Editing Clockwork

{{other uses}}
{{Short description|Mechanism of a clock}}
[[File:Prim clockwork.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Clockwork of mechanical Prim wrist watch]]

'''Clockwork''' refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called [[clock]]s and [[watch]]es (where it is also called the [[movement (clockwork)|movement]]) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of [[gear]]s driven by a spring or weight.<ref name="Merriam-Webster">{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clockwork|title=Clockwork - Definition of clockwork by Merriam-Webster|work=merriam-webster.com|access-date=2008-03-06|archive-date=2013-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122081922/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clockwork|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Dictionary.com">{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clockwork|title=Clockwork - Define Clockwork at Dictionary.com|work=Dictionary.com|access-date=2008-03-06|archive-date=2013-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125203139/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clockwork|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite OED|clockwork|id=34530}}</ref>

A clockwork mechanism is often powered by a clockwork motor<ref name="TalkingMachine">{{cite book
 | title  = The Talking Machine Encyclopædia: A Comprehensive and Descriptive Glossary of All Terms Used in Connection with the Talking Machine
 | publisher  = Phono Trader Printing and Publishing Co.
 | date  = 1908
 | location  = London
 | pages  = 45–47
 | url  = https://books.google.com/books?id=TSEyAQAAMAAJ&q=%22clockwork+motor%22&pg=PA45
 | access-date  = 2021-11-09
 | archive-date  = 2023-07-03
 | archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20230703113943/https://books.google.com/books?id=TSEyAQAAMAAJ&q=%22clockwork+motor%22&pg=PA45
 | url-status  = live
 }}, description of the clockwork motor in an antique phonograph</ref> consisting of a [[mainspring]], a spiral [[torsion spring]] of metal ribbon.  Energy is stored in the mainspring manually by ''winding it up'', turning a key attached to a [[ratchet (device)|ratchet]] which twists the mainspring tighter.  Then the force of the mainspring turns the clockwork gears, until the stored energy is used up.  The adjectives ''wind-up'' and ''spring-powered'' refer to mainspring-powered clockwork devices, which include clocks and watches, kitchen [[timer]]s, [[music box]]es, and [[wind-up toy]]s.

==History==
The earliest known example of a clockwork set-up is the [[Antikythera mechanism]]. This device functioned as a geared [[analogue computer]] after its creation during the first-century BCE timeframe, being somewhat [[astrolabe]]-like, and had been designed for calculating [[Astronomy|astronomical positions]] and particularly listing [[Eclipse|eclipses]]. Recovered from a [[Greek peoples|Greek]] [[shipwreck]] a long while after its creation, its nature was a mystery after its initial rediscovery due to various points of damage. There are many other accounts of clockwork devices in [[Ancient Greece]], even in its [[mythology]], and said mechanism itself is sophisticated enough to indicate a significant history of lesser devices leading up to its creation.<ref name="Freeth_SA">{{cite journal|last1=Freeth|first1=Tony|title=Decoding an Ancient Computer|journal=[[Scientific American]]|url=http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Decoding_an_Ancient_Computer.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Decoding_an_Ancient_Computer.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|date=December 2009|volume=301|issue=6|page=78|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1209-76|pmid=20058643|bibcode=2009SciAm.301f..76F|access-date=26 November 2014}}</ref>

At some point, this level of sophistication in clockwork technology was lost or forgotten in Europe, and only returned when brought from the [[Islamic]] world after the [[Crusades]], along with other knowledge leading to the [[Renaissance]]. Clockwork finally recovered the equivalent of pre-Roman technological levels in the 14th century.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190726201008/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/b_edini.html The Role of Automata in the History of Technology]<br />There appears to be no longer any question, on the basis of recent research, that the mechanical clock and fine instrumentation evolved in a direct line without substantial change from the mechanical water clocks of the Alexandrine civilization, transmitted through Islam and Byzantium from a tradition that may have originated in China, that reached Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.<br /></ref>

As in Greek mythology, there are ambitious automation claims in the legends of other cultures. For example, in [[Judaism|Jewish legend]], [[Solomon]] used his wisdom to design a [[Solomon#Throne|throne]] with mechanical animals which hailed him as king when he ascended it; upon sitting down an eagle would place a crown upon his head, and a dove would bring him a [[Torah]] scroll. It's also said that when [[Solomon|King Solomon]] stepped upon the throne, a mechanism was set in motion. As soon as he stepped upon the first step, a golden ox and a golden lion each stretched out one foot to support him and help him rise to the next step. On each side, the animals helped the King up until he was comfortably seated upon his throne.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/1345/jewish/King-Solomons-Throne.htm|title=King Solomon's Throne|author=Mindel|first=Nissan|website=www.chabad.org|access-date=2015-03-11|archive-date=2015-03-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321034948/http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/1345/jewish/King-Solomons-Throne.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In [[History of China#Ancient China|ancient China]], a curious account of automation is found in the [[Lie Zi]] text, written in the 3rd century BC. Within it, there is a description of a much earlier encounter between [[King Mu of Zhou]] (1023-957 BC) and a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an 'artificer'. The latter proudly presented the king with a life-size, human-shaped figure of his mechanical handiwork ([[Wade-Giles]] spelling):

<blockquote>
The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time...As the performance was drawing to an end, the robot winked its eye and made advances to the ladies in attendance, whereupon the king became incensed and would have had Yen Shih [Yan Shi] executed on the spot had not the latter, in mortal fear, instantly taken the robot to pieces to let him see what it really was. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, glue and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red and blue. Examining it closely, the king found all the internal organs complete—liver, gall, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, stomach and intestines; and over these again, muscles, bones and limbs with their joints, skin, teeth and hair, all of them artificial...The king tried the effect of taking away the heart, and found that the mouth could no longer speak; he took away the liver and the eyes could no longer see; he took away the kidneys and the legs lost their power of locomotion. The king was delighted.<ref name="needham volume 2 53">Needham, Volume 2, 53.</ref>
</blockquote>

Other notable examples include [[Archytas]]'s dove, mentioned by [[Aulus Gellius]].<ref>''Noct. Att. L.'' 10</ref> Similar Chinese accounts of flying automata are written of the 5th century BC [[Mohism|Mohist]] philosopher [[Mozi]] and his contemporary [[Lu Ban]], who made artificial wooden birds (''ma yuan'') that could successfully fly, according to the ''Han Fei Zi'' and other texts.<ref name="needham volume 2 54">Needham, Volume 2, 54.</ref>

By the 11th century, clockwork was used for both timepieces and to track astronomical events, in Europe. The clocks did not keep time very accurately by modern standards, but the astronomical devices were carefully used to predict the positions of planets and other movement. The same timeline seems to apply in Europe, where mechanical escapements were used in clocks by that time.

Up to the 15th century, clockwork was driven by water, weights, or other roundabout, relatively primitive means, but in 1430 a clock was presented to [[Philip the Good]], Duke of [[Burgundy]], that was driven by a spring. This became a standard technology along with weight-driven movements. In the mid-16th century, [[Christiaan Huygens]] took an idea from [[Galileo Galilei]] and developed it into the first modern [[pendulum]] mechanism. However, whereas the spring or the weight provided the motive power, the pendulum merely controlled the rate of release of that power via some escape mechanism (an escapement) at a regulated rate.

The [[Smithsonian Institution]] has in its collection a clockwork monk, about {{convert|15|in|abbr=on}} high, possibly dating as early as 1560. The monk is driven by a key-wound spring and walks the path of a square, striking his chest with his right arm, while raising and lowering a small wooden cross and rosary in his left hand, turning and nodding his head, rolling his eyes, and mouthing silent obsequies. From time to time, he brings the cross to his lips and kisses it. It is believed that the monk was manufactured by [[Juanelo Turriano]], mechanician to the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].<ref>King, Elizabeth. "[http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v1n1/nonfiction/king_e/prayer_introduction.htm Clockwork Prayer: A Sixteenth-Century Mechanical Monk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010113334/http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v1n1/nonfiction/king_e/prayer_introduction.htm |date=2006-10-10 }}" ''Blackbird'' 1.1 (2002)</ref>

==Overview==

[[File:Mainspring wind-up keys.jpg|thumb|Keys of various sizes for winding up mainsprings on clocks]]

[[File:Maquinaria de un Ansonia C-1904.jpg|thumb|right | Mechanism of a Wall Clock, [[Ansonia Clock Company|Ansonia Co.]] 1904]]

The [[Energy storage|stored amounts of energy]] used by a given piece during its operation is often housed within it; this frequently happens via a winding device that applies mechanical stress to an energy-storage mechanism such as a [[mainspring]], thus involving some form of [[escapement]]. In other cases, [[Human hand|hand power]] may be utilized. The use of wheels, whether linked by [[friction]] or by [[Gearwheel|gear teeth]], to redirect motion, gain speed, or involve [[torque]], is typical; many clockwork mechanisms have been constructed primarily to serve as visible or implicit ''tours de force'' of mechanical ingenuity in this area. Sometimes, clocks and timing mechanisms are used to set off [[Alarm device|alarm noises]] or trigger [[Explosive|explosives]] as well as to otherwise activate some other entity.

==Examples==
The most common examples are mechanical [[clock]]s and watches. Other uses, most but not all obsolete, include:
* [[Wind-up toy]]s – often as a simple mechanical motor, or to create [[automaton|automata]]. These may be either key-wound, as were many 20th-century [[Rail transport modelling#Clockwork|model trains]], or a simpler [[pullback motor]].
* Most photographic [[camera]] [[Shutter (photography)#Leaf shutter|leaf shutters]] use a clockwork mechanism not unlike that of wristwatches to time the opening and closing of the shutter blades.
* Mechanisms to turn the lens of [[lighthouse]]s before electric motors.
* [[Mechanical calculator]]s, used before small [[electronic calculator]]s became available in the 1970s. Relatively small calculators were used, for example, for companies' financial calculations. 
* [[Mechanical computer]]s, much more complex and larger than mechanical calculators, such as [[Babbage]]'s [[difference engine|difference]] and [[analytical engine]]s.
* Astronomical models, such as [[orrery|orreries]] whose history spans hundreds of years.
* [[Music box]]es, which were very popular during the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th.
* Almost all musical record-playing [[phonograph]]s (gramophones) built before the 1930s.
* Hand-powered electrical equipment, such as a [[clockwork radio]], where an energy-storing spring accounting for much of the size and weight of the device rotates a much smaller electric [[Electrical generator|generator]]; such equipment is very popular where [[Battery (electricity)|batteries]] and mains power (house current) are scarce.

{{multiple image
| align = center
| direction = horizontal
| header   =
| image1   = Movement of a grandfather clock.jpg
| caption1 = Movement of a grandfather clock with striking mechanism
| width1   = 107
| image2   = Spieluhr 02 Dscf4024.jpg
| caption2 =  Clockwork music box
| width2   = 178
| image3   = Deutsches Uhrenmuseum 2117 (Junghans).jpg
| caption3 = Exhibition model of an alarm clock mechanism with two mainsprings ''(black spirals)''
| width3   = 120
| image4   = Babbages difference engine 1832.jpg
| caption4 = Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No.1, in Science Museum, London.  The first computer.
| width4   = 145
| image5   = Mechanical egg timer internals.jpg
| caption5 = Plastic clockwork motor of a modern kitchen timer
| width5   = 165
| footer   =
}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Engineering|History}}
{{Commons category|Clockworks}}
*[[Clock of the Long Now]]
*[[Clockwork philosophy]]
*[[Clockwork universe]]
*[[Friedrich von Knauss]]
*[[Jens Olsen's World Clock]]
*[[Mainspring]]
*[[Movement (clockwork)]]
*[[Windup radio]]

==References==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Clockwork.ogg|date=2009-07-07}}
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Timekeeping components]]