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The Early History of the Edinburgh Time Ball and Time Gun

Abstract The time ball above the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill in Edinburgh and the time gun on Edinburgh Castle are two of the most famous time signals in the world. The plan to have a time ball on the Nelson Monument had been agreed by the City and Admiralty in 1846. The apparatus was finally ordered from Maudslay, Sons & Field of London in 1852 and arrived in Leith during September 1853. It was erected under the leadership of Professor Charles Piazzi Smyth and extended trials were undertaken to prove its reliability in all weathers, before it became an official signal in March 1854. From the outset, the ball was released by an electric telegraph signal from a clock at the nearby Royal Observatory. The time gun on Edinburgh Castle was introduced in 1861, with automatic firing by a Castle clock that was controlled by electric telegraph from the Observatory. A wire suspended between the Monument and the Castle was used from 1861 until December 1873. Frederick James Ritchie, clockmaker of Edinburgh, made important contributions to the accuracy of both time signals.