The date of occurrence of the first hourglass is unknown. However, the principle of the hourglass was known in Asia much earlier than the beginning of our chronology.

Western European countries began to deal with hourglasses only at the end of the Middle Ages. Here is the hourglass of Erasmus of Rotterdam:

Although the hourglass arrived late in Europe, it quickly spread. This was facilitated by their simplicity, reliability, low price and, last but not least, the ability to measure time with their help at any time of the day or night. The disadvantage was the short interval of time, which could be measured without turning the watch over.

Typically, an hourglass was calculated to work for half an hour or an hour. Less common were hourglasses designed to continuously measure time for 3 hours, and only in very rare cases were huge hourglasses built, designed for 12 hours.

More accurate clocks sometimes consisted not of one, but of several separate vessels.
The accuracy of the hourglass also depended on the manufacturing technology of the sand itself, as well as on the shape of the flasks, and on the smoothness of their inner walls.

The development of glass production made it possible to produce flasks with smooth inner walls, which made it possible for sand to flow as evenly as possible from the top to the bottom.

In the old days, the preparation of sand for clocks was considered a matter requiring special skill. It was made from burnt fine-grained sand or from fried ground eggshells, or from zinc and lead dust.

In 1339, a description of an hourglass with black marble powder was discovered in Paris. It was said that the best sand is obtained from marble sawdust, if they are boiled nine times with wine, removing the foam each time, and then dried in the sun.

The hourglass never reached the accuracy of a sundial, as the grains of sand were gradually crushed into finer ones, and the hole in the middle was gradually worn out and enlarged.

The hourglass, due to its shape and ease of operation, has retained some significance until recently, for example, they were used by telephone exchanges to record the time of short telephone conversations, in courtrooms and for some needs in the household.

Great importance hourglasses were on ships: in cloudy weather, when heavenly bodies it was impossible to determine the time, it was recognized by the hourglass. On the Russian courts they were called "flasks". Every half an hour, when the “flask” was turned over, they beat the bell. From here, in fact, the expression came - “to beat the flasks” Yoongi measured out half-hour periods of time and beat the bell.

Previously, people wore hourglasses even on their legs, fastened to their legs below the knee. The best sand for such clocks was crushed marble.

For hundreds of years, the hourglass has been repeatedly tried to improve. So, astronomer Tycho Brahe replaced sand with mercury. Stéphane Farfleur and Grollier de Servier made spring mechanisms for turning clocks. But all these innovations did not take root. But people use the simplest hourglass to this day.

Until recently, hourglasses were used by physicians to count the patient's pulse. They were made in the form of a compact pen device and were designed for up to 30 seconds.

An interesting hourglass is installed on a street in the city of Mainz in Germany:

And here is another "curious" hourglass. A glass container is filled with a liquid of high density and a substance of small particles with a density much less than the liquid. These clocks work in the "reverse" direction (from bottom to top).

The particles, being lighter, accumulate in the liquid in the upper part of the vessel. After turning over, the particles tend upwards, seeping through a narrow isthmus, and after a while they again gather in the upper part.

Even in ancient times, long before the beginning of our era, people already knew what time was, and were able to determine it by the stars, the sun, flowers, and the behavior of animals.

The first watches, which in our opinion are a kind of "breakthrough" in time, are sundial. Such a clock was a rod (stick) stuck into the ground, around which numbers were placed. The stick cast a shadow from the sun moving across the sky on the numbers, as a result of which it was possible to find out the current time. For a long time they were improved (up to the 15th century), but they had significant drawbacks. The downside of such watches is that it is not always possible to see the sun in the sky (due to clouds, for example), which means that the watch will stop working for a while. Also, the time could be determined only in the daytime - at night the clock did not work.

So people were looking for an alternative. The sundial has been replaced water (clepsydra). They were a vessel hollow inside, which had a hole at the bottom. By the amount of water flowing evenly out of it, time could be determined. The birthplace of such watches is the Middle East. Arabian clepsydras had a high functionality and were a work of art. They solved the sundial problem and were used by people for a long time.

Appearance fiery hours scholars date back to the 13th century. According to the principle of action, they were similar to clepsydra, only a long candle was used instead of a vessel with water. As the candle burned out, the marks applied to it after a certain distance disappeared. Over time, metal rods were added to the marks. When the mark burned out, it fell on the same metal dish, and a sound was heard. This method was a kind of alarm clock.

Hourglass

The next step was hourglass. They were made from two glass flasks connected by a thin neck. Sand was poured from one flask to another, which became the principle of their action. Clocks have become not only a time measuring device, but also an adornment of the houses of nobles, officials, and boyars. Hourglass Disadvantages:

• The clock could operate only a small amount of time. Usually, it did not exceed a few hours.
• Clock for normal and permanent job I had to turn it over after a short period of time so that the sand began to pour again.
• The high cost of such watches also made itself felt. Clocks were made of glass, which was a curiosity in ancient times. In addition, they were often decorated with expensive metals and stones.

The hourglass completes the era of "simple" watches and gives way to mechanical, and then to electronic clocks, which are a whole science.

Today, hourglasses are made in beautiful gift designs...

“Time is money”, says the popular wisdom. Today, every adult has accessories that allow you to always be aware of: what time it is and how much time it took for a particular event.

Hourglass - history

But in ancient times, this function was performed by an hourglass. Their principle is quite simple. These are two glass vessels of the same size, which are connected to each other with a small transition. Vessels could have a different volume. It all depends on how long they are. Grains of sand flow from one vessel to another, which count the amount of time elapsed.

The hourglass appeared long before our era, presumably in Asia. Even Archimedes mentions a similar watch model in his works. In Western Europe, the hourglass appeared in the middle of the 14th century. The thing is that for a long time people could not find the necessary transparent container so that the sand could be clearly seen through it. AT ancient rome glass at that time had a huge amount of impurities, due to which it was very cloudy.

sand for hourglass

Sand during such hours was harvested in a special way. To do this, black marble was ground into powder, then it was sieved, boiled in wine and dried in the sun for a long time. Only after all these manipulations, the required color of the sand and its “friability” were obtained. Certainly, hourglass very quickly entered the life of people. After all, with their help it was possible to measure time even at night or in cloudy weather, while the sundial did not work. But, the hourglass also had a drawback - with their help it was possible to measure a relatively small amount of time: from 30 minutes to an hour. There were, of course, hours for 3 hours of work. There were also exclusive models designed for 12 hours.

People were able to make other original models of hourglasses. They poured sand in several stages. Thus, it was possible to count 15 minutes, 30, 45 and an hour.

Flasks, as mentioned earlier, were made of glass. They were interconnected by a special metal diaphragm with holes. She also controlled the speed of sand supply. And at the very end, the joint of the joint was well tied with a thread, and from above it was abundantly lubricated with resin.

Three types of sand were used. The first was obtained by repeated sifting of sand, previously fired in a kiln and well dried. Such clocks cast a reddish tint. The second type of sand was obtained from eggshells, heavily crushed and, again, sifted. These watches were white. But the gray filler was obtained from dust particles of metals - zinc and lead. Lead filler and was considered the best. It had a uniform grain that gave the most accurate timing results.
Of course, the longer used hourglass, the less accuracy they gave. The thing is that the sand scratches the walls of the vessel and therefore more time is spent on its passage through it. No matter how hard the inventors tried, the hourglasses could not compete with the sundial.

Hourglass - gift

However, for example, hourglasses have become indispensable for sailors. After all, it was the single most accurate instrument of all that they could use while swimming. After all, the sundial showed only the time in the area in which they were at the moment, and even then, only in clear weather. have become a real salvation for sea travel.

AT modern world hourglass used as a gift, souvenir. They no longer carry any special useful value. But the beauty and unusual appearance of the invention still attract the eye. The very realization of how time is clearly flowing away makes you think and reflect on life.

To date, p hourglass are made in beautiful gift designs, stylized as various pieces of furniture. Such a souvenir helps to concentrate, tune in a positive way, and also calm down after a nervous breakdown. Watching the grains of sand, you no longer think about your problems, experiences. The watch perfectly helps to meditate, withdraw into oneself, think about the meaning of life. This, it would seem, is the simplest invention, helping a person to understand the meaning of life and the fact that his greatest wealth is the time that is given to him. And you need to use it wisely, value your life and not waste it on trifles!

Hourglasses have been used by people since ancient times. This is a fairly accurate instrument for measuring time, but it has one significant drawback - it can only be used to measure small intervals of time. However, people to this day continue to use the hourglass in everyday life. But if you think about it, the vitality of this image has a lot of reasons.

In fact, the hourglass is the simplest device for keeping time. They do not have a complex mechanism that can break or start to fail, but at the same time they do not depend, for example, on the presence of the sun.
An hourglass of classical design is two vessels that are connected by means of a narrow neck, fixed on a stable stand. One of them is filled with a certain amount of sand. Depending on the volume of the vessels themselves, the hourglass can measure intervals of several seconds, minutes or even hours, if we are talking about a large time meter.

How much sand has flown since creation

There are many versions of how exactly the hourglass was invented. According to one of them, this time meter appeared in Europe around the 8th century. According to this version, the hourglass is the brainchild of the French monk Liutprand from Chartres Cathedral. The next mention of this invention is found on a fresco dating from the 14th century. The hourglass was captured in his creation called "Allegory of Good Government" by the Italian artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti in 1338. From about this time, there are references to these time meters in ship's logs.

For a long time, the hourglass was considered the most practical device of its kind. However, from about the beginning of the 1500s, their popularity began to decline, as most people preferred the more accurate mechanical clocks that appeared in use.
Over time, the hourglass has not undergone any significant changes in design. Initially, they were made from two flasks tied together with a cord or just a thick thread. At the junction, the necks of the vessels were lined with a metal diaphragm with a hole, which just regulated the amount and speed of pouring sand. For strength, this joint was also filled with wax or resin, so that sand would not spill out and moisture would not get inside. The first hourglasses with hermetically sealed flasks appeared around the 1760s. They were more accurate than the previous analogue, since constant humidity was maintained inside the vessels. As a result, the sand could not become damp, and therefore it always poured at the same speed.
Note that not all sand could get into the hourglass. To get a high-quality filler, the craftsmen took a fine-grained variety of sand, first burned it and sifted it through a fine sieve, and then dried it thoroughly. The more uniform its granularity was, the more accurate were the readings of the finished time meter.

By the way, the hourglass was filled with granules of various origins. It could be powder from finely rubbed marble, crushed eggshells, in some models they tried to use tin or lead oxide. Hourglass makers have experimented a lot to find out which granules give the most constant flow. There are written references to the fact that in Paris there was even a special workshop that specialized in the preparation of the original filler for this time meter. Here it was made from powdered black marble. It was ground into fine sand, boiled in wine and then dried in the sun.
However, it is still impossible to say unequivocally which granules are the best. Moreover, in addition to the quality of the sand, other factors also affect the accuracy of the readings. For example, its quantity or the size of the flasks and the neck connecting them. Creating an hourglass, the craftsmen experimented a lot with the ratio of their sizes. As a result, it was determined that the diameter of the neck should not exceed half the diameter of the flask. The minimum size of this hole can be equal to 1/12 of the diameter of the flask.

The choice of this indicator not least depends on how large the granules with which the hourglass is filled are. Accordingly, identical time meters of this kind, differing only in the diameter of the neck, can count different time intervals. The narrower the isthmus connecting the flasks, the longer the sand pours. By the way, over time, the hourglass loses its precise accuracy precisely because of the fact that, due to constant friction, the granules inside the flasks are crushed into smaller ones and, as a result, are poured faster. The quality of the glass is also of great importance. It should be perfectly smooth without any defects inside, so as not to interfere with the free movement of grains of sand.
European hourglasses were typically timed from 30 minutes to a full hour. However, there were also such specimens that measured a 3-hour period of time. It was extremely rare to create an hourglass designed for as much as half a day. However, such a time meter should have, without exaggeration, gigantic dimensions.
For those whose dwelling could not accommodate such a capital structure, special sets were invented. Several hourglasses were installed in one case at once. Such an apparatus made it possible to measure long time intervals. It was possible to buy similar hourglasses and simply folded into one case.

Technological progress did not stand still. He also touched upon the hourglass, which needed improvements in order to compete with at least some weighty competition for the practical and accurate mechanical counterparts that had appeared. For example, craftsmen in Nuremberg and Augsburg complicated their design by placing four systems of flasks in one case at once. A mathematician named De la Hire did his bit by creating an hourglass so accurate that it could measure even seconds. The scientist Tycho Brahe became famous as an astronomer, but he also had a hand in the evolution of this device, trying to replace the usual sand with mercury. Fortunately, such a dangerous innovation did not take root.
However, the biggest breakthrough in this area was made by Stefan Farfleur, who created a spring mechanism with which the hourglass turned over automatically at certain intervals. Naturally, this innovation made their use much more convenient.

The evolution of "flasks" into an alarm clock

Before the hourglass came into wide use, the hydrologium was used, or, as this device is also called, clepsydra. In fact, this is a water clock that was used by the Assyro-Babylonians and the inhabitants ancient egypt. Clepsydra is a cylindrical vessel with water that flows out of it. Equal intervals of time were noticed on the cylinder. It is with clepsydra that the expression “time is up” that is still used today is connected.

The Greeks perfected this design. Plato, for example, described a mechanism consisting of a pair of cones entering into each other, regulating the rate of water flowing out of the vessels. Of course, such specific designs were not very convenient. If they could still be used in production, then on ships where the timing was necessary to determine the speed, such a clepsydra did not give accurate readings.

In the Middle Ages, the design of water clocks underwent a number of changes, making them more convenient and accurate. Klepsydra turned into a drum, divided inside into several longitudinal chambers with water, inside of which there was an axis with a wound rope. The drum was suspended from this rope, and it began to rotate, unwinding it. The water inside the clepsydra, flowing from one chamber to another, regulated the speed of rotation. Time was counted by lowering the drum.
However, the clepsydra was still far from ideal, since its accuracy continued to depend on the height of the bulb, the presence of pitching and temperature. environment. In winter, the water in such watches could simply freeze, making them completely useless.

The hourglass did not present such unpleasant surprises. People began to use them at home in the kitchen, in the church, then in production. It was the hourglass that measured the time of the lunch break for various employees.

However, it was for sailors that this device, accurate and practical, became a real find. Starting from the 15th century, any ship had at least three such time meters. One hourglass was designed for four hours, which corresponded to the time of one watch, the second - for a minute, and the third - for 30 seconds. With the help of the latter, sailors calculated the speed at which the ship was moving along the log.

By the way, it was from here that the naval tradition of measuring time with "bottles" began. The officer on duty, who followed the indications of the ship's hourglass, each time regularly struck the ship's bell, turning the half-hour hourglass over, that is, in fact, "beat the flasks." At the end of every full hour, the sailor struck the bell twice.

The famous navigator Ferdinand Magellan during his trip around the world used an hourglass in a set of 18 pieces. He needed to know exact time for navigation, as well as in order to keep a ship's log. The hourglasses on the ships of this expedition of Magellan were designed for 15, 30, 45 minutes and a full hour. Each ship had a person who had to turn them over as needed. In addition, his duties included reconciliation and correction of clock readings.

Of course, in our days in the Navy, more advanced instruments for measuring time are used. However, the hourglass is still used in everyday life. For example, they can be useful in the kitchen as a timer. For the same purpose, hourglasses are used in school laboratories or when checking reading technique, in treatment rooms. They produce such time meters for timing intervals when measuring the pulse, antipyretic wraps, contrast showers, treatment with mustard plasters or medical cups. Also, the hourglass, designed for 10 - 15 minutes, is very convenient to control the time spent in the sauna, bath or solarium.

Kids will love this timer. Bright hourglass filled with colored granules can turn boring hygiene routines like brushing your teeth or dousing while hardening into a fun game.
Already in the twentieth century, the hourglass was used for more serious purposes. For example, telephone exchange workers also used models with an automatic rollover mechanism to control the duration of calls. The hourglass was used during judicial debates so that opponents would not spread their thoughts along the tree. For the same purpose, they are used in both houses of the Australian Parliament. There, the duration of speakers' speeches is limited by a special hourglass with three systems of flasks.

By the way, now there are also electronic versions of such time meters. By the way, you can buy such an hourglass not only as an original element of the interior. They can be very useful in everyday life. For example, the electronic hourglass by designers Fabian Hemmert and Susan Hamman is an unusual alarm clock. You just need to tilt its body by 45 degrees, and the function is launched: red LEDs begin to “roll” on the display. It is noteworthy that for this alarm clock you need to set not the time of rise, but the duration of sleep. Each luminous dot corresponds to one hour of night dreams. Waking up at night, even in the dark you can easily see how much sleep is left. And for those who like to lie down a little more after the alarm signaled the rise, this conditionally hourglass has a special function. Just turn them over - in five minutes they will remind you again that it's time to get up.

However, in the vast majority of cases, today you can buy an hourglass only as an original element of the interior. With the advent of much more accurate mechanical and electronic time meters, their practical function still loses aesthetic. But here the masters can give free rein to imagination. Hourglasses are placed in cases made of precious wood, decorated with intricate ornaments. Sometimes they are even encrusted with various precious stones. Such an antique table clock can be a highlight of the interior.

Masters from Thailand did not confine themselves to experiments on the outer decoration of watches. They probably remembered that inner beauty is much more important, only they took this statement too literally. As a result, instead of the usual sand, their hourglass was filled with small diamonds. The total weight of the precious filling was approximately 10 thousand carats. These hourglasses are by far one of the most expensive. Their cost is 6.4 million dollars.

It's time for records

As you know, there are no limits to perfection, and therefore masters from different countries are still trying to create the best and most unusual hourglasses. Since there cannot be a complex mechanism in this time meter in principle, and you can’t really conjure over the shape, it remains only to experiment with sizes.
For example, in the early 90s, an hourglass was created in Hamburg, which is by far the smallest. The height of this masterpiece does not exceed 2.4 cm. The sand is poured from the top to the bottom in a period of time equal to 5 seconds.

Creating an hourglass of gigantic proportions turned out to be, apparently, a more exciting activity. There has even been some rivalry in this area.
The first such giant has a permanent residence permit in the sand museum, located in the Japanese city of Nimes. This hourglass was created in 1991. Their height is 5 m with a chamber diameter of 1 m. However, 13 years later, their fame was overshadowed by the popularity of one of the main attractions of Budapest.
As you know, in 2004 Hungary became part of the European Union. For the inhabitants of this country, such an event turned out to be very joyful. In honor of him, in the central part of Budapest, near the Heroes' Square, a monument was erected, known as the "Wheel of Time".

This gigantic hourglass has become a symbol of the fusion of ancient traditions and the latest technology. They are equipped with a very complex semi-automatic mechanism, which, with the help of a computer, controls the pouring of sand. However, its complexity is largely due to the size of the time meter. The Budapest hourglass reaches as much as 8 m in height. They are a gigantic granite circle that makes one complete revolution during the year. And on December 31, the chamber filled with sand moves up, and the annual countdown starts again. Moreover, this coup is carried out not by a computer program, but by a person who, however, uses cables and a simple mechanism to help move a heavy boulder. Thus, this hourglass symbolizes human perseverance and strength, which helped us overcome all obstacles for many centuries.
As conceived by the creators, the "Wheel of Time" symbolizes Hungary's entry into a new era of development.

However, after another four years, this record was broken. In 2008, the German automobile company BMW decided to install a kind of advertising on Red Square in anticipation of the presentation of a new model. As a result, an hourglass appeared in Moscow, the height of which was 12 m. They are made of durable acrylic glass and filled with shiny metal balls. In total, 180,000 such balls were used for this clock, as a result of which the total weight of the entire structure reached 40 tons. This hourglass was built within nine days and had to count the time until July 8, 2008 - that's when the presentation of the new model from BMW was to take place. By the way, the hourglass was so large that, in addition to metal balls periodically falling down, the car itself was in its upper chamber.
It turns out that today an hourglass is not so much a device for measuring time as an element of style or even an indicator of the high status and good taste of the owner.

Olya

People have been measuring time for a very long time. For this, water and sunlight were used, later the energy of grains of sand, the mechanical force of springs, and today most often the vibrations of piezocrystals.

Once upon a time, one of the main devices for measuring time was an hourglass. It is authentically known that the principle of their construction was known in Asia much earlier before the beginning of our chronology. However, in ancient world despite references to bottle clocks and an attempt to make glass, the hourglass was not constructed. In Europe, they appeared in the Middle Ages.

It is documented that in the 14th century, sand made from marble, lead or zinc dust, quartz, and also from eggshells was used to produce hourglasses. The smoother the glass, the more accurate the movement. It also depended on the sand itself and on the shape of the vessels. The presence of a diaphragm made it possible to regulate the amount and, accordingly, the rate of pouring of grains of sand. True, in those days, the craftsmen did not manage to achieve the accuracy and durability of the hourglass due to the mechanical destruction of the grains.

The time interval for which the clock is calculated usually ranged from a couple of seconds to one hour, less often several hours. However, there are exceptions, which are located in Budapest (Hungary) and Nimes (Japan). These hourglasses reach a height of several meters, and their cycle is one year.

For a long time, ships used 30-second hourglasses, which were used to measure speed and half-hour watches. Thirty-minute chronometers were also used in court hearings, and thirty-second ones were used in medicine.

In the history of hourglasses, there are many attempts to improve them, for example, using spring mechanisms to turn over, or replacing grains of sand with mercury. But all these innovations did not take root, and modern watches are the same as several centuries ago.

Today, few people use an hourglass to measure time, but a lot of people face it as a symbol. So with users of the Microsoft Windows operating system, this happens with every session, just the mouse pointer turns into an overturning hourglass, showing the system is busy.