[41] Recorded interview with Frank Duryea in the U.S. National Museum, November 9, 1956. On the formation of the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, Mr. Markham was rewarded for his part of the venture. He had invested nearly $3000 in the work, and sold out his rights in the company for approximately a $2000 profit.
The transcriptions retain all typographical and gramatical errors.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY:
THE BORGHESI ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK IN THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY
THE CLOCKS OF BARTOLOMEO ANTONIO BERTOLLA 59
[Illustration: Figure 1.--THE DIAL PLATE of the Borghesi clock, showing the horary and astronomical indications which are automatically presented.]
_The Borghesi Astronomical Clock_ _In the Museum of History and Technology_
_The history of the 18th-century Borghesi astronomical clock is described here from contemporary source material. The evolution of its design by Father Francesco Borghesi and the building of the complex mechanism devised by the clockmaker, Bartolomeo Antonio Bertolla, is a story of the vision of one man turned into reality by another. The result of their collaboration is the unique, astronomical timepiece now in the Museum of History and Technology._
THE AUTHOR: _Silvio A. Bedini is curator of mechanical and civil engineering in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of History and Technology._
"... All this work I had performed eagerly, so that, while in my room, I might contemplate leisurely, both during the day and in the night, the true face of the heavens and of the seas unobscured by clouds, even though I had no astronomical equipment."[1]
With these words, Father Francesco Borghesi (1723-1802) of Mechel described the reasons which inspired him to invent a unique astronomical clock which is now in the horological collection of the Museum of History and Technology.
This complicated mechanism, which performs a multitude of functions, was designed by Father Francesco Borghesi, a secular priest in Venezia Tridentina. It was constructed in 1764 under his direction by a provincial clockmaker named Bartolomeo Antonio Bertolla (1702-1789) of Mocenigo di Rumo. It was the second of two complicated astronomical clocks which Father Borghesi designed and which Bertolla constructed. According to contemporary sources, this clock was presented to the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria soon after its completion.