Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/06784_Field_TCUM T349.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 937b | 16 lines

“work,” nor the divisions of time that create “full time” and
“free time.” Leisure excludes time as a container. Once time is
mechanically or visually enclosed, divided, and filled, it is
possible to use it more and more efficiently. Time can be
transformed into a labor-saving machine, as Parkinson reveals
in his famous “Parkinson’s Law.”

     The student of the history of the clock will find that a
totally new principle entered with the invention of the
mechanical clock. The earliest mechanical clocks had retained
the old principle of the continuous action of the driving force,
such as was used in the water clock and in the water wheel. It
was about 1300 A.D. that the step was taken of momentarily
interrupting rotary movement by a crown rod and balance
wheel. This function was called “escapement” and was the
means of literally translating the continuous force of the wheel