In what century were mechanical watches invented? Mechanical watches: history of inventions. Who invented mechanical watches
Mechanical watches, similar in structure to modern ones, appeared in the 14th century in Europe. These are watches that use a weight or spring energy source, and they use a pendulum or balance regulator as an oscillating system. There are six main components of a watch movement:
1) engine;
2) transmission mechanism made of gears;
3) a regulator that creates uniform movement;
4) trigger distributor;
5) pointer mechanism;
6) mechanism for moving and winding the watch.
The first mechanical clocks were called tower wheel clocks and were driven by a descending weight. The drive mechanism was a smooth wooden shaft with a rope attached to it, a stone acting as a weight. Under the influence of the gravity of the weight, the rope began to unwind and rotate the shaft. If this shaft is connected through intermediate wheels to the main ratchet wheel connected to the pointer arrows, then this entire system will somehow indicate the time. The problems with such a mechanism are the enormous heaviness and the need for the weight to fall somewhere and the not uniform, but accelerated rotation of the shaft. To satisfy all the necessary conditions, huge structures were built for the mechanism to operate, usually in the form of a tower, the height of which was no less than 10 meters, and the weight of the weight reached 200 kg; naturally, all the parts of the mechanism were of impressive size. Faced with the problem of uneven rotation of the shaft, medieval mechanics realized that the movement of a clock could not depend only on the movement of the load.
The mechanism must be supplemented with a device that would control the movement of the entire mechanism. This is how a device that restrained the rotation of the wheel appeared, it was called “Bilyanets” - a regulator.
The bilyanets was a metal rod located parallel to the surface of the ratchet wheel. Two blades are attached to the bilian axis at right angles to each other. As the wheel turns, the tooth pushes the paddle until it slips off and releases the wheel. At this time, another blade on the opposite side of the wheel enters the recess between the teeth and restrains its movement. While working, the Bilyanian sways. Each time it swings completely, the ratchet wheel moves one tooth. The swing speed of the bilian is interconnected with the speed of the ratchet wheel. Weights, usually in the form of balls, are hung on the rod of the bilyan. By adjusting the size of these weights and their distance from the axle, you can make the ratchet wheel move at different speeds. Of course, this oscillatory system is inferior in many respects to a pendulum, but can be used in watches. However, any regulator will stop if its oscillations are not constantly maintained. For the clock to work, it is necessary that part of the motive energy from the main wheel constantly flows to the pendulum or beater. This task is performed in the clock by a device called the escapement distributor.
Various types of Bilyans
The escapement is the most complex component in a mechanical watch. Through it, the connection between the regulator and the transmission mechanism is carried out. On the one hand, the descent transmits shocks from the engine to the regulator, which are necessary to maintain the oscillations of the regulator. On the other hand, it subordinates the movement of the transmission mechanism to the laws of movement of the regulator. The exact movement of the watch depends mainly on the escapement, the design of which puzzled the inventors.
The very first trigger mechanism was a spindle one. The speed regulator of these watches was the so-called spindle, which is a rocker with heavy loads, mounted on a vertical axis and alternately driven to the right or to the left. The inertia of the loads had a braking effect on the clock mechanism, slowing down the rotation of its wheels. The accuracy of such watches with a spindle regulator was low, and the daily error exceeded 60 minutes.
Since the first watches did not have a special winding mechanism, preparing the watch for operation required a lot of effort. Several times a day it was necessary to lift a heavy weight to a great height and overcome the enormous resistance of all the gears of the transmission mechanism. Therefore, already in the second half of the 14th century, they began to fasten the main wheel in such a way that when the shaft rotated back (counterclockwise), it remained motionless. Over time, the design of mechanical watches became more complex. The number of wheels of the transmission mechanism has increased because the mechanism was under heavy load and quickly wore out, and the load dropped very quickly and had to be lifted several times a day. In addition, to create large gear ratios, wheels of too large a diameter were required, which increased the dimensions of the watch. Therefore, additional intermediate wheels began to be introduced, whose task was to smoothly increase gear ratios.
Tower clock mechanisms
The tower clock was a capricious mechanism and required constant supervision (due to the force of friction it needed constant lubrication) and the participation of maintenance personnel (lifting the load). Despite the large diurnal error, for a long time these watches remained the most accurate and widespread instrument for measuring time. The clock mechanism became more complicated, and other devices began to be associated with the clock, performing various functions. Eventually, the tower clock evolved into a complex device with many hands, automatic moving figures, a varied striking system, and magnificent decorations. These were masterpieces of art and technology at the same time.
For example, the Prague Tower Clock, built in 1402, was equipped with automatic moving figures that performed a real theatrical performance during the battle. Above the dial, before the battle, two windows opened from which 12 apostles emerged. The figurine of Death stood on the right side of the dial and at each strike of the clock turned its scythe, and the man standing next to him nodded his head, emphasizing the fatal inevitability and the hourglass reminded of the end of life. On the left side of the dial there were 2 more figures, one depicted a man with a wallet in his hands, who every hour jingled the coins lying there, showing that time is money. Another figure depicted a traveler rhythmically striking the ground with his staff, showing the vanity of life. After the striking of the clock, a figurine of a rooster appeared and crowed three times. Christ appeared last at the window and blessed all the spectators standing below.
Another example of a tower clock was the construction of the master Giunello Turriano, who required 1800 wheels to create a tower clock.
After wheel clocks, more advanced spring clocks appeared. The first mention of the manufacture of watches with a spring motor dates back to the second half of the 15th century. The manufacture of watches with spring motors paved the way for the creation of miniature watches.
The source of driving energy in a spring clock was a wound spring that was wound up and trying to unwind. It was an elastic, hardened steel strip rolled around a shaft inside the drum. The outer end of the spring was attached to a hook in the drum wall, the inner end was connected to the drum shaft. The spring sought to unfold and caused the drum and the gear wheel associated with it to rotate. The gear wheel, in turn, transmitted this movement to a system of gear wheels up to and including the regulator. The craftsmen faced a number of complex technical tasks. The main one concerned the operation of the engine itself. Since for the correct movement of the watch, the spring must act on the wheel mechanism with the same force for a long time. Why do you need to make it unfold evenly and slowly?
The invention of constipation gave impetus to the creation of spring watches. It was a small latch that was placed in the teeth of the wheels and allowed the spring to unwind only in such a way that at the same time its entire body turned, and with it the wheels of the clock mechanism.
Since the spring has unequal elastic force at different stages of its unfolding, the first watchmakers had to resort to various tricks to make its movement more uniform. Later, when they learned how to make high-quality steel for watch springs, they were no longer needed. In modern inexpensive watches, the spring is simply made long enough, designed for approximately 30-36 hours of operation, but it is recommended to wind the watch once a day at the same time. A special device prevents the spring from collapsing completely during the factory. As a result, the spring stroke is used only in the middle part, when its elastic force is more uniform.
At the end of his life, Galileo began to design such a clock, but the development did not go further. And after the death of the great scientist, the first pendulum clocks were created by his son. The structure of these watches was kept strictly secret, so they did not have any influence on the development of technology.
Independently of Galileo, Huygens assembled a mechanical clock with a pendulum in 1657.
When replacing the rocker arm with a pendulum, the first designers encountered a problem. It consisted in the fact that the pendulum creates isochronous oscillations only with a small amplitude, while the spindle escapement required a large swing. In the first Huygens clock, the swing of the pendulum reached 40-50 degrees, which violated the accuracy of the movement. To compensate for this shortcoming, Huygens had to show ingenuity and create a special pendulum, which, while swinging, changed its length and oscillated along a cycloid curve. Huygens' clock had incomparably greater accuracy than a clock with a yoke. Their daily error did not exceed 10 seconds (in watches with a rocker regulator, the error ranged from 15 to 60 minutes). Huygens invented new regulators for both spring and weight clocks. The mechanism became much more perfect when a pendulum was used as a regulator.
In 1676, Clement, an English watchmaker, invented an anchor escapement, which was ideal for pendulum clocks that had a small amplitude of oscillation. This descent design consisted of a pendulum axis on which an anchor with pallets was mounted. Swinging along with the pendulum, the pallets were alternately embedded in the running wheel, subordinating its rotation to the period of oscillation of the pendulum. The wheel managed to turn one tooth with each vibration. Such a trigger mechanism allowed the pendulum to receive periodic shocks that prevented it from stopping. The push occurred when the running wheel, freed from one of the armature teeth, struck with a certain force against another tooth. This push was transmitted from the anchor to the pendulum.
The invention of Huygens' pendulum regulator revolutionized watchmaking technology. Huygens spent a lot of effort on improving pocket spring watches. The main problem of which was in the spindle regulator, as they were constantly in motion, shaking and swaying. All these fluctuations had a negative impact on the accuracy of the move. In the 16th century, watchmakers began to replace the double-shouldered rocker arm with a round flywheel. This replacement significantly improved the clock's performance, but remained unsatisfactory.
An important improvement in the regulator occurred in 1674, when Huygens attached a spiral spring - a hair - to the flywheel.
Now, when the wheel deviated from the neutral position, the hair acted on it and tried to return it to its place. However, the massive wheel slipped through the balance point and spun in the other direction until a hair brought it back again. This is how the first balance regulator or balancer was created, the properties of which were similar to those of a pendulum. Brought out of the state of equilibrium, the balance wheel began to make oscillatory movements around its axis. The balancer had a constant period of oscillation, but could work in any position, which is very important for pocket and wrist watches. Huygens's improvement produced the same revolution among spring clocks as the introduction of the pendulum into stationary wall clocks.
The Englishman Robert Hooke, independently of the Dutchman Christiaan Huygens, also developed an oscillatory mechanism, which is based on the oscillations of a spring-loaded body - a balancing mechanism.
The balance mechanism is used, as a rule, in portable clocks, since it can be used in different positions, which cannot be said about the pendulum mechanism, which is used in wall and grandfather clocks, since immobility is important for it.
The balancing mechanism includes:
Balance wheel;
Spiral;
Fork;
Thermometer - accuracy adjustment lever;
To regulate the accuracy of the stroke, a thermometer is used - a lever that removes some part of the spiral from working.
The wheel and spiral are made of alloys with a low coefficient of thermal expansion due to sensitivity to temperature fluctuations. It is also possible to make a wheel from two different metals so that it bends when heated (bimetallic balance). To increase the accuracy of movement, the balance was equipped with screws; they allow you to accurately balance the wheel. The advent of precision automatic machines freed watchmakers from balancing; the screws on the balance sheet became a purely decorative element.
The invention of a new regulator required a new escapement design. Over the next decades, different watchmakers developed different versions of the escapement. In 1695, Thomas Tompion invented the simplest cylindrical escapement. The Tompion escape wheel was equipped with 15 specially shaped teeth “on legs”.
The invention of the tourbillon in 1801 by Abraham Louis Breguet is still considered the greatest achievement in the watch industry. Breguet managed to solve one of the biggest problems of watch mechanisms of his time; he found a way to overcome gravity and the associated movement errors. A tourbillon is a mechanical device designed to improve the accuracy of a watch by compensating for the effect of gravity on the anchor fork and uniformly distributing lubrication to the rubbing surfaces of the mechanism when changing the vertical and horizontal positions of the mechanism.
The tourbillon is one of the most impressive movements in modern watches. Such a mechanism can only be produced by skilled craftsmen, and the company’s ability to produce a tourbillon is a sign of its belonging to the watch elite.
Mechanical watches have always been a subject of admiration and surprise; they fascinated with the beauty of their execution and the difficulty of the mechanism. They also always pleased their owners with unique functions and original design. Mechanical watches are still a source of prestige and pride today; they can emphasize status and will always show the exact time.
01/11/2017 at 23:25
The history of the origin of mechanical watches clearly demonstrates the beginning of the development of complex technical devices. When the clock was invented, it remained a major technical invention for several centuries. And to this day, historians cannot agree on who was actually the first to invent mechanical watches, based on historical facts.
History of watches
Even before the revolutionary discovery - the development of mechanical watches, the first and simplest device for measuring time was a sundial. Already more than 3.5 thousand years ago, based on the correlation of the movement of the Sun and the length and position of the shadow of objects, sundials were the most widely used device for determining time. Also, later references to water clocks appeared in history, with the help of which they tried to cover the shortcomings and errors of the solar invention.
A little later in history, references to fire clocks or candle clocks appeared. This method of measurement consists of thin candles, the length of which reached up to a meter, with a time scale applied along the entire length. Sometimes, in addition to the sides of the candle, metal rods were attached, and when the wax burned out, the side fasteners, falling down, made characteristic blows on the metal bowl of the candlestick - indicating a sound signal for a certain period of time. In addition, candles helped not only tell the time, but also helped illuminate rooms at night.
The next, not unimportant invention before mechanical instruments, is the hourglass, which made it possible to measure only short periods of time, no more than half an hour. But, like the fire instrument, the hourglass could not achieve the accuracy of the sun.
Step by step, with each instrument, people developed a clearer idea of time, and the search for a perfect way to measure it continued continuously. The invention of the first wheel clock became a uniquely new, revolutionary device, and from the moment of its inception the era of chronometry began.
Creation of the first mechanical watch
This is a clock with which time is measured by the mechanical oscillations of a pendulum or balance-spiral system. Unfortunately, the exact date and names of the masters who invented the first mechanical watch in history remain unknown. And all that remains is to turn to historical facts testifying to the stages of creating a revolutionary device.
Historians have determined that mechanical watches began to be used in Europe at the turn of the 13th - 14th centuries.
The tower wheel clock should be called the first representative of the mechanical generation of time measurement. The essence of the work was simple - the single-drive mechanism consisted of several parts: a smooth wooden axis and a stone, which was tied with a rope to the shaft, thus operating the function of a weight. Under the influence of the gravity of the stone, the rope gradually unwound and contributed to the rotation of the axis, determining the passage of time. The main difficulty of such a mechanism was the colossal weight, as well as the bulkiness of the elements (the height of the tower was at least 10 meters, and the weight of the weight reached 200 kg), which entailed consequences in the form of large errors in time indicators. As a result, in the Middle Ages they came to the conclusion that the operation of the clock should depend not only on the single movement of the weight.
The mechanism was later supplemented with several more components that were able to control the movement - the “Bilyanets” regulator (represented a metal base located parallel to the surface of the ratchet wheel) and the trigger distributor (a complex component in the mechanism, with the help of which the interaction of the reducer and the transmission mechanism is carried out). But, despite all further innovations, the tower mechanism continued to require continuous monitoring, while remaining the most accurate time measuring device, even without looking at all its shortcomings and large errors.
Who invented mechanical watches
Ultimately, over time, the mechanisms of the tower clock turned into a complex structure with many automatically moving elements, a varied striking system, with hands and decorative decorations. From that moment on, the watch became not only a practical invention, but also an object of admiration - an invention of technology and art at the same time! It is certainly worth highlighting some of them.
Of the early mechanisms, such as the tower clock in Westminster Abbey in England (1288), in the Canterbury Temple (1292), in Florence (1300), unfortunately, not a single one managed to preserve the names of their creators, remaining unknown .
In 1402, the Prague Tower Clock was built, equipped with automatically moving figures, which during each chime displayed a certain set of movements, personifying history. The most ancient part of Orloy - a mechanical clock and an astronomical dial, was reconstructed in 1410. Each component was produced by watchmaker Mikulas from Kadány according to the design of astronomer and mathematician Jan Schindel.
For example, watchmaker Giunello Turriano needed 1,800 wheels to make a tower clock that showed the daily movement of Saturn, the annual movement of the Sun, the movement of the Moon, as well as the direction of all the planets in accordance with the Ptolemaic system of the universe, and the passage of time during the day.
All of the above watches were invented relatively independently of each other and had a high time accuracy.
The first mention of the invention of a clock with a spring motor approximately arose in the second half of the 15th century. It was thanks to this invention that the next step was the discovery of smaller variations of watches.
The first pocket watch
The next step in revolutionary devices was the first pocket watch. A new development appeared approximately in 1510 thanks to a mechanic from the German city of Nuremberg - Peter Henlein. The main feature of the device was the mainspring. The model showed the time with just one hand, showing the approximate period of time. The case was made of gilded brass in the shape of an oval, resulting in the name "Nuremberg Egg". In the future, watchmakers sought to repeat and improve according to the example and likeness of the first.
Who invented the first modern mechanical watch?
If we talk about modern watches, in 1657 the Dutch inventor Christiaan Huygens first used a pendulum as a clock regulator, and thereby managed to significantly reduce the error of indications in his invention. In the first Huygens clock, the daily error did not exceed 10 seconds (for comparison, earlier the error ranged from 15 to 60 minutes). The watchmaker was able to offer a solution - new regulators for both weight and spring watches. Now, from this moment on, the mechanisms have become much more advanced.
It should be noted that during all periods of the search for an ideal solution, they remained an indispensable subject of delight, surprise and admiration. Each new invention amazed with its beauty, labor-intensive work and painstaking discoveries to improve the mechanism. And even today, watchmakers never cease to delight us with new solutions in the production of mechanical models, emphasizing the uniqueness and precision of each of their devices.
Continuing the theme of the history of Napoleon and Josephine's jewelry, I propose to touch on the topic of watches of those years, then the owners of this simple accessory today were few and watches were rather not an item of necessity, but a piece of jewelry, which ladies, it turns out, were embarrassed...
So:
Special chic - watches
Two centuries ago, watches were an expensive pleasure not only because they were made by jewelers. This non-functional toy required winding several times a day. And yet, Josephine ordered a watch for 3,000 francs from Breguet in 1799. A year later, the gold pocket watch covered with thick blue enamel was ready. Inside the case there are convex hands and a dial, not covered with glass. Today the meaning of such a decision is unclear. And at that time, it was considered the height of indecency to open a watch in front of everyone - you had to quietly, by touch, tell the time with your hand. What scope for imagination! But two hundred years ago the jokes were different. And also, if you quietly wind your watch in a corner with a golden key, then there will be no end to those who want to ask about your health!
Hortensia gold watch with diamonds and blue enamel 
Breget watches
Empress Josephine ordered a watch from the famous Abraham Breguet for her daughter Hortensia. On the case, they immediately laid out the monogram “H” in diamonds - the first letter of her name (Hortensia in French is Hortense). In 1804, after Napoleon's coronation, the jeweler added twelve diamonds around the perimeter of the case, and a crown appeared above the "H" monogram. Josephine solemnly presented this watch to her daughter when she married the Dutch King Louis (Napoleon's brother). This exquisite piece is famous not only for its belonging to the Breguet company, which was considered the pinnacle in watchmaking, but also for the fact that the design was extraordinary for its time.
In 2007, the rarity was sold at auction at Christie’s for $1,300,000.
Josephine is a female inventor. We should be grateful to her for her favorite wristwatch - the Empress is credited with the idea of this practical accessory. She ordered two gold bracelets decorated with precious stones from the famous Parisian jeweler Nito. In one she asked to make a clock, in the other - a calendar. The gift was intended for the daughter-in-law, the wife of Eugene’s son, Augusta Amalia of Bavaria of Leuchtenberg. They say it was a wedding gift. There’s just one problem: the wedding of Napoleon’s stepson with the above-mentioned Augusta Amalia took place on January 14, 1806. Josephine ordered a watch with a bracelet in 1809. So there was another reason.
After reading this material, I was puzzled whether the authorship of the wristwatch really belonged to Josephine. Information on the World Wide Web on this topic is not unanimous...
There are many debaters, so I will give different hypotheses:
1.
When exactly the first wristwatches appeared, no one can give an exact answer to this question. It is known that pocket watches existed back in the 17th century, but for wearing on the hand, according to most experts, they were created in 1812 by watchmaker Breguet by order of Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister, the Queen of Naples. According to the description kept in the Breguet archives, it was an oblong watch equipped with a silver dial and a thermometer.
2. Wikipedia:
Later, pocket watches appeared, patented in 1675 by H. Huygens, and then - much later - wristwatches. At first, wristwatches were only for women, jewelry richly decorated with precious stones, and characterized by low accuracy. No self-respecting man of that time would have put a watch on his hand. But the wars changed the order of things and in 1880 the Girard-Perregaux company began mass production of wristwatches for the army.
3.
There is a dispute between two respected Swiss companies - PATEK PHILIPPE and the House of Breguet. The PATEK "PHILIPPE" company claims that they were the inventors of this accessory back in 1868. According to the House of Breguet, their wristwatches were manufactured already in 1810 .
Scientists found the first mention of the so-called mechanical watch in ancient Byzantine texts - it dates back to 578.
The design of the first mechanical watches was simple. Weights on a rope wound around
horizontal shaft, the arrows were lowered and moved using gears.
Mechanical watches revolutionized the way of telling time. They were perfected over five centuries.
The clock mechanism itself was very large, so the first clocks were placed on towers. In the 11th century In Western Europe, tower iron mechanical clocks with one hand and a bell chime, driven by a massive weight, appeared. At sunrise, they were placed at 0 o'clock. In winter, a heavy weight was hung on a chain, and in summer, a light one. The heavier the weight, the faster, overcoming the friction of the wheels, this winding clock without a pendulum went. The watchman corrected them by the sundial several times a day.
In 1288, the iron tower Westminster chimes were already in use. The dials of that period had only one hand - the hour hand; these clocks struck a bell every hour
The clock of Strasbourg Cathedral was a marvel of medieval technology. They were installed in 1354 and a little later connected to a bell that chimed every hour. On the clock, in addition to the dial with the arrow, there is also a whole planetarium: a rotating starry sky, a calendar and a zodiac with planets moving along it. The clocks did not yet have precise pendulum control, and they had to be periodically corrected using a sundial.
In 1510, the German mechanic Henlein adapted a steel spring to the clock mechanism and made the first pocket watch. They had a round shape, the case was decorated with intricate patterns, which is why such watches were called “Nuremberg eggs”. Wealthy people acquired such small watches with many wheels; they could be carried in a wallet.
Introduction of spring drive at the beginning of the 16th century. significantly expanded the possibilities of using mechanical watches. This type of drive still prevails in mass-produced watches.
Then the pendulum was invented. The next step forward was the anchor mechanism. In 1657, the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, having studied the properties of the pendulum, made a mechanical clock with a pendulum.
He proposed using a torsion pendulum - a balancer with a spiral - as a oscillation regulator. The pendulum swings right and left, not allowing the wheel to move more than one tooth with each swing. Later, watches with minute and second hands were invented. The accuracy of the watches increased many times, but it was still impossible to transport such watches.
A modern version of a clock with weights and a pendulum.
Unfortunately, mechanical wheel clocks worked properly only on land, and until then, sailors used hourglasses - “flasks”. The sea clock was made in the 18th century by the Yorkshire joiner J. Harrison. The chronometer was tested by Captain James Cook, who thanks to it compiled a map of the Polynesian islands.