ARMILLARY SPHERE
An armillary sphere (variations are known as spherical astrolabe, armilla, or armil)
is a model of the celestial sphere.
The earliest known armillary sphere was invented by the ancient Greek Eratosthenes in 255 BC.
The Chinese during the 1st century BC (Western Han Dynasty) also invented the armillary sphere, while
the 2nd century Chinese astronomer Zhang Heng is credited as the world's first to apply motive power
(using hydraulics) in rotating his armillary sphere.
The name of this device comes ultimately from the Latin armilla (circle, bracelet), since it has a skeleton
made of graduated metal circles linking the poles and representing the equator, the ecliptic, meridians and
parallels (while the Chinese dubbed theirs as the hun yi, or celestial-sphere instrument).
Usually a ball representing the Earth or, later, the Sun is placed in its center. It is used to demonstrate
the motion of the stars around the Earth. Before the advent of the European telescope in the 17th century,
the armillary sphere was the prime instrument of all astronomers in determining celestial positions.
In its simplest form, consisting of a ring fixed in the plane of the equator, the armilla is one of the most
ancient of astronomical instruments. Slightly developed, it was crossed by another ring fixed in the
plane of the meridian. The first was an equinoctial, the second a solstitial armilla. Shadows were used as
indices of the sun's positions, in combinations with angular divisions. When several rings or circles were
combined representing the great circles of the heavens, the instrument became an armillary sphere.
Eratosthenes most probably used a solstitial armilla for measuring the obliquity of the ecliptic. Hipparchus probably used an armillary sphere of four rings. Ptolemy describes his instrument in the Syntaxis (book v. chap. i). It consisted of a graduated circle inside which another could slide, carrying to small tubes diametrically opposite, the instrument being kept vertical by a plumb-line.
Armillary spheres were developed by the Greeks and were used as teaching tools already in the 3rd century B.C.. In larger and more precise forms they were also used as observational instruments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armillary_sphere 