The first time meter was the shadow of a stick stuck in the ground. But when the sun went down, the sundial didn't work. Our ancestors had to invent more advanced technologies, such as water and hourglasses.
There is an opinion that right after the sundial, people invented the sand. But in fact, they appeared not so long ago. Although the ancient Greek scientist Archimedes, already in the III century BC, proposed measuring time by pouring sand from one glass reservoir into another. But then it did not come to practical application. Perhaps because the ancient masters did not know how to make transparent glass for flasks. To obtain it, a temperature of over 1500 degrees Celsius was needed.
But the principle of pouring from one vessel to another was perfect for water as well.
Drop by drop…
In principle, the work of a water clock can be described as follows: the time during which water flowed from one vessel to another served as a kind of standard - the prototype of the modern hour.
The ancient Greeks called the water clock klepsydra, which means “stealing water”. But they did not come up with this device. The oldest water clock that has come down to us was discovered in 1940 during excavations of the famous Karnak Temple in Egypt. An inverted alabaster dome with notches indicating the time was filled to the brim with water. It dripped down through a small hole in the bottom. The shape of the clock was such that it leveled the pressure of the liquid column to the outflow rate.
In ancient Greece, a water clock was a mechanism of two cones entering one another. The Greeks used clepsydra to regulate the time allowed for the speaker to speak in court or dispute.
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A more perfect clepsydra was invented in the 3rd century BC by a mechanic from Alexandria Ctesibius. With the help of a special mechanism for supplying water, the figure of a boy was set in motion, showing the time on the dial with a wand. This clock was located in the temple of Arsinoe and for a long time was considered the standard of accuracy. In ancient Rome, the first water clock was built in 157 BC by the military leader Scipio Nazica.
In Asia, the water clock appeared even earlier than the Greeks and Egyptians. In ancient Babylon, the water clock was used as far back as 2000 BC. True, instead of minutes, the Babylonians counted the weight of the water that flowed out of the vessel. In Persia, the first use of a water clock dates back to 500 BC. A hemispherical vessel with a small hole at the bottom floated in a large reservoir filled with water. As the vessel filled up, it sank. This was the time unit. An episode of an ancient Persian poem is connected with this, when the heroine throws a pearl into a bowl so that it interferes with the filling of the vessel and thereby stops time.
Crushed marble
Water clocks were actively used in Europe until the 17th century, when craftsmen had already learned how to make pendulum mechanisms. However, both water and pendulum clocks had serious limitations due to design features. Therefore, scientists and inventors did not stop trying to find other ways of measuring time. The author of the very first hourglass is unknown. As well as the exact time of their creation.
In Western Europe, the hourglass began to be actively used in the Middle Ages. One of the earliest evidence of their existence is the famous fresco by the Italian master of the 14th century Ambrogio Lorenzetti "Allegory of good and bad government in the city and country", painted by him in the Room of Nine of the town hall of Siena. It depicts a character holding an hourglass flask in his right hand.
Another evidence of the use of the hourglass in Europe is an entry in a French chronicle from 1339. The scribe describes the process of preparing fine sand from sifted black marble powder, boiled in wine and dried in the sun. Grains of ordinary sand are too angular and cannot be poured evenly through the neck connecting the glass flasks. In addition, degrading from use, they become different in size, which affects the uniformity of pouring. The sand from the sea beaches, although it looks quite uniform, is completely unsuitable for watches. Historical chronicles indicate that in the XIV century, in addition to sand from marble, lead or zinc dust, quartz sand and crushed eggshells were used for hourglasses.
Another factor affecting the accuracy of the "stroke" was the smoothness of the glass of the flasks. But even with special sand and perfect flasks at hand, the master could not be sure that 10 grams of the same substance were poured at the same speed. Therefore, pouring "sand" into the flask, the master checked the time of its pouring with some reference value. And only after making sure of the "accuracy of the stroke", he sealed the flask.
Inventors of the past have tried to improve the hourglass more than once. For example, using spring mechanisms for turning over or using mercury instead of sand. And modern research has shown that glass microspheres with a diameter of 40-160 microns are the best sand. Painted in different colors, these granules give the watch an interesting look and flow almost without friction.
For business and for fun
The hourglass owes its popularity to sailors. Since the ships sailed in different latitudes, the sundial on board was useless. And the water ones were not suitable due to condensation and freezing of water. But the hourglass was devoid of these shortcomings.
Already in the XIV century in the ship's logs there are records of the use of hourglasses. Moreover, there is a version that it was the sailors who invented this watch. After all, the first sea hourglass consisted of two bottles, the throats of which were connected by a tube.
Later, on the shore, glass blowers began to blow out special flasks, which were pulled together with a metal diaphragm with a hole. By changing the size of the hole, it was possible to regulate the speed of pouring sand. For strength, the joint between the flasks was sealed with resin or wax. This also gave tightness, and the sand did not dampen. Having a constant moisture content of the sand, they were more accurate than their early counterparts.
On long voyages, the hourglass was as important a tool as the compass. They were used until the 19th century. When the ship's speed was known, the time measured with the hourglass helped the mariners determine the latitude at which they were. In addition, watch times were measured with an hourglass.
Marine watches with sand took root well on land. Typically, the interval for which sand is poured from one flask to another is from a minute to an hour. But there are also "longer" hours. For example, in Budapest, an eight-meter-high hourglass “Wheel of Time” was built. Every year on December 31, the "Wheel of Time" turns over, swapping the sand chambers. Another sand giant, 8.6 meters high, is installed in the sand museum in the Japanese city of Nima. The interval of these hours is also 12 months.
And in July 2008, an advertising campaign in the form of an hourglass 11.6 meters high and weighing 40 tons was organized on Red Square in Moscow. Instead of sand, the upper flask was filled with balls, and in them - a new car. When the "sand" poured down, viewers could see the presented model.
Today the hourglass is more often used only as a souvenir. However, in the Australian parliament, in some cases, they still determine the duration of speeches. Although, perhaps, the most famous hourglass today is the virtual icon of the Microsoft Windows operating system, indicating that the system is busy. This is how old artifacts return to us in a different reality.
Alexey MARTOV