So what are they, when were they invented, how long do they measure time and where are they used in our time? I will try to answer all these questions in this article. And so first things first.

Hourglass This is an invention that allows you to count time. It consists of two flasks connected to each other. Inside they have sand, which, pouring from one flask to another, counts down a certain period of time, which depends on the size of the watch itself.

Hourglasses began to be used around the 14th century. This is evidenced by a message dated 1339, which was found in Paris. It contains instructions on how to prepare sand for watches.

Sand The accuracy of such watches depended on several factors. One of them is sand. It was made from sifted black marble powder, then boiled in wine and dried in the sun. Also from burnt fine-grained sand, which was sown through fine sieves and dried. This sand had a reddish tint. Other sand was made by carefully grinding eggshells, thereby giving it a light white color. The use of sand from zinc and lead dust was different in that it abraded the inner walls of the flask less; such sand had a gray tint.

Flasks watches were made of glass; by that time people had already learned to work with it. The two flasks were connected to each other with a thread and filled with resin in order to give hardness to the joint and prevent moisture from penetrating inside, which would impair the accuracy of the watch. Later, solid flasks began to be made.

Dignity hourglasses were considered easy to use, reliable, and inexpensive. Therefore, they were accessible to many people of that time. They were widely used in shipping to measure speed and watch duration, as well as in medicine.

Flaws Of course there were too. One of the main ones is the short period of time that they could count (mostly 30 minutes or 1 hour). To count more time, it was necessary to make a truly large clock. Also, over time, the sand particles became smaller and the flasks were worn out from the inside, which had a bad effect on accuracy.

Some inventors tried to increase the period of time by automatically overturning the clock and building several flasks into one clock. The first flask was emptied within 15 minutes, the second within 30 minutes, the third 45 minutes, the fourth within 1 hour. On top they had a dial with an arrow; when the sand from the last flask was poured down, they turned over and the arrow moved an hour forward.

Currently, they are used mainly for interior decoration and as souvenirs. Also in some cases during court hearings and in medicine, during medical procedures.

Monument, dedicated to this invention stands in Budapest (Hungary). They are 8 meters high, and the sand is completely poured into their lower part in 1 year. Japan also has big clocks. they are kept in the sand museum of the city of Nîmes.

That's probably all. If you have anything to add or disagree with something, write in the comments.

The hourglass is one of the most ancient inventions of mankind., but the exact date, unfortunately, is not known. However, from the data that have been preserved, we can conclude that the principle used in the hourglass was known in Asia long before the advent of our chronology. Despite the fact that in our time watch mechanisms are actively developing, hourglasses are still actively used.

Hourglass in the Middle Ages

It was the Middle Ages that made the biggest leap in the development of the history of the hourglass.. One of the oldest references to clocks comes from the 14th century, which contains advice on preparing special, fine sand for use in hourglasses.

The hourglass appeared in Europe quite late, but, despite this, they quickly came into use by almost every person, this was facilitated by their low price, ease of use, reliability, and most importantly, the ability to measure time regardless of the time of day, this distinguished them favorably from sundials.

The most common clocks had one significant drawback - it was a relatively short interval, an hour or half an hour. It was rare to see a watch that could measure 3 hours, and very few were designed for a relatively long hourglass operating time. These were huge, bulky structures that could count 12-hour intervals.

Hourglass production

The most important thing for the accuracy of the hourglass was the quality of the sand., it must be sifted through numerous sieves, thoroughly dried and annealed. Glass flasks for making watches were produced using well-known technology. A plate was inserted into the place where the flasks were joined, which was supposed to regulate the pouring speed. To hold the two flasks together, the junction between them was tightly wrapped with thread and additionally covered with resin.

The shape of the flasks and the quality of their surface were also important for the accuracy of the stroke. When the hourglass was used for a very long time, its accuracy deteriorated. This was due to the fact that the inside of the flask was gradually scratched by sand, and the fact that the sand was crushed into smaller fractions also played a big role.

Hourglass - photo

We present to you photos of various hourglass shapes.

Hourglass meaning

The hourglass is a symbol that reminds us of moderation., that time is fleeting, and there is no need for the allotted time to be shortened by excesses. The two vessels represent cyclicality, the alternation of life and death, chaos and order.

Certainly, You won’t be able to get far away from the classic hourglass shape., because two interconnected bulbs and a frame are the basis of such a watch. But you can change the very shape of the flasks and the frame supporting them to whatever you like. For example, an excellent gift in business circles is an hourglass whose flask is the company logo. There is also the opportunity to experiment with materials: colored glass, stones of various types, wood, metals (possibly even precious) can make an hourglass unique in its own way.

The world's largest hourglass is 11.9 meters high, and their cycle is 1 year, it is the greatest device for measuring time. This watch could be seen in Moscow, on Red Square in July 2008. The smallest watch, only 2.5 cm high, was created in Germany, in Hamburg; sand pours out of the top flask of this watch in just 5 seconds.

Even though hourglasses have flaws and are not the most accurate, they were used even after the invention of mechanical clocks, in the 20th century they were used in telephone exchanges and in courtrooms.

Nowadays, hourglasses play more of a decorative role., as interior design elements. This ancient invention is also used during some medical procedures.

Types of watches

The very first clock on earth - sunny. They were brilliantly simple: a pole stuck into the ground. A time scale is drawn around it. The shadow of the pole, moving along it, showed what time it was. Later, such clocks were made of wood or stone and installed on the walls of public buildings. Then portable sundials appeared, which were made of valuable wood, ivory or bronze. There were even watches that could roughly be called pocket watches; they were found during excavations of an ancient Roman city. This sundial, made of silver-plated copper, was shaped like a ham with lines drawn on it. The spire - the clock hand - was a pig's tail. The clock was small. They could easily fit in a pocket. But the inhabitants of the ancient city had not yet invented pockets. So such watches were worn on a cord, chain, or attached to canes made of expensive wood.

The sundial had one significant drawback: it could only “walk” outside, and even then on the sunlit side. This, of course, was extremely inconvenient.

Apparently that's why they invented it water clock. Water flowed drop by drop from one vessel to another, and how much time had passed was determined by how much water flowed out. For many hundreds of years such watches were called clepsydras. In China, for example, they were used 4.5 thousand years ago. By the way, the first alarm clock on earth was also a water alarm clock - both an alarm clock and a school bell at the same time. Its inventor is considered to be the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who lived 400 years BC. This device, invented by Plato to convene his students for classes, consisted of two vessels. Water was poured into the upper one, from where it gradually flowed into the lower one, displacing the air from there. The air flowed through the tube towards the flute, and it began to sound. Moreover, the alarm clock was adjusted depending on the time of year. Clepsydra were very common in the ancient world.

Device

· The period of time was measured by the amount of water flowing out drop by drop from a small hole made at the bottom of the vessel. These were the water clocks of the Egyptians, Babylonians, and ancient Greeks.

· Among the Chinese, Indians and some other peoples of Asia, on the contrary, an empty hemispherical vessel floated in a large pool and little by little filled with water through a small hole (the heroine of the poem throws a pearl into the bowl to slow down the movement of the water).

Due to the visible property of the clepsydra, the saying appeared: “Time is up.”

The first type of watch has undergone significant improvements. Plato describes a mechanism of two cones entering one into the other; with their help, an approximately constant level of water in the vessel was maintained, and thus the rate of its flow was regulated. Full development of such mechanisms, the so-called. Clepsydra, received in Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. uh..

Hourglass- the simplest device for counting time intervals, consisting of two vessels connected by a narrow neck, one of which is partially filled with sand. The time it takes for the sand to be poured through the neck into another vessel can range from several seconds to several hours.

Hourglasses have been known since ancient times. In Europe they became widespread in the Middle Ages. One of the first mentions of such a clock is a message discovered in Paris, which contains instructions for preparing fine sand from powdered black marble, boiled in wine and dried in the sun. On ships, a four-hour hourglass was used (the time of one watch) and a 30-second one to determine the speed of the ship by the log.

Currently, hourglasses are used only in some medical procedures, in photography, and also as souvenirs.

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In the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems, the hourglass symbol that the mouse pointer points to is used to indicate that the system is busy.

Flaws

The disadvantage of the hourglass is the short time interval that can be measured. The clocks that became widespread in Europe were usually designed to operate for half an hour or an hour. There were watches that worked for 3 hours, very rarely - 12 hours. To increase the measurement interval, sets of hourglasses were compiled in one case (case).

The accuracy of the hourglass depends on the quality of the sand. The flasks were filled with annealed fine-grained sand, sifted through a fine sieve and thoroughly dried. Ground eggshells, zinc and lead dust were also used as starting materials.
The accuracy of the stroke also depends on the shape of the flasks, the quality of their surface, uniform grain size and flowability of the sand. With prolonged use, the accuracy of the hourglass deteriorates due to sand damaging the inner surface of the bulb, increasing the diameter of the hole in the diaphragm between the bulbs and crushing the sand grains into smaller ones.

The largest hourglass

Two such giants exist - the “Wheel of Time” in Budapest (the capital of Hungary) and in the Sand Museum of the Japanese city of Nîmes. With a height of eight and six meters and an emptying cycle of one year, they are the world's greatest device for measuring time. Another one The giant has stood on Moscow's Red Square since July 2008. At 11.90 meters high and weighing 40 tons, it is probably the world's largest hourglass. Both glass glasses were so large that they could accommodate a BMW of almost 5 meters length. In contrast, the world's smallest hourglass is only 2.4 cm high. It was made in 1992 in Hamburg and passes all the sand from the upper chamber to the lower one in less than 5 seconds.

FIRE CLOCK

In Europe and China there were so-called “fire” clocks - in the form of candles with divisions applied to them. The first fire clock was invented by the first emperor of China, Fo-Hi, about 30,000 years ago, in order to use it to measure day and night time.

From wood flour mixed with incense, long spirals and sticks were sculpted, like dough. Marks were made on them to indicate the time. For months Chinese fire clocks could work without requiring supervision. The main part of other fire watches, the so-called wick watches, was the wick in the form of a long metal stick, covered with a layer of tar and sawdust. The heat of smoldering sawdust, set on fire at one end of the stick, gradually burned through the thin,
cross-stretched fibers, with suspended balls that fell into a metal cup. Sometimes the wick was rolled into a spiral, the shape of which in itself replaced the hour scale.
The most typical wick clock for China had the shape of a dragon, in the spine of which there was a special holder for a wand. The rate of combustion of the wick depended on many circumstances, and much experience was required to determine it. Such clocks have never been classified as instruments that could be compared in accuracy to sundials or water clocks.

In Europe, the first fire - candle clock appeared at the beginning of the 13th century. This very simple clock is in the form of a long thin candle with a scale printed along its length. The candles used for this purpose were about a meter long. This is where the custom of measuring the length of the night comes from by the number of candles burned during the night. Usually three such candles burned out during the night, and in winter – more. Metal pins were sometimes attached to the sides of the candle, which fell as the wax burned out and melted, and their impact on the metal cup of the candlestick was a kind of sound signaling of time.
In the chapel of King Charles V, a large candle burned day and night, divided
With black stripes, specially assigned servants were required from time to time to inform the king to which mark the candle had burned down. They made it just the right length so that it would burn in twenty-four hours. This watch also served as an alarm clock. Clink! - the pin fell loudly on the metal cup of the candlestick, and the man woke up.

For centuries, vegetable oil has served people not only for nutrition, but also as a lighting material. Based on the experimentally established dependence of the height of the oil level on the duration of burning of the wick, oil lamp clock. As a rule, these were simple lamps with an open wick burner and a glass flask for oil, equipped with an hour scale. The volume of the flask was selected so that its contents were sufficient for continuous luminescence between 6 pm and 8 am. The thickness and length of the burning wick were used to regulate the size of the flame and the oil consumption so that the decrease in the oil level in the flask corresponded to the available time indications. It was later discovered that the original cylindrical or slightly convex glass oil containers were the source of some error in measuring time. The fact is that at higher oil levels, oil pressure caused faster burnout than in late night hours. Therefore, lamp clocks of later origin had a glass flask in the form of a pear widened at the top, in order to at least partially equalize the rate of oil combustion. In the 18th and 19th centuries. Other types of lamp clocks appeared with a slightly more complex operating principle. One type of such clock was a float lamp clock made by Romuald Bozek (young son of Joseph Bozek), made by him in 1875 and now kept in the collections of the National Technical Museum in Prague.

Miners used lamp clocks the most: then oil was poured into the lamp for 10 hours of burning. When the oil ran out, the working day ended. Lamp clocks were often made to expand upward to lower the oil level evenly: when there is a lot of oil, its pressure is greater and it burns faster than when there is little oil, which means that a larger volume burns out in the same time, but due to the expansion of the lamp at the top, the cross-sectional area there is large , so although more will burn out, the oil level will decrease by the same amount

The main part of other fire watches, the so-called wick, there was a wick in the form of a long metal stick, covered with a layer of tar and wood sawdust. The heat of the smoldering sawdust, set on fire at one end of the stick, gradually burned through the thin, cross-stretched fibers, with suspended balls that fell into the metal cup. Sometimes the wick was rolled into a spiral, the shape of which in itself replaced the hour scale. The most typical wick clock for China had the shape of a dragon, in the spine of which there was a special holder for a wand. The rate of combustion of the wick depended on many circumstances, and much experience was required to determine it. Such clocks have never been classified as instruments that could be compared in accuracy to sundials or water clocks.

The clocks come in flowers! Even in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, flower clocks were planted - specially selected plants whose flowers open and close at different times of the day. Then mystical significance was attributed to this (many ancient peoples had a whole system of rituals called flower magic). And the famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus approached the issue from a scientific and practical point of view and arranged them first in his garden, and then in a city flowerbed in the city of Uppsala at the beginning of the 18th century and called them “Flora's Clock”. But this was preceded by long and careful observations, based on which he wrote the treatise “Somnus plantarum” (“Plant Dream”). When creating a natural clock, the scientist used many plants so that they could be used to navigate in time from early spring to late autumn. And dandelion, flax, potatoes, saran, and oxalis bloomed in that flowerbed... True, in cloudy weather, and especially in rainy weather, such clocks did not work, but in sunny weather!.. And these days there are flower clocks in many cities. True, now they are often equipped with a real clock mechanism, thanks to which the hour hands move. For a long time, the largest ones were Swiss. They are located in the English Park of Geneva on the shores of Lake Geneva, the diameter of the dial is 5 meters, and the length of the second hand is 2.5 m. And 6.5 thousand seedlings of 200 plant species are used. But in 2001, a flower clock appeared on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow and was immediately included in the Guinness Book of Records because of its size: it is 10 m in diameter, and the 4.5-meter minute hand is longer than the one on the clock of the Kremlin’s Spasskaya Tower , and she weighs 30 kg. But there is no second hand.

What determines the course of the flower clock?

From certain biological rhythms. True, they have not yet been fully studied. Experts believe that there is a dependence on the geophysical characteristics of the Earth, on the geographical location of the area, on weather conditions, of course. Of course, changes in illumination are very important, as well as movements called sleepy ones, which are associated with the uneven growth of the outer and inner sides of each petal.

What is the “schedule” on which flowers open?

The meadow salsify awakens first: at 3-4 o'clock, followed by rosehip (4 o'clock), chicory, poppy (4-5 o'clock). At 5 o'clock the heads of thistle, meadow sow, red sow, and saran open. At 5-6 o'clock, dandelions and string wake up, at 6 - umbrella hawkweed, at 6-7 - field sow thistle, flax and hairy hawkweed, at 7 - cuckoo's tears, lettuce, white water lily, at 7-8 - sprouted tunic, tricolor violet , full-time wildflower, 9-10 marigolds, coltsfoot, wood sorrel, torichnik. The night violet, as expected, will open only after sunset. And here is the sequence in which they “fall asleep”: The first to “go to the side” are garden and field sow thistles, garden lettuce, chicory (at 10 o’clock), from 10 to 11 o’clock they are joined by wildflower, at 12 – marigolds and meadow sow thistle , in 13 - hawkweed umbrella and sprouted tunic. At two o'clock in the afternoon the steppe hawksbill "goes to bed", and at three o'clock in the afternoon the common hawksbill goes to bed. By this time, the poppy and chicory are already asleep (but they will open again at about six in the evening), and the dandelion, and the flowering potatoes. From 15 to 16 o'clock, the flowers of branched corolla, tricolor violet and hairy hawkweed go into the kingdom of sleep, at 17 - white water lily and gray hawkweed. Between four and five o'clock flax, the coltsfoot, goes to bed. Later, at 7-8 in the evening, the heads of the red day, rosehip, salsify, saran are closed, at 9 - the meadow doze, fragrant tobacco (it will also open again by night), and sorrel. It should be remembered that the sleeping and waking schedule of flowers in different areas differs (that’s why experts provide slightly divergent data), so if you decide to start a “Flora clock”, you should first observe the flowering

There is hardly a person who can name the first inventor mechanical watch. Such watches were first mentioned in ancient Byzantine books (late 6th century). Some historians attribute the invention of purely mechanical clocks to Pacificus of Verona (early 9th century), others to the monk Herbert, who later became Pope. He made a tower clock for the city of Magdeburg in 996. In Russia first tower clock installed in 1404 in the Moscow Kremlin by the monk Lazar Serbin. They were an intricacy of gears, ropes, shafts and levers, and a heavy weight chained the clock into place. Such structures have been created for years. Not only watchmakers, but also watch owners sought to keep secret the secrets of the mechanisms.

The first personal mechanical watch was carried by a horse, and a groom monitored its serviceability. Only with the invention of the elastic spring did watches become comfortable and trouble-free. The first spring for pocket watches was a pig bristle. It was used by the Nuremberg watchmaker and inventor Peter Henlein at the beginning of the 15th century.

And at the end of the 16th century a new discovery was made. The young scientist Galileo Galilei, observing the movement of a variety of lamps in the Pisa Cathedral during worship, established that neither the weight nor the shape of the lamps, but only the length of the chains on which they are suspended, determines the periods of their oscillations from the wind rushing through the windows. He came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a clock with a pendulum.

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The hourglass is the keeper of time on our planet! This is one of the oldest watch mechanisms. It was invented and brought into reality even before our chronology began. But no one will ever be able to find out who that brilliant man was who represented the passage of all time in the form of an hourglass. History does not know for certain who was able to clothe such an uncontrollable concept in a glass flask filled with quartz crystals.

The entry of watches into history

Europe in the Middle Ages actively used this ingenious device to determine its time. It is known that medieval European monks could not imagine their life without watches. Sailors also needed to understand the passage of time.

An hourglass was often used, which only kept time for half an hour. The duration of pouring sand from the top of the flask to the bottom could be about an hour. Despite its accuracy (and this is what the watch was famous for), such an invention in the future ceased to be popular among people. Although the inventors tried very hard and, in their attempts to improve the hourglass, even went so far as to be able to provide society with a huge glass flask capable of keeping time - 12 hours.

How does sand time work?

To obtain more accurate time data, only the most transparent glass was used in the production of this device. The inside of the flasks was made perfectly smooth so that nothing could prevent the sand from freely falling into the lower container. The neck connecting the two parts of the hourglass was equipped with a special regulating diaphragm. Through its hole, the grains passed evenly and unhindered from the upper part to the lower part.

Time is sand

To make the clock tick more accurately, its main element - sand - was carefully prepared:

• The reddish color scheme of the watch's contents was obtained by burning ordinary sand and processing it through many of the finest strainers. Such sieves did not even give a poorly polished and unground grain of sand a chance to “slip” into the general mass.
• Light-colored sands were obtained from ordinary eggshells. The shell was first carefully selected. After repeated drying and washing, it was roasted. Then it was time for grinding - for the future sand. Pieces of shell were ground several times and passed through the already familiar sieves of fine fractions.
• Lead dust and zinc dust were also used in these watches.
• There are known cases of crushing marble into fine dust to fill hourglasses. Depending on the color of the marble, the contents of the flask were black or white.

Despite the fact that hourglasses showed time more reliably than other types, they also had to be changed. Glass products, perfectly smooth inside, became covered with micro-scratches after some period of time. And, naturally, the accuracy of the watch began to suffer as a result. The most preferable feature for users of this device was the presence of lead-filled watches. Thanks to its uniform grain size, it spoiled the insides of the flask less, which made the watch last longer.

Nowadays, watches filled with loose contents are most often used as interior decoration. And lovers of antiques are hunting for expensive antique models, decorated with precious elements.

By the way, there are some places where the use of this invention did not stop even in the 20th century. Such products counted time in courtrooms. True, they had an automated tipping mechanism. Also, telephone exchanges widely used hourglasses. Because of its short cycle, the watch did an excellent job of telling the time in short phone conversations.

Hourglasses have been used by people since ancient times. This is a fairly accurate device for measuring time, but it has one significant drawback - it can only be used to measure small intervals of time. However, people continue to use hourglasses in everyday life to this day. But if you think about it, the persistence of this image has a lot of reasons.

In fact, an hourglass is the simplest device for keeping time. They do not have a complex mechanism that can break down or begin to malfunction, but they do not depend, for example, on the presence of the sun.
An hourglass of a classic design is two vessels that are connected by a narrow neck, mounted on a stable stand. A certain amount of sand is poured into one of them. Depending on the volume of the vessels themselves, an hourglass can measure intervals of several seconds, minutes or even hours, if we are talking about a large time meter.

How much sand has flown under the bridge since its creation?

There are many versions about how exactly the hourglass was invented. According to one of them, this time meter appeared in Europe around the 8th century. According to this version, the hourglass is the brainchild of the French monk Liutprand from Chartres Cathedral. The next mention of this invention occurs in a fresco dating back to the 14th century. The hourglass was depicted in his work entitled “Allegory of Good Government” by the Italian artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti in 1338. From about this time there are references to these time meters in ship's logs.

For a long time, the hourglass was considered the most practical device of this kind. However, starting around the early 1500s, their popularity began to decline, as most people preferred mechanical watches that came into use, which were more accurate.
Over time, the hourglass has not undergone any significant changes in design. Initially, they were made from two flasks, tied together with a cord or just a thick thread. At the junction, the necks of the vessels were lined with a metal diaphragm with a hole, which precisely regulated the amount and speed of pouring sand. For strength, this joint was also filled with wax or resin to prevent sand from spilling out and moisture from getting inside. The first hourglasses with hermetically sealed bulbs appeared around the 1760s. They were more accurate than the previous analogue, since constant humidity was maintained inside the vessels. As a result, the sand could not become damp, and therefore was always poured at the same speed.
Note that not any sand could get into the hourglass. To obtain a high-quality filler, craftsmen took a fine-grained variety of sand, first burned it and sifted it through a fine sieve, and then dried it thoroughly. The more uniform its grain size was, the more accurate the readings of the finished time meter were.

By the way, the hourglass was filled with granules of various origins. It could be powder from finely ground marble, crushed eggshells, and in some models they tried to use tin or lead oxide. Hourglass makers have conducted many experiments to understand which granules give the most constant flow. There are written references to the fact that there was even a special workshop in Paris that specialized in the preparation of original filler for this time meter. Here it was made from powdered black marble. It was ground into fine sand, boiled in wine and then dried in the sun.
However, it is still impossible to say for sure which granules are the best. Moreover, the accuracy of the readings is influenced by other factors in addition to the quality of the sand. For example, its quantity or the size of the flasks and the neck connecting them. When creating hourglasses, the craftsmen experimented a lot with the ratio of their sizes. As a result, it was determined that the diameter of the neck should not exceed half the diameter of the flask. The minimum size of this hole can be equal to 1/12 of the diameter of the flask.

The choice of this indicator depends not least on how large the granules are that fill the hourglass. Accordingly, identical time meters of this kind, differing only in the diameter of the neck, can count different periods of time. The narrower the isthmus connecting the flasks, the longer it takes to pour sand. By the way, over time, hourglasses lose their verified accuracy precisely because due to constant friction, the granules inside the flasks are crushed into smaller ones and, as a result, pour out faster. The quality of the glass is also of great importance. It must be perfectly smooth without any defects inside, so as not to interfere with the free movement of grains of sand.
European hourglasses were typically designed to last from 30 minutes to a full hour. However, there were also instances that measured a 3-hour period of time. It was extremely rare for an hourglass to be created that lasted as long as half a day. However, such a time meter must, without exaggeration, have gigantic dimensions.
For those whose homes could not accommodate such a capital structure, special kits were invented. Several hourglasses were installed in one case at once. Such a device made it possible to measure long time intervals. It was possible to buy similar hourglasses simply folded into one case.

Technological progress did not stand still. He also touched upon the hourglass, which needed improvements in order to compete with any practical and accurate mechanical analogues that had appeared. For example, craftsmen in Nuremberg and Ausburg complicated their design by placing four flask systems in one case at once. A mathematician named De la Hire contributed by creating an hourglass so precise that it could even measure second intervals. The scientist Tycho Brahe became famous as an astronomer, but he also had a hand in the evolution of this device, trying to replace the usual sand with mercury. Fortunately, such a dangerous innovation did not take root.
However, the biggest breakthrough in this area was made by Stefan Farfler, who created a spring mechanism with which the hourglass automatically overturned at certain intervals. Naturally, this innovation made their use much more convenient.

The evolution of “flasks” into alarm clocks

Before the hourglass came into widespread use, a hydrologium or, as this device is also called, a clepsydra, was used. In fact, this is a water clock that was used by the Assyro-Babylonians and the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt. A clepsydra is a cylindrical vessel with water flowing out of it. Equal intervals of time were noticed on the cylinder. It is with clepsydra that the expression “time is up”, which is still used today, is associated.

The Greeks improved this design. Plato, for example, described a mechanism consisting of a pair of cones entering each other, regulating the speed of water flowing out of vessels. Of course, such specific designs were not very convenient. While they could still be used in production, on ships, where timing was necessary to determine speed, such a clepsydra did not give accurate readings.

In the Middle Ages, the design of water clocks underwent a number of changes, making them more convenient and accurate. The clepsydra turned into a drum, divided inside into several longitudinal chambers with water, inside which there was an axis with a wound rope. The drum was hung by this rope, and it began to rotate, unwinding it. The water inside the clepsydra, flowing from one chamber to another, regulated the rotation speed. Time was counted by lowering the drum.
However, the clepsydra was still far from ideal, since its accuracy continued to depend on the height of the flask, the presence of pitching and the ambient temperature. In winter, the water in such watches could simply freeze, making them completely useless.

The hourglass did not present such unpleasant surprises. People began to use them at home in the kitchen, in church, and then in production. It was the hourglass that measured lunch break times for various employees.

However, it was precisely for sailors that this device, accurate and practical, became a real find. Since the 15th century, any ship had at least three such time meters. One hourglass was designed for four hours, which corresponded to the time of one watch, the second - for a minute, and the third - for 30 seconds. With the help of the latter, the sailors calculated the speed at which the ship was moving along the log.

By the way, this is where the naval tradition of measuring time with “flasks” came from. The watchman, who monitored the readings of the ship's hourglass, regularly struck the ship's bell each time, turning over the half-hour hourglass, that is, in fact, “struck the bells.” After every full hour the sailor rang the bell twice.

The famous navigator Ferdinand Magellan used an hourglass in a set of 18 pieces during his voyage around the world. He needed to know the exact time for navigation, as well as to keep a ship's log. The hourglasses on the ships of this Magellan expedition were designed for 15, 30, 45 minutes and a full hour. Each ship had a person who had to turn them over as necessary. In addition, his duties included reconciliation and correction of clock readings.

Of course, these days the Navy uses more advanced instruments for measuring time. However, hourglasses are still used in everyday life. For example, they can be useful in the kitchen as a timer. For the same purpose, hourglasses are used in school laboratories or when testing reading techniques, in treatment rooms. Such time meters are produced for recording intervals when measuring pulse, antipyretic wraps, contrast showers, treatment with mustard plasters or medical cupping. Also, an hourglass, designed for 10 - 15 minutes, is very convenient to control the time spent in a sauna, bathhouse or solarium.

Children will really like this time meter. A brightly colored hourglass filled with colored granules can turn boring hygiene routines like brushing teeth or dousing during hardening into a fun game.
Already in the twentieth century, hourglasses were used for more serious purposes. For example, models with an automatic tilting mechanism were also used by telephone exchange workers to control the duration of conversations. The hourglass was used during legal debates so that opponents would not have their thoughts wander too much. They are used for the same purpose in both houses of the Australian Parliament. There, the duration of speakers' speeches is limited by a special hourglass with three systems of flasks.

By the way, electronic versions of such time meters have now also appeared. By the way, you can buy such an hourglass not only as an original interior element. They can be very useful in everyday life. For example, the electronic hourglass from designers Fabian Hemmert and Susan Hamman is an unusual alarm clock. You just need to tilt its body 45 degrees, and the function is launched: red LEDs begin to “roll” on the display. It is noteworthy that this alarm clock should be set not to the time of rising, but to the duration of sleep. Each luminous point corresponds to one hour of night dreams. Waking up at night, even in the dark, you can easily see how much sleep you still have left. And for those who like to lie down a little longer after the alarm clock has signaled the rise, this so-called hourglass has a special function. Just turn them over - after five minutes they will again remind you that it is time to get up.

However, in the vast majority of cases today, an hourglass can only be bought as an original element of the interior. With the advent of much more accurate mechanical and electronic time meters, their practical function still loses to the aesthetic one. But here the masters can give free rein to their imagination. Hourglasses are placed in cases made of valuable wood, decorated with fancy ornaments. Sometimes they are even inlaid with various precious stones. Such antique table clocks can become the highlight of the interior.

Craftsmen from Thailand did not limit themselves to experiments on the external decoration of watches. They probably remembered that inner beauty is much more important, but they took this statement too literally. As a result, their hourglass was filled with small diamonds instead of the usual sand. The total weight of the precious filling was approximately 10 thousand carats. This hourglass is one of the most expensive today. Their cost is 6.4 million dollars.

It's time for records

As you know, there are no limits to perfection, and therefore masters from different countries are still trying to create the best and most unusual hourglasses. Since there can’t be a complex mechanism in this time meter in principle, and you can’t do much magic with the shape, all that remains is to experiment with the dimensions.
For example, in the early 90s, an hourglass was created in Hamburg, which is the smallest to date. The height of this masterpiece does not exceed 2.4 cm. Sand is poured from the upper part to the lower part in a period of time equal to 5 seconds.

Creating an hourglass of gigantic size seemed to be a more exciting activity. There has even been some rivalry in this area.
The first such giant has a permanent residence in the Sand Museum located in the Japanese city of Nîmes. This hourglass was created in 1991. Their height is 5 m with a diameter of the flask chambers of 1 m. However, 13 years later, their fame was eclipsed by the popularity of one of the main attractions of Budapest.
As you know, in 2004 Hungary became part of the European Union. For the residents of this country, such an event turned out to be very joyful. In honor of him, a monument known as the “Wheel of Time” was erected in the central part of Budapest, near Heroes’ Square.

This gigantic hourglass has become a symbol of the fusion of ancient traditions and the latest technology. They are equipped with a very complex semi-automatic mechanism, which, using a computer, controls the pouring of sand. However, its complexity is largely due to the size of the time meter. The Budapest hourglass reaches as much as 8 m in height. They are a gigantic granite circle that makes one full revolution during the year. And on December 31, the sand-filled chamber moves upward, and the annual countdown starts again. Moreover, this revolution is carried out not by a computer program, but by a person who, however, uses cables and a simple mechanism to help move a heavy block of stone. Thus, this hourglass symbolizes human perseverance and strength, which has helped us overcome all obstacles for many centuries.
According to the creators, the “Wheel of Time” symbolizes Hungary’s entry into a new era of development.

However, after another four years, this record was broken. In 2008, the German automobile company BMW decided to install a kind of advertising on Red Square in anticipation of the presentation of a new model. As a result, an hourglass appeared in Moscow, the height of which was 12 m. It was made of durable acrylic glass and filled with shiny metal balls. In total, 180 thousand of these balls were used for this clock, resulting in the total weight of the entire structure reaching 40 tons. This hourglass was built over the course of nine days and was supposed to count down time until July 8, 2008 - that’s when the presentation of the new model from BMW was supposed to take place. By the way, the hourglass was so large that, in addition to the metal balls that periodically fell down, the car itself was located in its upper chamber.
It turns out that these days an hourglass is not so much a device for measuring time, but rather an element of style or even an indicator of the high status and good taste of the owner.

Olya