The Clock Tower 20221129e is a photograph by Wingsdomain Art and Photography which was uploaded on November 29th, 2022.
The Clock Tower 20221129e
The Clock Tower 20221129e
Although clock towers are today mostly admired for their aesthetics, they once served an important purpose. Before... more
Title
The Clock Tower 20221129e
Artist
Wingsdomain Art and Photography
Medium
Photograph - Alternative Medium
Description
The Clock Tower 20221129e
Although clock towers are today mostly admired for their aesthetics, they once served an important purpose. Before the middle of the twentieth century, most people did not have watches, and prior to the 18th century even home clocks were rare. The first clocks did not have faces, but were solely striking clocks, which sounded bells to call the surrounding community to work or to prayer. They were therefore placed in towers so the bells would be audible for a long distance. Clock towers were placed near the centres of towns and were often the tallest structures there. As clock towers became more common, the designers realized that a dial on the outside of the tower would allow the townspeople to read the time whenever they wanted. The use of clock towers dates back to antiquity. The earliest clock tower was the Tower of the Winds in Athens which featured eight sundials and was created in the 1st century BC during the period of Roman Greece. In its interior, there was also a water clock (or clepsydra), driven by water coming down from the Acropolis. In Song dynasty China, an astronomical clock tower was designed by Su Song and erected at Kaifeng in 1088, featuring a liquid escapement mechanism. In England, a clock was put up in a clock tower, the medieval precursor to Big Ben, at Westminster, in 1288; and in 1292 a clock was put up in Canterbury Cathedral. The oldest surviving turret clock formerly part of a clock tower in Europe is the Salisbury Cathedral clock, completed in 1306; and another clock put up at St. Albans, in 1326, 'showed various astronomical phenomena'. Al-Jazari of the Artuqid dynasty in Upper Mesopotamia constructed an elaborate clock and described it in his Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices in 1206. It was about 3.3 metres (11 feet) high, and had multiple functions alongside timekeeping. It included a display of the zodiac and the solar and lunar paths, and a pointer in the shape of the crescent moon which travelled across the top of a gateway, moved by a hidden cart and causing automatic doors to open, each revealing a mannequin, every hour. It was possible to re-program the length of day and night daily in order to account for the changing lengths of day and night throughout the year, and it also featured five robotic musicians who automatically play music when moved by levers operated by a hidden camshaft attached to a water wheel. Other components of the castle clock included a main reservoir with a float, a float chamber and flow regulator, plate and valve trough, two pulleys, crescent disc displaying the zodiac, and two falcon automata dropping balls into vases. Al-Jazari's castle clock is considered to be the earliest programmable analog computer. Line (mains) synchronous tower clocks were introduced in the United States in the 1920s. -wikipedia
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November 29th, 2022
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