hydrochronometer

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File:Hydrochronometer by Embriaco (total view with signs).jpg

File:Orologio ad acqua di padre Embriaco a palazzo Berardi.JPG

A hydrochronometer is a kind of water clock.

In 1867 Fr. Giovan Battista Embriaco, O.P., inventor and professor of the College of St. Thomas in Rome, created a hydrochronometer{{cite web |url=http://www.casanatense.it/index.php/it/gli-editoriali/72-stampe-e-disegni/153-orologi.html?showall=1 |title=Orologi |access-date=20 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205090500/http://www.casanatense.it/index.php/it/gli-editoriali/72-stampe-e-disegni/153-orologi.html?showall=1 |archive-date=5 December 2014 |quote="E' infatti del 1867 l'invenzione dell'idrocronometro, dovuta al padre domenicano Giovanni Battista Embriaco, che attese ai suoi studi di meccanica applicata all'orologeria nella solitudine del convento della Minerva."}} and sent it to the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867, where it received many prizes. It had the shape of a wooden pinnacle made of cast iron fused as a tree trunk, while its four dials were visible from all directions.

In 1873, the water clock was returned to Rome and placed in Villa Borghese gardens into a fountain realized by the architect Gioacchino Ersoch. It is still there and works constantly.

In June 2007, after two years of restoration at [http://www.elis.org ELIS School], it was restarted by the Town Mayor of Rome.

Another hydrochromometer can be found at Palazzo Berardi, rione Pigna, Rome.