The Borghesi Astronomical Clock in the Museum of History and Technology: Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Paper 35Bedini, Silvio A.
History
The Borghesi Astronomical Clock in the Museum of History and Technology: Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Paper 35
Bedini, Silvio A.
Astronomical clocks
Probably the first documented mention of an equation clock is in the
diary of John Evelyn who recorded that in 1666 he visited the Royal
Society where he witnessed a curious clock, which showed the equation of
time, being presented by a certain Mercator. More data on the subject
appeared in the first two decades of the 18th century, when Henry Sully,
Joseph Williamson, Daniel Quare, and Thomas Tompion--who were among the
foremost English clockmakers of all time--produced elaborate examples of
these timepieces. Another significant maker was Dowe Williamson, who
became Court Clockmaker to Emperor Charles VI of Austria. In London,
Joseph Williamson produced some of the finest astronomical timepieces of
this type that have been known. The interest in the subject next shifted
to France where many fine examples were produced during the first half
of the 18th century.
Just after the middle of the 18th century, the subject of astronomical
clocks suddenly became a major horological preoccupation in another
region, namely, Austria, where the work in this field was apparently
done exclusively by members of the clergy. The earliest was Father
Philipp Matthaeus Hahn (1739-1790) of Wuerttemberg.[4] Father Hahn
considered the equation of time as only one part of a plan to represent
astronomical occurrences by means of clockwork. In addition to
planetaria and similar mechanisms, Father Hahn produced two
extraordinary astronomical, tall-case clocks, both of which survive in
public museums.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to acknowledge the valuable assistance received from
the following: DR. AMOS AVERY, Amherst, Massachusetts; MR. EDWIN A.
BATTISON, curator of light machinery and horology, U.S. National Museum;
DOTT. RICHARD BLAAS, Oesterreiches Staatsarchiv, Vienna; DOTT. ADOLFO
CETTO, librarian, Biblioteca Comunale di Trento, who made copies of
Borghesi's two volumes available; SIGNOR MARIO DI MARIO, editor of _La
Clessidra_, Rome, who permitted several of the illustrations in Sig.
Luigi Pippa's article to be used herein; MR. WALTER A. GILBERT, Norwich,
Connecticut; DR. HEINRICH LINARDI, Uhrenmuseum der Stadt Wien, Vienna;
SIGNOR LUIGI PIPPA, Milan, Italy; CAV. ING. GUIDO UCELLI DI NEMI,
Presidente, and DOTT. FEDERICO MORELLI and CAV. ORAZIO CURTI of the
Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica, Milan, for their
cooperation on the descriptions and illustrations of the restored
clockshop of Bartolomeo Antonio Bertolla; and DR. EDWARD WATERS,
Division of Music, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The translation from Francesco Borghesi's Latin texts, which made this
study possible, were made by: REV. NEIL HERLIHY, S.J., REV. FRANCIS J.
HEYDEN, S.J., and REV. STEPHEN X. WINTERS, S.J., Georgetown University,
Washington, D.C.; and REV. DANIEL HUNTER, O.P., and REV. ROBERT STENGER,
O.P., Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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