Inventory no. 53108 - Former Display Label
French INCLINING STRING-GNOMON DIAL
c. 1730
Silver and gilt brass. Signed, "Cadran Universel et a Méridienne Fait et jnventé par julien le Roy de la Société des Arts"; undated.
This instrument consists of a rectangular base-plate, bearing a compass adjustable for up to 20° magnetic declination E. or W., to which is hinged a rectangular hour-plate of the same size. There is a circular opening in the hour-plate to reveal the compass, and this plate may be adjusted for latitudes within the range 0° to 55° by means of a latitude-scale hinged to the S. W. corner of the base-plate. The latitude-scale is divided for every degree between 37° and 55°, and 23° and 0° are also marked. There is a hinged support, on the hour-plate, for the string-gnomon, and the hour-scale is divided to intervals of five minutes. Underneath the base-plate are engraved the names of 26 towns with their latitudes.
Julien Le Roy (1686-1759) was a member of a famous family of horologists. Himself a celebrated maker, "who raised the status of French watch-making by the perfection of his work and esign', and the author of several memoirs on horology, he was the father of Pierre Le Roy (1717-1785), the "most eminent horologist of France".
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Billmeir Collection