The History Of Radio Controlled Clocks
Catching time, it is a constant chase man has perpetuated against what many view as their arch nemesis. Time causes us to grow old, to pass the days and years with our families sometimes much too quickly and sometimes, it seems, much too slowly; but time also allows us to always move forward, to never spend our days in the past and where the present is always in the moment. The best we, as a species, have been able to do is create time pieces that allow us to track time with as much accuracy as possible in order to organize our lives more efficiently.
In the early years of clock manufacturing, this was difficult as the technology was not readily available to keep an accurate account of the passage of the minutes and seconds, and quite often, it was discovered that the clocks and watches of the era were often off by as much as several hours at a time. Thus began man's quest to mark time as accurately as possible since that was the only way to really control this uncontrollable variant in our lives and so, as the technology allowed, radio controlled clocks were invented.
Many people falsely believe that radio controlled clocks are actually atomic clocks, some of the most accurate time pieces known to man, but in actuality, these clocks are more accurate and quite different than their atomic clock counterparts. The most obvious difference, is that radio controlled clocks operate based on an internal radio that receives a radio signal from a location where an atomic clock is present. This ensures the most accurate and reliable time possible. It is also of interest to note, that these clocks have been around for the better part of a century with the idea of radio controlled time pieces being born around the time Marconi invented the radio and did his experiments with radio frequencies in the late 1800s.
It is amazing, when you think about it, that many of the material things we take for granted -- such as cell phones, televisions, car radios and other electronic equipment -- would not exist if the discovery of radio frequencies, signals and their significance to such items as radio controlled clocks, had not been made all those years ago.
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