Orrery
Reproduction
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Object number04636.01
TitleOrrery
Creator W & S Jones, (manufacturer)
DescriptionThis beautifully detailed orrery was made in 1799 by William Jones of London. It comes with an equally intricate tellurium (or tellurion). To own these scientific instruments would have been the height of intellectual sophistication at the time.
The orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System that was used to demonstrate the motions of the planets about the Sun. It gets its name from the 4th Earl of Orrery, as an acknowledgement of his support of its inventor. The Sun sits at the centre, the planets revolving around it on arms powered by a clockwork mechanism. It includes Uranus, a planet only recently discovered by William Herschel in 1781 and the first to be found using a telescope. The seventh planet from the Sun, it was named after Uranus, the Greek god of the sky, the father of Saturn.
The tellurium is very similar in design. It was used to demonstrate eclipses, how night changed to day and the turning of the seasons, by showing how the Earth and Moon move in orbit around the Sun.
W & S Jones were among the most prolific scientific instrument makers in London in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They produced a range of optical and mathematical devices at affordable prices, including the boxed or pocket sextant for use on the high seas, which William introduced in 1797. They also published ‘The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery.’
Production place30 Holborn,London
Production date 1799
Object nameInstrument, astronomical instrument
TechniqueManufactured
Dimensions
whole Diameter: 190 mm