Orrery

Description

This large-scale model of the solar system is a device called an orrery, a planteary machine, or satellite machine according to astronomical research current in the 1820s. It was designed as a low-tech version for use in academic settings, but more complex instruments with brass gear-driven movements ("machines") that offered rotation as well as orbits were available in some universities. The sun, six planets, and smaller moons are mounted on wires attached to ivory disks that allow manual rotation around the central shaft. Beneath the spheres on the tripod base is a brass instrument plate engraved with twelve 30-degree radius lines measured in five minute intervals at the perimeter. Each section is identified with a celestial zodiac name and symbol. In the quadrant above "Aquarius" is an engraved script dedication identifying Joseph Coleman Hart as the designer for Edward Maguire's Academy in 1824. In that same year, Joseph C. Hart served as curator of the New York Mechanical and Scientific Institution.