Terrestrial Orreries

Lunarium and Tellurium

From National Inventory of Scientific Instruments by Charles Mollan, Royal Dublin Society, the following note concerning item number 3699 ARM012 Orrery.

...divisions for each month, with the abbreviated names of the months "JAN." "FEB" on the outside. The tellurium (B298x95x29; GD69), which can replace the planetarium, is stored on a wood base, and has a horizontal brass plate (L253) for its clockwork mechanism below and above; at one side is the angled Earth globe "LANE'S Terrestrial Globe. London. 1819." with a silvered meridian ring 10-80 degs (x4) and a half ring at right angles 10-90; in the middle of the plate is a silvered horizontal hour ring (D56) I-XII (x2) with a watch hand; a horse shoe brass arc (D103) is on a crook over the earth; there is a pointer at the other end of the plate lower and parrallel to it, which would read the drum of the main orrery. McFarland (1990, 193) has a photograph of the lunarium, also on a horizontal brass plate with a pointer to the orrery drum, but this was not found on the visit in September 1992.

Last Revised: 2009 November 18th