From Knocker Uppers to Alarm Clocks: The Evolution of Timekeeping in the Industrial World
The invention of mechanical clocks in the 14th century brought about a new era of timekeeping. Initially, these clocks were inaccurate and restricted to large civic or religious towers, but soon domestic clocks and even watches were invented by the 16th century. The development of mechanical alarms followed, with an 18th-century clock using a flint-lock mechanism to light a candle at a set time. This was essentially the predecessor of the modern mechanical alarm clock, first patented in the 19th century, and replaced in the 20th century by radio and digital technology.
However, the real focus should be on why people needed to wake up at all.
Why the Need to Wake Up? — The Real Focus
With the Industrial Revolution, people started working in factories, and their hours were dictated by managers rather than the sun. As a result, the “knocker uppers” were needed to wake people up on time.
With the rise of railways and an increasingly globalized world, extreme standardization of time, distance, and everything else became necessary. Time zones were introduced to prevent chaos in transport schedules. But for those who once kept their own time, precision to the minute wasn’t necessary. Peasants worked according to the seasons and animals, and their days were ordered by bells and songs. They had many more holidays than we do, but they kept time by the sun and stars, and life was less precise.
The alarm clock, now ubiquitous, has become a symbol of the shift from a pre-industrial to an industrial society. Today, our alarm clocks are our phones, but the evolution of timekeeping still reflects a fundamental change in the way we live and work.