![]() The oldest water clock of which there is physical evidence dates to c. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Regional development Egypt Fragment of a basalt water-clock, with evaporation time markers on interior as dots on djed and was hieroglyphs. Using a water clock for goldbeating a goldleaf in Mandalay ( Myanmar). While never reaching a level of accuracy comparable to today's standards of timekeeping, the water clock was the most accurate and commonly used timekeeping device for millennia, until it was replaced by more accurate pendulum clocks in 17th-century Europe. These early water clocks were calibrated with a sundial. Some water clock designs were developed independently, and some knowledge was transferred through the spread of trade. Independently, the Chinese developed their own advanced water clocks, incorporating gears, escapement mechanisms, and water wheels, passing their ideas on to Korea and Japan. Further advances were made in Byzantium, Syria, and Mesopotamia, where increasingly accurate water clocks incorporated complex segmental and epicyclic gearing, water wheels, and programmability, advances which eventually made their way to Europe. The Greeks and Romans advanced water clock design to include the inflow clepsydra with an early feedback system, gearing, and escapement mechanism, which were connected to fanciful automata and resulted in improved accuracy. A water clock is one of the oldest instruments ever, and one of the most important. Their timekeeping is governed by a pendulum, but they use water for other purposes, such as providing the power needed to drive the clock by using a water wheel or something similar, or by having water in their displays. Some modern timepieces are called "water clocks" but work differently from the ancient ones. As the container fills, the observer can see where the water meets the lines and tell how much time has passed. An inflow water clock works in basically the same way, except instead of flowing out of the container, the water is filling up the marked container. ![]() ![]() As the water leaves the container, an observer can see where the water is level with the lines and tell how much time has passed. This container has markings that are used to show the passage of time. In an outflow water clock, a container is filled with water, and the water is drained slowly and evenly out of the container. There are two types of water clocks: inflow and outflow. If viscosity is neglected, the physical principle required to study such clocks is Torricelli's law. Water clocks were also used in ancient Greece and ancient Rome, described by technical writers such as Ctesibius and Vitruvius.ĭesigns Eschinardi's water clock (Reproduced from Francesco Eschinardi, Appendix Ad Exodium de Tympano)Ī water clock uses the flow of water to measure time. Some authors, however, claim that water clocks appeared in China as early as 4000 BC. Other regions of the world, including India and China, also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earliest dates are less certain. The bowl-shaped outflow is the simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon, Egypt, and Persia around the 16th century BC. ![]() Water clocks are one of the oldest time-measuring instruments. 'water thief') is a timepiece by which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid into (inflow type) or out from (outflow type) a vessel, and where the amount is then measured. The bottom is a reconstruction of a clay original.Ī water clock or clepsydra (from Ancient Greek κλεψύδρα ( klepsúdra) ' pipette, water clock' from κλέπτω ( kléptō) 'to steal', and ὕδωρ ( hydor) 'water' lit. The top is an original from the late 5th century BC. A display of two outflow water clocks from the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens. For the individual water clock at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, see Water clock (Indianapolis).
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