Candle Clocks: Fire as Time

What happens when the sun goes down or you are deep inside a windowless monastery? In medieval Europe and China, the solution was the **Candle Clock**. By marking a candle with lines, time could be measured by how much wax had melted.

Alfred the Great’s Innovation

King Alfred the Great of England is famously associated with the candle clock. He reportedly used six 12-inch candles, each divided into 12 sections, to track his day. To prevent drafts from making the candles burn unevenly, he invented the "lantern" by putting the candles inside cases made of scraped horn.

The First Alarm Clocks

Candle clocks could even be used as alarm clocks. By sticking a heavy metal nail into the wax at a specific mark and placing the candle on a metal plate, you could set an "alarm." When the wax melted down to that point, the nail would fall and strike the plate with a loud *clack*.

Incense Clocks

In China and Japan, incense was used instead of wax. "Incense Sticks" were manufactured to burn at a precise rate. Some sophisticated incense clocks used different scents for different hours—an olfactory timeline of the day.

Conclusion

Candle clocks remind us that time and energy are deeply linked. On the Epoch Clock, our "candles" are digital bits, but we still use them to illuminate our way through the dark of the unknown future.