Gallery of orrery designs by Peter Grimwood, UK – Orreries UK: Orrery design & manufacture Peter Grimwood – Peter Grimwood produces museum quality Orreries and other astronomical models.
Early Tellurian
A model showing the Sun/Earth/Moon system.
The moon orbits the Earth on an inclined plane which rotates once every 18.7 years to predict Solar and lunar eclipses.
The date ring adjusts slightly each year, and every four years repeats February 28th to demonstrate leap years.
Inner Solar System
Showing Mercury and Venus as well as the Earth and Moon.
With its complex gearing it demonstrates over twelve different orbital movements.
The Earth Centred Universe
Built to show how things look if you believe the Earth is the centre of the universe.
Sun and Moon orbit the Earth each day, with the Sun rising up in the sky in summer, and sinking down in winter.
Sunrise and sunset times are shown on the globe, and it all works as it should!
The Solar system in miniature
This luxury model was built with no expense spared. The hollow ball is solid silver, the planets are pearls and all the gearing is gold plated.
The inside of the ball is enamelled with an accurate star map of gold stars on a midnight blue background.
Ocean going Planets
The big one. With the longest arm at two metres+ it needed a large room in this ocean-going yacht to fit it all in.
Venus transit Replica
Commissioned by a customer with a special interest in the transit of Venus this is an exact copy of the c.1760 demonstration model now held in London by the Royal Society.
The celestial sphere
Early astronomers once believed that the stars were all on a ‘celestial sphere’ a few thousand miles above the surface of the Earth.
This model has the ancient constellation figures hand engraved into a glass sphere, with a working Sun/Earth/Moon system inside it.
Card planispheres — a collector’s guide
Planispheres from 1740 to 1980 are illustrated together with sizes, technical details and background information.
Now out of print, but a second (larger) edition under development.
National Space Centre Exhibit
Popular with schoolchildren who turn the handle to see the major motions of the Sun/Earth/Moon system.
Many of these designs were one-off commissions and may not be available. Contact me for more details.
Gallery of orrery designs by Peter Grimwood, UK – Orreries UK: Orrery design & manufacture Peter Grimwood – Peter Grimwood produces museum quality Orreries and other astronomical models.
Gallery of orrery designs by Peter Grimwood, UK – Orreries UK: Orrery design & manufacture Peter Grimwood – Peter Grimwood produces museum quality Orreries and other astronomical models.
Peter Grimwood produces museum quality Orreries and other astronomical models
These range from a Solar System hidden inside a hollow silver ball only 4 inches across, to a ceiling mounted motorised version where the longest arm sweeps out a four metre diameter circle.
There is a range of current models, some are stocked, others are made to order. Commissions for new designs are welcomed, though these will take longer as the design work will need to be done first. Learn more about orreries. WHAT IS AN ORRERY?
A model that shows the planets revolving round the Sun, normally without any planetary rotation or axial tilt, is called a Planetarium.
WHY ARE THEY CALLED ORRERIES?
In 1712 an instrument maker called John Rowley built an Earth/Moon/Sun model for Charles Boyle, who was the fourth earl of Orrery. John Rowley, most probably in an attempt to flatter his patron, named the device “an Orrery” and the name stuck!