Digital Alarm Clock

From Water Clocks to the Digital Alarm Clock

The history of the alarm clock dates back to the ancient Greeks in 250 B.C. who created a water clock that utilized rising water to keep time.  When the water reached a preset level it triggered a mechanical whistle as an alarm. The mechanical alarm clock has a storied history, the first recorded clock capable of sounding an alarm at any time was created by Taq al-Din of the Ottoman Empire in the mid 16th century, and it used a peg to mark the time for the alarm to sound. Since then the alarm clock has under gone many changes leading to the digital alarm clock we all use today.

On the older mechanical clocks setting the alarm time was achieved using an extra hand on the clock, this hand was turned to the time that the person wanted the alarm to sound and a lever was used to turn the alarm on. When the time reached the appointed hour the alarm would sound using one or two bells on top of the clock.

In the early 1970s the mechanical alarm clock was replaced by the first analog alarm clocks that showed the time using a series of numbers printed on thin plates that rotated as the time advanced. These were the first alarm clocks with a snooze button; this allowed the user to turn the alarm clock off for a set period of time, typically 9 minutes, before it would sound again.

These analog clocks were soon replaced by the first digital alarm clock with the time being shown using LEDs or light emitting diodes. These clocks used a buzzer to sound the alarm and were notoriously difficult to set, to help with this problem many of them were designed to utilize a battery for backup in case of power failure. Today's alarm clocks come with a host of features, such as dual alarms, snooze buttons and sleep buttons that allow you to fall asleep to music at night.

Many of these clocks have built in radios that have a sleep button to allow a person to listen to music while they fall asleep. These sleep timers are generally factory preset to turn the radio alarm clock off one hour after being activated. They can also be set to wake the person up to the sound of music on the radio instead of a buzzer.

Because digital alarm clocks can be made to consume very little energy, battery travel alarm clocks can be made small enough to fit almost anywhere. This is the perfect answer for those who travels frequently and may not always have the advantage of a wake up service in the hotels they stay at. They can also be useful if you are out on a camping vacation but want to get an early start to your day.

With the digital age came a way to see what the time is even when you are unable to see the clock. The projection alarm clock is designed project the actual time and in some cases other information sucs temperature onto the wall or ceiling of the room where the clock is located. This can be helpful when you are in a darkened room and want an idea of the time and temperature before you get up.

The alarm clock has undergone many changes since its inception but no matter whether you use a mechanical or digital alarm clock it must still accomplish only one thing and that is to wake you up in the morning at a predetermined time.