The Application of Hourglass in the Field of Navigation
Aug 01, 2022
Time waits for no man, so the saying goes. But, as some of us know, telling time can be a fascinating pastime, especially watching the sands of decorative hourglass timer of flow from the top of the glass to the bottom.
The hour glass is thought to have originated in Europe and was invented around the 8th century. The hourglass is popular on ships because it is precise and not susceptible to the movement of the ship, no matter how violently the ship is rocking. Timer sand clock have been popular for hundreds of years, until the advent of mechanical clocks. Sand timers were eventually replaced by mechanical clocks in the early 16th century, when they began to shrink in size and improve in accuracy.
When the hourglass was invented, it was used by people in a wide range. In Western countries, the sandglass is like a watch, and almost everyone has it. Sand timer clocks are also widely used in churches, kitchens, and have made great contributions to navigation. During Magellan's voyages around the world, each of his ships kept 18 hour glasses with sand. In the ship's paperwork, the sand glass is run to provide time for the ship's logbook.
In marine applications, the vintage hour glasses with sand plays a very important role, and is also of great help in measuring the speed of navigation. The hourglass odometer method is to use a 14-second or 28-second hourglass meter to time, and another piece of wood is connected to a rope, and the rope is knotted at equal distances, and the space between the two knots is called a section. Using a 14-second hourglass, the distance between the two knots is 23 feet 7.5 inches. Observe the number of knots released in every 14 seconds, which means the number of nautical miles the ship travels per hour.
BY JOSH
