Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-01-02
EvoLUTloR CT THE CLOCK.
Remarkable contrivances Used Before
Our Modern Timepieces.

A primitive from of sun dial prob
ably furnished the earliest systematic
method of measuring time. Instru
ments for marking the lapse of time ave
found in both the Bible and Homer.
The Chinese made use of gnomOps
probably fifteen centuries before Christ.
There ere many kinds Of sun dlals
mployed by the Greeks and other ma
tions The Romans used obelisks. 10
which good gnomons were applied.
Both the Romans and the Greeks
employed men and women to announce
the hours, as indicated by the public
gonomons. There was ring dial in
the large ship of Hero. Vituvious
describes the hodometer, in use by
Grecian pavigators, which was con
structed with wheels, and seems to
haye been the forerunner of the mod
ern clock. But he does it SO scantily
that it reems probable it was not long
in popular favor. AS sun dials were
of no use at night or in cloudy wealth
er the need of something better gave
the ancients the water clock. 1t has
been proved that Chaldeans and Egyp-
tians made use of these. The elepsydra
is perhaps the earliest form OF water
clock. The principle of this instru-
ment was very simple. The water Is
sued drop by drop through a small
edifGe. falling into q receiver in which
q light Goating body marked the
height of the water as it rose. Later
the time was marked by dial with a
hand governed by float. Centuries
after some very ingenious water clocks
were made by the monks of Jerusalem.
The Egyptians, the Persians and the
Aztecs of America reckoned their day
to begin from sunrise, and divided it
into four intervals, determined by the
rising and setting of the sun, and its
passage over the meridian. Our own
uniform hours of sixty minutes each
could scarcely have come into use un-
til something like the wheel clock was
invented. The ancient sun dial repre-
sented hours of length varying with
seasons, and the water clock was
adjusted to furnish hours of fifty to
seventy minutes each, to suit the
changing length Of day and night.
Hours glasses, originally called elep
sammla, were notifications of form
of elepsydra, sand taking the place OF
water. Alfred the Greats candle clock
was made in this manner. He pro-
cured ~ pennyweights of wax, which
were made into six candles, each
twelve inches long, with the divisions
distinctly marked. These lit one after
the other lasted twenty.four hours
They were tended by the Kings chap
lains. In order to protect the candles
from the wind. Alfred finally fash
ioned the first lanthorn.
Some say that Archimedes made the
first wheel clock so early as 200 B, e.
Others give the credit to Wallingford,
who lived so late as the beginning Oh
the fourteenth century. But the more
perfect water clocks were, long before
the latter period. furnished with
wheels, so that the only Improvement
was the substitution of a solid body to
act as a moving weight, instead of wa
ter. 1t is not to be wondered at that
the application of a weight to clocks
as moving power should attract SO
little attention, as water and sand
were undoubtedly thoughtmore con-
venient by contemporary writers The
oldest complete clock moved by
weights is probably that sent by the
Sultan of Turkey to Frederick H. in
1882 In the thirteenth century many
of the church steeples in Italy were
furnished with clocks moved by
weights which struck the hours. Hele
Of Nuremberg Is supposed to have
constructed the first watch in 1900 !;
and to him must also be given the
credit of the spring clock. The fuse
was probably invented in England
about the end of the sixteenth century.
But it was not until the middle of the
seventeenth century that the pendu
Ium was first applied to clocks by
Huyghens.-LondOn Electrial Age.
Eda-Do you think your marriage
Miss Lolita Koyne, the heiress, will
have pleasant outcome?
Edward-I can t say, but the thing