Who invented the alarm clock?
The first known mechanical alarm clock was built in 1787 by Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, to wake him at 4 AM; it couldn't be set to any other time. The first adjustable alarm clock was patented in 1847 by French clockmaker Antoine Redier, and the snooze button arrived in 1956.
Waking up through history
People have always needed to wake at a set time, for prayer, work or travel. The Greek philosopher Plato is said to have used a water clock that forced air through a whistle at dawn. Monasteries used water clocks and bells to wake monks for night prayers, and some early mechanical clocks of the 1300s were built partly for that job.
Levi Hutchins made his alarm for himself in 1787: a wooden cabinet clock with a bell that rang at 4 AM, before sunrise, so he'd be up for work. He never patented it, and it could only ring at that one time. In 1847 Antoine Redier patented an alarm you could set to any hour, and in 1876 the Seth Thomas company patented a small wind-up bedside alarm. By the early 1900s twin-bell alarm clocks were in homes everywhere.
The snooze button
In 1956 General Electric's Telechron brand sold the first clock with a snooze button, the "Snooz-Alarm". Press it and the alarm went quiet for about nine minutes, a gap that's still standard on many clocks and phones.
Timeline
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 5th century BCE | Plato is said to have used a water clock that whistled to wake his students |
| c. 725 | Chinese monk Yi Xing builds a water-driven mechanical clock |
| 1500s | Some early spring-driven clocks and watches include alarms |
| 1787 | Levi Hutchins, Concord, New Hampshire: an alarm fixed at 4 AM |
| 1847 | Antoine Redier (France) patents the first adjustable mechanical alarm clock |
| 1876 | Seth Thomas patents a small wind-up bedside alarm clock |
| 1956 | GE-Telechron Snooz-Alarm, the first snooze button |
| 1970s | Digital clock radios with buzzer or radio alarms |
| 2000s | Phone alarms replace bedside clocks for many people |
Need one now? Use the free online alarm clock, or the sleep calculator to pick the best time to wake up.
Questions people ask
Who invented the alarm clock?
The first known mechanical alarm clock was built in 1787 by Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, but it only rang at 4 AM. Antoine Redier of France patented the first adjustable alarm clock in 1847.
Who invented the snooze button?
General Electric-Telechron introduced the 'Snooz-Alarm' in 1956. Its snooze lasted about nine minutes, a length many alarm clocks still use.
Why is snooze 9 minutes?
The usual explanation is mechanical: with the gears of the time, about nine minutes was the easiest interval to build, and longer would let people fall back into deep sleep. The length stuck.
How did people wake up before alarm clocks?
Roosters, church bells, the sunrise, and in industrial Britain, 'knocker-uppers' paid to tap on windows with long poles.
Sources
- History.com: Who invented the alarm clock?
- Atlas Obscura: A 2,000-year history of alarm clocks
- Wikipedia: Alarm clock
Last updated October 18, 2026.