Alarm Clocks | Calm Bedtime Reading For Sleep

Drift off with calm bedtime reading to help you sleep through insomnia and restless nights. This calm bedtime reading for sleep offers gentle relief from insomnia while guiding your thoughts somewhere steady and simple.

Tonight, Benjamin traces the history of alarm clocks, from early mechanical timekeepers to the familiar bedside companions that guide our mornings. You’ll discover how these small but powerful devices evolved, shaped daily routines, and reflected changing technology—all while relaxing beneath a steady, unhurried voice. There’s no whispering here, just fact-filled, soothing education delivered at a peaceful pace to help with insomnia, stress, and anxiety.

Let the simple story of ticking gears and morning chimes give your thoughts something light to rest on as your body unwinds. Press play, get comfortable, and allow yourself to drift gently toward rest. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I help you drift off one fact at a time.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster,

And today's episode is about alarm clocks.

An alarm clock,

Or alarm,

Is a clock that is designed to alert an individual or group of people at a specified time.

The primary function of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep,

Or short naps.

They can sometimes be used for other reminders as well.

Most alarm clocks make sounds.

Some make light or vibration.

Some have sensors to identify when a person is in a light stage of sleep,

To avoid waking someone who is deeply asleep,

Which causes tiredness,

Even if the person has had adequate sleep.

To turn off the sound or light,

A button or handle on the clock is pressed.

Most clocks automatically turn off the alarm,

If left unattended long enough.

A classic analog alarm clock has an extra hand or inset dial that is used to show the time at which the alarm will ring.

Many alarm clocks have radio receivers that can be set to start playing at specified times,

And are known as clock radios.

Additionally,

Some alarm clocks can set multiple alarms.

A progressive alarm clock can have different alarms for different times,

And play music of the user's choice.

Most modern televisions,

Computers,

Mobile phones,

And digital watches have alarm functions that automatically turn on or sound alerts at a specific time.

Traditional mechanical alarm clocks have one or two bells that ring by means of a mainspring that powers a gear to quickly move a hammer back and forth between the two bells,

Or between the internal sides of a single bell.

In some models,

The metal covering at the back of the clock itself also functions as the bell.

In an electrically operated bell-type alarm clock,

The bell is rung by an electromagnetic circuit with an armature that turns the circuit on and off repeatedly.

Digital alarm clocks can make other noises.

Simple battery-powered alarm clocks make a loud buzzing,

Ringing,

Or beeping sound to wake a sleeper,

While novelty alarm clocks can speak,

Laugh,

Sing,

Or play sounds from nature.

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato was said to possess a large water clock with an unspecified alarm signal similar to the sound of a water organ.

He used it at night,

Possibly for signaling the beginning of his lecture at dawn.

The Hellenistic engineer and inventor,

Decibius,

Fitted his clepsydras with dial and pointer for indicating the time,

And added elaborate alarm systems which could be made to drop pebbles on a gong,

Or blow trumpets by forcing bell jars down into water and taking the compressed air through a beading reed at pre-set times.

The late Roman statesman Cassiodorus advocated in his rulebook for monastic life,

The water clock as a useful alarm for the soldiers of Christ.

The Christian rhetorician Procopius described in detail,

Prior to 529,

A complex public striking clock in his hometown Gaza,

Which featured an hourly gong and figures moving mechanically day and night.

In China,

A striking clock was devised by the Buddhist monk and inventor Yi Xing,

683-727.

The Chinese engineers Zhan Sichuan and Su Song integrated striking clock mechanisms in astronomical clocks in the 10th and 11th centuries respectively.

A striking clock outside of China was the water-powered clock tower near the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus,

Syria.

Which struck once every hour.

It is the subject of a book on the construction of clocks and their use,

1203,

By Ridwan ibn al-Sa'atid,

The son of a clockmaker.

In 1235,

An early monumental water-powered alarm clock that announced the appointed hours of prayer and the time,

Both by day and by night,

Was completed in the entrance hall of the Mustansiriya Madrasa in Baghdad.

From the 14th century,

Some clock towers in Western Europe were also capable of chiming at a fixed time every day.

The earliest of these was described by the Florentine writer Dante Alighieri in 1319.

The most famous original striking clock tower still standing is possibly the one in St.

Mark's Clock Tower in St.

Mark's Square,

Venice.

The St.

Mark's Clock was assembled in 1493 by the famous clockmaker Giancarlo Rainieri from Reggio Emilia,

Where his father Gianpaolo Rainieri had already constructed another famous device in 1481.

In 1497,

Simone Campanato molded the Great Bell,

Which was put on the top of the tower,

Where it was alternatively beaten by the Due Mori,

Two bronze statues,

Handling a hammer.

User-settable mechanical alarm clocks date back at least to the 15th century Europe.

These early alarm clocks had a ring of holes in the clock dial and were set by placing a pin in the appropriate hole.

The first American alarm clock was created in 1787 by Levi Hutchins in Concord,

New Hampshire.

This device he made only for himself,

However,

And it only rang at 4 a.

M.

To wake him for his job.

The French inventor Antoine Redier was the first to patent an adjustable mechanical alarm clock in 1847.

Alarm clocks,

Like almost all other consumer goods in the United States,

Ceased production in the spring of 1942,

As the factories which made them were converted over to war work during World War II.

But they were one of the first consumer items to resume manufacture for civilian use in November 1944.

By that time,

A critical shortage of alarm clocks had developed due to older clocks wearing out or breaking down.

Workers were late for or missed completely their scheduled shifts in jobs critical to the war effort.

In a pooling arrangement overseen by the Office of Price Administration,

Several clock companies were allowed to start producing new clocks,

Some of which were continuations of pre-war designs,

And some of which were new designs,

Thus becoming among the first post-war consumer goods to be made before the war had even ended.

The price of these emergency clocks was,

However,

Still strictly regulated by the Office of Price Administration.

The first radio alarm clock was invented by James F.

Reynolds in the 1940s,

And another design was also invented by Paul L.

Schroth,

Sr.

A clock radio is an alarm clock and radio receiver integrated into one device.

The clock may turn on the radio at a designated time to wake the user,

And usually includes a buzzer alarm.

Typically,

Clock radios are placed on the bedside stand.

Some models offer dual alarm for awakening at different times and snooze,

Usually a large button on the top that silences the alarm.

And sets it to resume sounding a few minutes later.

Some clock radios also have a sleep timer,

Which turns the radio on for a set amount of time,

Usually around one hour.

This is useful for people who like to fall asleep while listening to the radio.

Some clock radios can accept music sources from an external source,

For example an audio CD or portable music player.

The selected music would then be used to awaken the sleeper.

Clock models of the 2000s may come with a dock for iPod that also charges the device.

They may serve as a typical music player,

Playing music from aforementioned sources.

Another few models offer nature sounds like rain,

Forest,

Wind,

Sea,

In place of or in addition to the traditional buzzer.

Clock radios are powered by AC power from the wall socket.

In the event of a power interruption,

Older electronic digital models used to reset the time to midnight and lose alarm settings.

This would cause failure to trigger the alarm,

Even if the power is restored,

Such as in the event of a power outage.

Many newer clock radios feature a battery backup to maintain the time and alarm settings.

Some advanced radio clocks,

Not to be confused with clocks with AM-FM radios,

Have a feature which sets the time automatically using signals from atomic clock sync time signal radio stations,

Such as WWV,

Making the clock accurate and immune to time reset due to power interruptions.

Alarm clock software programs have been developed for personal computers.

There are web-based alarm clocks,

Some of which may allow a virtually unlimited number of alarm times,

I.

E.

Personal information manager,

And personalized tones.

However,

Unlike mobile phone alarms,

Online alarm clocks have some limitations.

They do not work when the computer is shut off or in sleep mode.

Native applications,

However,

Can wake the computer up from sleep using the built-in real-time clock alarm chip or even power it back on after it had been shut down.

Many modern mobile phones feature built-in alarm clocks that do not need the phone to be switched on for the alarm to ring off.

Some of these mobile phones feature the ability for the user to set the alarm's ringtone,

And in some cases music can be downloaded to the phone and then chosen to play for waking.

Scientific studies on sleep having shown that sleep stage at awakening is an important factor in amplifying sleep inertia.

Alarm clocks involving sleep stage monitoring appeared on the market in 2005.

The alarm clocks use sensing technologies such as EEG electrodes and accelerometers to wake people from sleep.

Dawn simulators are another technology meant to mediate these effects.

Sleepers can become accustomed to the sound of their alarm clock if it has been used for a period of time,

Making it less effective.

Due to progressive alarm clocks' complex waking procedure,

They can deter this adaptation due to the body needing to adapt to more stimuli than just a simple sound alert.

The deaf and hard of hearing are often unable to perceive auditory alarms when asleep.

They may use specialized alarms,

Including alarms with flashing lights instead of or in addition to noise.

Alarms which can connect to vibrating devices,

Small ones inserted into pillows,

Or large ones placed under bed posts to shake the bed,

Also exist.

Time switches can be used to turn on anything that will awaken a sleeper,

And can therefore be used as alarms.

Lights,

Bells,

And radio and TV sets can easily be used.

More elaborate devices have also been used,

Such as machines that automatically prepare tea or coffee.

A sound is produced when the drink is ready,

So the sleeper awakes to find the freshly brewed drink waiting.

A digital clock displays the time digitally,

I.

E.

In numerals or other symbols,

As opposed to an analog clock.

Digital clocks are often associated with electronic drives,

But the digital description refers only to the display,

Not to the drive mechanism.

Both analog and digital clocks can be driven either mechanically or electronically,

But clockwork mechanisms with digital displays are rare.

The first digital pocket watch was the invention of Austrian engineer Josef Paul Weber,

Who created his jump-hour mechanism in 1883.

Instead of a conventional dial,

The jump-hour featured two windows in an enamel dial,

Through which the hours and minutes are visible on rotating disks.

The second hand remained conventional.

By 1885,

Paul Weber mechanism was already on the market in pocket watches.

By Cordobaer and IWC,

Arguably contributing to the subsequent rise in commercial success of IWC.

The principles of Paul Weber jump-hour movement had appeared in wristwatches by the 1920s and are still used today.

While the original inventor did not have a watch brand at the time,

His name has since been resurrected by a newly established watch manufacturer.

Plato clocks used a similar idea,

But a different layout.

These spring-wound pieces consisted of a glass cylinder with a column inside,

Affixed to which were small digital cards with numbers printed on them,

Which flipped as time passed.

The Plato clocks were introduced at the St.

Louis World Fair in 1904,

Produced by Ansonia Clock Company.

Eugene Fitch of New York patented the clock design in 1903.

Thirteen years earlier,

Josef Paul Weber had patented the same invention using digital cards,

Different from his 1885 patent using moving disks in Germany.

The German factory made such digital clocks in 1893 and 1894.

The earliest patent for a digital alarm clock was registered by D.

E.

Protzman and others on October 23,

1956 in the United States.

Protzman and his associates also patented another digital clock in 1970,

Which was said to use a minimal amount of moving parts.

Two side plates held digital numerals between them,

While an electric motor and cam gear outside controlled movement.

In 1970,

The first digital wristwatch with an LED display was unveiled at the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson,

Although it was not released until 1972.

Called the Pulsar and produced by the Hamilton Watch Company,

This watch was hinted at two years prior when the same company created a non-function digital watch prop with a main analog face but a secondary digital display for Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Digital clocks typically use the 50 or 60 Hz oscillation of AC power for a 32,

768 Hz crystal oscillator,

As in a quartz clock to keep time.

Most digital clocks display the hour of the day in 24-hour format.

In the United States and a few other countries,

A commonly used hour-sequence option is 12-hour format,

With some indication of AM or PM.

Some timepieces,

Such as many digital watches,

Can be switched between 12-hour and 24-hour modes.

Emulations of analog-style faces often use an LCD screen,

And these are also sometimes described as digital.

To represent time,

Most digital clocks use a 7-segment LED,

VFD,

Or LCD for each of the four digits.

They generally also include other elements to indicate whether the time is AM or PM,

Whether or not an alarm is set,

And so on.

Older digital clocks used numbers painted on wheels for a split-flap display.

High-end digital clocks use dot-matrix displays and use animations for digit changes.

If people find difficulty in setting the time in some designs of digital clocks and electronic devices,

Where the clock is not a critical function,

They may not be set at all,

Displaying the default after-powered-on 0000 or 1200.

Because they run on electricity,

Digital clocks often need to be reset whenever the power is cut off,

Even for a very brief period of time.

This is a particular problem with alarm clocks that have no battery backup,

Because a power outage during the night usually prevents the clock from triggering the alarm in the morning.

To reduce the problem,

Many devices designed to operate on household electricity incorporate a battery backup to maintain the time during power outages and during times of disconnection from the power supply.

More recently,

Some devices incorporate a method for automatically setting the time,

Such as using a broadcast radio time signal from an atomic clock,

Getting the time from an existing satellite,

Television,

Or computer connection,

Or by being set at the factory and then maintaining the time from then on,

With a quartz movement powered by an internal rechargeable battery.

Commercial digital clocks are typically more reliable than consumer clocks.

Multi-decade backup batteries can be used to maintain time during power loss.

Because digital clocks can be very small and inexpensive devices that enhance the popularity of product designs,

They are often incorporated into all kinds of devices,

Such as cars,

Radios,

Televisions,

Microwave ovens,

Standard ovens,

Computers,

And cell phones.

Sometimes their usefulness is disputed.

A common complaint is that when time has to be set by daylight saving time,

Many household clocks have to be readjusted.

The incorporation of atomic synchronization by a radio time signal is reducing this problem.

Smart digital clocks,

In addition to displaying time,

Scroll additional information,

Such as weather and notifications.

A radio clock or radio-controlled clock,

RCC,

And often colloquially and incorrectly referred to as an atomic clock,

Is a type of quartz clock or watch that is automatically synchronized to a time code transmitted by a radio transmitter,

Connected to a time standard,

Such as an atomic clock.

Such a clock may be synchronized to the time sent by a single transmitter,

Such as many national or regional time transmitters,

Or may use the multiple transmitters used by satellite navigation systems,

Such as Global Positioning System.

Such systems may be used to automatically set clocks,

Or for any purpose where accurate time is needed.

Radio clocks may include any feature available for a clock,

Such as alarm function,

Display of ambient temperature and humidity,

Broadcast radio reception,

Etc.

One common style of radio-controlled clock uses time signals transmitted by dedicated terrestrial long-wave radio transmitters,

Which emit a time code that can be demodulated and displayed by the radio-controlled clock.

The radio-controlled clock will contain an accurate time-base oscillator to maintain timekeeping if the radio signal is momentarily unavailable.

Other radio-controlled clocks use the time signals transmitted by dedicated transmitters in the short-wave bands.

Systems using dedicated time signal stations can achieve accuracy of a few tens of milliseconds.

Satellite navigation receivers also internally generate accurate time information from the satellite signals.

Dedicated GPS timing receivers are accurate to better than one microsecond.

However,

General-purpose or consumer-grade GPS may have an offset of up to one second between the internally calculated time,

Which is much more accurate than one second,

And the time displayed on the screen.

Other broadcast services may include timekeeping information of varying accuracy within their signals.

Timepieces with Bluetooth radio support,

Ranging from watches with basic control of functionality via a mobile app to full smartwatches,

Obtain time information from a connected phone,

With no need to receive time signal broadcasts.

Radio clocks synchronized to a terrestrial time signal can usually achieve an accuracy within a hundredth of a second relative to the time standard,

Generally limited by uncertainties in variability in radio propagation.

Some timekeepers,

Particularly watches such as some Casio WaveCeptors,

Which are more likely than desk clocks to be used when traveling,

Can synchronize to any one of several different time signals transmitted in different regions.

Radio clocks depend on coded time signals from radio stations.

The stations vary in brightness,

Broadcast frequency,

In geographic location,

And in how the signal is modulated to identify the current time.

In general,

Each station has its own format for the time code.

Reviews

Ironic that listening to you talk about that which wakes one up, puts one to sleep!!
⏰😴 thanks, Benjamin!

Amazing how something that wakes me up can put me right in sleep 😴 🤭Thank you Ben!