Drawing of an aero-clepsydra
Date
12 December 1667
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p2
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 314mm
width (page): 218mm
width (page): 218mm
Subject
Content object
Description
A time measuring device that works on the basis of air instead of water, as was more commonly used.
The invention was brought to the Royal Society by Edmund Wylde and John Aubrey, and was judged as ingenious by Robert Hooke.
The invention was brought to the Royal Society by Edmund Wylde and John Aubrey, and was judged as ingenious by Robert Hooke.
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 5 December 1667, ‘Mr. Wylde mentioned, that he knew of a way of measuring time like that produced by Mr. Aubrey; and that he had it from Mr. Smethwick, who acknowledged to have received it from Sir Edward Lake, chancellor of Lincoln’ (Birch 2:224).
On 12 December 1667, ‘Mr. Hooke being called upon for giving an account of what he thought of the method of measuring time, brought in at the last meeting by Mr. Aubrey and Mr. Wylde, said, that though the inventions were ingenious, and as he thought, new; yet that by reason of the equality of the air, caused by the various degrees of its rarefaction and condensation, as also of its dryness and moisture, it would not be fit for pocket-watches, nor of that exactness and use, that pendulums were’ (Birch 2:226).
On 12 December 1667, ‘Mr. Hooke being called upon for giving an account of what he thought of the method of measuring time, brought in at the last meeting by Mr. Aubrey and Mr. Wylde, said, that though the inventions were ingenious, and as he thought, new; yet that by reason of the equality of the air, caused by the various degrees of its rarefaction and condensation, as also of its dryness and moisture, it would not be fit for pocket-watches, nor of that exactness and use, that pendulums were’ (Birch 2:226).
Related fellows
John Aubrey (1626 - 1697, British) , Antiquary
Edmund Wylde (1613 - 1699, British English) , Politician
Edmund Wylde (1613 - 1699, British English) , Politician
Associated place