The Sand Clock The creation of the sand-glass, also called sand clock, was no doubt a natural consequence of the need that the man had to possess a transportable appliance for the measurement of the time. The development of the glass production, some centuries before the beggining of the Christian era, probabily generated the idea of to create a transportable Clepsydra, all closed, leak proof, built certainly, as it was traditional, in others words, two vases one over the other and tied internally by a orifice through where the water drained. Thence, the substitution of the water for the sand and development of the sand-glass design, as we know today, it will have been a natural step, once the sand, built of solid particles, was no doubt, the perfect material for that end, due to its mobility and high stability in relation to the Clepsydras’s water. The period of time registered by the sand-glass presented a relative precision, considered reasonable for certain ends. It was specially used when it was treated of short duration measurements. Once its little precision did not allow observation of larger width. Had, however, important and valious characteristics: It was easily transportable and its handling very simple, could be used with a lot of comfort in everywhere. |
