Terrestrial clockwork globe

(the weight in this object may contain LEAD) Terrestrial clockwork globe. Geographical details on the sphere show shipping routes, with the indication of the distances in miles. Cables are marked by red lines. Some currents, such as the Gulf Stream and Antarctic Drift, are indicated by geographical contour lines, which are hardly visible. A total of six oceans are named.

Overton applied for British Patent no. 19,460 on August 3I 1906 for this design of clockwork globe. It was finally granted on 22 August 1907 but with reference to two earlier patents of 1877 and 1879, taken out for L.P. Juvet, an American, under British names, indicating that the Patent Office recognised that the basic idea was not new. It is notable that the one novel feature of this globe, the model of the Sun which can be made to traverse the meridian arm, is not mentioned in the patent and is not shown in the one known advert for the type. Although both National Maritime Museum examples have this feature it only appears to have been fitted on some of the known examples. See also S Smith & Son, GLB0062.

The clockwork mechanism allows the globe to revolve, at mean solar time, about its polar axis, driven via a toothed wheel fixed at the South Pole. In this way, local time at any point on the globe can be read off the hour scale on the equatorial ring. The clockwork mechanism is in the circular box base. For full details about the cartography and construction of this clockwork globe please refer to the related publication.

Object Details

ID: GLB0032
Collection: Astronomical and navigational instruments; Charts and maps
Type: Clockwork globe
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Richard; S. Smith & Son
Date made: circa 1905
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: Overall: 300 x 185 mm; Diameter of sphere: 155 mm
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