The Rolling Ball Web
An Online Compendium of
Rolling Ball Sculptures, Clocks, Etc.
By David M. MacMillan et. al.
Adams, G. A Catalog of Mathematical, Philosophical and Optical Instruments (Bound with Micrographia Illustrata) London: George Adams, 1746.
Adams, G. A Description of an Apparatus for Explaining the Principles of Mechanicks. MS. 1762.
Arnfield, J. "An Inertially Detached Gravity Escapement." Horological Journal. 130.4 (1987): 10-12.
Bear Creek. "Marble Race." Fall 1984 catalog.
Bedini, Silvio A. "Perpetuum Mobile: The Invention of Rolling Ball Clocks in the Seventeenth Century." The Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. Vol. VII, No. 2, Whole No. 62 (February 1956): 74-87.
This is the paper in which 16th and 17th century rolling ball clocks were "rediscovered."
Bell, Maynard. "Ten Years Later." The Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Whole No. 151, pp 1121-1122.
[author unknown] [title unknown; citation of Maynard Bell's clock] The Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Whole No. 191, pp 577.
Maynard Bell briefly describes his rolling ball powered conical pendulum clock; one photo.
[Maynard Bell] Martines, Joseph E. "Contemporary Clockmaking: An Overview." The Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. Vol. XIX, No. 6, Whole No. 191 (December 1977): 571-585.
Berotoys. Catalog (date?).
von Bertele, Hans. "Precision Timekeeping in the Pre-Huygens Era." Horological Journal. Upton, UK: The British Horological Institute. Vol. XCV, No 1143 (December, 1953): 794-816.
This is von Bertele's study of Burgi's cross-beat escapement. It provides valuable contextual material for the study of early rolling ball clocks.
von Bertele, Hans. "The Rolling-Ball Time Standard." La Suisse Horlogère. [International Edition in English] No. 3 (September 1956): 63-72, No. 4 (December 1956): 67-78.
This is the single most important reference in the field of 16th and 17th century rolling ball clocks.
von Bertele, [Hans] and [Ernest] von Bassermann-Jordan. Uhren. Brunswick: Klinkhardt and Biermann, 1961.
Boucheron, Pierre H. "Just How Good Was the Shortt Clock?" The Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. Vol. XXVII, No. 2, Whole Number 235 (April, 1985): 165-173.
Childcraft. "Tobaga." Fall 1984 catalog.
Daumas, Maurice, Ed. A History of Technology and Invention: Progress Through the Ages, Vol. II: The First Stages of Mechanization. 1964 (Presses Universitaires de France). Trans. Eileen B. Hennessy. NY: Crown Publishers, 1969. ISBN: 0-517-507285, LC: 71-93403.
Demainbray, S.C.T. The Syllabus of a Course of Natural and Experimental Philosophy.
Discovery Toys. "Marble Magic." Spring 1985 catalog.
Fried, Henry B. "[Book Review of] How to Make a Congreve Clock." The Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. Vol. XIX, No. 3, Whole No. 188 (June 1977): 297-198.
's Gravesande, W.J. Mathematical Elements of Physicks, proved by Experiments: Being an Introduction to Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy. (1st edn.) (trans. J. Keill) London: G. Strahan, 1720.
's Gravesande, W.J. Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy. (6th edn., 2 vols.) London, 1747.
Green, Estill. "The Story of Q." American Scientist. 43 (1955): 584-595.
Griffin, John J. and Sons, Ltd. Scientific Handicraft: An Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue of Scientific Apparatus Manufactured and Sold by John J. Griffin and Sons, Ltd. 14th Edn. (London, nd[1910])
[citation given in Lloyd] Grollier de Servière. Recueil d'Ouvrages Curieux, Lyon, 1719.
[citation given in Guye and Michel] M. Grollier de Sevière. Recueil d'ouvrages curieux de Mathématiques et de Mécanique. "Written by his grandson Grollier de Sevière." Lyons: David Forey, 1733.
Guye, Samuel and Henri Michel. Time and Space: Measuring Instruments from the 15th to the 19th Century. NY: Praeger Publishers, 1971. [Originally Mesures du Temps et de l'Espace. Friborg, Office du Livre, 1970.]
Hope-Jones, Frank. Electrical Timekeeping. London: N.A.G. Press Ltd. 1940.
Kater, Edward. "Description of an Escapement for an Astronomical Clock, Invented by the Late Captain Henry Kater, FRS etc." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 130 (1840): 335-340, Plate XI.
Kiddiecraft. "Super Helter Skelter." Toy.
Kusan, Inc. "Max Trax No. 500." In catalog, 1970, p. 15.
Langman, H.R. and A. Ball. Electrical Horology: A Practical Manual on the Application of the Principles and Practice of Electricity to Horological Instruments and Machines for the Measurement and Transmission of Time, With an Account of the Earliest Electrically-Driven Clock Mechanism. Third Edition. London: The Technical Press Ltd., 1935.
Lloyd, H. Alan. The Collector's Dictionary of Clocks. South Brunswick, NY: A. S. Barnes and Co., Inc., 1964. LC: 65-24848.
Lloyd, H. Alan. Some Outstanding Clocks over Seven Hundred Years: 1250-1950. London: Leonard Hill [Books] Limited, 1958.
Discusses the dependence of early verge and foliot escapement/oscillator pairs on constant driving power; concludes that if the power was constant they were actually pretty good, but when it varied they experienced great changes in rate.
Maurice, Klaus and Otto Mayr, eds. The Clockwork Universe: German Clocks and Automata 1550-1650. Washington, DC and NY: Smithsonian Institution and Neale Watson Academic Publications, 1980.
Maurice, Klaus. Die deutsche Räderuhr. Munich, 1976, 2 vols. Vol. II, Fig 646.
Morton, Alan Q. and Jane A. Wess. Public and Private Science: The King George III Collection. Oxford, UK: The Oxford University Press in Association with The Science Museum, 1993. ISBN: 0-19-856392-2.
Multiple Products. Catalog. 1965. P. 124.
Congreve clock at NAWCC Museum. Dornes clepsydra inclined plane clock.
Congreve clock by Max Lembeck.
Back cover illustrates a Congreve clock from 1885 made by John Evans of the UK.
Ord-Hume, Arthur W. J. G. Perpetual Motion: The History of an Obsession. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977. ISBN: 0-312-60131-X. LC: TJ 181 .3 .07 1977 621.8 76-10560.
Price, Derek J. de Solla. ""On the Origin of Clockwork, Perpetual Motion Devices and the Compass." Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1959: 82-112. (United States National Museum, Bulletin 218: Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Papers 1 to 11.)
Rawlings, A. L. The Science of Clocks and Watches. 3rd edition. Ed. Timothy and Amyra Treffry, contributions from several authorities. Upton, UK: The British Horological Institute, 1993. ISBN: 0-9509621-3-9
Roberts, Derek. British Skeleton Clocks. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: The Antique Collectors' Club, Ltd., 1987. ISBN: 1-851490-59-0; LC: TS 543.G7; Dewey: 681.1'13.
Smith, Alan, Ed. The International Dictionary of Clocks. 1979 (Country Life Books). NY: Exeter Books [Simon and Shuster], 1984. ISBN: 0-671-06809-1.
Stafford, Barbara Maria. Artful Science: Enlightenment Entertainment and the Eclipse of Visual Education. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1994. ISBN: 0-262-19342-6; LC: QP 495 .S73 1994.
Toys to Grow On. "Build & Roll Raceway." Fall 1984 catalog.
[T & D Occasional Paper No. 2] Turner, A. J. "William Congreve and his Clock, A Reprint of the Patent Granted to Congreve in 1808, with an Introductory Note and a Portrait." London, 1972. 24pp, UKP 1.
Turner, Gerard L'E. Nineteenth-Century Scientific Instruments. London and Berkeley: Sotheby Publications and the University of California Press. ISBN: 0-05667-170-3 (UK), 0-520-05160-2 (USA).
Wilding, John. The Construction of a Congreve Rolling Ball Clock [Current edition published in the US by W. R. (Bill) Smith, WRSmith2@aol.com; original edition published by Brant Wright Associates, Ltd. [UK?], ca. 1977.]
Woodward, Philip. My Own Right Time: An Exploration of Clockwork Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-19-856522-4. LC: TS 545 .W67 1995 681.1'13-dc20 94-49376.
If you do not own this book, buy it now. It is graceful, deep, and humane; probably the best book on technical horology from any contemporary author.
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