Original eight day clock by Harrison, date 1715, wheel work mostly of wood, weight driven
This clock was made by the chronometer pioneer, John Harrison, at the age of 22 and before he began his celebrated project to build chronometers that would be accurate enough to find a ship's longitude at sea. The clock movement is made almost entirely out of wood, partly, it is thought, to reduce the need to lubrication, but also because Harrison was a carpenter by trade. The clock movement was weight-driven and would have been mounted in a long case with a pendulum.
On display
Science Museum: Making the Modern World Gallery
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Details
- Category:
- Time Measurement
- Object Number:
- 1884-80/1
- Materials:
- brass, frame and wheelwork (not escape wheel): oak, pinions and arbors: boxwood, pivots: steel
- type:
- pendulum clock
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- measuring device - instrument
- timepiece
- clock
- credit:
- Empringham, G.
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