Accession No
0191
Brief Description
horizontal dial
Origin
Maker
Class
dials
Earliest Date
Latest Date
Inscription Date
Material
wood; metal (silver)
Dimensions
diameter 75 mm; thickness 21 mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from R. Middegaels, Paris, France, on 10/01/1925.
Inscription
Description Notes
Wooden circular box, push fit lid; painted black; compass needle in base; pushfit silvered dial divided 4-12, 1-8 by 1 to 15 minutes, four times for 43, 46, 49 and 52 degrees; aperture for varying compass needle divided (45)-0-(45) by 10 to 1˚. (Four cardinal points marked in centre of dial; 1-2-2000). Fixed bird gnomon.
(Folding adjustable ‘bird’ gnomon, calibrated 40-60˚, numbered by 10, divided to 1˚. Crudely engraved (?); 1-2-2000).
Condition: fair (box: poor); complete.
References
Events
Description
The horizontal dial is the most common form of sundial. The portable version proved very popular with the upper classes during the 19th Century. During this period it could best be described as the wristwatch of its day.
The hour lines are engraved onto a horizontal surface, with a gnomon (pointer) in the centre. Seasonal variations (caused by the earth’s orbit being elliptical, not circular) have to be compensated for, as they can affect the raw reading by up to 18 minutes.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson and Boris Jardine on 18/10/2002
FM:43303
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