Ancient Mechanical Clocks

An outline of important milestones achieved by the ancient Greeks (most notably Ctesibius and Archimedes) in the construction of increasingly more advanced time-keeping devices.

[@Gabranicus]

And now I know how my dwarves will tell time while living underground

[@Cedell16]

Lol why I’m here too

[@brianfuller7691]

The history of horology is fascinating.

[@ayoungtricknamedjim5498]

Funny how the word "deceive" has been derived from the name of this alleged clock creator. The illusion of linear time is perhaps the greatest control construct ever created.

[@PKIVV]

I found this from listening to a constant drip from a leaky pipe and counted 6 seconds between each drip. I see how it inspired the making of this clock

[@bashkillszombies]

As a lawyer I am so thankful we don't have water running constantly in courts - I would be taking perpetual pee breaks!

[@raymondfrye5017]

So how would you excuse yourself momentarily? 1."Your Honor may I approach the bench?" 2. "Yes,you may.: 3. "I have to go pee." 4. "Yes you may. (Out loud to stenographer):"Ahem! Let the record reflect that the attorney for the defense will be excused for ten minuntes to perform a basic 'physiological function' of minor nature."

[@Digital111]

Wow we really take time for granted today. I'm sitting here watching this while wearing my $20 Casio watch that is accurate to a couple seconds a month...

[@MyImmaculateQueen]

antikythera mechanism proves mankind was a lot more advanced in ancient times than we give him credit for

[@michaelbauers8800]

There was no lack of intelligence and innovation. I would say that the technology explosion of recent times ( 100 to 300 years or whatever cutoff you want) is due to population. The more people, the more geniuses. Also there might be a threshold of inventions needed, for technology to advance quickly. Pre reqs like mass production, metalurgy, chemistry, electronics, physics...and then BAM, it goes fast, or so it seems :)

[@bashkillszombies]

Not really. There have been numerous reproductions of that with hand tools and basic math, it's nothing magical dude. I'm assuming that people who think it is something high tech are the kind of stupid idiots who think that people thousands of years ago were ANY different to we are. Technology has changed, we haven't.

[@starrix4712]

Instead of calling people stupid idiots like some sort of immature child, perhaps you should realise people just didn’t realise how simple it was? It’s not a crime. Calm down, because the only one sounding like a “stupid idiot” is you.

[@DreamBelief]

Depends where you were. Not everywhere was advanced, but some peoples are absolutely underestimated

[@eIectrostatic]

It's from the the very first episode of the series "Ancient Discoveries", midway through the episode. Many episodes are available here on KZbin (this one is available here: KO4-zx9buc). Unfortunately, there was not much more on time in this episode, but other episodes also have bits and pieces of inventions concerning time. Check the show's Wikipedia page for rough outlines of topics/inventors.

[@eIectrostatic]

University citation, huh? Probably safer to use a textual source than to cite this documentary: Documentary Series: Ancient Discoveries Episode: Ancient Computer? (Season 1, Episode 1) Producer: Wild Dream Films, UK Premiere Airing: The History Channel, 21 December, 2003 The time interval for this video clip (with a few additional cuts in between) is 15:20 to 28:35. The complete episode can be viewed right here on KZbin (video code "KO4-zx9buc"), including the episode's end credits.

[@chrisg3030]

The first water clock could have been a tidal lagoon or basin which of course both empties and refills. This wouldn't have necessarily been in phase with daylight hours, but I think high and low water are the same amount of time apart throughout the year, and through neap and spring tides as well. A practical time keeping device used for keeping track of the tides would naturally be divided into 12 with the 1st hour after low water defined as the time by which 1/12 of the tidal range has been reached, by 2 another 2/12, by 3 another 3/12, by 4 another 3/12, by 5 another 2/12, by 6 another 1/12. so by tide-turn all 12 12ths have been added, because 1+2+3+3+2+1 = 12. At 7 of course we're back down 11/12 of the height and so on. As far as I can see 12 is the only whole number (or multiples thereof) you can do this with and get whole numbers. A face or scale divided into 10 for example would have to log a tide turn at 5 and log the 5 water height increments 1/10 2/10 3/10 2/10 1/10, but here the numerators don't sum to 10. That could be why 12 came to rule on clocks including maybe even sundials.

[@WhenceRed]

I'm only a few minutes in, have already restarted twice, becuz this video is so fucking great. Thank You

[@WhenceRed]

6:26 ... Not only Genius, but Inspired and Divine

[@SMGJohn]

I can only imagine living in the ancient times, early light bulbs, water clocks, water organs, complex mechanical machines, early steam pumps, breech loading artillery, so much crazy stuff we keep digging up and learning that the ancients, had it all but electricity and computers.

[@lifestyleastherapyafterstr9423]

Personal timestamp: 6:30 Someone invented world's first mechanical water clock, NOT archimedes, is clepsydra of Ctesibius

[@lindseycanoy132]

How did ctesibius reset his water clock when the 3rd container became full?

[@humpty4205]

by the 4th container

[@PhotonCrasher]

Most likely by a Pythagorean Cup (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_cup) -like siphon; similar to how modern toilets work. When too much water is in the bowl, the weight of the water pushes itself up through an upside-down-U-shaped tube, dragging the rest water with it outside the container.

[@diddy47]

do you know which documentary this was from, very much interested in time keeping

[@vladimirkuharik34]

Now > change battery in clock annually. 20 years ago > Wind clock daily Then > Pouring a bucket of water daily xD

[@adonisb39]

Can you find a replica of these clocks?

[@ClashBluelight]

of course the very first clockmaker had a coocoo clock. why wouldn't he?

[@genekelly8467]

Wonderful! Amazing that the tower has endured all these centuries.What is the musical score called? I like it.Interesting that Giacomo DiDondi's mechanical clock (ca. 1350 AD) was not a water clock-maybe because the water would freeze in Winter?

[@justadude777]

Crazy stuff, I wonder where they got this idea from

[@adamthornton7880]

3:45 Couldn't they just vary the width of the vessel with height, so that the flow rate is directly proportional to the surface area of the water?

[@Aeghamedic]

The change in speed comes from the weight of the water itself, and since the nozzle remains the same size, all the water behind it will always produce the same amount of weight. At least, I think that's the explanation. I'm sure if it were as simple as making a conical reservoir, or some other shape, they'd have done that instead of making a whole new contraption.

[@adamthornton7880]

Aeghamedic The rate of change in volume will definitely vary with depth, but Δvolume is equal to Δdepth multiplied by surface area. Therefore Δdepth is equal to Δvolume divided by surface area. Therefore, if the flow rate is directly proportional to the surface area, Δdepth will be constant. Maybe there is a reason why this would have been too difficult to set up using period technology, or would have been less obvious given their understanding of physics and mathematics, but it would still have been nice to have an explanation of what was so hard about this seemingly easy problem.

[@Aeghamedic]

Adam Thornton If flow rate were only affected by surface area (and thus, air pressure), then a water clock of constant SA would drain at a constant rate, but we know they don't. The reason is that the water itself exerts pressure on itself. As the volume decreases, so does the water pressure, and that makes the flow weaker. Having a variable SA isn't all you need. Having a constant height, however, is exactly what would work. The water pressure and air pressure remain constant in that system.

[@adamthornton7880]

Aeghamedic The surface area of the water, or ambient pressure, doesn't affect the rate at which water leaves the container at all. However the speed at which the surface goes down is given by the rate of water leaving the container divided by the surface area. For instance, if the surface goes down by 0.1 mm, and the surface area is 10,000 mm^2, then we know that 1000 mm^3 of water has left the container.

[@Aeghamedic]

Adam Thornton But time's also a factor here. The time it took to drain by 0.1mm is affected by how much water is left in the clock (how much pressure is exerted on the water near the nozzle). With a constant height (and constant water pressure), the drain rate would also remain constant. The rate itself is irrelevant as long as it's constant.

[@eIectrostatic]

BTW, I now see that I may have misunderstood you. If you asked me for the actual source that was used for this dosumentray, I have no clue. However, it's easy to find alternative sources by just Googling "Ctesibius" and "clepsydra". You'll get far more detailed information than what was presented in this clip. What Ctesibius basically did was to improve the standard Greek clepsydra water-clock by adding complex mechanical gears and indicators for more precise time measurement.

[@brianfuller5868]

The Ancient Egyptians used water clocks, sundial and had a sophisticated civil calendar. The Arabs and Chinese also had sophisticated water clocks.

[@theresakennedy7339]

Petrie wrote about this in the Wisdom of Egypt.

[@NavalKishoreBarthwal]

can anyone tell the documentary, this clip is part of..??

[@antikytheraguy3966]

Naval Kishore Barthwal Ancient Discoveries The antikythera Machine

[@terenfro1975]

Warning!!! Go to the bathroom before watching this video.

[@masterchief5437]

You could drink two liters of water and then try measure from when drinking and then going to pee

[@masterchief5437]

9:18 Assassins Creed

[@VEROTIKAA]

woo trully amazing ty

[@bashkillszombies]

What powered it though? What put water into the top vessel? People?

[@xmasinpacific]

probably some sort of aqueduct

[@eIectrostatic]

The video code didn't copy right for some reason, but here's another one: "Ly3cpBFWF-o"...

[@elliotkey7961]

3@@@❤❤❤

[@哲子仮免]

Running out of time.

[@matchlessajsbsa2157]

Very good video ruined by irritating background music...

[@chrisg3030]

Yes, it's like smothering a great meal with ketchup.

[@kayhargis780]

My thoughts exactly... the un-needed "background music" was so "foreground" it drowned out the verbage of the speakers

[@damienhartley3222]

Egyptians disappoints me because I could make a far better water clock and I don't need to waste all that water Mr desibius or whatever his name is. Basically add weight on top of your water tank in the form of a sponge with some rocks or something that would make more consistent water pressure.

[@mysticaltheorywrittenhisto8995]

x

[@Onoma314]

Like a thief in the night :P

[@KandiKlover]

De de de de doo doo doo

[@sriramsattiraju8959]

loding

[@danielaaugusto2062]

wtf?

[@Onoma314]

Btw, ...Greeks certainly did not invent water clocks, just like European mathematicians did not invent calculus Time to review your records

[@eIectrostatic]

Fully agree about water clocks, strongly disagree about calculus. No matter how you look at it, calculus was most certainly invented Europeans - whether it was in 17th century Britain by Newton, in 17th Germany by Leibniz, or in 3rd century BC Italy (Sicily) by Archimedes. Medieval Kerala in south India certainly also has an important place in the history of calculus, as an independent and standalone contribution to the mathematics of calculus, just not as the start of or full development of calculus...

[@Onoma314]

So then did you see the articles circulating a year or two ago about Babylonian calculus ? This one, for example www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/math-whizzes-ancient-babylon-figured-out-forerunner-calculus iirc, there's a free paper out there

[@eIectrostatic]

The Jesus It's certainly an interesting theory but AFAIK it's not generally accepted, yet at least. These tablets by their nature leave out a lot of background information so it's up to researchers to fill in the dots and sometimes this entails a risk that the researchers may imagine patterns that are not there. We'll just have to wait and see what the scholarly consensus will be on this...

[@Onoma314]

secretsoftheages.freeforums.net/board/1/general-discussion

[@paris9332]

@@eIectrostaticMedieval Kerala.. 😂 dude!

[@angelcram20]

I thought it was Ancient Aliens that invented this Clock 👽

[@SarSar373]

I am trying to create a citation for this documentary for a university term paper do you think you can give me the original information of this documentary? Thanks :)