When we think of antique alarm clocks today, the picture that generally comes to our minds are that of a mechanical clock. The early mechanical alarms were largely viewed as big public clocks that sounded every hour to notify local communities of the time. Alarm clocks dates back to the ancient Greeks, with the clocks then running on water, dropping at a regular pace. When this water being captured gets to a certain level, it would gush out into a bar, forcing airs to move out through holes in a siphon thereby creating a whistling noise that is the alarm.
Alarm clocks entered the US by the 18th century by European immigrants who brought the idea of alarm clocks with them to the US. They were first used in household walls, grandfather clocks in the 17th century and mantel. Most often Levi Hutchins an American is attributed with the first mechanical alarm clock in, but before then alarm clocks were already purported to be widely in used in Europe. But historians seemed not unified on this point. In spite of that, no one can deny that Hutchins actually created a clock that sounded alarm at 4a.m daily, his normal wake up time as he designed it.
So after that, clock designers began putting so much deal of creativity and ingenuity into their alarm clock designs, to make sure they win the hearts of their customers. Also the 19th century saw the entrance of the Tugaslugabed, where a ring is attached to a string that connects to the clock and placed around the toe of the user before they sleep off. And when the alarm goes off, it will pull the string, which also in turn pulls on the sleepers toe to wake them.
The Tugaslugabed antique alarm clock was being likened to the Mr. Savage’s alarum Bestead, which was invented in 1851. This alarm starts by sounding a bell to wake up the user, and if it’s ignored the device would proceed to strip of the bed sheets, and if the user is still not awake the mattress would gradually tilt sideways, thereby forcing the user out of the bed.
There Some antique alarm clocks from the 1500’s are still in available today and are extremely in demand, these are sold in various auctions around the world at hefty prices. Collecting these wonderful antique alarm clocks is a good exercise. It can also be fun as well as financially rewarding. The value of Antique alarm clocks easily appreciates as the days goes by. If you are an antique clock collector, you can surely treasure the sheer beauty of an antique alarm clock. You also need to know the history and background of the clocks as well how a specific alarm clock would function.
So dating back to the early alarm clock models, to the intricately woven antique travel designs and to the Westclox’s 1959 design, then the Dowser which is the first clock with an indispensable feature today i.e. the snooze button. Indeed antique alarm clocks have come a long way.
