Orrery
date: label: date made
content: 1790s
name: label: maker
content: W. & S. Jones
notes: label: Description
content: This crank-operated 0rrery shows the orbital motions of Mercury, Venus, and the Earth around the Sun, and the Moon around Earth. The circular wooded base rests on three short feet, and is covered with an ornately engraved paper plate. One cherub on this plate holds a sign that reads “Designed for the / NEW PORTABLE / ORRERIES / by W. Jones.” Another cherub holds a sign that reads “and made and sold by / W. & S. JONES / 135 Holborn / London.” There is also “A TABLE of the principal AFFECTIONS of the / PLANETS / Jan’y 1st 1794 / Published as the Act directs by / W. & S. Jones”
label: Description
content: William S. Disbrow, a physician in Newark, N.J., who attained fame as a collector of art, books and scientific specimens, gave this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1902.
label: Description
content: William Jones (1763-1831) and his brother Samuel (d. 1859) made and sold mathematical, optical and philosophical instruments. They began in business at 135 Holborn in 1792, and moved to 30 Holborn in 1800.
label: Description
content: Ref: William Jones, <i>The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery on a Simple Construction</i> (London, 1784).
label: Description
content: Henry C. King and John R. Millburn, <i>Geared to the Stars. The Evolution of Planetariums, Orreries, and Astronomical Clocks</i> (Toronto, 1978), pp. 207-210.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: Subject
content: Astronomy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Globes
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: William S. Disbrow
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.215538
label: catalog number
content: 215538
label: accession number
content: 40279
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Orrery
label: Object Name
content: Orrery / Tellurian
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 in x 13 in; 17.78 cm x 33.02 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 3/4 in x 12 5/8 in; 17.145 cm x 32.0675 cm