Time ball

A time ball in the New Port Plaque at the lighthouse - a device used in the nineteenth century to set ship chronometers.

In ports that had a time sphere at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, the chronometers' indications could be corrected. Exactly at 11.55 the iron ball was pulled manually by means of a crank handle to the half of the mast. Exactly 11.58, also by hand, the ball was pulled to the top of the mast. Timely at 12.00 a telegraph signal from the astronomical observatory was received (a signal from Berlin was received in Gdansk). Under the influence of the pulse generated by the signal, the catch of the ball was released, which dropped, signaling to the captains of the ships. The masters of ships in the harbor and on the sidewalk were able to tune the chronometers. Only a few copies have survived. in the United Kingdom, the United States, and New Zealand.

Gdansk time ball - it was a steel ball of 1.5 meters in diameter, weighing 75 kg, placed on a three-meter mast above the lighthouse of the New Port. Reconstructed ball is different from the previous one: it has 1.7 meter diameter and 70 kg and the signal is emitted five times a day (at 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18). Currently, the signal is broadcast from the European Time Center in Mainflingen, near Frankfurt.

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