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| Liverpool Observatory Waterloo Dock 1845 |
Liverpool Observatory was built at Waterloo Dock, Liverpool
in 1845 and one of its objectives was to establish Greenwich time and to
indicate it each day to the citizens of the Port of Liverpool. Eventually many
towns and cities developed their own time ball systems, but it was particularly
important for maritime ports to have a precise time signal. Chronometers on
board ship had to be exact in order for the ships position to be accurately
known.
Jon Hartnup
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| Jon Hartnup |
John Hartnup the Director at the Liverpool Observatory
determined sidereal time from the stars by means of the transit telescope
situated in one of the domes on the Observatory roof. A sidereal clock at the
Observatory kept sidereal time, and solar time was calculated from it. A time
ball was fitted to the outside wall of the Observatory and was dropped each day
at exactly one o'clock so that the citizens and mariners could check their
timepieces. A time ball is a sphere, which slides up and down a vertical mast
and can be abruptly dropped at an appointed hour. It was similar in all
respects to that used at Greenwich and also at Portsmouth, which were also
dropped at one o'clock.
Bond Clock
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| Bond Clock |
It is thought that not more than three of these clocks were
made. It kept sidereal time, that is, time according to the stars rather than
the sun. The clock is driven by weights in the usual manner and has a normal
pendulum. However, a peculiar feature is that the clock movement terminates in
a frictionally driven wheel carrying an arm, which comes to rest on a pallet.
In this position the driving wheel continues to run freely and does not affect
the driven wheel, as this has part of its circumference cut away. The pendulum
releases the pallet and the arm of the driven wheel falls under gravity,
breaking the electrical circuit used to operate a chronograph. The movement is
then taken up again by the driving wheel, and so on. One special feature is the
great rapidity with which the electrical circuit is broken and re-made. Another
is that the impulses to the pendulum are less frequent - once in two seconds -
than with normal clocks. Yet another unusual feature is that the pendulum is
not used to operate electrical contacts. The rotating pendulum at the top of
the clock stores energy in order to make the contacts. In 1856 the Magnetic
Telegraph Company laid down wires from the Observatory clock to the clock in
the Exchange Buildings.
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| Exchange Buildings Liverpool |
This clock was a Henley's Electro-magnetic clock, which had a large dial, which was easily seen from Exchange Flags. The second hands of the Observatory and Henley's clocks moved simultaneously, being connected electrically. This service was not only for chronometer makers and owners, but also for the general public. In 1857 the Town Hall clock, approximately a mile from the Observatory was also connected to the Observatory. In 1860 the clock in Victoria Tower, which had six dials eight feet in diameter, was also connected to the system. A time ball was fitted to this clock and was visible from the river. Chronometer makers and mariners could be seen assembling around the both points in Liverpool to check their instruments as the time balls fell at exactly one o'clock. As a further service to mariners the staff of Liverpool Observatory also rated and checked ships' chronometers over various temperatures.
When the dock was redeveloped, a new Observatory was built
on the top of Bidston Hill in Wirral in 1866, some three miles across the River
Mersey. Accurate time still needed to be indicated to the people of Liverpool,
but, due to the distance of the new Observatory, it now had to be with the aid
of an audible signal. The staff continued to observe the passage of the stars
with the aid of the transit telescope, which was situated, in the eastern dome
of the Observatory, thus determining time.
A cannon at Morpeth Dock, Birkenhead was fired remotely from
Bidston Observatory at one o'clock each working day, triggered electrically by
a specially adapted Robert Molyneux clock. On the dockside, the cannon, a relic
of the Crimean wars, was loaded, and at 12.30pm each working day a member of
staff tested the connection between the clock at the Observatory and the
cannon. At one second to one o'clock the switch would be thrown at the
Observatory, the firing being triggered by the next swing of the clock's
pendulum. On clear days the flash could be spotted from across the Mersey.
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| The cannon which was situated at Morpeth Dock fired at one when a time signal was sent electrically to the gun from Bidston observatory. Photograph courtesy of Liverpool Record Office. |
This service was performed from 1867 until July 18th 1969,
apart from a break during the Second World War. An extra firing heralded the
start of the 20th century. An attempt was made to scrap the time signal in
1932, partly because it was no longer necessary, due to the advent of radio,
but also because of the cost of maintenance of the gun, said to be
approximately one hundred pounds a year. There was a public outcry at the
prospect of the ending of this tradition, so the War Office provided a new
cannon, a 32 pounder from Woolwich Arsenal, which arrived on April 26th 1933.
The old cannon was on display in the grounds of Bidston Observatory for many
years.
In 1946, after a wartime silence of six and a half years,
this cannon was then replaced by a third gun, a six pounder naval anti-aircraft
Hotchkiss gun, and on June 17th the old familiar sound once more reverberated
across the River Mersey.
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| The OneO'Clock gun firing with the Royal Liver Building in view |
In 1969 Bidston Observatory became a component body of the
Natural Environment Research Council, concentrating on oceanographic research,
and it was decided to discontinue the tradition of firing the One O'clock Gun
on the grounds of efficiency.
One of the earlier cannons is now at the Maritime Museum,
Liverpool. The transit telescope is now in the Liverpool Museum. The clock used
for the firing of the One O'Clock Gun remains on display at the Observatory
(now known as the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory).
One O'clock - A Liverpool Cameo (Video)
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