Electric clock
- Thread starter kbultray
- Start date
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You remember correctly. The requirement is still there but the time span may be longer than 24 hours. In the (good ) old days of local power stations operating independently and not phase synchronised with the power station in the next town adjusting the count of cycles per day was relatively easy. But with the national ( electrical ) grid requiring all power stations to run synchronised adjusting the cycle count is a bit more difficult.
My parents used to keep our clock 5 mins fast to give us "extra" time. Of course we all knew that so automatically took five minutes off.
I had a mild dislike for that kitchen clock, as it counted down the time to school every weekday.
I had a mild dislike for that kitchen clock, as it counted down the time to school every weekday.
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I don't want to sound ungrateful, but Yuk!
I meant an old fashioned analogue clock.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with analogue displays, unless one needs high precision. Assuming one is used to it, one can assimilate the approximate time more quickly by glancing at an analogue display than by 'reading digits'. For that reason, for example, modern aircraft 'instrument panels' still have a lot of analogue displays (even if digitally created), even when supplemented by digital ones.
Kind Regards, John
I agree completely. That's why I'd never have a digital clock or watch.
Depends on what they are displaying.
But what if the time displayed is not the time of day, but the amount of time left before an event finishes, a countdown is up etc?
Which is quicker to read - an analogue display with the hands running backwards, or a digital one?
PS - I'd never have a digital watch and all my wall clocks are analogue. But I do think that nixie displays are cool, and I do like the old flip clocks.
If anybody has a couple of million to spare for a clock, they could look into having a cronophage made...
We were talking about ('ordinary') clocks, not 'special cases' - but, since you've raised the issue, it again depends upon the degree of precision required. If high precision were not required, the ideal display in this case would probably be an analogue (or 'semi-analogue') 'progress bar', a dynamic 'pie display', or something like that - not a clock face with hands.
Kind Regards, John
We were until you said
Few of the analogue displays in aircraft cockpits are clocks.
Not clocks telling hours and minutes since midnight but "clock" telling how many feet above notional ground level with the big hand showing hundred of feet and the little hand showing thousands of feet. ( I may have got that wrong about which hand does which but the principle is correct )
True - I should have known that someone would pick at the fact that I said "clock" and not "time clock", or "a clock displaying a time".
Yes, I agree.
I have a Junghans radio-controlled watch which has an analogue display for general use, but also a smaller digital display window. I usually have that set to display the day and date (now I'm retired I sometimes forget what day it is... or perhaps it's just my age), but it can display digitally a timer or a countdown so I understand the advantages of digital displays.
For me, though, a quick glance at the analogue display tells me the time without even having to think about it. '17:53' for example, requires a quick bit of mental arithmetic to translate to seven minutes to six!
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