When the famous time ball in New York’s Times Square descends at midnight on Thursday, people around the world will celebrate the start of the New Year, but what many Nelson Mandela Bay residents are unaware of is that the city once had a daily time ball which was erected 150 years ago.On August 26 1865 at 1pm, a small crowd gathered around the Donkin lighthouse and cheered as a large black ball attached to an iron bar, the “time ball”, was officially dropped for the first time – remotely controlled from a clock in Cape Town. In the hours leading up to the official drop, excitement mounted as a number of tests were run to ensure everything was in good working order.
The time ball, with a diameter of 1.2m, was made of wickerwork, covered with painted black canvas.
This was attached to a hinged 4.2m iron bar and hung downwards, with the shorter arm pointing upwards until shortly before the drop.
The entire assembly was attached to the catwalk at the top of the lighthouse.
When the electric signal was transmitted from Cape Town, a trigger mechanism was set in motion.
As the deadline approached, the minutes slowly ticked by until they turned to seconds – 30 seconds, 15 seconds, five seconds – and a loud cheer went up as the onlookers gathered beside the lighthouse witnessed the ball dropping.
Although the New York ball descends once a year, PE’s time ball was dropped daily at 1pm, Cape mean time, with the exception of Sundays and public holidays.
This time check allowed mariners to set their marine chronometers, the instrument used in conjunction with a sextant to calculate positions.
At the time it was believed it was the first remote-controlled time ball drop from a clock 800km away.
Time balls were invented in 1818, rendering signal guns obsolete and were soon found at ports all around the globe.
Astronomers at the newly built Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, (now the South African Astronomical Observatory) in Cape Town had been determining time since 1820 but individual municipalities based their local time on astronomical observations of the sun.
By 1889, time balls were also being dropped simultaneously in Kimberley by 1878, in East London by 1889, as well as in Port Alfred by 1893.
Time balls were in regular use until radio time signals, which could be received worldwide, were transmitted from the royal observatory in the UK from December 19 1927, thus rendering time balls obsolete.
When the Donkin lighthouse was heightened in the period 1929-30, the time ball was finally removed.
SA had time balls well before New York
On August 26 1865 at 1pm, a small crowd gathered around the Donkin lighthouse and cheered as a large black ball attached to an iron bar, the “time ball”, was officially dropped for the first time – remotely controlled from a clock in Cape Town. In the hours leading up to the official drop, excitement mounted as a number of tests were run to ensure everything was in good working order.
The time ball, with a diameter of 1.2m, was made of wickerwork, covered with painted black canvas.
This was attached to a hinged 4.2m iron bar and hung downwards, with the shorter arm pointing upwards until shortly before the drop.
The entire assembly was attached to the catwalk at the top of the lighthouse.
When the electric signal was transmitted from Cape Town, a trigger mechanism was set in motion.
As the deadline approached, the minutes slowly ticked by until they turned to seconds – 30 seconds, 15 seconds, five seconds – and a loud cheer went up as the onlookers gathered beside the lighthouse witnessed the ball dropping.
Although the New York ball descends once a year, PE’s time ball was dropped daily at 1pm, Cape mean time, with the exception of Sundays and public holidays.
This time check allowed mariners to set their marine chronometers, the instrument used in conjunction with a sextant to calculate positions.
At the time it was believed it was the first remote-controlled time ball drop from a clock 800km away.
Time balls were invented in 1818, rendering signal guns obsolete and were soon found at ports all around the globe.
Astronomers at the newly built Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, (now the South African Astronomical Observatory) in Cape Town had been determining time since 1820 but individual municipalities based their local time on astronomical observations of the sun.
By 1889, time balls were also being dropped simultaneously in Kimberley by 1878, in East London by 1889, as well as in Port Alfred by 1893.
Time balls were in regular use until radio time signals, which could be received worldwide, were transmitted from the royal observatory in the UK from December 19 1927, thus rendering time balls obsolete.
When the Donkin lighthouse was heightened in the period 1929-30, the time ball was finally removed.
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