a misconception that they were first invented in Greece. In reality it was not like that. The oldest, very primitive clepsydra was found in the temple of Amun at Phoebus and is kept in the Cairo Museum.

When creating a water clock, it is necessary to ensure a uniform decrease in the water level in the vessel as it flows through the bottom calibrated hole. This was achieved by giving the vessel the shape of a cone, tapering closer to the bottom. It was possible to obtain a pattern describing the rate of liquid outflow depending on its level and the shape of the container only in the Middle Ages. Before this, the shape of the vessel for the water clock was selected experimentally. For example, the Egyptian clepsydra mentioned above gave a uniform decrease in level. Albeit with some error.

Since the clepsydra did not depend on the time of day and weather, it best met the requirements of continuous time measurement. In addition, the need to further improve the device and add various functions provided space for the designers to fly with their imagination. Thus, clepsydra of Arabic origin were works of art combined with high functionality. They were equipped with additional hydraulic and pneumatic mechanisms: an audible time signal, a night lighting system.

Not many names of the creators of water clocks have been preserved by history. They were produced not only in Europe, but also in China and India. Information has reached us about a Greek mechanic named Ctesibius of Alexandria, who lived 150 years BC. In clepsydras, Ctesibius used gears, the theoretical developments of which were carried out by Aristotle.

Fire watch

This group appeared in the early 13th century. The first fire clocks were thin candles up to 1 meter high with marks applied to them. Sometimes certain divisions were equipped with metal pins, which, falling on a metal stand as the wax burned around them, produced a distinct sound. Such devices served as the prototype of the alarm clock.

With the advent of transparent glass, fire clocks were transformed into lamp clocks. A scale was applied to the wall, according to which, as the oil burned out, the time was determined.

Such devices are most widespread in China. Along with lamp clocks, another type of fire clock was widespread in this country - wick clocks. We can say that this was a dead-end branch.

Hourglass

It is not known exactly when they were born. We can only say with certainty that they could not have appeared before the invention of glass.

The hourglass consists of two transparent glass flasks. Through the connecting neck, the contents are poured from the upper flask to the lower one. And nowadays you can still find hourglasses. The photo shows one of the models, stylized as antique.

When making instruments, medieval craftsmen decorated hourglasses with exquisite decor. They were used not only to measure periods of time, but also as interior decoration. In the homes of many nobles and dignitaries one could see a luxurious hourglass. The photo represents one of these models.

The hourglass came to Europe quite late - at the end of the Middle Ages, but its spread was rapid. Due to their simplicity and ability to be used at any time, they quickly became very popular.

One of the disadvantages of hourglasses is the rather short period of time measured without turning them over. Cassettes made from them did not take root. The spread of such models was hampered by their low accuracy, as well as wear and tear during long-term use. It happened as follows. The calibrated hole in the diaphragm between the flasks was worn out, increasing in diameter, the sand particles, on the contrary, were crushed, decreasing in size. The outflow speed increased, the time decreased.

Mechanical watches: prerequisites for their appearance

The need for more accurate measurement of periods of time with the development of production and social relations steadily increased. The best minds have worked to solve this problem.

The invention of mechanical watches is an epoch-making event that occurred in the Middle Ages, because they are the most complex device created in those years. In turn, this served as an impetus for further development science and technology.

The invention of watches and their improvement required more advanced, accurate and high-performance technological equipment, new methods of calculation and design. This was the beginning of a new era.

The creation of mechanical watches became possible with the invention of the spindle escapement. This device converted forward movement a weight hanging on a rope into the oscillating back and forth motion of a clock wheel. Continuity is clearly visible here - after all, complex models of clepsydras already had a dial, a gear train, and a strike. It was only necessary to change the driving force: replace the water jet with a heavy weight, which was easier to handle, and add a release device and a stroke regulator.

On this basis, mechanisms for tower clocks were created. Chimes with a spindle regulator came into use around 1340 and became the pride of many cities and cathedrals.

The emergence of classical oscillatory chronometry

The history of the clock has preserved for posterity the names of the scientists and inventors who made its creation possible. The theoretical basis was the discovery made by Galileo Galilei, who voiced the laws describing the oscillations of a pendulum. He is also the author of the idea of ​​mechanical pendulum clocks.

Galileo's idea was realized in 1658 by the talented Dutchman Christiaan Huygens. He is also the author of the invention of the balance regulator, which made it possible to create pocket and then wristwatches. In 1674, Huygens developed an improved regulator by attaching a hair-shaped spiral spring to a flywheel.

Another iconic invention belongs to a watchmaker from Nuremberg named Peter Henlein. He invented the winding spring, and in 1500 he created a pocket watch based on it.

Changes were happening at the same time appearance. At first, one arrow was enough. But since the clocks became very accurate, they required an appropriate indication. In 1680, a minute hand was added, and the dial took on its familiar appearance. In the eighteenth century, they began to install a second hand. At first it was lateral, and later it became central.

In the seventeenth century, watch making was relegated to the category of art. Exquisitely decorated cases, dials decorated with enamel, which by that time were covered with glass - all this turned the mechanisms into a luxury item.

Work to improve and complicate the instruments continued continuously. The accuracy of the move increased. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, ruby ​​and sapphire stones began to be used as supports for the balancer and gears. This reduced friction, increased accuracy and increased power reserve. Interesting complications have appeared - perpetual calendar, automatic winding, power reserve indicator.

The impetus for the development of pendulum clocks was the invention of the English watchmaker Clement. Around 1676 he developed the anchor-anchor descent. This device was well suited to pendulum clocks, which had a small amplitude of oscillation.

Quartz watch

Further improvement of instruments for measuring time occurred like an avalanche. The development of electronics and radio engineering paved the way for the emergence of quartz watches. Their work is based on the piezoelectric effect. It was discovered in 1880, but quartz watches were not produced until 1937. The newly created quartz models differed from classic mechanical ones with amazing accuracy. The era of electronic watches has begun. What makes them special?

Quartz watches have a mechanism consisting of an electronic unit and a so-called stepper motor. How it works? The engine, receiving a signal from the electronic unit, moves the arrows. Instead of the usual dial, quartz watches can use a digital display. We call them electronic. In the West - quartz with digital display. This doesn't change the essence.

In fact, a quartz watch is a mini-computer. It is very easy to add additional functions: stopwatch, moon phase indicator, calendar, alarm clock. At the same time, the price of watches, unlike mechanics, does not increase so much. This makes them more accessible.

Quartz watches are very accurate. Their error is ±15 seconds/month. It is enough to correct instrument readings twice a year.

Digital wall clock

Digital display and compactness - that's it distinctive feature this kind of mechanisms. are widely used as integrated ones. They can be seen on the dashboard of a car, in a mobile phone, in a microwave oven and on a TV.

As an element of the interior, you can often find the more popular classic version, that is, with a dial indicator.

Electronic wall clocks organically fit into the interior in high-tech, modern, and techno styles. They attract primarily with their functionality.

According to the type of display, electronic watches can be liquid crystal and LED. The latter are more functional, as they are backlit.

Based on the type of power source, electronic clocks (wall and table clocks) are divided into network clocks, powered by a 220V network, and battery clocks. Devices of the second type are more convenient, since they do not require a nearby outlet.

Wall clock with cuckoo

German craftsmen began making them from the beginning of the eighteenth century. Traditionally, cuckoo wall clocks were made from wood. Richly decorated with carvings and made in the shape of a bird's house, they were a decoration of rich mansions.

At one time, inexpensive models were popular in the USSR and the post-Soviet space. For many years, cuckoo wall clocks of the Mayak brand were produced by a factory in the Russian city of Serdobsk. Weights in the shape of fir cones, a house decorated with simple carvings, paper bellows of a sound mechanism - this is how representatives of the older generation remembered them.

Nowadays, classic cuckoo wall clocks are a rarity. This is due to the high price of high-quality models. If you do not take into account the quartz crafts of Asian craftsmen made of plastic, fairy-tale cuckoos cuckoo only in the homes of true connoisseurs of exotic watchmaking. A precise, complex mechanism, leather bellows, exquisite carvings on the case - all this requires a large amount of highly skilled manual labor. Only the most reputable manufacturers can produce such models.

Alarm clock

These are the most common “walkers” in the interior.

The alarm clock is the first additional function that was implemented in the watch. Patented in 1847 by the Frenchman Antoine Redier.

In a classic mechanical desktop alarm clock, the sound is produced by striking metal plates with a hammer. Electronic models are more melodic.

According to their design, alarm clocks are divided into small-sized and large-sized, tabletop and travel.

Table alarm clocks are made with separate motors for and signal. They start up separately.

With the advent of quartz watches, the popularity of mechanical alarm clocks fell. There are several reasons for this. with a quartz movement have a number of advantages over classic mechanical devices: they are more accurate, do not require daily winding, and are easy to match to the design of the room. In addition, they are lightweight and less susceptible to bumps and falls.

A mechanical wristwatch with an alarm clock is usually called a "signal". Few companies produce such models. Thus, collectors know a model called the “Presidential Cricket”

“Cricket” (in English cricket) - under this name the Swiss company Vulcain produced wristwatches with an alarm function. They are famous for the fact that their owners were American presidents: Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson.

History of watches for children

Time is a complex philosophical category and at the same time physical quantity, requiring measurement. Man lives in time. Already with kindergarten The training and education program provides for the development of time orientation skills in children.

You can teach your child to use a watch as soon as he has mastered counting. Layouts will help with this. You can combine a cardboard clock with your daily routine, placing it all on a piece of Whatman paper for greater clarity. You can organize activities with game elements, using riddles with pictures.

History at the age of 6-7 years is studied in thematic classes. The material must be presented in such a way as to arouse interest in the topic. Children are introduced in an accessible form to the history of watches, their types in the past and present. Then they consolidate the acquired knowledge. To do this, they demonstrate the principle of operation of the simplest clocks - solar, water and fire. These activities awaken children's interest in research and develop creative imagination and curiosity. They cultivate a careful attitude towards time.

At school, in grades 5-7, the history of the invention of watches is studied. It is based on the knowledge acquired by the child in astronomy, history, geography, and physics lessons. In this way, the learned material is consolidated. Watches, their invention and improvement are considered part of history material culture, whose achievements are aimed at meeting the needs of society. The topic of the lesson can be formulated as follows: “Inventions that changed the history of mankind.”

In high school, it is advisable to continue studying watches as an accessory from the point of view of fashion and interior aesthetics. It is important to introduce children to watch etiquette and talk about the basic principles of selection. One of the classes can be devoted to time management.

The history of the invention of watches clearly shows the continuity of generations, its study is an effective means of shaping the worldview of a young person.