sphere of passing time

vintageeveryday.com

It was 1907. A 700 pound, iron and wood, 100 lightbulb ball dropped for the first time in Times Square. By 1920 it was 400 pounds of cast iron.

In 1942 and ‘43 it did not drop, honoring wartime energy rationing. In those years chimes were broadcast, literally “ringing out the old and in the new.”

By 1955 it reduced to 200 pounds of pure aluminum skin and glass. 

Sounds and looks so ’50’s. 

By 1978 it had lost its skin.

Later it got more lightbulbs, but was still old school.

From 1981-1988 under Mayor Ed Koch it became an Apple, part of the   campaign.

Then in 1995 it received an aluminum skin again, with rhinestones and for the first time, computer controls.

Today it weighs a whopping 11,875 pounds and is technically a 12 foot geodesic sphere.

It’s covered in 2,688 Waterford Crystals and is internally lit by LED’s.

New Year's Eve on Times Square has taken... balls. :-)

velvetropeny.com

Happy New Year!