What kind of water clock did the ancients use?

According to the principle of isochronism, there are two ways to record the dripping time. One method is to use a special container to record the time of water leakage (drainage type), and the other method is to use a container with no opening at the bottom to record how long it takes to fill with water (receiving type).

China's water clock is first of all a drainage type, and later it is a combination of drainage type and water receiving type or both. From about 85 A.D., water-catching leaky pots with leaking arrows on floats gradually became popular and even were used everywhere.

Extended data:

According to the epitaph of Egyptian court official Amenemhet, he invented the water clock, a kind of "leaky pot", around 1500 BC. The water level in the container drops with the outflow of water, thus measuring how much time has passed. This kind of clock is especially useful for priests, because they need to know the evening time so as not to miss the scheduled time for holding religious ceremonies and performing arts activities in temples.

Clocks with different accuracies have existed in the world for at least 4000 years. The Egyptians were the first to make such an attempt. They made a star clock chart, used it to see which star had risen, and then calculated the time at night. Later, they made a shadow clock to time. As the sun rises and sets, the shadow of a crossbar gradually crosses a series of marks.

Pharaoh seti i ruled Egypt around 1300 BC, and found a set of instruments for making shadow clocks in his mausoleum. The sundial is based on this simple shadow clock. The Romans improved the sundial we know today and even made a portable travel clock.

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