Mechanical Time
Clocks
Clocks shape the perception of time in many cultures and can
also dictate the actions and pattern of everyday life. In Western
Europe the measuring and keeping of time using clocks has developed
over around 800 years.
The earliest clocks, invented in the late 1200s, were very
expensive and were mainly used in public places, such as cathedrals
and churches. This way, anyone who could see these clocks or hear
their chiming would know what time it was, but also how wealthy the
institution was.
The cost of clocks at this time meant that only the very rich
were able to have mechanical time keepers in their homes.
Elaborately decorated, clocks in the 1500s and 1600s were often as
much for displaying wealth and a mastery of science than the
accurate measurement of time.
However, in 1657, the introduction of a swinging pendulum to
regulate the speed of clocks made them accurate for the first time.
This, in turn, made the study of science and astronomy much more
precise.
Timekeeping at sea
Accuracy is especially important at sea where timekeeping is
essential for navigation. However, up until the eighteenth century,
exaggerated movement on the waves and changing temperatures meant
clocks couldn’t be relied upon.
The invention of the marine chronometer changed this and made it
possible for ships to calculate their position by finding longitude
(the relative east-west position of any point on the earth’s
surface). Many lives have been saved as a result.
Accuracy
As societies changed and grew more complex, so did the need for
accuracy in timekeeping and, during the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, clocks and watches became cheaply available across
Europe and North America. Later, they became even more accurate
because quartz and atomic technology were now being used to measure
time.
Access to accurate timekeeping has now grown to the extent that
we can keep track of time more or less anywhere. We can carry time
with us on the watches on our wrists or on our mobile phones. We
can glance at our televisions or computers. Or, we can check public
clocks at such places as train stations, airports, bus stops and
banks.
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