Introduction It is good known that engineering is really of import facet in human life and Critical Engagement with Technology category held batch of constructs and theories with respect to how to look at and understand engineering that helped in altering some of the old apprehensions. The category helped in developing the accomplishments to be able to measure different attacks and ways of thought in respects to understanding engineering. Besides to cognize the issues that impact the direction of engineering and how the engineering influenced managers’ abilities to supply better direction of both resources and people.
The category besides examined the drivers and factors that impacted engineering execution such as societal. political. economic. among others. The new manner of believing about the engineering and how it is driven was presented in category through several subjects that was introduced such as: “Nothing New Under the Sun” . Historical Perspective on Technology The Industrial Revolution Technology as the Context for and Product of Human Endeavour Technological Determinism Social Shaping of Technology Management. Power and Technology The class farther gave us the chance to pick a engineering and competently what we learned in the category.
Our instance survey that we picked talked about the redstem storksbills and how the society shaped the manner of mensurating clip throughout history. The clock presents are engineering that has been taken for granted. The focal point of this instance survey is to demo the importance of clip measuring and how our life nowadays revolves around it. By traveling through history all the manner from utilizing the Sun and stars to the development of redstem storksbills that neither lose nor gain one second in 200 million old ages to demo how humanity hunts for more truth by developing the tools to mensurate the clip.
Literature Review As mentioned earlier. the class provided us with batch of constructs and theories with respects to engineering that in bends helped in understanding and facilitating of our instance survey. Concepts such as Technological Determinism and Social Shaping of Technology helped in transporting out our research and that is why it is of import to specify them. The thought of that engineering development affect and determine the society is called Technological Determinism and it implies that the engineering alterations by following its ain logic and come from outside society.
Hard technological determinism which lays on simple cause-and-effect and non sing other factors such as economic. political. cultural. among others is considered as an oversimplified theory for the technological alteration. This was the common manner of believing that encourage the inactive attitude toward engineering alteration. It is deserving adverting that new engineering are developed from an bing engineering or a combinations of several bing engineerings through a gradual alteration.
Therefore. the societal defining of engineering theory critique the technological determinism theory and suggests that society has more active attitude toward engineering development in the since that society decides what and how to utilize it. Besides the societal defining of engineering theory see other factors mentioned antecedently that affect the engineering wheel of development ( Mackenzie and Wajcman. 1999 ) . Having said that. the distinguish between the two theories among the other subjects learned in this class unfastened our heads every bit good as provided us with better apprehension of engineering development.
The Beginnings of the Clocks The motion of Earth and its Moon gave the indicants for the twelvemonth. month. and twenty-four hours. Human invented the hours. proceedingss and seconds as smaller units for the clip. Middle East ancient civilisation divided the twenty-four hours into 24 hours with 60 proceedingss an hr and 60 seconds a proceedingss. At the beginning there were the sundials and the H2O redstem storksbills that didn’t give exact clip but instead represent the flow of clip ( Franz. 1978 ) & A ; ( Dale. 1992 ) . Before the mechanical redstem storksbills. people had many efforts to happen a tool to mensurate clip more accurately.
The taper clock which was fundamentally a taper with the hours marked on it was one device. Another device was the hourglass or sandglass that was used at sea and it required person to remain next to it to toss it because each somersault was counted as half an hr or an hr. Although both devices were used at dark and that helped in work outing the job of the sundial that depends on the Sun. another job came to realisation which was that these devices didn’t give the clip of the twenty-four hours instead they merely measured periods of clip ( Dale. 1992 ) .
Peoples of ancient China. Babylon. and Egypt discovered the nexus between timekeeping and the places of stars due to the fact that stars alterations place in a regular form. This nexus motivated people to happen new ways to mensurate clip more accurately particularly at sea ( Dale. 1992 ) . Pope Sylvester II invented the first mechanical clock in twelvemonth 1000 and they spread among European cathedrals by 1300. They were used to inform people about the clip they should travel to church and that was the early usage for them. Some of these redstem storksbills gave astronomical information and others had bells to name people ( Sherman. 2005 ) .
It is interesting that an old mechanical clock that was built in 1386 is still working in England in Salisbury Cathedral. The little redstem storksbills didn’t come along until after the innovation of mainspring and those redstem storksbills were built for affluent people where they were considered as valuable ownerships that they show off with. Marine Navigation When the magnetic compass were invented. it was used by crewmans to maneuver the ships in an accurate way. but compasses weren’t steady plenty in unsmooth conditions and hence make up one’s minding the way based on them was hard.
The Sextant was the following innovation and it was the instrument used to mensurate the highs of the Sun in order to cipher the ship’s latitude ( May. 1973 ) & A ; ( Cotter. 1977 ) . All these instruments solve portion of the job because there were no agencies to mensurate the longitude and the place of the ships on the latitude was strictly based on the sailors’ conjecture ( Cotter. 1977 ) . The velocity of ships is measured by knots and it is based on an old method called the ‘Dead Reckoning’ . After plotting the class utilizing the compass. a rope with several knots on it with a log at the terminal of that rope were thrown overboard.
Then a sandglass was used to mensurate the period. When it was clip the rope was pulled and the knots were counted. Using this method crewmans were able to cipher the distance they sailed ( May. 1973 ) & A ; ( Gould and Dyson. 1976 ) . The compass. astrolabe and the dead calculation were the lone methods used by the great adventurers like Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus and what is more interesting is that they didn’t have a peculiar finish when they discovered the new lands. These finds provided the chance of trading but another job of pilotage came up.
No 1 was able to cognize how long the trip traveling to take or how much nutrient they should take with them to feed the crew of the ship. Fresh nutrient rotted before they reach their finish along with other jobs caused by the hapless pilotage at that clip. Knowing the longitude and better timekeeping was the reply. Cotter ( 1977 ) stated that the difference between the clip readings in two different topographic points will assist in ciphering the longitude. For this computation to be possible a standard clip was needed.
Since Britain was the taking seafaring state in the seventeenth century it decided to take the Royal Observatory at Greenwich as the standard clip and the longitude go throughing through Greenwich became 0 grades. At that clip other states took different topographic points as grade 0 grades. When the wireless were used as the mean of communicating between ships. Greenwich system was used internationally in 1884. Mechanical redstem storksbills provided more accurate measuring of clip than tapers or sandglasses. but still they were non accurate plenty because the vacillation of the pendulum was upset by the gesture of the ships.
The early mechanical redstem storksbills needed to be checked against other redstem storksbills or against the Sun on a frequent bases. Sailors knew that they needed a clock that keep the accurate criterion clip even under that disputing conditions of the sea. Harmonizing to Gould and Dyson ( 1976 ) the British authorities was alarmed by the fact that tonss of ships both merchandiser and naval were lost due to the risky conditions of the Atlantic Ocean. And that is why the authorities announced a competition in 1714 with a award of? 20. 000 for a chronometer with specific standards.
The British authorities wanted an accurate chronometer that gives the right longitude reading within 55 kilometers after six hebdomads of sailing. In order to be that precise. the new chronometer must non loss nor addition more than three seconds per twenty-four hours besides it should be able to get by with the conditions of the sea such as the salty sea air and the temperature and humidness alterations. At that clip no clock was able to accomplish that truth and it was a large proficient challenge. In 1759. John Harrison. who was a clocksmith. succeeded after three old efforts in contriving the perfect chronometer.
The chronometer was tested by Harrison’s boy William when he sailed to Jamaica two old ages after the innovation came to visible radiation. Harrison’s chronometer passed the trial. It merely lost an norm of 2. 7 2nd a twenty-four hours and it was able to give an accurate longitude reading within 30 kilometers. It is deserving adverting that chronometers were non used by and large until 1800 and this is because it was really expensive to construct one. Navigation jobs were solved by utilizing the redstem storksbills and the seas became busy main roads at that clip ( Gould and Dyson. 1976 ) .
Railwaies Time
The industrial revolution was powered by the steam power every bit good as the revolution in conveyance where the railroads spread rapidly at that clip. The chief intent of the railroads was to transport coal although it was used to transport riders excessively. By doing the conveyance easier people’s lives has changed. In the early yearss of railroads public redstem storksbills weren’t synchronized and there wasn’t a individual criterion clip. The trains were separated and spread along the paths utilizing clip intervals system and that caused jobs for travelers every bit good as posed a safety jeopardy.
With the debut of railroads clip that used Greenwich Mean Time the public timekeeping has changed and that solved the jobs of railroads. Furthermore. the demand for more truth in day-to-day undertakings were influenced by railroad clip. It is deserving adverting that it took the authorities 40 old ages since the debut of railroads clip to pass the standard clip for Great Britain and that was in 1880 ( Schivelbusch. 1986 ) . The Industrial Revolution Commodities and industries were made in a different manner in Europe after 1780 and that is why historiographers gave the name the industrial revolution.
In this revolution. cheaper and faster machines replaced the dearly-won and slow manual trades. For illustration. cotton industry changed a batch. at first cotton was woven manually and it was considered as luxury but with the industrial revolution and the debut of the new cotton Millss. the production become faster and that caused the monetary value to drop drastically for the merchandise. Furthermore. this motion puts batch of people out of work and the lone thing that they could make at that clip is to work in the Millss.
This motion besides introduced many people to the of import of clip. Factories’ machines were kept running for long clip during the twenty-four hours for the investors to derive the best return and it was of import that workers arrive on clip. Workers who came tardily were normally punished with a all right deducted from their hebdomadal payments. At that clip merely few people had redstem storksbills to state them the clip other used the ‘knocker-up’ who was person walking about and waking people to travel to work ( Cardwell and Cardwell. 2001 ) . The method of workers payments changed due to this motion excessively.
Before plants used to gain fixed payments for a twenty-four hours of work but when the mills started to utilize the displacement system workers started to be paid utilizing hourly rate. This was possible with the innovation of a machine that kept record of how many hours the worker really worked. The worker had to stomp a card utilizing that machine that showed the clip of start and terminal. That procedure was called ‘clocking on-clocking off’ ( Cardwell and Cardwell. 2001 ) . Time Control Reeves and Duncan et Al. ( 2001 ) . Webster and Davies et Al.
( 2011 ) . and Borst ( 1993 ) agreed upon that ‘Time and gesture study’ which was developed by Frederick Taylor in 1880 helped in analyzing different mills operations to rush them up by placing what is truly needed and that in return helped makers to utilize their workers and machinery more expeditiously. The construct of salvaging the clip became an of import one when the consciousness of clip increased. That construct pushed batch of engineerings to be invented particularly after the innovation of electricity to replace the drilling and everyday undertakings such as cleansing. rinsing apparels. among others.
Another signifier of clip control was the usage of clip switches which were fundamentally a clock combined with a switch that enabled automatic turning on and off for the devices. More accurate redstem storksbills Wagner ( 2008 ) said that the work of most specializers such as applied scientists. physicists. among others depends to a great extent on precise clip measurings. Nowadays. 300 atomic redstem storksbills at different research labs are used to cipher planetary clip. But research workers are prosecuting more truth in clip measuring and the consequences will replace the procedure of averaging the information from the atomic redstem storksbills.
Researchers developed optical redstem storksbills that gaining control and step the frequences of Sr atoms ( a chemical component with atomic figure 38 ) by utilizing the optical masers. With the ability of the new redstem storksbills to mensurate the oscillation at higher frequence ranges. the consequences are clocks that step clip more accurately. Besides these new redstem storksbills are expected to mensurate clip in intervals much smaller than what the atomic clock that will assist in giving the clock that ability to neither lose nor gain one second in a period of 200 million old ages ( Wagner. 2008 ) . Methodology Before us as a group decided on the subject in manus we had batch of treatments with batch of subjects to speak about.
After we reached an understanding we distributed the work and each of the members had to research a specific period in clip to happen out more about clip and redstem storksbills. It was an interesting undertaking that expanded my cognition about the topic. After each member focused on the subject assigned our group met to portion the findings. Remarks were exchanged to further turn to the topic from different angles. The researches were done utilizing books. online articles. and diaries. The group met for the 2nd clip with the new findings and slides for the presentation. The presentation was put together and rehearsed.
We didn’t have to run into every bit much because we used methods such as web logs and dropbox to portion our work and discourse farther. I was assigned with the subject sing the marine pilotage and the early jobs and I found out that different resources agreed and have the same facts about the topic. Besides I was able to delve deeper and happen interesting facts with respects to other subjects in this papers that in bend helped me derive huge cognition about the theories proposed every bit good as provided me with the comprehensive apprehension I was seeking.
Findingss and Discussion I was able to transport out this instance survey and research with most unfastened head and with mentioning to the theories and subjects learned in category. I found out that the redstem storksbills is considered as one of the oldest innovations in history and besides how humanity is continuously seeking for more truth in respects to clip measurement even presents. Besides I found out how the construct of clip measuring affect and pushed other engineerings to emerge and how it was used in the industrial revolution epoch. It is clear that throughout history homo had the same thought which was the of import of measuring clip.
What differs was the development of the devices that measure the clip in a more accurate mode. It is besides observed that the development of the device depends on the same constructs of the old 1s but with better ways of making it. Early crewmans used land Markss and stayed near to the land in order to happen their manner and to cognize their place. Then sailors go more adventurist over clip and started to happen new ways to assist them voyage in the unfastened sea. Methods such as astronomy observation helped in ciphering the ships’ locations to work out the waies and put the class of the ship by utilizing an instrument called the astrolabe.
The astrolabe was the tool used by the ancient Greeks. but the biggest default was it needed a clear sky and it was merely used at dark. With the innovation of the chronometer that solved the Marine jobs I felt that it was one of the discoveries in the universe of redstem storksbills that help in mensurating the clip more exactly. It showed that the demand of the truth in the clip measuring was a societal demand to work out the jobs instead than ensuing from technological determinism. It is difficult presents to happen person who doesn’t attention about clip.
This is showed by the fact that everything in the modern life had something to make with clip and redstem storksbills. For illustration. the personal computing machines where the clock is installed as a ship in the bosom of the device to modulate the electrical signals ( Borst. 1993 ) . the usage of the timer in the microwave. puting the dismay to travel to work or school. transit timetable. among other illustrations. Clocks is everyplace but every bit mentioned before. it is a engineering taken for granted. Decision.
The redstem storksbills development throughout history showed a true evident of the society determining the engineering alterations with the demand of happening ways to mensurate clip more accurately. Besides the history showed that the redstem storksbills came a long manner and the development and researches for more accurate redstem storksbills is still traveling on. The redstem storksbills began with utilizing the Sun and the stars. Then they were used to number periods utilizing H2O redstem storksbills. taper redstem storksbills. and sandglass redstem storksbills. After that mechanical redstem storksbills came to visible radiation with the usage of cogwheels and gesture. And with the demand for a clock to per the sea conditions and to give accurate longitude readings. the chronometer came approximately.
Finally. making to the atomic redstem storksbills that we use presents to mensurate clip and for the hereafter the usage of optical redstem storksbills that step clip with smaller intervals than of all time. With the development of the redstem storksbills we can detect how people lives changed. Not burying about the disadvantages where some people suffer from something called ‘time stress’ and this is because we want to make tonss of things and the clangs among them caused by the clip constrains lead to emphasize. References Borst. A. 1993. The ordination of clip. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Cardwell. D. and Cardwell. D. 2001. Wheels. redstem storksbills. and projectiles. New York: W. W. Norton. Cotter. C. 1977. The elements of pilotage and maritime uranology. Glasgow: Brown and Ferguson. Dale. R. 1992. Timekeeping. New York: Oxford University Press. Franz. M. 1978. Time. New York: Thames and Hudson. Gould. R. and Dyson. F. 1976. The marine chronometer. London: The Holland Press. Mackenzie. D. and Wajcman. J. 1999. Introductory essay: the societal defining of engineering. The societal defining of engineering. pp. 3–27. May. W. 1973. A history of marine pilotage. New York: Norton. Reeves. T. C. . Duncan. W. J. & A ; Ginter. P. M. 2001. “Motion survey in direction and the humanistic disciplines:
A historical example” . Journal of Management Inquiry. vol. 10. no. 2. pp. 137-149. Schivelbusch. W. 1986. Railway journey. Berkeley: University imperativenesss of California. Top of Form Bottom of Form Sherman. J. 2005. How do we cognize the nature of clip. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. Wagner. C. G. 2008. “New Redstem storksbills: It’s About Time” . The Futurist. vol. 42. no. 3. pp. 10. Webster. J. . Davies. H. . Stankiewicz. M. & A ; Fleming. L. C. 2011. “Estimating the Time Involved in Pull offing the ‘Unoccupied Bed: ’ A Time and Motion Study” . Nursing Economics. vol. 29. no. 6. pp. 317-22.
