10 / 12 / 2011
Alarm Clocks. How Do They Work?
by Mike Danko
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Presenter
Mike Danko
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FACTS
✤ Clocks, they keep time
✤ Some have alarms on them.
✤ Some alarm clocks have buzzers, radios, and other, different
methods of making noise.
✤ There are alarms for the deaf that have flashing lights or
vibrating devices.
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History of Alarm Clocks
✤ Plato was said to possess a large water clock with an unspecified
alarm signal similar to the sound of a water organ.
✤ Churches are essentially giant alarm clocks. They started that
annoyance in the 14th century.
✤ The first alarm clock was patented by Seth E. Thomas in 1876.
Jerk.
✤ A shortage of alarm clocks in World War II left people not
deployed sleeping in.
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Snooze?
✤ A large button on the top of
some clocks that stops the
alarm and sets it to ring a
short time later.
✤ Often this is 9 minutes, the
largest single digit number. It
simplifies the logic circuitry
in the clock.
✤ I use this a lot.
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A Bullshit Chart.
Alarm Clock Annual Sales Figures
for Regions One and Two
0
25
50
75
100
2007
2008
2009
2010
Region 1 Region 2
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Alarm Clock Types According to
Effectiveness
✤
Children
✤
Roosters
✤
Digital with Battery Backup
✤
Wind-up
✤
Others.
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THE FUTURE
✤ Progressive Timing Lucid Behavioral
Models
✤ REM Control Sleep Medication
✤ Structural Light Therapy Zones
✤ EEG Based Wake Patterns
✤ External Stimulus Feedback Design