Abstract. The 100th anniversary of the Liverpool Tidal Institute (LTI) was celebrated during 2019. One aspect of tidal science for which the LTI acquired a worldwide reputation was the development and use of tide prediction machines (TPMs). The TPM was invented in the late 19th century, but most of them were made in the first half of the 20th century, up until the time that the advent of digital computers consigned them to museums. This paper describes the basic principles of a TPM, reviews how many were constructed around the world and discusses the method devised by Arthur Doodson at the LTI for the determination of harmonic tidal constants from tide gauge data. These constants were required in order to set up the TPMs for predicting the heights and times of the tides. Although only 3 of the 30-odd TPMs constructed were employed in operational tidal prediction at the LTI, Doodson was responsible for the design and oversight of the manufacture of several others. The paper demonstrates how the UK, and the LTI and Doodson in particular, played a central role in this area of tidal science.

中文翻译：

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利物浦潮汐研究所的潮汐预测仪

摘要。利物浦潮汐研究所（LTI）诞辰100周年纪念活动在2019年举行。潮汐科学在LTI方面享誉全球，其中之一是潮汐预测仪（TPM）的开发和使用。TPM是在19世纪后期发明的，但是大多数都是在20世纪上半叶制造的，直到数字计算机的出现将它们托付给博物馆。本文描述了TPM的基本原理，回顾了世界范围内建造了TPM的数量，并讨论了Arthur Doodson在LTI设计的用于根据潮汐仪数据确定谐波潮汐常数的方法。需要使用这些常数来设置TPM，以预测潮汐的高度和时间。尽管在LTI建造的30多个TPM中仅3个被用于潮汐预报，但Doodson负责其他几个产品的设计和监督。本文展示了英国，尤其是LTI和杜德森（Doodson）在潮汐科学领域的核心作用。