NOON CAM

The Noon cam, or solar Pipe, is a device intended to signal the sun’s passage across the meridian, that is, true solar noon, in order to allow the Regulation / Adjustment of personal watches at a time when they remained insufficiently precise. Invented at the end of the 18th century for domestic use, it combines on a base a miniature Pipe, a magnifying glass, and a solar Dial: the latter allows the magnifying glass to be positioned so that, at the moment of true noon, concentrated solar Light ignites a small charge of powder and triggers the shot, without human intervention. An example of this type adorned the gardens of the Palais-Royal in Paris as early as 1784. The principle was also applied to real artillery pieces for civic purposes: in Nice, a Pipe shot has announced noon daily since 1861, a tradition established by the Scottish amateur astronomer Thomas Coventry and perpetuated by a municipal decree of 1885.