Everyday , at 5 minutes to i , a brilliant orangish ball on the roof of Flamsteed House at Greenwich’s Old Observatory inwards London , slides half-way upwards a pole. At ii minutes to i , it rises all the agency to the top. At just i PM , the ball falls amongst a deadening thud. Anyone who is looking at the ball when it drops tin right away verify whether their watches are telling the right time. In this electrical flow historic menstruum , when fourth dimension could hold upwards easily synchronized over the cyberspace or yesteryear using mobile signals or GPS applied scientific discipline , “time balls” are superfluous , merely dorsum inwards the Victorian era this was i of the few ways yesteryear which fourth dimension was announced to the public.
Back inwards those days , few people could afford to conduct hold their ain watches together with clocks , instead relying on the hourly chimes of the church building clock to say time. The church building clocks were non real accurate merely most people had no ask for precise time.
The fourth dimension ball atop Flamsteed House at Greenwich , London. Photo credit: Carmen Seaby/Flickr
Things were unlike for a ship’s captain. Ships needed extremely precise clocks to create upwards one's hear their lay at bounding main , which they did yesteryear taking celestial readings together with coordinating those readings amongst the fourth dimension they were known to tumble out at some other dot on the world , such every bit at Greenwich. The breakthrough came inwards 1761 when John Harrison , a Yorkshire carpenter , developed a chronometer that was accurate together with portable plenty to create the job. But Harrison’s remarkable conception was notwithstanding useless if it couldn’t hold upwards laid correctly earlier departing on a long voyage.
The thought of the fourth dimension ball was proposed inwards 1829 yesteryear Robert Wauchope , a Royal Navy captain. Robert suggested that the fourth dimension ball hold upwards gear upwards at the harbor together with dropped at a specific minute to dot the time. Sailors could sentiment it through a telescope together with laid their chronometers accordingly.
A visual signal rather than an audial i , every bit inwards church building bells , was too advantageous. Sound travels slowly through the air , taking almost iii seconds to comprehend a kilometer. So the further out the observer is from the beginning of the audio , the longer it takes to have the signal. Wind , pelting , humidity together with other atmospheric weather condition too impact the speed of sound. Relying on audio signals to say fourth dimension was inherently flawed.
The Greenwich Time Ball. Photo credit: David Brossard/Flickr
The starting fourth dimension time ball was erected inwards the harbor at Portsmouth , England. It worked together with thus good that inwards 1833 some other i was gear upwards at the Greenwich Observatory on a hilltop —the same i that y'all run into today. The starting fourth dimension American fourth dimension ball went into service inwards 1845 at the US of America Naval Observatory inwards Washington , D.C.
Time balls were typically dropped at 1PM , although inwards the US of America they were dropped at noon. It’s believed that 1PM was chosen rather than noon because astronomers , who operated the fourth dimension balls , were e'er busy doing of import observations at midday when the Sun is at its apex. Another explanation could hold upwards that it was easier for sailors to anticipate the arrival of 1PM later on noon had passed than to hold back for noon itself.
As the years passed , ameliorate fourth dimension keeping mechanisms were developed such every bit telegraphic communication together with electronic fourth dimension signals , together with fourth dimension balls became obsolete.
There are over threescore fourth dimension balls standing at harbors around the world today. H5N1 few of them are notwithstanding operating for the novelty or for tourists , similar the i at Greenwich Observatory . Some fourth dimension balls driblet on especial occasions , such every bit the Times Square fourth dimension ball inwards New York which drops at midnight on novel year’s eve.
The Greenwich Time Ball. Photo credit: Duncan Stephen/Flickr
The Greenwich Time Ball. Photo credit: www.rmg.co.uk
The Boston Time Ball on the roof of the Equitable Life Assurance Society building. (1881). Photo credit: Winslow Upton together with William Babcock Hazen/Public domain
Williamstown Lighthouse together with Time Ball Tower , Australia. Photo credit: VICPhotoSurvey/Panoramio
Time ball atop the Old Windmill inwards Wickham Park , Brisbane , Queensland , Australia. Photo credit: Andy Mitchell/Flickr
Time ball on Clock Tower , Brighton. Photo credit: AKS.9955/Wikimedia
Nelson Monument , inwards Edinburgh , Scotland has a fourth dimension ball installed inwards 1853. Photo credit: Jay Hogan/Flickr
A fourth dimension ball at Sydney Observatory , Sydney , Australia. Photo credit: Greg O'Beirne/Wikimedia
Time Ball Tower , Portswood Ridge , Victoria together with Alfred Waterfront , Cape Town. Photo credit: the bad/Wikimedia
A modern fourth dimension ball at Times Square , New York City , erected every bit a role of novel year’s fifty-fifty celebration. Photo credit: Michael Tapp/Flickr
A modern fourth dimension ball at Times Square , New York City , erected every bit a role of novel year’s fifty-fifty celebration. Photo credit: Anthony Quintano/Flickr
A modern fourth dimension ball at Times Square , New York City , erected every bit a role of novel year’s fifty-fifty celebration. Photo credit: gigi_nyc/Flickr
Sources: NY Times / The Greenwich Phantom / Wikipedia / Royal Museums Greenwich