From Flicker to Ticker,The Story of Candle Clocks

By Frankline Oyanda Otieno

Automation and innovation has been one of the biggest input man has developed to shape his surrounding by easing workflows and processes around him. The bed has not only manufactured rest for man facilitating this, but has also killed dreams subjecting its accomplices to extreme laziness. As a man opens his eyes to the first blink of the day he understands that he is blessed with the new day to chase purpose and meaning fulfilling his life’s desire. We come to understand that all this dreams are also held on the scale of time through life.

It has been a constant competition of trying to outsmart each other on the scales of time hence our henchmen coined statements such as ‘The early bird catches the big worm’. As dawn cracks cities get filled with different persons all in the pursuit of their daily bread.

In this every second ,minute and hour counts .As the sun shifts from one end to the next man is only gifted with the products of his input that day. As a guardian of schedules , the clock has been a key aid to man in terms of advancing his agendas with respect to time. Introducing wall clocks, watches and alarm clocks to life demonstrates deeper the symbiotic nature of man’s life and time. Candles were originally developed for illumination being the steady guardian of man in darkness.

Automation in ancient times brought the discovery that its steady flicker seemed to be more than a source of light. The candle turned out to be a huge custodian of time guiding man through schedules of waking up .Monks and industrial workers across countries with this automation turned out to find the candle as a very key element in time-keeping. In ancient China monks used candle clocks to mark their wakeup times in preparation for their early morning prayers and meditation.

In You Jiangu’s poem (520CE) ,the Chinese poet details how candle clocks essentially helped monks in waking up to perform their early duties. The candle clocks provided a way for determining time at night and with the spread of this culture Japan also started using them as early as the 10th Century.

In You Jiangu”s poem the system contains six candles each consisting of 72pennyweights of wax(112 grams).This system measured up to a height of 12 inches(30.48cm),with a uniform thickness .Divisions were made into twelve sections each measuring up to an inch(2.54cm) in height. The burning rate of each candle was estimated to four hours(240 mins). Mathematically this provided each section with a burn rate equivalent of a third of an hour(20 mins).When the candle had burnt steadily to every mark in completion, that consumed twenty minutes. In order to estimate the burn rate of such a candle certain time measuring instruments such as sundials (3500BCE) and water-clocks/clypsedras (2000BCE) were used.

Accuracy in such an instrument was key, and on this account it was key to check on limitations such as weather conditions like wind. The candle was placed inside cases with wooden frames containing transparent horn panels on the sides to shield it from wind .Alarm mechanisms had to be added to this candle to aid on its specific purpose of waking people up. In address to this a metal pin was fitted at the end of each mark and the candle placed on top of a metal plate. Once combustion had occurred to the point the metal pin was fitted ,it would fall on the metal plate producing a clicking sound. This would signal different time intervals until the morning where persons would wake up.

This helped factory workers ,monks and people who could not afford advanced alarm clocks which were very expensive. Waking up early got easier through this invention helping people start of their daily duties at the convenience of time.

Overtime with the expansion of knowledge Al-Jazari’s candle was invented. It used weights and pulleys to transform the consistent burning of the candle into a time measuring machine,. It focused on the amount of weight the candle lost as it burnt. A travel through time and now in our civilized societies dominated by technology we now have automated clocks, mobile phones and watches containing alarms easing the process of waking up. At the crack of dawn different rooms are flooded with multiple sounds from gadgets to symbolize the beginning of a new day. It is clear that from ancient times time has been a gift man has had to manage and maximize in order that he may shape his life and purpose. Time lights the way up.

Chronology system

(CE)- Common Era

(BCE)- Before Common Era