Download Quartz Clocks


The quartz clock was the invention of a
Canadian engineer, Warren Marrison. He
discovered he could use quartz crystals’
vibration in an electric circuit to be able
to tell time. It became the normal
timekeeping device from the 1930s and
on.
The earliest quartz clock
was made in the 1927, but it
was too bulky and costly.
 Quartz clocks and watches
were introduced for sale in
1969, when the technology
to make transistors into
micro-processors and
button-cell batteries were
developed.


The motor makes
one revolution
every six seconds,
getting rid of the
need for one
more gear. The
long tube on the
left has the quartz
crystal.

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Quartz clocks work using the mineral quartz
inside of a clock to keep time. Like mechanical
clocks, quartz clocks still use gears to count
time, but they are electrical generates a very
small flow of electricity.
This also means that when electricity is passed
through the quartz crystal, it vibrates. Quartz
crystals all vibrate at the same flow, meaning
they shake the same number of times each
second. Quartz crystals vibrate exactly 32,768
times every second!

All quartz clocks contain a battery to
vibrate the quartz crystal and a circuit to
count how many times the crystal has
shaken. The circuit then uses this
information to create regular pulses of
electricity. It makes one pulse every
second. These pulses then make the
gears of the clock move or power a
digital display.

The micro-processor is barely able to be
seen in the photo, but it was the most
expensive tool in this clock. This kind of
micro-processors would find their way
into everything from electronics,
microwaves, to computers, and many
others

. The following clock was made
around 1970, judging by its circuit
board, and is the earliest example I
have seen. And it still runs perfectly in
2009.