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How Did The Pendulum Clocks Make The World

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The invention of the pendulum clock played a pivotal role in making the world a more global society. Prior to its invention in 1656, mechanical clocks were extremely inaccurate, making many scientific experiments impossible due to the lack of a consistent way to measure time. Travelers who needed to determine their longitude and latitude, such as explorers of the new world, needed an accurate way to determine time. Watchmaking was considered the pinnacle of technological achievement with only master clockmakers able to produce accurate ones, fostering a global trade of their craft. Specifically in American history The Waterbury Clock Company, today known as Timex, became a major export for the country in the 19th century. Pendulum clocks remained the world standard for accurate timekeeping for 270 years, until the invention of the quartz clock in 1927.

In 1656 the pendulum clock was invented …show more content…

Which then drove the invention of the anchor escapement around 1670. In addition to increased accuracy, The long narrow clocks built around these pendulums, later known as grandfather clocks, were first made by William Clement around 1680, The increased accuracy from these developments resulted in the implementation of the minute hand, previously rare, to be added to clock faces beginning around 1690. The 18th and 19th century brought many other improvements. Observation that pendulum clocks slowed down in summer brought the realization that thermal expansion and contraction of the pendulum rod with changes in temperature was a source of error. This was solved by the invention of temperature-compensated pendulums; the mercury pendulum by George Graham in 1721 and the gridiron pendulum by John Harrison in 1726. With these improvements, by the mid-18th century precision pendulum clocks achieved accuracies of a few seconds per week. (A CHRONICLE OF

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