Editing Time ball (section)

==History==
The fall of a ball was in antiquity a way to show to people the time. Ancient Greek clocks had this system in the main square of a city, as in the city of [[Gaza City|Gaza]] in the post-Alexander era, and as described by [[Procopius]] in his book on Edifices.
Time ball stations set their clocks according to transit observations of the positions of the sun and stars. Originally they either had to be stationed at the [[observatory]], or had to keep a very accurate clock at the station which was set manually to observatory time. Following the introduction of the electric [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] around 1850, time balls could be located at a distance from their source of [[Local mean time|mean time]] and operated remotely.<ref name=nyseaport />

[[File:Boston Time-Ball.jpg|thumb|left|275px|The Boston Time Ball (1881)]]

The first modern time ball was erected at [[Portsmouth]], England, in 1829 by its inventor [[Robert Wauchope (Royal Navy officer)|Robert Wauchope]], a captain in the [[Royal Navy]].<ref name=AUB>{{Cite book |last=Aubin |first=David |title=The Heavens on Earth: Observatories and Astronomy in Nineteenth-Century Science and Culture |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2010 |location=Durham, N.C. |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9EKzLQL3RQEC&q=Robert+Wauchope+time+ball&pg=PA164 |isbn=978-0-8223-4640-1}}</ref> Others followed in the major ports of the United Kingdom (including [[Liverpool]]) and around the maritime world.<ref name=AUB/> One was installed in 1833 at the [[Royal Observatory, Greenwich|Greenwich Observatory]] in London by the [[Astronomer Royal]], [[John Pond]], originally to enable tall ships in the Thames to set their marine chronometers,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory/attractions/greenwich-time-ball|title=Greenwich Time Ball|publisher=Royal Museums Greenwich}}</ref><ref name=nyseaport /> and the time ball has dropped at 1 p.m. every day since then.<ref name=greenwich>{{cite web |url=https://greenwichmeantime.com/articles/history/timeball/|title=Time ball |date=2019 |website=Greenwich2000 |publisher=Greenwich Mean Time|access-date=12 December 2019}}</ref> Wauchope submitted his scheme to American and French ambassadors when they visited England.<ref name=AUB/> The [[United States Naval Observatory]] was established in Washington, D.C., and the first American time ball went into service in 1845.<ref name=AUB/>

Time balls were usually dropped at 1 p.m. (although in the United States they were dropped at noon). They were raised half way about 5 minutes earlier to alert the ships, then with 2–3 minutes to go they were raised the whole way. The time was recorded when the ball began descending, not when it reached the bottom.<ref name=greenwich />
With the commencement of [[Time signal|radio time signals]] (in Britain from 1924), time balls gradually became obsolete and many were demolished in the 1920s.<ref name="Gdańsk">{{cite web |url=http://latarnia.gda.pl/en/index.php?go=kula,czasu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213162503/http://latarnia.gda.pl/en/index.php?go=kula,czasu |archive-date=13 February 2012 |title=The Gdańsk Nowy Port Lighthouse and Time Ball |accessdate=4 January 2009}}</ref>

A contemporary version of the concept has been used since 31 December 1907 at [[New York City]]'s [[Times Square]] as part of its [[New Year's Eve]] celebrations; at 11:59&nbsp;p.m., a [[Times Square Ball|lit ball]] descends from a pole on the roof of [[One Times Square]] over the course of 60 seconds, reaching its conclusion at 12:00&nbsp;a.m. The spectacle—which has given rise to many [[List_of_objects_dropped_on_New_Year's_Eve|similar events]]—was inspired by an organizer having seen the time ball on the [[Western Union Telegraph Building|Western Union Building]] in operation.<ref>{{cite news|first=Robert D. |last=McFadden |title='88 Countdown: 3, 2, 1, Leap Second, 0 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1DC1139F93AA15751C1A961948260 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=31 December 1987 |accessdate=2 January 2009 }}</ref><ref name="Green">{{cite news
|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/31/new.year.us/?iref=mpstoryview
|title=NYC ball drop goes 'green' on 100th anniversary
|publisher=CNN
|date=31 December 2007
|accessdate=2007-12-31}}</ref>