Early horology

In Chioggia, not far from Venice, Italy, an ancient turret clock has been discovered and deeply studied, thanks to centuries of documentation available in the wonderful local archives. The oldest document mentioning the clock, which apart from minor modifications is always the same, dates back to 1386.
This research allowed the author to put it side by side to the more famous clock in Salisbury Cathedral, so sharing the title of 'oldest surviving mechanical clock in the world'.

Author can be contacted at: [email protected]

This article discusses an unsigned lantern clock that is unlike any other recorded to date. The much altered
movement appears to be English and possibly from a very early period. The escapement has been updated
from a balance wheel via a verge pendulum to anchor and long pendulum. Also the going duration has
been increased. The most obvious difference from a conventional clock are corner posts comprising a naïve
cast-brass male figure instead of the usual turned pillars with finials. No similar figure has been found
in any other context, but it is felt that the discovery of something comparable will eventually reveal more
about the clock’s date and origins.

A large weight-driven iron chamber clock is discussed. It originally had trains of only two-wheels. Changes to the balance escapement and motion-work have resulted in the dial being repainted to read counterclockwise. Analysis of the paint indicates a date prior to 1650 and a name on the frame suggests a Polish origin. [This clock is now thought to be French.]

The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich holds in its collections a Renaissance clock with astronomical complications made in Augsburg at the end of the sixteenth century. Beside the clock, the museum library holds its anonymous instruction booklet printed in Geneva in 1704. The clock is signed by Buschman, a prominent Augsburg maker, and is said to have belonged to John Casimir Vasa, king of Poland in the seventeenth century. This article discusses the authorship of the clock by comparing it with a twin clock from the same period signed by another maker. Whether it did indeed once belong to the Polish king is queried, with reference to his post mortem goods sale. This article uses written sources as well as the evidence from the clock itself, which was taken apart recently to study its history.

A Gothic Hausuhr with a very unusual frame construction and original wheels, including the crownwheel, is discussed. A careful forensic-like study of repairs
and modifications indicates that it has been in use for a considerable period and is of an early date. Technical features, especially the form of the suspension gallows,
suggest that it originated from southeastern Austria.

The paper focuses on the contribution of the Italian clockmaker Giovanni Dondi (1330-1388). He authored the manuscript Tractatus Astrarii documenting , with text and drawings, the design and manufacturing phases of a very sophisticated astronomical clock. In particular, the manuscript contains one of the earliest documented procedures for the design of non-circular gears. Hence, the purpose of this paper is twofold: to call the attention of the mechanism community about these historically meaningful procedures and to offer insights on the kinematic structure of some relevant parts of Dondi's astronomical clock. In fact, detailed descriptions of the gear trains for tracking the motions of the Mercury planet and of the Moon are herein presented. In these gear trains non-circular gears have been used to account for the apparent irregular motion of the planets. Finally, it has been observed the correspondence between the average angular speeds of the gear wheels and those of the Ptolemaic model.

This article is based on a lecture given at the Conference of the Antiquarian Horological Society at Liverpool University in 2008. It discusses and illustrates a wide rane of clocks from the region which are often more varied and interesting, both technically and stylistically than those from the south of England. It considers dials, cases and movements and nies their special features and characteristics.

This second part records the known details of other important Birmingham makers of painted clock dials. These include: Thomas Ashwin (who was murdered during the 1791 Birmingham Riots), his successor Francis Byrne, the Nicholas family who factored dials made by others, Walker & Hughes, Walker & Finnemore and William Finnemore.

This article describes the rescue of a late German iron Gothic clock, converting an altered movement into a working mechanism, while retaining as much as possible of the original. The first part deals with the frame, the striking train and the strike-work.

This article looks at various forms of repeating work and rack striking in clocks and concludes that the commonly held view that rack striking was invented by Edward Barlow about 1675 is incorrect. Barlow invented a form of repeating, not striking, using a snail. There is no evidence that he invented the rack for striking, the earliest example of which was made by Thomas Tompion in London, possibly based on suggestions by Robert Hooke.

The second part of this article considers some of the more important makers of painted clock dials in Birmingham: Thomas Ashwin (who was murdered during the Birmingham Riots of 1791), Francis Byrne, Walker & Hughes, Walker & Finnemore, William Finnemore and the Nicholas faimily, who were clockmakers factoring dials under their own name, but.made by others

A turret clock in Chioggia near Venice, decommissioned in the 1970s, can be traced back to 1386 on the basis of a systematic exploration of the local archives. This article presents the documentary evidence for the history of the clock and offers a 3D reconstruction.

The text, a translation, and a detailed analysis of an astrological text in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, copied in a Genizah fragment (Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter K 7.46) are presented. The text begins by listing which planet rules each of the hours of the week. This is followed by short explanations of what each hour of each day of the week is auspicious for and what actions should or should not, be undertaken in each hour. Hebrew versions of this text are extant in several manuscripts, but this is the first publication of the Aramaic text from which they were translated. This text, along with several other Aramaic astrological texts from the Cairo Genizah and elsewhere, joins the growing body of evidence for the Jewish interest in astrology in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

We give an overview of the role of the mechanical clock in the development of scientific astronomy up to the end of the sixteenth century. Specific attention is paid to indication accuracy of clocks for this purpose. We present the earliest currently known watch with a minute hand and with reading accuracy up to 10 seconds as well as the earliest and often overlooked archival note on a timepiece with a seconds hand. Furthermore we calculate and discuss the impact of indication accuracy on observation accuracy. We focus mostly on indication accuracy  first, movement accuracy of the clocks is discussed at the end.

We investigate several early Nuremberg clocks and archival evidence for clockmaking in the 14th to 16th centuries. This allows us to corroborate several hypotheses about dissemination of horological knowledge in the sixteenth century and gain new insights on well-known clockmakers

John A. Robey*
Longcase clock dials ‘in imitation of enamel’ were first made in Birmingham
in 1772. While this remained the centre of the industry they were also made in
Halifax in significant numbers by William Whitaker and his successors from the
1790s to cater for the northern market. Though he died in 1800 the business was
continued by his brother Henry until about 1810 when a partnership was formed
with William Shreeve, who died in a tragic accident in 1817. Thereafter Whitaker
& Shreeve continued making dials until 1834. By 1810 William’s son John left to
make clock dials in Leeds and a couple of dialmakers continued the trade in Halifax
until the 1850s. This article provides much new evidence on the relationship
between the Whitaker and Shreeve families and other dialmaking businesses in
the area. Examples of typical Whitaker dials, falseplates and hemisphere maps are
illustrated, including those sold by factors in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

This paper investigates the reception of public clocks in wooden marquetry panels, starting from the earliest representations of the late 15th century. Inlaid images of identifiable tower clocks part of urban views (mostly of Northern and Central Italian towns) as well as non-identifiable ones are presented, along with inlaid representations of early alarums and other fascinating mechanisms. The importance and meaning of time-keeping devices for religious and civic communities are illustrated and reasons are provided for finding more numerous early depictions in wooden tarsias than in paintings.

Very few balance lantern clocks avoided being updated to a pendulum, either with a verge escapement or a later anchor escapement, though many have been reconverted back to balance in recent times. Those that survived conversion are now eagerly sought after by collectors as examples of the earliest English domestic clocks. They are often said to number ‘only a handful’, but twenty-one are claimed to have an original balance escapement. After outlining the features that need to be considered when deciding on a clock’s originality, all those known to the author that are said to be original are discussed. Seven of these clocks are regarded as being largely original, another seven do not appear to have ever been converted to a pendulum, but parts (such as the verge and/or the crownwheel) have been replaced due to wear. A possible four clocks may be unaltered, but their originality is not confirmed, while three clocks said to have an original balance are likely to be reconversions.

Casting marks are sometimes found on brass clock components, the most frequently found examples probably
being identified with the Mayor foundry in Little Moorfields. John Mayor was casting clock parts in the
late seventeenth century and his descendants continued the trade for over a century. As well as discussing
this and other founders, the ‘matchstick man’ casting mark found on London lantern clocks from the
1640s is also considered. For the background to the Moorfields area of London, where most of the people
mentioned here worked, readers should refer to Part 1 of this article.

We examine the transition from clocks to watches with specific analysis of the early watchmaker Peter Henlein. Further analysis of the number of watchmakers in two horological centres shows that the transition from making watches as a luxury item to a mass market product which found an interested clientele for its practical uses happened around 1520 - 1550.

In this article we give an overview of watchmaking at the time of Peter Henlein in the  rst half of the sixteenth century. We present a stackfreed mechanism that is signi cantly older than previously known pieces and hence brings forward the possible development of  at watches to the  rst third of the sixteenth century. We investigate the pricing structure of clocks and watches from Nuremberg between 1521 and 1541 and present archival evidence to link a remarkable timepiece in the British Museum to the famous early watchmaker Peter Henlein of Nuremberg

In the same days when father Athanasius Kircher was teaching and working in the well known Collegium Romanum, another Jesuit, father Mario Bettini was trying to give his contribution to the history of horology. His water-driven clock, without wheels - as he declares - is examined and described. Other hint about his life and works are presented in the article.

This article describes a treatise on clockmaking compiled by an unknown clockmaker in about 1380. It is the earliest known practical clockmaking manual in Europe, and accordingly is of great importance for the history and development of horology. A transcript of the original Old French manuscript is reproduced, a literal translation of the complete text in English is here presented for the first time, and the difficult and often obscure text is explained in a detailed commentary, together with the illustrated reconstructions proposed for some of the various mechanisms. From this old treatise we may infer that the second half of the fourteenth century was a period of intense activity and experimentation in clockmaking in France, that several alternative designs of clock mechanisms had already been developed and were known among clockmakers, and that a relatively large number of artisans were engaged in the new craft of clockmaking.

This paper describes the earliest form of striking used in clocks from the earliest times. In Britain it is virtually unknown in domestic clocks, where warned striking was normal. It was widely used on the continent, especially Germany where it continued until the 19th century.

A large weight-driven iron chamber clock is discussed. It originally had trains of only two-wheels. Changes to the balance escapement and motion-work have resulted in the dial being repainted to read counterclockwise. Analysis of the paint indicates a date prior to 1650 and a name on the frame suggests a Polish origin. [Recent research suggests that it was made in France about 1580.]

We describe in detail two 15th century gothic domestic clocks in the Musée Charles VII in Mehun sur Yèvre. One of them is remarkable for being one of the very few courtly domestic clocks with exceptionally lavish decoration. The other one is unique in maintaining its original curved foliot with curved pallets. Text in French language.

A very unusual dial from a Scottish clock, probably added to a lantern clock to convert it into a longcase clock, has manually adjustable indicators that show the dominical letters and epacts. The use of these to determine the date of Easter is explained, and biographical details of the clockmaker and the dial’s first owner are given.

This article analyses Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings relating to spring-driven clocks including the associated texts based on recent transcriptions. This allows gaining insights into the fore-front of spring-driven clock-making technology in the late fifteenth century. It is being discussed how the challenges of the then still rather new technology were tackled and how the visionary artist developed ideas that were implemented during the following decades and centuries. To this end, interpretations of several of his mechanisms that were not discussed in the context of horology so far are given. Leonardo’s description of spring-making is confirmed by sixteenth- century clocks; differences to eighteenth-century practices are discussed.

The unknown details of the long history of the turret clock installed on the tower of the main square in Trento, Italy is explored through a research in the local archives. The public clock becomes the witness, with alterations and modifications suffered, of the compliance of the city to the different political powers leading the community, according to a sort of political correctness ante litteram

Author can be contacted at: [email protected]

This article illustrates and discusses Eardley Norton's patent for two clocks that strike the hours and one that also strikes the quarters, all using only one train of gear wheels. There are also designs for three repeating watches. The operation of some of these mechanisms is sometimes obscure, they are very complex and not practical and no examples are known to exist.

Richard of Wallingford's contribution to the history of horology is well-known among the experts but not to a wide audience. The life, works and deeds of Richard are discussed, as well as a description of his astronomical clock, whose existing models are presented together with a 3D reconstruction proposed by a then-student of Università di Roma Tor Vergata under supervision of professor Ettore Pennestrì. Cultural and technological links between Italy and England are presented as well.

Author can be contacted at: [email protected]

A series of seven lantern clocks is discussed that have the corner posts, top and bottom plates and movement bars all made of iron, but with cruciform front and rear bars and brass wheels typical of English work. One clock retains its original painted iron dial and original iron balance, two have been redialed, while the others have English brass dials. The only one that is signed (by an unknown maker) is smaller than any other known lantern clock. These clocks appear to have been made in England (five of them probably in the same workshop) at various periods throughout the seventeenth century. Apart from the miniature one, they were probably all made in London. They may have been produced as more affordable versions of the all-brass lantern clock.