Redwood-R-Us
"Wooden Clocks"

History of Clocks The very first early mechanical clocks, which didn't have pendulums, were developed in the last half of th thirteenth century, probabl by monks from Central Eureope, and were placed within the church to regulate daily prayers. They did not hve dials or hands and only struck the bells every hour. These mechanical devices were probably placed in the church belfry in order to make use of the existing church bell. It was over 100 years later before visible dials and hands were added. These early clocks were very large and were made of heavy iron rames and gears forged by local blacksmiths. Around 1580, the astronomer Galileo observed a swining lamp suspended by a long chain from a cathedral ceiling. He studied its swing and discovered that each swing was equal and had a natural rate of motion. He later found this rate of motion depended upon the length of the chain or pendulum. Many years later in 1640 he designed a clock mechanism incorporating the swing of a pendulum, but he died before building his clock design. Later in 1656 Christian Huygens added a pendulum to a clock mechanism of his own design and found it kept excellent time. Regulating the speed of the movement was done, as it is today, by simply raising or lowering the pendulum bob up to speed up the clock, or down to slow down the clock, thus the terms "speed up" or "slow down". The length of a pendulum is usually considered to be the length from the center of the shaft that holds the hands to the center of the pendulum bob (sometimes it is from the center of the shaft that holds the hands to the bottom tip of the pendulum bob). Huygens invention allowed clocks to be accurate to as little as three minutes loss or gain per day instead of the previous quarter to half an hour per day variance. The introduction of minute hands resulted from the increased accuracy. By 1670, with the introduction of the anchor escapement, decreased the time various to as little as a few seconds per week. By the first part of the fifteenth century, small domestic coacks started to appear. They were probably made by the local gunsmiths or locksmiths. After 1630, a weight-driven lantern clock became popular for the home ue of the very wealthy. When the swining pendulum was added in 1656, clocks became even more accurate. Very early clocks were mounted high above the floor because they required long pendulums and large cast-iron descending weights. They were referred to as "wags on the wall". The long case, or grandfather clock, actually evolved from these early prototypes. Wooden cases were used only to hide the unsightly weights and cast-iron pendulum. Although the Dutchman Huygens' innovative pendulum design brought a great leap forward in clockmaking, it was the English clockmakers who reigned supreme in Europe from about 1660 to the early 19th century until the American introduction of inexpensive brass movement parts.

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