Timekeeping Before Clocks
worldhistory.substack.com
Timekeeping Before Clocks
1–10 of 81 posts
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#2Fascinating article. This has inspired me to make a sundial that works inside my NYC apartment. Ideally, there's some reflective device pointed outside and some warping that happens to allow the sundial to work inside.
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#3Another interesting thing is how Western clock technology was adapted to fit traditional Japanese notions of time, in the pre-Meiji era (after which, Japan adopted Western time.)
A Japanese clock (和時計, wadokei) is a mechanical clock that has been made to tell traditional Japanese time, a system in which daytime and nighttime are always divided into six periods whose lengths consequently change with the season. Mechanical clocks were introduced into Japan by Jesuit missionaries (in the 16th century) or Dutch merchants (in the 17th century).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_clock
And on a related note, Lewis Mumford, a philosopher and writer, wrote quite a bit about how clocks were (in his view) the necessary invention for capitalism to flourish:
The first phase of technically civilized life (AD 1000 to 1800) begins with the clock, to Mumford the most important basis for the development of capitalism because time thereby becomes fungible (thus transferable). The clock is the most important prototype for all other machines.
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#4Something one might like as a continuation of the article is digital sundials. Apart from types listed on wikipedia, there are 3D-printed versions etc.
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#5Timekeeping leading up to the marine chronometer is also very interesting. Note that none of the timekeeping devices mentioned in the article would work very well at sea, making it impossible to accurately determine your longitude. Solving that proved to be extremely difficult.
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/harrisons-clocks-longit...
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#6I'd just like to throw out a recommendation here for the book Longitude by Dava Sobel. It's about the invention of the marine chronometer by a self-taught carpenter. Fascinating read, and a real page turner too.
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#7Another interesting thing is how Western clock technology was adapted to fit traditional Japanese notions of time, in the pre-Meiji era (after which, Japan adopted Western time.) A Japanese clock (和時計, wadokei) is a mechanical clock that has been made to tell traditional Japanese time, a system in which daytime and nighttime are always divided into six periods whose lengths consequently change with the season. Mechan…
There is a scene in that recent shogun series where a team performs a raid.
The leader sends the team in in small waves and “times” each groups entrance by counting rhythmic taps on his shoulder.
I thought it was such a great detail to include.
Of course rhythm would be the measure of time without a watch to look at.
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#8Timekeeping leading up to the marine chronometer is also very interesting. Note that none of the timekeeping devices mentioned in the article would work very well at sea, making it impossible to accurately determine your longitude. Solving that proved to be extremely difficult. https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/harrisons-clocks-longit...
> John Harrison was a carpenter by trade who was self-taught in clock making. During the mid-1720s he designed a series of remarkable precision longcase clocks. These clocks achieved an accuracy of one second in a month, far better than any clocks of the time.
Wow. I own Tissot and Casio hand clocks and both are significantly worse precision. Are there any available clocks with that precision? Of course with GPS, WiFi and other wireless ways to access atomic clocks that's not so important, but still interesting.
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#9Another interesting thing is how Western clock technology was adapted to fit traditional Japanese notions of time, in the pre-Meiji era (after which, Japan adopted Western time.) A Japanese clock (和時計, wadokei) is a mechanical clock that has been made to tell traditional Japanese time, a system in which daytime and nighttime are always divided into six periods whose lengths consequently change with the season. Mechan…
There is a scene in that recent shogun series where a team performs a raid. The leader sends the team in in small waves and “times” each groups entrance by counting rhythmic taps on his shoulder. I thought it was such a great detail to include. Of course rhythm would be the measure of time without a watch to look at.
One of the medieval time measurements were standard prayers - a Pater Noster is about the same amount of time each time, and a decade of a rosary for a given person will be pretty consistent.
Re: Timekeeping Before Clocks
#10Another interesting thing is how Western clock technology was adapted to fit traditional Japanese notions of time, in the pre-Meiji era (after which, Japan adopted Western time.) A Japanese clock (和時計, wadokei) is a mechanical clock that has been made to tell traditional Japanese time, a system in which daytime and nighttime are always divided into six periods whose lengths consequently change with the season. Mechan…
> And on a related note, Lewis Mumford, a philosopher and writer, wrote quite a bit about how clocks were (in his view) the necessary invention for capitalism to flourish.
Szabo also takes this up in his excellent essay "A Measure of Sacrifice":
Fair broadcast and verification of time was thus of fundamental importance to the most common contractual relationship in the new European cities. In agricultural societies, including medieval Europe, serfdom and slavery had provided most of the labor. Most workers in a modern economy earn wages based on a time rate. Along with or following the rise of the time-rate institution – including the contracts themselves, the laws and regulations governing the contracts, and the technology to fairly measure the principal quantity – came the growth of related economic institutions, such as the joint stock company. These institutions enabled a boom in productivity and the spectacular rise of Europe from its darkest ages to the modern era. We will now chart the rise of the clocks and the institutions they supported.
https://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/rob/Courses/InformationInSpeech/C...