History of the mechanical clock with animations

Other postings by the author: Simple resonators - introduction Understanding a mechanical clock with animations Ways to make waves in SwishMax Matrix manipulation routines for SwishMax Index for resonances, waves and fields Fair use policy for material on this website	History of Mechanical Clocks with Animations A history of mechanical clocks (with animations) in the period 1200 to 1900. Included are the clocks of old clock towers, Galileo's and Huygen's pendulum clocks, and balance wheel clocks and watches. The quest for navigational clocks and John Harrison's story also play into this history. The workings of many of these clocks are explained and animated in Abobe Flash. The viewers will need Flash installed on their computers to view these (most computers have this already). Mouse over the images below to see sample animations (these are reduced in size). Click here to read the complete history or click on the desired chapter in the table of contents below. This history is free. ... P. Ceperley
Table of contents for history of mechanical clocks 1.0 Introduction 1.1 The challenge 1.2 A sailor's story Keeping time at sea The prize Time related to longitude Time via Jupiter's moons 1.3 The early mechanical clocks - verge and foliot Essential parts of a clock 1.4 The pendulum clock An actual working pendulum clock The pendulum is a resonator The escapement Improvements to the pendulum clock 1.5 Balance wheel clocks Clockmaking - an early high tech industry 1.6 John Harrison Q of a resonator Harrison subcontracts out a clock Success at last 1.7 The second voyage of Captain Cook 1.8 Conclusion 1.9 References Next: Understanding a mechanical clock with animations