 |
| Menu |
|
| |
| |
|
| Catalogue |
|
Nocturnal
Unsigned
16th century; English
Brass; 77 mm in diameter
The instrument is composed of two concentric rings mounted on a straight arm with an attachment hole at its free end. The outer ring is engraved on one side with an undivided double 12 hour scale (I to XII, I to XII) engraved anti-clockwise so as to correspond correctly when the 24 touch pins set on the other side are numbered off in a clockwise direction. Beneath the touch pins, on the inner edge of the ring, is an unnumbered 360? scale. Within this ring and free to rotate is a second ring engraved on its circumference with a calendar scale reading to one day but without indication of leap year. In the space between the month of March and the boss at the centre of the rings is a subsidiary ring and a further fourth ring, of which only one half is open and which may be rotated within the subsidiary ring. A small notch is cut at the centre of the diameter of the fourth ring. Mounted at the centre of the instrument are two indexes, one with a flat pointed end, the other with a square end returned through 90?. Both these however may be replacements.Anthony J. Turner
Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Firenze
Inventory no. 2500
© Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Firenze. All rights reserved. Information and images provided here may not be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the museum.
Basic URL: http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/epact/catalogue.php?ENumber=86714 |
|
