However, the modern alarm clock as we know it first appeared in the 18th century. In 1787, an American named Levi Hutchins is credited with inventing the first mechanical alarm clock .

In 1787, American Levi Hutchens created a mechanical alarm clock with the specific purpose of waking him up every day at 4 AM. He never patented this creation, however.

I have reinstated the alarm clock. An overlooked mechanism in today’s technologically-synced, your-phone-does-everything world, it tells the time, it wakes you up, it is decentralized from a ...

From pebbles and steam to phone alerts, our quest to rise on time has taken dramatic turns. How did we do it before the clock? That’s an interesting tale too.

For more on John Muir’s alarm clock desk, visit Atlas Obscura! More wonders to explore: This botanical garden outside Chicago boasts a vibrant array of over 300 varieties of lilacs.

Watches can do plenty more than simply tell the time — some display calendar information, while others record elapsed minutes or show the phases of the moon. One particularly quirky (though useful) ...