Hourglass - the keeper of time on our planet! This is one of the oldest watch movements. It was invented and embodied in reality even before our chronology began. Only no one will be able to find out who the brilliant man was who presented the course of all time in the form of an hourglass. History does not know for certain who was able to clothe such an irrepressible concept in a glass flask filled with quartz crystals.
Entering the clock in 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 a watch. Also, sailors needed to understand the passage of time.
An hourglass was often used, which counted down the time only 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 the watch was famous for just that), such an invention in the future ceased to be popular with people. Although the inventors tried very hard and in attempts to improve the hourglass, they even got to the point that they were able to provide society with a huge glass bulb capable of counting down time - 12 hours.
How is the "sand" time
To obtain more accurate time data in the production of this device, only transparent glass was used. Inside the flask was made perfectly smooth so that nothing could interfere with the sand, unhindered to crumble into the lower container. The neck, connecting the two parts of the hourglass, was equipped with a special regulating diaphragm. Through its opening, the grains evenly and unhindered passed from the upper to the lower.
Time is sand
For a more accurate watch, its main element - sand - was carefully prepared:
- The reddish color scheme of the contents of the watch was obtained by burning ordinary sand and processing it through many of the thinnest strainers. Such sieves did not even give a chance to “slip” into the total mass of a poorly polished and not ground sand.
- Light-colored sands were obtained from ordinary eggshells. The shell was carefully selected at first. After repeated drying and washing, it was subjected to frying. Then came the time for shredding - for future sand. The pieces of the shell were ground several times and were subjected to passing through the sieves of small fractions already familiar to us.
- Lead dust and zinc dust were also used as sand for such watches.
- Cases of grinding marble into fine dust are known to fill sand types of watches. Depending on the color of the marble, the contents of the flask were black or white.
Despite the fact that the hourglass showed the most reliable than other types, they also had to be changed. Glass, perfectly smooth inside the product, after a period of time were covered with micro scratches. And, of course, the accuracy of the clock began to suffer from this. Most preferred for users of this device was the presence of a lead-filled watch. Due to its uniform grain size, it spoiled the inside of the bulb less, which made the watch last longer.
Nowadays, watches filled with loose contents are most often used as decoration for the interior. And for expensive old models decorated with precious elements, lovers of antiques hunt.
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 made extensive use of hourglass. Due to their short cycle, the clock did an excellent job of indicating the time in short telephone conversations.