For many years starting in the 1300’s, tall case mechanical clocks were in existence but were not very accurate. Wall clocks and mantle clocks were not invented until much later. In 1656 a tall clock was invented that used pendulums and weights, and that was accurate to within a few minutes per day. In order for a clock to be reasonably accurate, it had to be tall (called a tall case clock) and use pendulums. The modern mechanical clock which could be small enough to sit on a mantle or hang on a wall and still be accurate was not invented in the early 1800’s, ultimately the result of an invention designed to aid navigation of ships at sea.
As you can imagine, a clock using weights and pendulums would not work very well on a sailing ship at sea, and, the accuracy of a clock was extremely important to mariners because with celestial navigation, the exact time was needed to find longitude. When navigating by the stars, for every minute gained or lost by a clock there is a navigational error of 15 miles. This caused many ships to be sunk and sailors killed because they were lost, run aground or on the rocks because they could not determine their exact position.
In 1714 the British government offered a reward to anyone who could invent a clock accurate enough for use in navigation. In1761 John Harrison invented a small clock accurate enough to use at sea for navigation. This tiny clock was essentially a pocket watch and was accurate to less than one second per week.
In the early 1800’s Eli Terry developed a manufacturing processes using patterns, that produced clock parts that were identical and could be mass-produced. This led to the ability to mass produce, based on the small clocks invented by John Harrison, clocks that could be set on a mantle or hung on a wall. Many people who were unable to afford a tall grandfather-type clock were able to own a mantle clock or wall clock as a result.
At RealGoodFurniture.com we offer a wide selection of quality wall clocks and mantle clocks with designs ranging from contemporary to reproduction antique clocks.
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