APPARATUS FOR ILLUSTRATING AND EXPLAINING THE ALTERNATION AND VARYING LENGTHS OF DAY AND NIGHT AND THE CAUSES AND SUCCESSION OF THE SEASONS to be as follows
Year: 1884

page_text: I WILLIAM RICE of 86 Fleet Street in the City of London Publisher do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for "APPARATUS FOR ILLUSTRATING
AND EXPLAINING THE ALTERNATION AND VARYING LENGTHS OF DAY AND NIGHT
AND THE CAUSES AND SUCCESSION OF THE SEASONS to be as follows :-
"
The object of my invention is an apparatus chiefly intended for use in schools,
to illustrate and explain the alternation and varying lengths of day and night and
the causes and succession of the seasons.
The apparatus consists essentially of a globe or sphere representing the earth
this globe being set at an inclination of 23° 28' (corresponding with the inclination
of the axis of the earth) within a ring in which it is free to be rotated, the ring
itself is mounted on a vertical axis in a circular aperture in a vertical board or
plate and can be rotated on its axis by means of a handle or other suitable
appliance. At a convenient distance in front of the board is a fixed ball or other
device to represent the sun, and this ball may conveniently be carried by a bent
rod or bracket standing out from the board.
By simply turning the globe on its axis, when the ring is in any position the
alternation of day and night is illustrated, the portion of the rotation during which
any particular point of the globe is in front of the board, indicating day and the
portion during which that point is behind the board indicating night. Then by
varying the position of the ring that is to say by rotating it a certain distance
on its axis the axis of the globe relatively to the sun is correspondingly
changed; thus shewing what would be the change of position of the actual
globe if viewed from the sun; by now again rotating the globe on its axis it
will be shewn that the time during which the particular point above referred to
is in front of the board, that is to say the length of the day, is correspondingly
varied; and that as the directness of the rays of the sun upon that particular point
will be seen to be likewise varied the causes and succession of the seasons will be
demonstrated.
$14004

page_text: I WILLIAM RICE of 86 Fleet Street, in the City of London, Publisher, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for "APPARATUS FOR ILLUSTRATING
AND EXPLAINING THE ALTERNATION AND VARYING LENGTHS OF DAY AND NIGHT
" and in what manner the
AND THE CAUSES AND SUCCESSION OF THE SEASONS
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
The object of my invention is an apparatus chiefly intended for use in schools,
to illustrate and explain the alternation and varying lengths of day and night and
the causes and succession of the seasons.
The apparatus consists essentially of a globe or sphere representing the earth
this globe being set at an inclination of 23° 28' (corresponding with the inclination
of the axis of the earth) within a ring in which it is free to be rotated; the ring
itself is mounted on a vertical axis in a circular aperture in a vertical board or
plate and can be rotated on its axis by means of a handle or other suitable
appliance. At a convenient distance in front of the board is a fixed ball or other
device to represent the sun, and this ball may conveniently be carried by a bent
rod or bracket standing out from the board.
By simply turning the globe on its axis, when the ring is in any position, the
alternation of day and night is illustrated, the portion of the rotation during
which any particular point of the globe is in front of the board indicating day
and the portion during which that point is behind the board indicating night.
Then by varying the position of the ring that is to say, by rotating it a certain
distance on its axis the axis of the globe relatively to the sun is correspondingly
changed thus shewing what would be the change of position of the actual globe
if viewed from the sun; by now again rotating the globe on its axis it will be
shown that the time during which the particular point above referred to is in
front of the board, that is to say, the length of the day, is correspondingly varied;
and that as the directness of the rays of the sun upon that particular point will
be seen to be likewise, varied the causes and succession of the seasons will be
demonstrated.
Figure 1 of the annexed drawings is an elevation of an apparatus constructed
according to my invention the ring being in the position it occupies when the
apparatus represents the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere. The autumnal
equinox is represented when the ring has been moved 180° on its axis from the
position seen in Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows the apparatus with the ring moved round to the position it will
occupy to represent a time of the year when the earth is approaching the summer
solstice. a is the globe or sphere representing the earth. b is the ring in which
the globe a is set at an inclination of 23° 28', and within which it is free to be
rotated on its axis o, c¹. The ring b is itself mounted on a vertical axis d, d in a

page_text: circular aperture e in a vertical board or plate fand it can be rotated on its axis
by means of a handle g. h is a fixed ball to represent the sun; it is carried on a
bent rod i which is fixed at its ends to the board f. k is a stand on which the
board fis mounted,
When the North Pole (c') is thrown forward to its utmost extent the ring b
being then at right angles to the position seen in Figure 1, the position represented
is that of the summer solstice when the sun (h) is vertical over the northern tropic.
If this position be reversed and the North Pole thrown back to its greatest extent
the winter solstice is represented and the vertical rays of the sun (h) fall on the
Southern tropic. The two intermediate positions with the sun (h) exactly over
the equator represent respectively, as already intimated, the vernal and autumnal
equinoxes. The hemisphere in front of the board f shows the limits of the suns
rays that is to say, day and the hemisphere behind represents the part of the
earth in shadow, or night.
My invention can be applied to existing apparatus such as that known as the
"Tellurian" which are designed to illustrate the actual orbit of the earth, by
applying a vertical board or plate such as that herein-before described to the globe
of the said apparatus, the board or plate having a circular aperture in which the
rotation of the globe, and its varying positions as viewed from the sun would
be shewn, the effect being to define more clearly the extent of the illuminated.
hemisphere.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is,
The apparatus constructed substantially as hereinbefore described for illustrating
and explaining the alternation and varying lengths of day and night and the causes
and succession of the seasons.