Shepherd Gate Clock - Royal Greenwich Observatory (London)
N 51° 28.680 W 000° 00.084
30U E 708219 N 5707247
The Shepherd Gate Clock, an early example of an electric clock, is mounted on the wall outside the gate of the Royal Greenwich Observatory building in Greenwich, Greater London.
Waymark Code: WMQCPP
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/06/2016
Views: 16
The Shepherd Gate Clock, an early example of an electric clock, is mounted on the wall outside the gate of the Royal Greenwich Observatory building in Greenwich, Greater London.
The clock was a slave mechanism controlled by electric pulses transmitted by a master clock inside the main building. The network of master and slave clocks was constructed and installed by Charles Shepherd in 1852. The clock by the gate was probably the first to display Greenwich Mean Time to the public, and is unusual in using the 24-hour analogue dial.
The Gate Clock originally indicated astronomical time, in which the counting of the 24 hours of each day starts at noon. The clock was changed in the 20th century to indicate Greenwich Mean Time, in which the counting of the 24 hours of each day starts at midnight. Currently, the Gate Clock continues to show Greenwich Mean Time, and it does not show daylight saving time. The clock is now controlled by a quartz mechanism inside the main building. The master clocks are still on display, but are not functional. During World War II, the dial was damaged beyond repair by a bomb. The current dial is a modern copy. [wiki]