H1 is possibly the most important timepiece ever created. Nearly 300 years ago it was the beginning of John Harrison's quest to create a timekeeper accurate enough to determine longitude at sea.
H1 still exists, thanks to Rupert Gould's and Jonathan Betts' dedication in restoring and maintaining it. The property of the Ministry of Defence Art Collection, London, it is on extended loan to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and can be viewed in the Time Gallery.
For the first time, an animation of the actual H1 is available to the public. The iPhone app features the intricate pieces of brass fashioned by Harrison in the 1700's into a precision timekeeper and marvelous piece of art!
Enjoy and marvel at this marine timekeeper on your iPhone or iPod Touch and at the same time help support the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
John Harrison's first marine timekeeper (known today as H1) is the first experimental sea clock made by Harrison, to enable navigators to find longitude at sea and is one of the great milestones in clock-making history.
The dials on H1 are different from ordinary clocks. The seconds hand (top) is double-ended and can be read from either end. It goes round the dial once in 2 minutes (30 seconds have passed when the hand moves from vertical to horizontal). The minute hand (left) is also double-ended and goes round its dial once in 2 hours. The hour hand (right) is also double-handed and goes round the dial once in 24 hours. The bottom dial shows the day of the month and goes round once every 31 days, straight up is the 16th.
The images are of the actual H1, built nearly 300 years ago, so the chapter rings are difficult to read. To see what the dials look like close up, have a look at the museum's website at: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=ZAA0034 .
If you want to display GMT set your iPhone clock to UTC.
Tap the screen to turn on/off the background star field.
You can also dismiss the opening image by tapping the screen a couple seconds after starting the app.
"Built of brightly shining brass, with rods and balances sticking out at odd angles, its broad bottom and tall projections recall some ancient vessel that never existed. It looks like a cross between a galley and a galleon, with a high, ornate stern facing forward, two towering masts that carry no sails, and knobbed brass oars to be manned by tiers of unseen rowers. It is a model ship, escaped from its bottle, afloat on the sea of time." "No fanciful movie about time travel, despite the best efforts of Hollywood set design, ever presented a time machine as convincing as this one"
From Dava Sobel's New York Times Best Seller 'Longitude' .
Based on Dava Sobel's book, the truly great movie, Longitude, is a dramatic account of John Harrison's life and quest for the Longitude prize and of Rupert Gould's life-long project to restore the Harrison timekeepers to their former glory.
Further information is available in the following publications: Time Restored: The Harrison timekeepers and R.T.Gould, the man who knew (almost) everything and Harrison both by Jonathan Betts and available from the National Maritime Museum Shop, www.nmmshop.com
This app contains images of H1 © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London by kind permission of the Ministry of Defence Art Collection, London, used under license.
A special Thanks to the people at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich! It's been a great privilege to construct this animation of H1.
Gary / Tech Center Labs
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