The Project Gutenberg EBook of On the Origin of Clockwork, Perpetual
Motion Devices, and the Compass, by Derek J. de Solla Price

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Title: On the Origin of Clockwork, Perpetual Motion Devices, and the Compass

Author: Derek J. de Solla Price

Release Date: September 16, 2009 [EBook #30001]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CONTRIBUTIONS FROM

THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY:

PAPER 6

ON THE ORIGIN OF CLOCKWORK,

PERPETUAL MOTION DEVICES AND THE COMPASS

_Derek J. de Solla Price_

POWER AND MOTION GEARING 83

MECHANICAL CLOCKS 84

MECHANIZED ASTRONOMICAL MODELS 88

PERPETUAL MOTION AND THE CLOCK BEFORE DE DONDI 108

THE MAGNETIC COMPASS AS A FELLOW-TRAVELER FROM CHINA 110

_ON THE ORIGIN OF CLOCKWORK,_

_PERPETUAL MOTION DEVICES_

_AND THE COMPASS_

_By Derek J. de Solla Price_

_Ancestor of the mechanical clock has been thought by some to be the
sundial. Actually these devices represent two different approaches to
the problem of time-keeping. True ancestor of the clock is to be found
among the highly complex astronomical machines which man has been
building since Hellenic times to illustrate the relative motions of the
heavenly bodies._

_This study--its findings will be used in preparing the Museum's new
hall on the history of time-keeping--traces this ancestry back through
2,00