A Cultural History of Clocks

It is well known that timekeepers, such as sundials of all sorts, existed long before the birth of clocks, but few people realize that gear-wheeled clockwork was used centuries before it was adapted to the clock as timekeeper. This history is closely related to the Industrial Revolution and the age of the computer, as well as with the characteristics of Yankee ingenuity that shaped the destiny of America.

Clockwork, the use of trains of toothed wheels, began in classical Greek civilization. Yet at this time the clock was still primarily an astronomical model rather than a timekeeper. It is quite clear that the impact of the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions brought about radical changes in clockmaking. The principal changes came from the growth in the basic technical and scientific skills and greater prevalence of machinery. These factors made the clock at the same time less fascinating but much more readily available. The clock became much more accurate and reliable, much more valuable scientifically, and much more widespread in its social impact.

With the coming of the railroad and the telegraph and the growth of large cities, the clock became functional in a new way that is now so universal that it is difficult to think of that earlier age. Time became national and universal, an orderer of daily life.

Clocks Through Time

Origin of the Hour,
Minute, and Second

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E-mail:9_mdesmarais@fair1.fairfield.edu