Who would have guessed that the development of precision machinery by medieval clockmakers—driven by the simple desire to produce more accurate clocks—would lead before long to the invention of the modern printing press, an explosion of knowledge, and a Renaissance in the arts and sciences throughout the Western world? Or that when the forests of Europe were being consumed by the clockmakers’ rising demand for iron and steel, the civilized world would begin mining coal, which would lead before long to the invention of the steam engine with all of its multiple effects on the nature of
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Clocks had been used for centuries prior through alternate and ancient methods, what caused precision machinery to boom was the need for very specific sized gears and components within the more modern and compact clocks of the middle ages.
