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Casio Watches A History of Trend Setting

Casio Watches bear a proud history, which is only natural for products from a group with such a line of industry ‘firsts’ to its credit. Through humble beginnings as a successful manufacturer of cigarette lighter rings (this is Japan, after all, the land of gizmos and gadgets galore) to the world’s first ever all-electric compact calculator in 1957, they has been innovating ever since.

Casio Watches followed this up with the first graphing calculator in history, the first digital camera with an LCD screen on the market, the first 3 megapixel digital camera in the world, and so on and so forth. The list of technological achievements is ever expanding. And so it came to pass quite naturally enough in 1974 that the Casiotron was born, the first of many successful watches for this company, debuting just when the industry was starting to embed digital technologies in its designs. The company has been a leader of the field ever since, a well-respected pioneer in a business with giants like Sony and Samsung. Casio watches, like their Casio Databank Watches, were the first to offer many of what are now considered standard features today.

The Databank series of watches debuted in the early ’80s, long before any PDA, smartphone, or other do-it-all convergence device, Casio Databank Watches were a very clever and handy timepiece for storing contact information and other data. Some models even offered the day of the week in up to thirteen different languages – a really nifty feat for the time. Then there was the ‘jet setter version’ that kept track of different time worldwide. One interesting Databank even doubled as a universal remote for home entertainment units such as cable boxes, television sets, and VCR players!

This line has proved so popular that it’s still being made today, despite all the do-it-all convergence devices previously mentioned. In fact, one current bestseller is the retro-chic model, looking just like the original.

Another extremely popular series in their lineup is the G Shock that’s favored by uniformed personnel. They feature on-board altimeters, barometers, compasses, and more – all on one watch. Of course, there is also shock resistance, as well as water resistance. This line has been so successful that a ‘Baby-G’ offshoot has been developed for young teens, with more compact designs and vibrant stylish colors along with the same winning features of durability and all-round utility that the parent-line offers.

Last but not least, no review of these classic watches could be complete without mentioning venerable Pathfinders for outdoor adventuring. Though sharing many features in common with the G Shock, these were expressly designed for hiking through the woods or kayaking streams and rivers.

Article written by Paul Wise, after extensive research on Casio Watches. If you are in the market for Casio Databank Watches, Paul recommends visiting DealsAHolic.com where they offer a great selection and wonderful service.

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Casio Watches History

The Casio watches you see today were not started by a watch or even a jewelry company which is truly amazing for the quality and innovative styles of Casio watches you see today. In 1946, Casio was established with Tadio Kashio as the leader of this industrious company. During this time, Japan was in the middle of World War II, the situation financially of Japan like other European countries was grim. At the time when Mr. Kashio began his company, he was in hopes of making it big and he did just that with the development of the yubiwa pipe.

The yubiwa pipe was an ingenious invention of the time allowing a smoker the ability to have both hands free while holding a cigarette in the pipe that was attached to the finger. This allowed more freedom for smokers. This may seem like a trivial invention, however, cigarettes were one of the largest sellers of the time and this invention sold fast.

Today, you may not find a yubiwa pipe anywhere in the world, however, the name Casio is still on the tongue of people everywhere. Today, they manufacture many different items including innovative watches that are just as popular today as the yubiwa pipe was during World War II.

First, came the calculator in 1954 and shortly branched off with their Casio Computer Co., Inc. This is when they began working on creating watches. Casio was the first watch company to create the quartz crystal watches. From then until now, their creations have changed the way in which consumers view watches. The new excitement in functions and designs has made watches a necessary part of our every day attire. Their unique calculators were added to their famous watch and before long, other companies were following in their footsteps.

The Casio watches had and still have many unique functions beside the calculator such as the different time zones, the temperature, barometric pressure, and so on and so forth. For all those gadget lovers, Casio had created a huge seller even for those that just wanted to have the latest and most advanced watch in the world.

Today, you can find a large variety of Casio watches with all the features and styles you might expect from a leader in the industry. A few of the most popular styles of Casio watches for men includes the G-Shock Blue Dual Function, the G-Shock Radio Controlled Solar, the 10-year Lithium Battery, the Extended Battery Life, the ProTrek Wave Ceptor, the Speed-Measuring, and the Illuminator Combination. For women the most popular Casio watches include the Casio Yellow Baby-G Digital, Casio 10 Year Battery Ladies Digital, Casio Baby-G Databank, Casio Baby G Ladies in White, and the Casio Baby-G Shock Resistant

Andy Fletcher is a professional retail watch salesperson with years of experience providing the best quality watches and timepieces to his customers as well as offering the perfect Casio watch, Timex watches, and Michael Kors watches.

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The history of breguet watches

The history of breguet watches

Breguet watches have a long history, they have a luxuries and stylish appearance. When you first see Breguet watch, you must be shocked by its design! You would wonder who designed such a beautiful watch and what’s the history of Breguet watch?

Breguet watch founded in 1775 by Abraham Louis Breguet. Breguet was not only a gifted watchmaker, but also a clever businessman. He invented a payment scheme for a special series of watches which are known as the montres a souscription. These watches had a symmetrically built Lepine caliber, a ruby cylinder escapement, a temperature-compensated balance and the above mentioned shock protection for the balance-staff. They had only one hand, but reading the time is no problem thanks to the finely detailed dial. These subscription watches were made in small series of twelve to twenty at a time; customers had to make a down-payment when ordering a watch which allowed Breguet replicato finance production of the whole series.

Among his numerous inventions, the best-known are the Breguet spiral, found until today in every quality watch and wristwatch, and the tourbillon, the whirlwind – an ingenious device that Breguet invented to compensate for gravity influences on the balance spring in pocket watches. Among his other inventions were a new striking mechanism for repeaters, a new escapement, the so-called echappement naturel, similar to the chronometer escapement (1789), in 1790, the parachute shock protection system, the cylinder escapement with a ruby cylinder, and improvements of Perrelet’s automatic winding mechanism, implemented in his around forty Perpetuelles.

Furthermore, replica Breguet made what we consider today as the first Grande Complication in the history of horology, the watch known as the Marie-Antoinette. This watch was commissioned by the French queen’s guard Monsieur de la Croizette with the explicit order that it should contain all known complications and the greatest possible number of parts made of gold. There were no restrictions as to the time for making the watch or the price. This Breguet watch was only finished in 1827 which means that neither the unfortunate queen (Marie-Antoinette was guillotined in 1793) nor the master watchmaker himself (Breguet died in 1823) ever saw the completed watch. The Marie-Antoinette was a self-winding watch with a perpetual calendar, equation of time indication and a minute repeater. It has disappeared since 1983 when it was stolen from the Jerusalem Institute of Islamic Art.

Nowadays, there are still have replica breguet watches on sale in shops and online stores. These replica breguet watches are the same as the real one looks in appearance. Our website: http://www.patekphilippewatches.us/ provide high quality and outstanding replica Breguet watches, you don’t need to worry about that someone would know that the watch you wear is a replica one.

Editor:zoe

From:

http://tiffanyheart.sport.fr/747305/History-of-Breguet-Watch/

breguet watches

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The History of GPS Technology

With GPS devices now in millions of cars, cell phones and purses around the country, it is hard to imagine that only a decade ago, the technology was used almost exclusively by large corporations and the military. But time has moved fast for Global Positioning Systems, which makes sense given that the story of GPS’ history begins with a measure of time.

It all starts with TIME

GPS technology exists today because scientists sought a way to measure time more accurately than it had ever been measured before. And so, they developed the Atomic Clock, a super-accurate device that measure the time within a billionth of a second.

But the Atomic Clock was not created in order to keep scientists from being late for dinner. They used the accuracy of the clock to test Einstein’s theory of relativity as it pertained to time and space.

Using Atomic Clocks to measure time and space

With these Atomic Clocks, scientists and engineers discovered that there were slight discrepancies in time around the globe. They began to position the clocks everywhere from Mount Everest to the Gobi Desert and then looked for tiny differences in the time in each of the locations. This information helped confirm Einstein’s view of the universe and would soon become a key part of satellite technology.

Sputnik and the creation of a military GPS system

When the Russians launched Sputnik in the 1950’s, scientists quickly learned that the satellite could be used to track locations on the ground by beaming a signal up to the satellite – and having a response returned to Earth. How that message traveled determined the location of the satellite relative to a point on the planet.

The US Navy soon began launching satellites of their own, and used them in key military actions to help troops engage in the proper battle locations and assist large ships circumnavigating the globe.

After a time, Navy engineers realized that enough satellites, placed in very specific positions with an orbit around the earth, would create a clear picture of our planet – and that this “picture” could be used map out individual points around the globe with stunning accuracy.

Completion of the System

In 1993, it all came together. The United States Navy launched the 24th of 24 carefully placed satellites into orbit – and the Global Positioning System was born. The satellites are positioned in such a way that now anyone with an inexpensive GPS device can locate their position (or another location) anywhere on the planet. And to think, it all began with Einstein and a group of scientists who wanted to find the ultimate measure of time.

Today GPS devices are a useful tool for many Americans. The technology has become very affordable and helps individuals obtain proper directions to their location while using a minimal amount of gas or time. And if someone had told you twenty years ago that GPS technology would be a “hot Christmas gift”, chances are you wouldn’t have given them the time of day.

For reviews, prices and product information about the latest GPS devices for the car, cell phone and more, visit www.gpsviews.com. At www.gpsviews.com you’ll find unbiased reviews, side by side product comparisons and everything else you need to make an informed purchase – and get the most out of your GPS device.

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Mark Etinger is a business strategist at Ajax Union Marketing Ajax Union specializes in Business Development and Internet Marketing

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Mechanisms of Time – History of Chronological Devices

Nearly every device seems to have a clock attached to it these days. Computers, mobile phones and all the other gadgets we use are all good sources of time. Ensuring that no matter where you are a clock is never that far away – but it wasn’t always this way.

Clock making, in Europe, started around the fourteenth century when the first simple mechanical clocks were developed. These early devices were not very accurate, losing perhaps up to half an hour a day, but with the development of pendulums these devices became increasingly more accurate.

However, the first mechanic al clocks were not the first mechanical devices that could tell and predict time. Indeed, it seems Europeans were over fifteen hundred years late with their development of gears, cogs and mechanical clocks, as the ancients had long ago got there first.

Early in the twentieth century a brass machine was discovered in a shipwreck (Antikythera wreck) off Greece, which was a device as complex as any clock made in Europe up in the mediaeval period. While the Antikythera mechanism is not strictly a clock – it was designed to predict the orbit of planets and seasons, solar eclipses and even the ancient Olympic Games – but is just as precise and complicated as Swiss clocks manufactured in Europe in the nineteenth century.

While Europeans had to relearn the manufacture of such precise machines, clock making has moved on dramatically since then. In the last hundred or so years we have seen the emergence of electronic clocks, using crystals such as quartz to keep time, to the emergence of Atomic Clocks that use the resonance of atoms.

Atomic clocks are so accurate they won’t drift by even a second in a hundred thousand years which is phenomenal when you consider that even quartz digital clocks will drift several seconds n a day.

While few people will have ever seen an atomic clock as they are bulky and complicated devices that require teams of people to keep them operational, they still govern our lives.

Much of the technologies we are familiar with such as the internet and mobile phone networks, are all governed by Atomic Clocks. NTP time servers (Network Time Protocol) are used to receive atomic clock signals often broadcast by large physics laboratories or from the GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite signals.

NTP servers then distribute the time around a computer network adjusting the system clocks on individual machines to ensure they are accurate. Typically, a network of hundreds and even thousands of machines can be kept synchronised together to an atomic clock time source using a single NTP time server, and keep them accurate to within a few milliseconds of each other (few thousandths of a second).

Richard N Williams is a technical author and a specialist in the telecommunications and network time synchronisation industry helping to develop dedicated NTP clocks. Please visit us for more information about NTP servers or other NTP time server solutions.

History Of Technology

Measuring technological progress

Many sociologists and anthropologists have created social theories dealing with social and cultural evolution. Some, like Lewis H. Morgan, Leslie White, and Gerhard Lenski, declare technological progress to be the primary factor driving the development of human civilization. Morgan’s concept of three major stages of social evolution (savagery, barbarism, and civilization) can be divided by technological milestones, like fire, the bow, and pottery in the savage era, domestication of animals, agriculture, and metalworking in the barbarian era and the alphabet and writing in the civilization era.

Instead of specific inventions, White decided that the measure by which to judge the evolution of culture was energy. For White “the primary function of culture” is to “harness and control energy.” White differentiates between five stages of human development: In the first, people use energy of their own muscles. In the second, they use energy of domesticated animals. In the third, they use the energy of plants (agricultural revolution). In the fourth, they learn to use the energy of natural resources: coal, oil, gas. In the fifth, they harness nuclear energy. White introduced a formula P=E*T, where E is a measure of energy consumed, and T is the measure of efficiency of technical factors utilizing the energy. In his own words, “culture evolves as the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year is increased, or as the efficiency of the instrumental means of putting the energy to work is increased”. Russian astronomer, Nikolai Kardashev, extrapolated his theory creating the Kardashev scale, which categorizes the energy use of advanced civilizations.

Lenski takes a more modern approach and focuses on information. The more information and knowledge (especially allowing the shaping of natural environment) a given society has, the more advanced it is. He identifies four stages of human development, based on advances in the history of communication. In the first stage, information is passed by genes. In the second, when humans gain sentience, they can learn and pass information through by experience. In the third, the humans start using signs and develop logic. In the fourth, they can create symbols, develop language and writing. Advancements in the technology of communication translates into advancements in the economic system and political system, distribution of wealth, social inequality and other spheres of social life. He also differentiates societies based on their level of technology, communication and economy:

hunters and gatherers,

simple agricultural,

advanced agricultural,

industrial,

special (such as fishing societies).

Finally, from the late 1970s sociologists and anthropologists like Alvin Toffler (author of Future Shock), Daniel Bell and John Naisbitt have approached the theories of post-industrial societies, arguing that the current era of industrial society is coming to an end, and services and information are becoming more important than industry and goods. Some of the more extreme visions of the post-industrial society, especially in fiction, are strikingly similar to the visions of near and post-Singularity societies.

By period and geography

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Early technology

Agriculture preceded writing in the history of technology.

Olduvai stone technology (Olduwan) 2.5 million years ago (scrapers; to butcher dead animals)

Acheulean stone technology 1.6 million years ago (hand axe)

Fire creation and manipulation, used since the Paleolithic, possibly by Homo erectus as early as 1.5 Million years ago

(Homo sapiens sapiens – modern human anatomy arises, around 200,000 years ago.)

Clothing possibly 100,000 years ago.

Stone tools, used by Homo floresiensis, possibly 100,000 years ago.

Ceramics ca. 25,000 BC

Domestication of Animals, ca. 15,000 BC

Bow, sling ca. 9th millennium BC

Microliths ca. 9th millennium BC

Copper ca. 8000 BC

Agriculture and Plough ca. 8000 BC

Wheel ca. 4000 BC

Gnomon ca. 4000 BC

Writing systems ca. 3500 BC

Bronze ca. 3300 BC

Salt

Chariot ca. 2000 BC

Iron ca. 1500 BC

Sundial ca. 800 BC

Glass ca. 500 BC

Catapult ca. 400 BC

Horseshoe ca. 300 BC

Stirrup first few centuries AD

Stone Age

A variety of stone tools

During the Stone Age, all humans had a lifestyle which involved limited use of tools and few, if any, permanent settlements. The first major technologies, then, were tied to survival, hunting, and food preparation in this environment. Fire, stone tools and weapons, and clothing were technological developments of major importance during this period. Stone Age cultures developed music, and engaged in organized warfare. A subset of Stone Age humans developed ocean-worthy outrigger ship technology, leading to an eastward migration across the Malay archipelago, across the Indian ocean to Madagascar and also across the Pacific Ocean, which required knowledge of the ocean currents, weather patterns, sailing, celestial navigation, and star maps. The early Stone Age is described as Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic. The former is generally used to describe the early Stone Age in areas with limited glacial impact. The later Stone Age, during which the rudiments of agricultural technology were developed, is called the Neolithic period. During this period, polished stone tools were made from a variety of hard rocks such as flint, jade, jadeite and greenstone, largely by working exposures as quarries, but later the valuable rocks were pursued by tunnelling underground, the first steps in mining technology. The polished axes were used for forest clearance and the establishment of crop farming, and were so effective as to remain in use when bronze and iron appeared.

Although Paleolithic cultures left no written records, the shift from nomadic life to settlement and agriculture can be inferred from a range of archaeological evidence. Such evidence includes ancient tools, cave paintings, and other prehistoric art, such as the Venus of Willendorf. Human remains also provide direct evidence, both through the examination of bones, and the study of mummies. Though concrete evidence is limited, scientists and historians have been able to form significant inferences about the lifestyle and culture of various prehistoric peoples, and the role technology played in their lives.

Copper and Bronze Age

A late Bronze Age sword or dagger blade.

The Stone Age developed into the Bronze Age after the Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Revolution involved radical changes in agricultural technology which included development of agriculture, animal domestication, and the adoption of permanent settlements. These combined factors made possible the development of metal smelting, with copper and later bronze, an alloy of tin and copper, being the materials of choice, although polished stone tools continued to be used for a considerable time owing to their abundance compared with the less common metals (especially tin).

This technological trend apparently began in the Fertile Crescent, and spread outward over time. It should be noted that these developments were not, and still are not, universal. The Three-age system does not accurately describe the technology history of groups outside of Eurasia, and does not apply at all in the case of some isolated populations, such as the Spinifex People, the Sentinelese, and various Amazonian tribes, which still make use of Stone Age technology, and have not developed agricultural or metal technology.

Iron Age

An axehead made of iron, dating from Swedish Iron Age.

The Iron Age involved the adoption of iron smelting technology. It generally replaced bronze, and made it possible to produce tools which were stronger and cheaper to make than bronze equivalents. In many Eurasian cultures, the Iron Age was the last major step before the development of written language, though again this was not universally the case. It was not possible to mass manufacture steel because high furnace temperatures were needed, but steel could be produced by forging bloomery iron to reduce the carbon content in a controllable way. Iron ores were much more widespread than either copper or tin. In Europe, large hill forts were built either as a refuge in time of war, or sometimes as permanent settlements. In some cases, existing forts from the Bronze Age were expanded and enlarged. The pace of land clearance using the more effective iron axes increased, providing more farmland to support the growing population.

By 1000 BC 500 BC, the Germanic tribes had a Bronze Age civilization, while the Celts were in the Iron Age by the time of the Hallstatt culture. Their cultures collided with the military and agricultural practices of the Romans, leading those Europeans who were conquered to adopt Roman technological advances.

Ancient civilizations

Main article: Ancient technology

It was the growth of the ancient civilizations which produced the greatest advances in technology and engineering, advances which stimulated other societies to adopt new ways of living and governance.

The Egyptians invented and used many simple machines, such as the ramp to aid construction processes. The Indus Valley Civilization, situated in a resource-rich area, is notable for its early application of city planning and sanitation technologies. Ancient India was also at the forefront of seafaring technology panel found at Mohenjodaro, depicts a sailing craft. Indian construction and architecture, called ‘Vaastu Shastra’, suggests a thorough understanding of materials engineering, hydrology, and sanitation.

The Chinese made many first-known discoveries and developments. Major technological contributions from China include early seismological detectors, matches, paper, cast iron, the iron plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the suspension bridge, the parachute, natural gas as fuel, the magnetic compass, the raised-relief map, the propeller, the crossbow, the South Pointing Chariot, and gun powder.

An illustration of the aeolipile, the earliest steam-powered device

Greek and Hellenistic engineers invented many technologies and improved upon pre-existing technologies. Particularly the Hellenistic period saw a sharp rise in technological inventiveness, fostered by a climate of openness to new idea, royal patronage the blossom of a mechanistic philosophy and the establishment of the Library of Alexandria and its close association with the adjacent museion. In contrast to the typically anonymous inventor of earlier ages, ingenuine minds such as Archimedes, Philo of Byzantium, Heron and Ctesibius now remained known by name to posterity.

Ancient Greek innovations were particularly pronounced in mechanical technology, including the ground-breaking invention of the watermill which constituted the first human-devised motive force not to rely on muscle labour (besides the sail). Apart from their pioneer use of waterpower, Greek inventors were also the first to experiment with wind power (see Heron’s windwheel) and even created the earliest steam engine (the aeolipile), opening up entirely new possibilities in harnessing natural forces whose full potential came only to be exploited in the industrial revolution. Of particular importance for the operation of mechanical devices became the newly devised right-angled gear and the screw.

The compartmented water-wheel, here its overshot version, was invented in Hellenistic times

Ancient agriculture, as in any period prior to the modern age the primary mode of production and subsistence, and its irrigation methods were considerably advanced by the invention and widespread application of a number of previously unknown water-lifting devices, such as the vertical water-wheel, the compartmented wheel, the water turbine, Archimedes screw, the suction pump, the bucket-chain and pot-garland, the force pump, the suction pump, the double-action piston pump and quite possibly the chain pump.

In music, water organ, invented by Ctesibius and subsequently improved, constituted the earliest instance of a keyboard instrument. In time-keeping, the introduction of the inflow clepsydra and its mechanization by the dial and pointer, the application of a feedback system and the escapement mechanism far superseded the earlier outflow clepsydra.

The famous Antikythera mechanism, a kind of analogous computer working with a differential gear, and the astrolabe show great refinement in the astronomical science.

Greek engineers were also the first to devise automaton such as vending machines, suspended ink pots, automatic washstands and doors, primarily as toys, which however featured many new useful mechanisms such as the cam and gimbals.

In other fields, ancient Greek inventions include the catapult and the gastraphetes crossbow in warfare, hollow bronze-casting in metallurgy, the dioptra for surveying, in infrastructure the lighthouse, central heating, the tunnel excavated from both ends by scientific calculations, the ship trackway, the dry dock and plumbing. In horizontal vertical and transport great progress resulted from the invention of the crane, the winch, the wheelbarrow and the odometer.

Further newly created techniques and items were spiral staircases, the chain drive, sliding calipers and showers.

Pont du Gard in France, a Roman aqueduct

The Romans developed an intensive and sophisticated agriculture, expanded upon existing iron working technology, created laws providing for individual ownership, advanced stone masonry technology, advanced road-building (exceeded only in the 19th century), military engineering, civil engineering, spinning and weaving and several different machines like the Gallic reaper that helped to increase productivity in many sectors of the Roman economy. Roman engineers were the first to build monumental arches, amphitheatres, aqueducts, public baths, true arch bridges, harbours, reservoirs and dams, vaults and domes on a very large scale across their Empire. Notable Roman inventions include the book (Codex), glass blowing and concrete. Because Rome was located on a volcanic peninsula, with sand which contained suitable crystalline grains, the concrete which the Romans formulated was especially durable. Some of their buildings have lasted 2000 years, to the present day.

The engineering skills of the Inca and the Mayans were great, even by today’s standards. An example is the use of pieces weighing in upwards of one ton in their stonework placed together so that not even a blade can fit in-between the cracks. The villages used irrigation canals and drainage systems, making agriculture very efficient. While some claim that the Incas were the first inventors of hydroponics, their agricultural technology was still soil based, if advanced. Though the Maya civilization had no metallurgy or wheel technology, they developed complex writing and astrological systems, and created sculptural works in stone and flint. Like the Inca, the Maya also had command of fairly advanced agricultural and construction technology. Throughout this time period much of this construction, was made only by women, as men of the Maya civilization believed that females were responsible for the creation of new things. The main contribution of the Aztec rule was a system of communications between the conquered cities. In Mesoamerica, without draft animals for transport (nor, as a result, wheeled vehicles), the roads were designed for travel on foot, just like the Inca and Mayan civilizations.

Medieval and Modern technologies

Medieval Europe

Medieval counterweight trebuchet (reconstruction)

Main article: Medieval technology

European technology in the Middle Ages may be best described as a symbiosis of traditio et innovatio. While medieval technology has been long depicted as a step backwards in the evolution of Western technology, sometimes willfully so by modern authors intent on denouncing the church as antagonistic to scientific progress (see e.g. Myth of the Flat Earth), a generation of medievalists around the American historian of science Lynn White stressed from the 1940s onwards the innovative character of many medieval techniques. Genuine medieval contributions include for example mechanical clocks, spectacles and vertical windmills. Medieval ingenuity was also displayed in the invention of seemingly inconspicuous items like the watermark or the functional button. In navigation, the foundation to the subsequent age of exploration was laid by the introduction of pintle-and-gudgeon rudders, lateen sails, the dry compass the horseshoe and the astrolabe.

Significant advances were also made in military technology with the development of plate armour, steel crossbows, counterweight trebuchets and cannon. Perhaps best known are the Middle Ages for their architectural heritage: While the invention of the rib vault and pointed arch gave rise to the high rising Gothic style, the ubiquitous medieval fortifications gave the era the almost proverbial title of the ‘age of castles’.

Muslim Agricultural Revolution

Main articles: Muslim Agricultural Revolution, Inventions in the Islamic world, and Timeline of Muslim scientists and engineers

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From the 8th century, the medieval Islamic world witnessed a fundamental transformation in agriculture known as the “Muslim Agricultural Revolution”, “Arab Agricultural Revolution”, or “Green Revolution”. Due to the global economy established by Muslim traders across the Old World during the “Afro-Asiatic age of discovery” or “Pax Islamica”, this enabled the diffusion of many crops, plants and farming techniques between different parts of the Islamic world, as well as the adaptation of crops, plants and techniques from beyond the Islamic world, distributed throughout Islamic lands which normally would not be able to grow these crops. The diffusion of numerous crops during this period led, along with an increased mechanization of agriculture, led to major changes in economy, population distribution, vegetation cover, agricultural production and income, population levels, urban growth, the distribution of the labour force, linked industries, cooking and diet, clothing, and numerous other aspects of life in the Islamic world.

Muslim engineers in the Islamic world were responsible for numerous innovative industrial uses of hydropower, the early industrial uses of tidal power, wind power, and petroleum, and large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic). The industrial uses of watermills were in widespread use since the 8th century. A variety of industrial mills were developed in the Islamic world, including fulling mills, gristmills, hullers, paper mills, sawmills, shipmills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia. Muslim engineers also developed crankshafts and water turbines.

A significant number of inventions were produced by Muslim scientists and engineers during this time, including inventors such as Abbas Ibn Firnas, Taqi al-Din, and especially al-Jazari. Some of the developments from the Islamic Golden Age include the coffee, hard soap, shampoo, nitric acid, alembic, valve, reciprocating, quilting, surgical catgut, windmill, inoculation, fountain pen, cryptanalysis, frequency analysis, quartz glass, modern cheque, explosive rockets and incendiary devices.

Renaissance

Main article: Renaissance technology

Dome of Florence Cathedral

Design for a flying machine (c.1488) by da Vinci

The era is marked by such profound technical advancements like the printing press, linear perceptivity, patent law, double shell domes or Bastion fortresses. Note books of the Renaissance artist-engineers such as Taccola and Leonardo da Vinci give a deep insight into the mechanical technology then known and applied. Architects and engineers were inspired by the structures of Ancient Rome, and men like Brunelleschi created the large dome of Florence Cathedral as a result. He was awarded one of the first patents ever issued in order to protect an ingenious crane he designed to raise the large masonry stones to the top of the structure. Military technology developed rapidly with the widespread use of the cross-bow and ever more powerful artillery, as the city-states of Italy were usually in conflict with one another. Powerful families like the Medici were strong patrons of the arts and sciences. Renaissance science spawned the Scientific Revolution; science and technology began a cycle of mutual advancement.

Age of Exploration

Main article: Age of Exploration

The sailing ship (Nau or Carrack) enabled the Age of Exploration with the European colonization of the Americas, epitomized by Francis Bacon’s The New Atlantis. Pioneers like Vasco de Gama, Cabral, Magellan and Christopher Columbus explored the world in search of new trade routes for their goods and contacts with Africa, India and China which shortened the journey compared with traditional routes overland. They also re-discovered the Americas while doing so. They produced new maps and charts which enabled following mariners to explore further with greater confidence. Navigation was generally difficult however owing to the problem of longitude and the absence of accurate chronometers. European powers rediscovered the idea of the civil code, lost since the time of the Ancient Greeks.

Industrial Revolution

Main article: Industrial Revolution

A Watt steam engine

The Iron Bridge

The British Industrial Revolution is characterized by developments in the areas of textile manufacturing, mining, metallurgy and transport driven by the development of the steam engine. Above all else, the revolution was driven by cheap energy in the form of coal, produced in ever-increasing amounts from the abundant resources of Britain. Coal converted to coke gave the blast furnace and cast iron in much larger amounts than before, and a range of structures could be created, such as The Iron Bridge. Cheap coal meant that industry was no longer constrained by water resources driving the mills, although it continued as a valuable source of power. The steam engine helped drain the mines, so more coal reserves could be accessed, and the output of coal increased. The development of the high-pressure steam engine made locomotives possible, and a transport revolution followed.

19th century

The preserved Rocket

The 19th century saw astonishing developments in transportation, construction, and communication technologies originating in Europe, especially in Britain. The Steam Engine which had existed since the early 18th century, was practically applied to both steamboat and railway transportation. The first purpose built railway line opened between Manchester and Liverpool in 1830, the Rocket locomotive of Robert Stephenson being one of the first working locomotives used on the line. Telegraphy also developed into a practical technology in the 19th century to help run the railways safely.

Other technologies were explored for the first time, including the Incandescent light bulb. The Portsmouth Block Mills was where manufacture of ships’ pulley blocks by all-metal machines first took place and instigated the age of mass production. Machine tools used by engineers to manufacture other machines began in the first decade of the century, notably by Richard Roberts and Joseph Whitworth. Steamships were eventually completely iron-clad, and played a role in the opening of Japan and China to trade with the West. Mechanical computing was envisioned by Charles Babbage but did not come to fruition. The Second Industrial Revolution at the end of the 19th century saw rapid development of chemical, electrical, petroleum, and steel technologies connected with highly structured technology research.

20th century

Landing on the Moon

20th Century technology developed rapidly. Communication technology, transportation technology, broad teaching and implementation of scientific method, and increased research spending all contributed to the advancement of modern science and technology. Due to the scientific gains directly tied to military research and development, technologies including electronic computing might have developed as rapidly as they did in part due to war. Radio, radar, and early sound recording were key technologies which paved the way for the telephone, fax machine, and magnetic storage of data. Energy and engine technology improvements were also vast, including nuclear power, developed after the Manhattan project. Transport by rocketry: most work occurred in the U.S. (Goddard), Russia (Tsiolkovsky) and Germany (Oberth). Making use of computers and advanced research labs, modern scientists have recombinant DNA.

The National Academy of Engineering, by expert vote, established the following ranking of the most important technological developments of the 20th century :

Electrification

Automobile

Airplane

Water supply and Distribution

Electronics

Radio and Television

Mechanised agriculture

Computers

Telephone

Air Conditioning and Refrigeration

Highways

Spacecraft

Internet

Imaging

Household appliances

Health Technologies

Petroleum and Petrochemical Technologies

Laser and Fiber Optics

Nuclear technologies

Materials science

21st century

The Mars Exploration Rovers have provided huge amounts of information by functioning well beyond NASA’s original lifespan estimates.

Main article: 2000s in science and technology

In the 21st century, technology is being developed even more rapidly, especially in electronics and biotechnology. Broadband Internet access became commonplace in developed countries, as did connecting home computers with music libraries and mobile phones.

Research is ongoing into quantum computers, nanotechnology, bioengineering, nuclear fusion (see ITER and DEMO), advanced materials (e.g., enhanced armor), the scramjet (along with railguns and high-energy beams for military uses), superconductivity, the memristor, and green technologies such as alternative fuels (e.g., fuel cells, plugin hybrid cars) and more efficient LEDs and solar cells.

The understanding of particle physics is also expected to expand through particle accelerator projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider the largest science project in the world and neutrino detectors such as the ANTARES. Theoretical physics currently investigates quantum gravity proposals such as M-theory, superstring theory, and loop quantum gravity.

Spacecraft designs are also being developed, i.a. under the Project Constellation (see Orion and Ares V). The James Webb Space Telescope will try to identify early galaxies as well as the exact location of the Solar System within our galaxy, using the infrared spectrum. The finished International Space Station will provide an intermediate platform for space missions and zero gravity experiments. Despite challenges and criticism, NASA and ESA plan a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

By type of technology

History of biotechnology

This section requires expansion.

Main article: History of biotechnology

To be incorporated into main article:

Timeline of agriculture and food technology

Hunter-gatherer

Agriculture

Food science

Genetically modified food

History of agricultural science

History of gardening

Biotechnology (timeline, etc.)

History of sushi

History of tea in China

History of civil engineering

This section requires expansion.

Main articles: History of civil engineering and History of construction

To be incorporated:

Civil engineering

Architecture and building construction

Bridges, harbors, tunnels, dams

Surveying, instruments and maps, cartography, urban engineering, water supply and sewerage

History of communication

This section requires expansion.

Main article: History of communication

To be incorporated:

Communications

Writing systems

Telecommunications

History of mobile phones

History of animation

History of broadcasting

History of radar

History of radio

Printing

Cinema

Radio

Television

Internet

History of computing

Main article: History of computer hardware

History of computing hardware before 1960

History of computing hardware (1960sresent)

History of computer hardware in Soviet Bloc countries

History of computer science

History of operating systems

History of software engineering

History of programming languages

History of artificial intelligence

History of the graphical user interface

History of the Internet

History of the World Wide Web

History of computer and video games

History of consumer technology

This section requires expansion.

Main article: History of consumer technology

To be incorporated:

Timeline of lighting technology

History of textiles and clothing

History of materials science

Family and consumer science

History of knitting

History of lensmaking

History of the chair

History of the umbrella

Manufacturing

History of electrical engineering

This section requires expansion.

Main article: Electrical Engineering#History

To be incorporated:

History of street lighting in the United States

History of energy technology

This section requires expansion.

Main article: History of energy

To be incorporated:

Energy (History, Use by humans, See also)

History of coal mining

History of perpetual motion machines

Timeline of steam power

Timeline of hydrogen technologies

Timeline of alcohol fuel

Timeline of nuclear fusion

History of materials science

This section requires expansion.

Main article: History of materials science

To be incorporated:

Timeline of materials technology

Metallurgy

Materials and processing

History of measurement

This section requires expansion.

Main article: History of measurement

To be incorporated:

History of time in the United States

Timeline of time measurement technology

History of medicine

Main article: History of medicine

This section requires expansion.

History of military technology

This section requires expansion.

Main article: History of warfare

To be incorporated into main article:

Military history#Technological Evolution

Category:Military history articles on history of specific technologies

History of nuclear technology

Main article: Nuclear technology#History

Manhattan Project

Atomic Age

Nuclear testing

Nuclear arms race

History of science and technology

This section requires expansion.

Main article: History of science and technology

History of telescopes

Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology

Timeline of microscope technology

Timeline of particle physics technology

Timeline of low-temperature technology

Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology

History of transport technology

This section requires expansion.

Main article: Historic transport

To be incorporated into main article:

Timeline of motor and engine technology

Timeline of photography technology

Timeline of rocket and missile technology

Timeline of communication technology

See also

Science portal

Related history

History of science

History of mathematics

History of philosophy

Related disciplines

Timeline of historic inventions

List of independent discoveries

Critique of technology

Technical education

Philosophy of technology

History of science and technology (field of study)

History of ideas (field of study)

Technology Dynamics (field of study)

Technology

Engineering

Mechanical engineering

Science and technology in Canada

Related subjects

High technology

Simple machine

Deindustrialization

Future of science and technology (speculative)

Futures Wiki, an external wiki

Emerging technologies

Futurology

Technological singularity

Technocapitalism

Technological change

Technological determinism

Technology forecasting

Robotics

People

List of engineers and list of inventors

Biography of inventors and explorers

Technical societies

Technocracy

Technology and society

Historiography of science and technology

Kranzberg’s laws of technology

Lexikon der gesamten Technik

Exploratory engineering

Historians of science and technology

Johann Beckmann

I. Bernard Cohen

Ruth Schwartz Cowan

John L. Heilbron

Thomas P. Hughes

Daniel Kevles

Melvin Kranzberg

Thomas Kuhn

Dylan Stiddle

Lewis Mumford

Joseph Needham

Abraham Pais

George Sarton

Charles Singer

W. Patrick McCray

W. David Lewis

Silvio A. Bedini

Paul Josephson

Harry Lintsen

Journals and periodicals in the history of science and technology

History of Technology

ICON

Technology and Culture

Transactions of the Newcomen Society

Notebooks

Marx’s notebooks on the history of technology

Research institutes

Bell Labs

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin

Notes

^ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0114_040114_siberianhumans.html

^ Oleson, John Peter (2000), “Water-Lifting”, in Wikander, rjan, Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, 2, Leiden, pp. 217302, ISBN 90-04-11123-9 

^ Thomas F. Glick (1977), “Noria Pots in Spain”, Technology and Culture 18 (4), p. 644-650.

^ a b Andrew M. Watson (1974), “The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700-1100″, The Journal of Economic History 34 (1), p. 8-35.

^ Andrew M. Watson (1983), Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 052124711X.

^ Maya Shatzmiller, p. 36.

^ Adam Robert Lucas (2005), “Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe”, Technology and Culture 46 (1), p. 1-30 .

^ Donald Routledge Hill, “Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East”, Scientific American, May 1991, p. 64-69. (cf. Donald Routledge Hill, Mechanical Engineering)

^ Bosworth, C. E. (Autumn 1981), “A Mediaeval Islamic Prototype of the Fountain Pen?”, Journal of Semitic Studies XXVl (i) 

^ “”Origins of the Fountain Pen “”. Muslimheritage.com. http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?articleID=365. Retrieved September 18 2007. 

^ Paul Vallely, How Islamic Inventors Changed the World, The Independent, 11 March 2006.

^ DiscoveryChannel.ca Colossal construction: The world’s nine largest science projects

References

Singer, C., Holmyard, E.J., Hall, A. R and Williams, T. I. (eds.), (1954-59 and 1978) A History of Technology,, 7 vols., Oxford, Clarendon Press,. (Vols 6 and 7, 1978, ed. T. I. Williams)

Kranzberg, Melvin and Pursell, Carroll W. Jr., eds. (1967)Technology in Western Civilization: Technology in the Twentieth Century New York: Oxford University Press.

Pacey, Arnold, (1974, 2ed 1994),The Maze of Ingenuity The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1974, [2ed 1994, cited here]

Derry, Thomas Kingston and Williams, Trevor I., (1993) A Short History of Technology: From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900. New York: Dover Publications.

Brush, S. G. (1988). The History of Modern Science: A Guide to the Second Scientific Revolution 1800-1950. Ames: Iowa State University Press.

Bunch, Bryan and Hellemans, Alexander, (1993) The Timetables of Technology, New York, Simon and Schuster.

Greenwood, Jeremy (1997) The Third Industrial Revolution: Technology, Productivity and Income Inequality AEI Press.

Landa, Manuel de, War in the Age of Intelligent Machines, 2001.

Olby, R. C. et al., eds. (1996). Companion to the History of Modern Science,. New York, Routledge.

External links

Electropaedia on the History of Technology

http://www.fptt-pftt.gc.ca/success/century/1900_e.shtml This is a very good site for looking at Technology in the 1900s (20th century)

MIT 6.933J The Structure of Engineering Revolutions. From MIT OpenCourseWare, course materials (graduate level) for a course on the history of technology through a Thomas Kuhn-ian lens.

Concept of Civilization Events. From Jaroslaw Kessler, a chronology of “civilizing events”.

Ancient and Medieval City Technology

Categories: History of technology | History-related lists | Technology-related lists | Technology timelinesHidden categories: Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters | Articles needing additional references from May 2008 | All articles needing additional references | Articles needing additional references from April 2009 | Articles to be expanded from June 2008 | All articles to be expanded

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The History and Evolution of Alarm Clocks

Clocks are among the most important discovery of mankind. Since the time they were discovered, they have been used by mankind in almost all civilizations and now in today’s world everything depends on time and has to run on time, including us.

Clocks have evolved with the passage of time and still continue to evolve. The first clock that came into existence was the sun dial. These dials were dependent on the shadow created by the sun rays. The dial supported twelve hours and showed time on the basis of the shadow of a central angular pillar. So we can conclude that though these clocks were fairly accurate, the major drawback was that it couldn’t show time in night time.

With the passage of time came the pendulum clock also known as grandfather’s clock. Most of these clocks are now used as antique collections as these clocks have existed since a long time and many of these clocks have unique handcrafted artwork on their body and some of them also have historic value.

The next key evolution in clocks came with the discovery of electricity. These led to invention of clocks that would run electromagnetically. Further with the advancement of technology and electrical science, batteries were invented. This invention brought about many changes in the types of clocks and the way they were manufactured.

Another major advancement was the development of alarm clocks. In the first generation of these clocks, users could set the time and at that particular time a buzzer or bell would ring. With passage of time, these alarm clocks became more advanced and users can now keep multiple alarm timings. Alarm clocks with clock radios that play songs instead of the regular buzzer to wake up the user are also available in the market.

People can also use these clocks as a regular radio to listen to music. Alarm clocks are no longer just a machine that shows time and wakes us up. With the availability of iPod dock radios, alarm clocks have transformed to a mode of entertainment. Digital clocks are now being replaced by Atomic Clocks. These clocks are far advanced and can be accurate even up to microseconds.

Till time continues to play an important role in our lives, clocks will always persist to be an irreplaceable part of human civilization.

People can find clock radios and other latest varieties in clocks at an online store, alarmclockradiostore.com. You can find products like iPod docks that are up to date with the latest alarm technology.

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Alarm Clocks and Their History

Generally, some of these clocks are used as reminders. Most people make use of clocks together with alarms to wake these people during the mornings or after a quick sleep. Many travel alarm clocks include a “snooze” option to allow the sleeper to enjoy a second ten mins of rest. Clocks with alarms can be used to remind the user of some scheduled time or some other mandatory activity. Numerous people today have used them to point out to them when to take their prescribed medicines, also.

The old designed, wind up, clocks are still loved by some shoppers. These alarms create a obnoxious buzzing sound that’s much like a bell ring. The fact is, many of these alarm clock styles include a pair of alarms upon the clock to produce the ringing alarm noise. All of these clocks are usually fully manual. These have to be wound to keep time. Furthermore there is a detached “arm” on the alarm clock face for setting the alarm. Typically, the alarm “arm” and / or “hand” is moved to the appropriate time on the clock face including a option around the backside of the clock is pulled out to set the alarm. Most these alarms will ring for a selected period of time and then stop, even if the switch isn’t pushed.

Battery powered and electric clocks can be bought in a lot of looks. There are a few that look like the old fashioned wind up style and a few which use radios. Most of these travel alarm clocks offer the “snooze” option. Various electric power travel alarm clocks have a integrated electric battery back-up, in addition. These battery powered clocks really are useful for travelling in addition to outdoor camping. They’re decent “take along” alarms for individuals without cellular telephone alarms.

Digital in addition to computerized alarm clocks are another advantage of contemporary technologies. These clocks can be found in virtually all size and shapes. A lot of these contain numerous practical capabilities. Various have variable alarm clock volume, flashing lighting, movability, musical technology alternatives, and more. Furthermore there are voice activated alarm clocks that will follow codes as well as respond or answer back, as well. These kind of alarm clocks are functional and exciting. They can be purchased along with or with out bells. Typically the speech controlled technology is not hard, along with entertaining, for anybody to make use.of.

Please visit our Loud Alarm Clock site for more information.

Hang on a Second History of the Leap Second

We have all heard of a leap year – that extra day added to the calendar every four years. It may give us a longer February but it is also essential in keeping our calendars and seasons accurate. If the extra day is not added to a leap year then eventually (admittedly after over a century) the Winter will begin in July and the summer will start around Christmas (and vice – versa in the southern hemisphere) because the Earth takes an extra six hours longer than the 365 days of a year to circle the sun.

A leap year may be a bit of a fudge but the alternative would be to have a quarter day at the end of the year which would of course throw our days and nights out of sync with each other (and could you imagine just having a six hour day – some of us struggle to get things done in 24!).

We have of course always measured time in relation to the movement of the Earth – a day being an entire revolution, a year an orbit of the sun. However, as our way of measuring time became more and more accurate it soon became apparent that there were more irregularities in the Earth’s rotation than just the extra six hours in a year.

GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) was developed because there was a need for a time scale where the mean position of the sun at noon, averaged throughout the year, is above the Greenwich Meridian (zero longitude) and daylight saving hours are added or taken away depending on the time of year.

However, in 1955 the first atomic clock went into operation following the discovery of the stability of the caesium-133 atom which vibrated at an exact rate (9,192,631,770 a second). Impressed with this accuracy, The International System of Units of Measurement (SI) decided that a second should be defined as this number of oscillations of the caesium-133 atom.

Following the SI second a time scale called International Atomic Time (TAI – from the French Temp Atomique International) which was a simple count, in seconds, for the 24 hours of our day. Conversely as TAI is not related to the movement of the Earth, it was soon discovered that TAI and Atomic Clocks were far more stable and reliable than the Earth itself (in fact an atomic clock is 1,000,000 times more accurate than the Earths rotation).

Generally the Earth is continually slowing in its rotation (although, inexplicably, every now-and-then it seems to speed up) so TAI is of little use for those that wish their clocks to be in step with the Earth (astronomers being by far the most vocal of these).

So another time scale was developed called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC – again from the French – Temp Universel Coordonne). This was based on atomic time (TAI) but small adjustment are made to keep it in step with GMT (which incidentally is now commonly referred to as UT1 or depending on time zone UT+1 UT+2 UT+3 etc)

UTC is adjusted by the insertion of extra seconds, called leap seconds, as necessary to keep it within a second of GMT (or UT1). It is possible a second may have to be removed in the future but that hasn’t happened as yet. UTC is essential in modern industry and technology where computers are synchronised to UTC time, usually through a NTP server (Network Time Protocol) – to allow international time sensitive transactions.

A leap second is normally inserted at the end of December in the last hour (although occasionally it has been done in June, March and September). The decision as to whether a leap second is required is taken by the Earth Orientation Centre of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), who monitor the Earth’s rotation and suggest the adjustment about six months in advance.

When a leap second is added there becomes 61 seconds in that final minute of the year. The familiar ‘six pips’ radio signal gains an extra pip and even London’s famous Big Ben is held back a second before it bongs (but not an extra bong as they are meant to represent the hours)

There have been 33 leap seconds added to UTC since 1972 (although the first ten were added retrospectively) but as the Earth’s rotation is continuing to slow it is estimated that over the next millennia or two leap seconds will have to be added each month.

Richard N Williams is a technical author and a specialist in the telecommunications and network time synchronisation industry helping to develop dedicated time server products; ethernet clocks, GPS time servers, NTP servers, digital wall clocks, atomic clock servers and SNTP time servers. Please visit us for more information about NTP products and NTP servers

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History of Large Digital Wall Clocks Before Large Digital Wall Clocks

The large digital wall clock in its form that we recognise today has been around since the middle of the fourteenth century. Before then, measuring the passage of time had always been a tricky affair with the movement of the sun being the only reliable method of time-telling and the only clocks being crude sundials or water clocks.

When the first mechanical clocks appeared they were driven by a spring and weight, regulated by a verge-and-foliot escapement, a type of gear system that advances the gear train at regular intervals or ‘ticks’. Not only does a clock ticking come from these original devices but also the familiar clock face was developed.

The first clock to use a minute hand appeared in 1475 and innovations like the pendulum were added making mechanical clocks more and more accurate. Shapes, designs and all sorts of bells, alarms and automaton figures were added to clocks to make them more appealing, the most famous of these being the distinctive cuckoo clock which appeared at the end of the 18th century. No large digital wall clocks back in this time period.

The next big step in the development of clocks didn’t arrive until the twentieth century and the development of electronics when it had been noticed that electrical charges running through crystals, such as quartz, made the crystals resonate at an accurate rate.

These large digital wall clocks could use the traditional clock face of mechanical clocks but also were able to replace it with a digital display that showed the time in numbers.

While large digita walll clocks were more accurate than mechanical clocks and even bigger step towards accuracy was taken with the discovery of Atomic Clocks.

Atomic Clocks work on the principle that the caesium -133 atom has an exact resonance each second (somewhere in the region of over 9 billion a second). This makes large digital wall clocks highly accurate; in fact they are even more accurate than the rotation of the Earth which the national timescale GMT (Greenwich Meantime) used to determine noon. Another timescale, UTC (universal Coordinated Time)) which is based on GMT but allows for the Earth slowing in its rotation by adding ‘leap seconds’ has been developed.

Computer networks use the time from Atomic Clocks by receiving a specialist transmission of the time through radio waves, the GPS network or over the Internet and can synchronise their networks to this UTC time by utilizing NTP (Network Time Protocol) a protocol specifically designed for synchronization.

Ethernet Clocks can be connected to computer networks that run NTP and can display the exact time as told by an atomic clock and display it on a wall or desk. Other analogue and digital wall clocks can also receive a transmission directly from an absolute time source via radio waves and display UTC time that way. Hence the large digital wall clocks that we have today.,

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