| > | | | | shaped depression cut into a block of stone. It has a |
| Horology - Taming Time and Timekeeping Normal 0 | | | | central vertical pointer and is scribed with sets of hour |
| false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style | | | | lines for different seasons. This hemicycle was |
| Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable | | | | invented about 300 B.C., and helped remove the |
| {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; | | | | useless half of the hemisphere. By the end of the year |
| mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; | | | | 30 B.C., we were having at least 13 types of different |
| mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; | | | | sundials being used across Greece, Asia Minor and |
| mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; | | | | Italy. |
| mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; | | | | Water Clocks — |
| mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:115%; | | | | Clepsydras or water-clocks were the first devices |
| mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; | | | | that did not use the sun or other celestial bodies for |
| font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; | | | | the measurement of time. These water-clocks were |
| mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; | | | | originally designed by the ancient Egyptians. Different |
| mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; | | | | types of Clepsydras or water-clocks were commonly |
| mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; | | | | used in the Middle East and parts of Africa between |
| mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; | | | | 100 B.C., and 500 A.D. Elaborate and impressive |
| mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; | | | | mechanized water-clocks were developed by |
| mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} | | | | horologist and astronomers during this period. These |
| The rising and the setting of the sun every day must | | | | clocks were however, not found to be very accurate |
| have surely been enchanting man from the very | | | | and could not be relied upon to tell time any more |
| beginning. Followed by a dark, quiet and peaceful night | | | | closely than fairly large fractions of an hour. |
| this must have multiplied the mystery surrounding the | | | | Mechanical Clocks |
| early humans. In order to comprehend this situation, we | | | | These clocks, in fact, took the world by storm. Very |
| will have to be capable of imagining a world in the | | | | clever arrangements of gears and wheels were |
| primordial existence, without fire, electricity, | | | | devised, and, which turned by the weights attached to |
| transportation and other gizmos that surround us | | | | them. With the weights pulling downwards due to |
| today. The regular and natural duration of the sun and | | | | gravity, the wheels were made to turn in slow circles. |
| his absence, has to have triggered human desire to be | | | | The attached pointers on these wheels marked the |
| able to measure this space in some way. The method | | | | hours. These clocks eventually became common in |
| which began centuries ago has evolved and perfected | | | | churches, monasteries and most public places, and put |
| itself into what we now call as time. Our techniques | | | | up time as public display. |
| have also efficiently evolved so much so that we are | | | | These mechanical clocks had many advances and |
| able to measure fractions of a single second | | | | innovations until recently. Europe was mostly the |
| accurately. This time challenge has been perfectly | | | | centre of this activity and many scientists including |
| accepted and tamed responsibly by man. | | | | Galileo contributed for the growth of the mechanical |
| The Sundials — Where we began | | | | clocks' industry. |
| 3500 years before Christ, the Egyptians built Obelisks. | | | | Quartz Clocks |
| These were tall four-sided tapered monuments built in | | | | This has been a quantum jump from the mechanical |
| strategic locations and casing shadows tracking the | | | | structure of the clocks that we had. The running of |
| movements from the sun. These moving shadows | | | | any quartz clock is based on the electric property of |
| formed a kind of Sundial, enabling citizens to part the | | | | the quartz crystal. The interaction between the |
| day using the size and placing of the shadow | | | | mechanical stress and the electric field causes the |
| movements. This also enabled them see the shortest | | | | quartz crystal to vibrate and generate a constant |
| and the longest days of the year. Strategically placed | | | | electric signal which is used to measure time. |
| markers around the base of these monuments would | | | | These clocks continue to dominate the market as they |
| further indicate the subdivisions of time. This basic | | | | are able to maintain perfection in time measurement, |
| concept later around 1500 B.C., evolved into a more | | | | and are accurate and reliable in performance. They |
| accurate shadow clock called a | | | | are also ideal and easier to mass produce at |
| Sundial.’ This was divided into 10 parts with | | | | extremely low costs. |
| indications for the two twilight hours. | | | | We will always be improvising and device sharper and |
| Human search for accuracy helped the sundials | | | | more accurate ways of keeping time. The quartz is |
| evolve from flat horizontal and vertical plates to more | | | | now moving into the digital world, and we are bound to |
| elaborate forms. The hemispherical dial is a bowl | | | | find new ways, and get the better of time. |