Kendall produces K1 In 1765, when the Board of Longitude asked John Harrison to make a full disclosure of the inner workings of his H4 timekeeper, clockmaker Larcum Kendall was a member of the select committee of witnesses. During deliberations, it was decided that a copy of H4 would be produced to test the truthfulness of Harrison’s disclosure. Harrison nominated Kendall to produce the copy. The copy, entitled K1, was completed in 1769, and in 1770 it was inspected by the same committee and judged a suitable reproduction. In her book, Longitude, science writer Dava Sobel provides a full history of Harrison's dramatic quest to solve the problem of determining longitude at sea. You can also read an account Harrison’s trials and tribulations on Clocktime. Reference Sobel, D. 2011. Longitude: The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time. London: Harper Perennial. Image Credit K1 Marine Timekeeper, 1769, Larcum Kendall, ZAA0038 © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0, https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-79143.
