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400 BCE
Plato, Ancient Greece
Plato had a student at his academy who always slept in so sometime between 400 BCE and 301 BCE this famous Greek philosopher made an alarm clock to make sure the student got up on time. He used a tube to create a siphon that attached to a filling vessel. When the water started spilling out it was put into another vessel that had holes. As the water rushed into the next vessel it "whistled like a tea kettle" causing someone to wake up. -
250 BCE
Ctesibius, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece
Ctesibius was an Ancient Greek physicist and inventor who lived in Ancient Egypt. His alarm clock had petals that dropped on a gong. He used a water clock to track how much time that would take and so that he would know when the petals should start dropping. The petals were nowhere near loud enough to wake someone up so he changed it and added a float with a rack that turned the wheel. His clock was successful and he ended up being able to create all sorts of sounds by trial and error. -
501
Candle Clocks, Ancient China
In Ancient China they used candles that burned at a steady pace to accurately tell the time starting from the 6th century onwards. They also invented candle clocks with an alarm. One way they used a candle clock as an alarm was by putting nails into a candle so when it melted the nails would clatter onto a plate creating an alarm that would wake people up. They made a second more advanced device in which a thread would burn when the candle was completely melted and a bell would be triggered. -
725
Yi Xing, Ancient China
Inventor Yi Xing was a part of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), he always went above and beyond people's expectations. When he was "supposed to improve calendars" he took it upon himself to create the "Water-Driven Spherical Bird’s-Eye-View Map of the Heaven.” which was both a complex astronomical and alarm clock. It measured the distance of planets and stars and had a "water wheel that turned gears in the clock with gongs set to" ring at specific times which woke people up. -
1400
Unknown Inventor in Nuremberg Germany
During the 15th century, there was an unknown inventor who created the iron, "open framework", alarm clock that was 19 inches tall and had a bronze bell. The wall clock stayed at the highest spot on your wall so that there was enough room for the driving weights to fall so they could power the clock. -
1485
Leonardo Da Vinci, Ancient Italy (invented between circa 1485 - circa 1500)
He slept "the Sleep of Geniuses" so he slept for 30 min every 3.5 hours in a 24 hour period. He was awake 21 hours a day without being tired! He created many alarm clocks including sand clocks but the most memorable was his unique water clock. Water would drop into a reservoir at intervals which when full would spill into another activating the alarm which would pick up and pull his feet into midair waking him up. He examined space, motion, and water's flow pattern extensively before making this -
1500
Lantern Clocks, London, England (invented circa 1500)
Lantern Clocks were made in London, England, using a "balance wheel escapement" and internal movements. It needed to be rewound a couple of times a day around every 12 hours. It would run longer if it was put higher up on the wall. The special feature of this clock is that it had an alarm, that could be set by turning a small dial located inside the main dial of the clock. Lantern Clocks gained popularity during the 16th century but were almost completely forgotten by the 18th century. -
1559
Taqi Al-Din, Ottoman Empire
He invented a 3 dial alarm clock with, "striking trains showing the relationship between the sun and moon and signaled the time for prayers." He created a method for setting an alarm at any time by putting a peg on the dial; used falling weights instead of water to power the clock, and discovered that time could be told in a 12 or 24 hour period. He shared his knowledge through his book, The Brightest Stars for the Construction of Mechanical Clocks, which made his part in clockmaking vital. -
Franz Ketterer, Black Forest, Germany
He was the inventor of the cuckoo clock which he made out of Linden or Lime tree wood. A bird emerged from it once every hour and "cuckooed". It was "weight driven" and the mechanical movements were at the bottom where the weights were attached. "Periodic pulls on the core of the clock kept the momentum stable." He was an excellent clockmaker so his clock made a pleasant sound because the better the woodworker the better the sound. The sound was created using the same principle as the organ. -
Levi Hutchins, United States of America
He was the first American inventor to make a mechanical alarm clock and to make a clock out of brass. His was 29" by 14" and it only rang at 4 am, when he needed to wake up. He didn't even think of selling it! The alarm was triggered when the minute hand of the clock tipped at 4 am so it rang a bell. He couldn't change the time the alarm was set for or turn it off. His clock had a "cabinet made of pine wood containing the inner mechanism of a large brass clock and had a mirror on the door". -
Marc Owens
Fascinated by Da Vinci's "Sleep of Geniuses" alarm clock he created a modern version for the Yanko Company this century. Very basic, it came in a small box with a "dot-matrix screen" that would only say "SLEEP" or "AWAKE". When turned on, it automatically started in "AWAKE" mode and the timer started for 3.5 hours. Then an alarm would sound and switch to "SLEEP" mode. Next, a 30-minute timer started. This triggered an alarm and switched it to "AWAKE" mode. This cycle repeated until turned off. -
The First Digital Alarm Clock, United States of America
In 2007 Apple created the very first iPhone. It used a 2G network and was touch-based meaning you could just tap it. The iPhone had an alarm clock app that used an electronic timebase rather than a "pendulum or oscillating wheel" to record and measure time. Their alarm clock used "counters" instead of gears like a mechanical clock would. It even featured an assortment of sounds that you could wake up to! Their groundbreaking discovery led to phenomenal advances in technology. -
The Latest Technology!
Today's digital phones run on 5G networks and are made by many companies including "Galaxy, Huawei, Samsung, Apple" and more. Now, the alarm clock gives you the choice to snooze, stop, or change its sound. You can also have multiple alarms set for different times and are able to delete them. There are a wide variety of apps that you can use that can tell you things like how many hours of sleep you'll get and when you should go to bed
