Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 124, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1910 — THE FIRST CLOCKS. [ARTICLE]

THE FIRST CLOCKS.

One at Padua That Was a Wonder of mechanism. It was, we are told, in 1309 that the first clock known to the world was placed in the tower of San Eustargio, in Milan. The greatest astonishment and admiration were manifested by crowds who flocked to see the timepiece. In 1344 a clock was installed in the palace of the nobles at Padua. This was a wonder of mechanism indeed, for besides indicating the hours it showed the course of the sun, the revolutions of the planets the various phases of the moon, the months and the fetes of the year. The period of the evolution from the clock to the watch was seventy-one years—not so very long, all things considered —and the record of the first Watch is 1380, A half century later an alarm clock made its appearance. This, we are told, was looked upon by the people of that age as “un Instrument prodigieux.” The fortunate possessor of this clock was Andrea Alclato, a councillor of Milan. The chroniclers have* placed on record that this clock sounded a bell at a stated hour, and at the same time a little wax candle was lighted automatically. How this was done we are not told, but it must not be overlooked that until about seventy years ago we had no means of obtaining a light other than the tinder box, so that the Milanese must have been centuries ahead of us in this respect. Not much progress was made with the watch until 1740, when the second hand was added.—London Globe.