The new time ball

The new time ball on the Nelson Monument which was set up by Laing’s Foundry, Edinburgh weighs 205 kg.

In his paper ‘Notice of the Time Ball at the Royal Observatory at Edinburgh’ published by the Society of Arts in 1856, Professor Piazzi Smyth estimated that the time ball weighed 15 cwt. Dr Roger Kinns of the Maudslay Society who has produced a paper on the Nelson Monument time ball is presently working on calculations to determine the original ball’s weight.

We’ve also heard from Douglas Bateman who worked on the electronics operating the Greenwich time ball. Douglas sent a copy of an article featuring the newly refurbished Gdansk time ball published in May’s ‘Horological Magazine'. www.latarnia.gda./pl/en/index.php.

This week’s photograph taken by Dr. Kinns shows the lifting machinery at the Nelson Monument which was installed in 1853.