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1 Tompion, Thomas
SUBJECT AREA: Horology[br]baptized 25 July 1639 Ickwell Green, Englandd. 20 November 1713 London, England[br]English clock-and watchmaker of great skill and ingenuity who laid the foundations of his country's pre-eminence in that field.[br]Little is known about Tompion's early life except that he was born into a family of blacksmiths. When he was admitted into the Clockmakers' Company in 1671 he was described as a "Great Clockmaker", which meant a maker of turret clocks, and as these clocks were made of wrought iron they would have required blacksmithing skills. Despite this background, he also rapidly established his reputation as a watchmaker. In 1674 he moved to premises in Water Lane at the sign of "The Dial and Three Crowns", where his business prospered and he remained for the rest of his life. Assisted by journeymen and up to eleven apprentices at any one time, the output from his workshop was prodigious, amounting to over 5,000 watches and 600 clocks. In his lifetime he was famous for his watches, as these figures suggest, but although they are of high quality they do not differ markedly from those produced by other London watchmakers of that period. He is now known more for the limited number of elaborate clocks that he produced, such as the equation clock and the spring-driven clock of a year's duration, which he made for William III. Around 1711 he took into partnership his nephew by marriage, George Graham, who carried on the business after his death.Although Tompion does not seem to have been particularly innovative, he lived at a time when great advances were being made in horology, which his consummate skill as a craftsman enabled him to exploit. In this he was greatly assisted by his association with Robert Hooke, for whom Tompion constructed a watch with a balance spring in 1675; at that time Hooke was trying to establish his priority over Huygens for this invention. Although this particular watch was not successful, it made Tompion aware of the potential of the balance spring and he became the first person in England to apply Huygens's spiral spring to the balance of a watch. Although Thuret had constructed such a watch somewhat earlier in France, the superior quality of Tompion's wheel work, assisted by Hooke's wheel-cutting engine, enabled him to dominate the market. The anchor escapement (which reduced the amplitude of the pendulum's swing) was first applied to clocks around this time and produced further improvements in accuracy which Tompion and other makers were able to utilize. However, the anchor escapement, like the verge escapement, produced recoil (the clock was momentarily driven in reverse). Tompion was involved in attempts to overcome this defect with the introduction of the dead-beat escapement for clocks and the horizontal escapement for watches. Neither was successful, but they were both perfected later by George Graham.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsMaster of the Clockmakers' Company 1703.Bibliography1695, with William Houghton and Edward Barlow, British patent no. 344 (for a horizontal escapement).Further ReadingR.W.Symonds, 1951, Thomas Tompion, His Life and Work, London (a comprehensive but now slightly dated account).H.W.Robinson and W.Adams (eds), 1935, The Diary of Robert Hooke (contains many references to Tompion).D.Howse, 1970, The Tompion clocks at Greenwich and the dead-beat escapement', Antiquarian Horology 7:18–34, 114–33.DV -
2 tompion
['tɔmpjən]то́мпион ( часы и барометры старинного образца)по фамилии мастера Т.Томпиона [Thomas Tompion, 1639-1713]English-Russian Great Britain dictionary (Великобритания. Лингвострановедческий словарь) > tompion
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3 Horology
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Ctesibius of AlexandriaGrimthorpe, Edmund Beckett, BaronSu SongYi-XingZhang Sixun -
4 Barlow, Edward
SUBJECT AREA: Horology[br]baptized 15 December 1636 near Warrington, Cheshire, England d. 1716[br]English priest and mechanician who invented rack striking, repeating mechanisms for clocks and watches and, with others, patented a horizontal escapement for watches.[br]Barlow was the son of Edward Booth, but he adopted the surname of his godfather, the Benedictine monk Ambrose Barlow, as a condition of his will. In 1659 he entered the English College at Lisbon, and after being ordained a priest he was sent to the English mission. There he resided at Parkhall in Lancashire, the seat of Mr Houghton, with whom he later collaborated on the horizontal escapement.At a time when it was difficult to produce a light to examine the dial of a clock or watch at night, a mechanism that would indicate the hours and subdivisions of the hour audibly and at will was highly desirable. The count wheel, which had been used from the earliest times to control the striking of a clock, was unsuitable for this purpose as it struck the hours in sequence. If the mechanism was set off manually to determine the time, the strike would no longer correspond with the indications on the dial. In 1675 Barlow invented rack striking, where the hour struck was determined solely by the position of the hour hand. With this mechanism it was therefore possible to repeat the hour at will, without upsetting the sequence of striking. In 1687 Barlow tried to patent a method of repeating for watches, but it was rejected by James II in favour of a system produced by the watchmaker Daniel Quare and which was simpler to operate. He was successful in obtaining a patent for a horizontal escapement for watches in 1695, in collaboration with William Hough ton and Thomas Tompion. Although this escapement was little used, it can be regarded as the forerunner of the cylinder escapement that George Graham introduced c. 1725.[br]Bibliography1695 (with William Houghton and Thomas Tompion), British patent no. 344 (a horizontal escapement).Further ReadingDictionary of National Biography, 1885, Vol. 1, Oxford, S.V.Barlow.Britten's Old Clocks \& Watches and Their Makers, 1982, rev. Cecil Clutton, 9th edn, London, pp. 148, 310, 313 (provides a technical description of rack striking, repeating work and the horizontal escapement).DV -
5 Hooke, Robert
[br]b. 18 July 1635 Freshwater, Isle of Wight, Englandd. 3 March 1703 London, England[br]English physicist, astronomer and mechanician.[br]Son of Revd John Hooke, minister of the parish, he was a sickly child who was subject to headaches which prevented protracted study. He devoted his time while alone to making mechanical models including a wooden clock. On the death of his father in October 1648 he was left £100 and went to London, where he became a pupil of Sir Peter Lely and then went to Westminster School under Dr Busby. There he learned the classical languages, some Hebrew and oriental languages while mastering six books of Euclid in one week. In 1653 he entered Christ Church College, Oxford, where he graduated MA in 1663, after studying chemistry and astronomy. In 1662 he was appointed Curator of Experiments to the Royal Society and was elected a Fellow in 1663. In 1665 his appointment was made permanent and he was given apartments in Gresham College, where he lived until his death in 1703. He was an indefatigable experimenter, perhaps best known for the invention of the universal joint named after him. The properties of the atmosphere greatly engaged him and he devised many forms of the barometer. He was the first to apply the spiral spring to the regulation of the balance wheel of the watch in an attempt to measure longitude at sea, but he did not publish his results until after Huygens's reinvention of the device in 1675. Several of his "new watches" were made by Thomas Tompion, one of which was presented to King Charles II. He is said to have invented, among other devices, thirty different ways of flying, the first practical system of telegraphy, an odometer, a hearing aid, an arithmetical machine and a marine barometer. Hooke was a small man, somewhat deformed, with long, lank hair, who went about stooped and moved very quickly. He was of a melancholy and mistrustful disposition, ill-tempered and sharp-tongued. He slept little, often working all night and taking a nap during the day. John Aubrey, his near-contemporary, wrote of Hooke, "He is certainly the greatest Mechanick this day in the World." He is said to have been the first to establish the true principle of the arch. His eyesight failed and he was blind for the last year of his life. He is best known for his Micrographia, or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies, first published in 1665. After the Great Fire of London, he exhibited a model for the rebuilding of the City. This was not accepted, but it did result in Hooke's appointment as one of two City Surveyors. This proved a lucrative post and through it Hooke amassed a fortune of some thousands of pounds, which was found intact after his death some thirty years later. It had never been opened in the interim period. Among the buildings he designed were the new Bethlehem (Bedlam) Hospital, the College of Physicians and Montague House.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1663; Secretary 1677–82.IMcN
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Tompion, Thomas — (baptized July 25, 1639, Northill, Bedfordshire, Eng. died Nov. 20, 1713, London) British clockmaker. Working closely with Robert Hooke and Edward Barlow, he made one of the first English watches with a balance spring and patented the cylinder… … Universalium
Tompion, Thomas — (bautizado el 25 jul. 1639, Northill, Bedfordshire, Inglaterra–20 nov. 1713, Londres). Relojero británico. Trabajando estrechamente con Robert Hooke y Edward Barlow, confeccionó uno de los primeros relojes ingleses con un espiral del volante y… … Enciclopedia Universal
Thomas Tompion — (1639 ndash;1713) was an English master clockmaker and watchmaker known today as the father of English watchmaking . His work includes some of the most important clocks and watches in the world and his work commands huge prices whenever it… … Wikipedia
Tompion — Thomas Tompion (1638–1713) Thomas Tompion (* 1638 in Northill, Bedfordshire; † 20. November 1713 in London) war ein vom englischen Königshof geschätzter und von seinen Kollegen hoch geachteter englischer Uhrmacher. Tompion, der sehr… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Thomas — Thomas, Albert Thomas, André Antoine Thomas, Ch. L. Ambroise Thomas, Dylan Thomas, Sidney Gilchrist Thomas, Theodore * * * (as used in expressions) Adès, Thomas … Enciclopedia Universal
Thomas — /tom euhs/ for 1, 2, 4 14; /taw mah / for 3, n. 1. an apostle who demanded proof of Christ s Resurrection. John 20:24 29. 2. Augustus, 1857 1934, U.S. playwright, journalist, and actor. 3. (Charles Louis) Ambroise /shannrddl lwee ahonn brddwannz… … Universalium
Thomas Tompion — (1638–1713) Thomas Tompion (* 1638 in Northill, Bedfordshire; † 20. November 1713 in London) war ein vom englischen Königshof geschätzter und von seinen Kollegen hoch geachteter englischer Uhrmacher. Tompion, der sehr wahrscheinlich ledig… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Thomas Mudge (horologist) — Thomas Mudge, (1715 ndash; 1794) was an English horologist who invented the lever escapement, the greatest single improvement ever applied to pocket watches.CareerMudge was the second son of Zachariah Mudge (1694–1769), headmaster and clergyman,… … Wikipedia
Tompion — Recorded in several spellings including Tampen, Tampion, Tampin, Temping, Tompion, and others, this is an unusual surname. Like Tamlin and Tamplin, it is a diminutive of the Middle English and Scottish personal name Tam or Tom or Thom, the… … Surnames reference
Thomas Tompion — L horloger anglais Thomas Tompion (1639–1713) fut le premier à répartir le travail entre les ouvriers spécialisés, pour fabriquer en série, et à numéroter ses montres[1]. Il assembla près de 650 montres dans sa carrière et transmit l entreprise… … Wikipédia en Français
Thomas Mudge — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Mudge. L inventeur et horloger anglais Thomas Mudge ((1715–1794), fut le premier à mettre au point l échappement (horlogerie) libre à ancre et la sonnerie à répétition minutes. Fils de Zacharian Mudge, un pasteur … Wikipédia en Français
