Grandfather Clocks Chime the History of Timekeeping

by: Michael O'Brien

Just like weather cycles and the phases of the moon helped ancient people to understand the concept of time, the development of pendulum clocks brought a new accuracy to time keeping. Dating back over five thousand years, time keeping was based on the movement of celestial bodies. The sun, the moon and the stars were determined to be predictable ways to track time and sun clocks relied on the movement of the earth in relation to the sun.

Credited with the invention of a mechanical clock, the Chinese employed water a source of power. The movement of a water clock was controlled by an escapement mechanism that would drive a series of rods and gears. Since the flow of water was not always easy to control, the accuracy of water clocks varied a great deal. The thirteenth century ushered in the era of spring-driven mechanical clocks.

Spring power led to the development smaller, portable clocks and these enclosed clocks came to be known by several names. Often called bracket or mantle clocks, they were small enough to be portable, and were most often located in areas of the home where people were likely to gather. Whether on a table or a fireplace mantle, these small spring-driven clocks still lacked accuracy losing on the order or several minutes per day. This is stark contrast to the atomic clocks in use today. These hyper-accurate clocks use radioactive isotopes and are accurate to within thirty billionths of a second per year.

Powered by a main spring, early spring-driven clocks were still not very accurate. The Italian physicist Galileo Galilei, was the first to calculate that a swinging pendulum would more accurately control the clock movement. Galileo surmised that a pendulum and a set of opposing counterweights would use the energy generated by the main spring more efficiently. Like many early scientific discoveries, it would take many decades for Galileo’s pendulum to be widely applied to clock making.

The grandfather clock is the direct result of Galileo’s discovery though the pendulum clock movement went through many years of refinement before the first tall case clocks were introduced. Early pendulum clocks were made to hang on the wall with the movement, counterweights and pendulum exposed. The pendulum clock remained the center of the timekeeping world for many years.

A cabinet clock is defined as a clock where the movement, with the exception of the counterweights and the pendulum, was enclosed. What came to be known as floor clocks began to appear. Floor clocks are referred to tall case clocks, long case clocks and grandfather clocks. As floor clocks became more popular, craftsman and clock makers designed more decorative. Tall and ornately designed, floor clocks remain popular today. Floors clocks are now most often referred to as grandfather clocks, grandmother clocks and granddaughter clocks. Today, Germany is still home to some of the world’s finest grandfather clock movements.

Grandfather clocks are beautiful and timeless, though modern design in timekeeping has found its way into these classic clocks. With no moving parts, crystal quartz clock movements are being used in long case clocks. Using the piezoelectric properties of quartz crystals, these movements depend on a constant electric signal produced by the crystals. These modern grandfather clocks still have the classic look and sound we have all become accustom to, right down to the swinging pendulum.

The case enclosures for electrically-driven grandfather clocks still show the same craftsmanship we have come to expect. There are several grandfather clock makers that continue to produce both traditional spring and pendulum clocks and electric models in fine wood cases and classic styling.

About the Author

Michael O'Brien is Staff Writer for Grandfather Clock Sale.com