Orrery

Object Details

Willard, Jr., Aaron

Description: Like many instruments of the sort made in London, this American one could be used as an orrery (Sun and planets out to Saturn) or a tellurian (Sun, Earth and Moon), with the mechanisms moved by a crank with an ivory handle. Four elegant brass legs support a mahogany horizon circle. The printed paper label covering this circle is marked “MADE-BY / Aaron Willard Jr. / BOSTON.” The one brass Sun can be used with either form. The planets are ivory. The plate of the tellurian mechanism is marked “A. WILLARD JR. BOSTON.”; Aaron Willard Jr. (1783-1864) was a productive and prosperous clockmaker in Boston who apprenticed with his father and took over the business in 1823. He probably made this instrument in collaboration with John Locke (1792-1856), a graduate of the Yale Medical School who settled in Cincinnati. Locke also established a school for young ladies, developed an electro-chronograph for the U.S. Naval Observatory, and made important contributions to American geology.; Ref: William Ball Jr., “Another American Orrery,” Antiques 4 (October 1938): 184-185.; “Willard’s Portable Orrery,” The Weekly Recorder (Jan. 17, 1821): 166, from Boston Centinel.
Location: Currently not on view (orrery)

ca 1820

Physical Description: brass (overall material); wood (overall material); ivory (overall material); paper (overall material)
Measurements: overall (case): 25.3 cm x 37.5 cm x 35.6 cm; 9 31/32 in x 14 3/4 in x 14 1/32 in

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences; Globes; Measuring & Mapping

National Museum of American History

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-429f-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa