The One O'Clock Gun Association


History of the Nelson Monument time ball
	1772 Captain Cook circumnavigates the world using a chronometer based on John Harrison's design. Drawing of HMS Resolution	1809 The world famous clockmaking firm Messrs. James Ritchie opens for business in Leith.

	1818 The observatory on the Calton Hill opens officially.	1829 Portsmouth experimental time ball set up. Drawing of Portsmouth experimental time.

	1833 Time ball set up at Greenwich Observatory. The East India Company decides to set up time balls along its trade routes.	1840 Alexander Bain invents the electric clock.

	1846 Edinburgh banker John Hewat sees a miniature time gun being fired during a business trip to Paris.	1853 Time ball set up on the Nelson Monument, Edinburgh. Ritchies design and supply the electric clock.

You can also view a selection of images from around the globe in our World History of Time Guns & Time Balls section.

Illustrated in part by JohnThomson and photographs supplied from around the globe.