Klinghammer's computus

The Easter Calculator Kling Hammer is a mechanism that calculates the elements of the Easter calculation and especially the date of Easter for the Gregorian calendar. This mechanism was built in the 1970s by Frédéric Kling hammer. It is a very accurate reproduction of the Easter computer which is part of the iconic timepiece of the astronomical clock of Strasbourg Cathedral.

Frédéric Kling Hammer

Frédéric ( or Fritz) Kling Hammer ( 1908-2006 ) was a former employee of the company Ungerer in Strasbourg ( Alsace ), which held as the successor Schwilgués the Strasbourg wound watch repaired. He then worked at the astronomical clock in Messina, where he designed many of the mechanisms. Later he went to Moulins (France) and then spent the 1970s in Morocco, where he built his Easter calculator.

Functions of the Easter calculator

The function of the computer follows the Easter Comput Ecclésiastique by Jean -Baptiste Schwilgué (1776-1856), which is described in the reference books of 1922 and 1992. An Easter Calculator is a complicated mechanical calendar movement. It is used to calculate the variable date of Easter on the basis of stored mechanical astronomical data. The date of Easter is set in the church calendar as the first Sunday after the spring full moon. The old astronomical Domuhren betrayed the date of Easter oversized, pre-calculated calendar discs that had to be repeatedly charged and labeled new. The date of Easter was encrypted epact, solar cycle, Roman Number, Dominical Letter and Golden Number. Therefore, a reading only to the initiate was possible. Schwilgué put the calculation in the third Strasbourg clock mechanically. This New Year's Eve the wheels of the Easter computer is started. This makes the calculations of the church calendar for the following year. Jens Olsen also wrote an astronomical clock with a similar everlasting Easter calculator.

The Klinghammersche Easter calculator was restored by Joseph Flores in the years 2006-2007. About this work, a book was published (see bibliography). The book of Flores has been criticized, in part because of his unscientific approach and its many shortcomings. Reviews have been published in magazines and in the forums of the NAWCC.

Other surviving Easter Calculator

• Jean -Baptiste Schwilgués astronomical astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral ( Strasbourg third Münsteruhr ), completed in 1842
• Auguste -Lucien Vérité wound astronomical clock in the cathedral of St. -Jean in Besançon (France), completed in 1860
• Auguste -Lucien Vérité astronomical Monumentaluhr in the Cathedral of Beauvais (France), set in motion in 1876
• Louis Room wound Ruhr in Lier (Belgium ), issued in 1939 at the World Fair in New York.
• Jens Olsen's World Clock at City Hall in Copenhagen, completed in 1955