Two remarkable clockwork celestial globes designed in 1727 by the Abbé Réginald Outhier (1694-1774) of Besançon and constructed by the clockmaker, Jean-Baptiste Cattin of Fort de Plasne in Franche-Comté.
Outhier described his globes to the French Academy of Sciences in 1727, and the designs were published in the 1735 compendium edited by J. G. Gallon: Machines et Inventions approuveés par l'Academie Royale des Sciences depuis son établissement jusqu'à présent.
The first of these globes [above] is identical to the first version described in Gallon. It has a gilt metal sphere and strikes the hour in passing.
In a second globe, the Abbé abandoned the striking mechanism in favor of a minute hand.
The example [below] is one of these subsequent "perfected" versions, also described in Gallon. It also incorporates a further "improvement," to adjust the rate of the clock.
Two other of these "improved" versions are in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England and are described in detail in a recent catalogue. Another is in the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, but lacks its globe.
According to Outhier’s account, in Gallon, the globes were designed to show the motions of the Son Moon and Stars in the following way: The clock dial near the north Pole carries an hour hand that moves with the celestial sphere, thus recording Sidereal Time. The globe's subsidiary mechanism, near the South Pole, drives the Sun and Moon on their annual journey through the signs of the Zodiac. It appears that the speed of rotation of the Sun disc is variable and thus shows True Solar Time. The Sun and Moon arms are geared to show the phases of the Moon and can predict eclipses. The wheel work is able to adjust for the precession of the Equinoxes and the Metonic Cycle
Literature:
Baillie, G. H. Clocks and Watches: An historical Bibliography. London, 1951.
Dekker, Elly. Globes at Greenwich: A Catalogue of the Globes and Armillary Spheres in the National Maritime Museum, Oxford, 1999
Globe mouvant inventé par M. L'Abbé Outhier, prestre. in Gallon, J. G. Machines et Inventions approuveés par l'Academie Royale des Sciences depuis son établissement jusqu'à présent. Paris, 1735, vol. V, pp 15-22.
King, Henry C. Geared to the Stars: the evolution of Planetariums, Orreries and Astronomical Clocks. Toronto, 1978
Tardy. Dictionaire des Horlogers français. Paris, 1971.
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. Catalogue du Musée, Section JB, Horlogerie. Paris, 1949.
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