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How Old?!? Not A Clock Mechanism As Such...

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autowind Distinguished Member

autowind

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There is extensive information about this 2,000 year old "Computer" on the Internet,  it was used to track the planets, predict eclipses and show the time of the Olympic games,  not bad for 2,000 years ago.  It was another 1,000 years before anyone else managed a gear based mechanism of this complexity.  It is called the Antikythera Machine after the place where it was found,  about 100 years ago,  clever people the ancient Greeks.

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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I saw this some time ago and as Roger says there were some incredibly clever people back then. To be able to work out the the mathematics then actually manufacture a device as complicated is truly mind blowing. Even today it would be a massive, or should I say a mathive achievement.

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Don Super WRT Addict

Don

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I just finished a book about the Antikythera Mechanism called "Decoding the Heavens" and tonight I re-watched a Nova episode about it.

 

Fascinating subject on its own, but also as it relates to clocks. In the book it says that early clocks in Europe incorporated astronomical displays that were "spookily similar to their ancient predecessors such as the Antikythera Mechanism" and "The speed with which these astronomical displays became so elaborate and so widespread - and their similarity to those developed by the Greeks - suggests that all this did not emerge from scratch. Various pieces of the necessary technology, and the idea of using gearwheels to simulate the heavens, must have been lying dormant in a range of devices - including water clocks and hand-driven calendars - so that when the invention of the escapement allowed the construction of a mechanical clock, all of these old tricks came rushing out of the wings into the new tradition."

 

One of the most interesting characters in the book is Michael Wright, who made a working model of the mechanism using hand tools such as would have been available in ancient Greece. In the Nova video you can see some old pocket watches in the background of his workshop.

 

https://youtu.be/4eUibFQKJqI

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autowind Distinguished Member

autowind

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What I cannot figure out is how it was operated,  there is a knob on the side which when turned operates the gear train and moves the pointers.  To me it seems a bit like a wind up perpetual calendar watch in that if the watch is ever allowed to stop it will quickly be out of synch.  This means someone had the job of operating it the required amount everyday,  one can imagine the pointed fingers if ever they forgot.

 

If anyone can explain better how it was operated I would be very interested.

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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My brain is hurrting thinking about the machine, never mind what kept it running. Maybe they threw it in the sea because they couldn't biuld a driving mechanism (clock) that could hold accurate time!

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