A man by the name of Louis P. Juvet came up with the idea of a clockwork-driven globe and this was back in 1867. The clockwork within the globe, rotates the globe once in 24 hours. The movement is riding on an axis down the center and is wound by turning the tail feathers on the arrow. With one of Juvet's patents he included a clock face and hands placed at the north pole of the globe. Juvet also had hour markings on the stationary equator ring and with all this, one was able to determine the local time at any point on the globe. Juvet had his globes made to withstand heavy use as he envisioned them to be used in schools and libraries as educational tools. The globes also had lines showing ocean currents, telegraph cables and the sun's angle up or down from the equator to name a few things. The globe itself gave geographical details, towns and political boundaries in great detail but of a world during the 1800's. At that time much of the western U.S. were still territories and the rest of the world also looked different than it does today.
Unfortunately Juvet's plans for the globes went up in smoke when his plant burned in 1886. This makes them very valuable as their production was limited. The picture I have included is of a floor model that sold recently for $13,225. Also made was a table top version which is more rare and it sold for $24,150. So if anyone out there has one it would be quite valuable. It would be a thrill for me to see one in person after reading about them, to me a very interesting part of our history. Too bad the production of them had to end so early.
