Accession No

0123

Brief Description

universal equinoctial dial, by W. Newman and Company, Indian, 4/4 19th Century

Origin

India; Calcutta

Maker

W. Newman and Company

Class

dials

Earliest Date

1900

Latest Date

1900

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass, silvered brass, steel); glass; wood; cloth (velvet, silk); fishskin (shagreen); paper; liquids

Dimensions

case length 95mm; breadth 98mm; thickness 42mm; thickness 25mm (?; 28-1-2000)

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from T.H. Court on 16/08/1923.

Inscription

‘W. NEWMAN & CO CALCUTTA’ (compass)

Description Notes

Universal equinoctial dial, by W. Newman & Co, Indian, 4/4 C19th.

Circular brass base plate with 3 knurled brass levelling screws. Inset silvered compass with 8-point rose and degree scale divided 0 - 90˚ - 0 - 90˚ - 0, numbered by 10˚, subdivided to 2˚; steel needle and clamping bar; 2 bubble levels. Folding latitude arc divided [0] - 90˚, numbered by 10˚, subdivided to 1˚. Hinged hour circle divided IIII - XII, I - VIII, numbered by I, subdivided to 10 minutes, with a reversed scale inside it: ‘INNER CIRCLES OF LETTERS & FIGURES USED IN SOUTH LATITUDES’. Inner face similarly marked, VII-XII, I-V, divided to 10 minutes. Folding square-section gnomon.
Fitted wooden case lined with blue velvet and silk and covered with black shagreen; paper label in lid (in bottom; 28-1-2000) gives equation of time, marked in centre: ‘Fast means that the clock should be faster than the dial, slow slower.’

Complete.

References

Events