Thomas patented the first user-settable mechanical wind-up alarm clock. In 1876, more than 350 years later, Seth E.
Replacing the weights by springs, he was able to create portable clocks (#WearableTech). Peter Henlein of Nuremberg, regarded as the inventor of the first watches, developed spring-powered clocks. Spring-driven clocks (beginning of the 16th century) On early models, you had to wind the clock every 20 minutes, which is a time-suck, to say the least. With the addition of a pendulum in the middle of the 17th century, weight-driven clocks reached an unprecedented level of accuracy (fewer than 10 seconds a day). Around the 15th century, some of these mechanical clocks were improved by the addition of a user-settable alarm: a pin placed in a hole would trigger an alarm at the time of your choice. Taking advantage of the Earth’s gravitational field, this type of clock uses weights and cords to store energy and unleash it (when a weight falls down and pulls the cord, it drives the clock’s mechanism). It is in Italian cities that large mechanical clocks first appeared, built on top of towers.
Weight-driven clocks (around the 13th century)
Yet another startling wake-up experience, and a fire hazard to boot. A European variation of the concept had metal balls or nails trapped in them: as the candle was slowly burning down, it would release them and they would fall into a metal can, making a sound that was supposed to get you out of bed at a preset time.Īt that point in history, this was the most accurate solution, if we choose to only consider systems that allow the selection of the alarm time. The earliest versions of these candle-clocks were the graduated ones used in China. Note that this marks the beginning of the “Annoying Wake-Up Sounds” era.ĭiscover Steel HR, the activity-tracking watch that measures heart rate around the clock.-or treat yourself.Ĭandles (from 960 CE to the 20th century)Īs they burn at a more or less consistent speed, candles were used to tell the time. Joking aside, this wake-up solution was probably an amazing breakthrough at the time. Fifty years later, Hellenistic inventor Ctesibius created a more sophisticated version that was able to drop pebbles onto some sort of cymbal, or to blow trumpets, at the desired time. It wasn’t until 300 BC that a water-clock was fitted with some kind of alarm system, supposedly by philosopher Plato. Water-clocks leverage the relatively steady flow of liquid going through a vessel to measure and tell time. It is in Egypt and in Babylon that this kind of time-measuring device was first used. Incidentally, the rooster’s timing is perfect, as the farmer needs to milk his cows early on through the day.Ĭome off it! What a shrill sound! Plus, you can forget sleeping late on weekends. And cock crows are particularly loud, reaching between 50 and 60 dB.
Indeed, they like to sing in the early morning to mark their territory before they can be seen. For these sedentary men, roosters served as natural alarm clocks. The lack of accuracy (you need to take all the fluids ingested during the day into account).Īs humans gathered in tribes and villages, they were able to go to bed after sunset (thanks to campfires) and to wake up after sunrise (they no longer lived outdoors). You become the alarm clock! Yay biohacking. But why would they want to do that? After all, there were no “punch-clock” jobs at the time.Įven though this is a rather primitive solution, it is clever.
With no artificial light and before the controlled use of fire, there wasn’t much to do at night anyway!Īpart from all constraints, this is the most natural way to wake up.Īt one point, men must have figured out that they woke up earlier in the morning when they had been drinking more water than usual before going to bed (their full bladders prompting them to get up). At dusk, the exposure to the dark favored the onset of sleep. At dawn, the increasing level of light woke them up gradually. What is the best way to get woken up at a preset time? As we continue to make history with our sleep tracking devices, let’s go back into time and list the previous solutions.Įven though early humans found shelter in dark caves at night (but not without first driving out its animal occupants), they lived by the sun - waking up as the sun rose and going to sleep at sunset. From cave to luxury condo, learn about mankind’s greatest advances in wakeup tech. Breaking up is hard to do, and so is waking up.