Fascinating Facts

[geraint]

I've been reading a book , about England in the 14th century. ZZZZZZZZ I know, but one curiousity that you may be interested in is that back in them days, before clocks were available, they used to measure the day by dividing the period between sunrise and sunset into 12 hours. Thus an hour in the summer would be longer than an hour in the winter. They also used to estimate the time of the day by looking at the position of the sun as it traversed the sky.

Now, eventually, clock towers began to be built in towns and therefore to delineate between the solar time and the clock time, one would refer to the latter as being the time "of the clock", or rather it's abbreviated "o'clock" .

Well I found it interesting anyway

Was it not called a sundial....

 

[cantaloup63]

Was it not called a sundial....

I think the situations refer to being in a field out of earshot of the town bell and nowhere near a sundial (bear in mind that magnetic compasses weren't in use back then to aid setting up a moveable model, if indeed they even existed.

 

[cantaloup63]

This is a stroke of genius - how the heck did Harrison work it out?

Untitled

• cantaloup63
• 17 Aug 2011
• 1

Here is a moving version

 

[JohnD]

here

 

[cantaloup63]

Thanks - I need to work on uploading gif's

 

[Ihavenojob]

Looks smutty to me,bit like the Olympic logo

 

[thatbloke]

Vvhjuasw

 

[cantaloup63]

Very clever.
What is it?

It's a thingy which sort of acts as the equivalent of a pendulum in a clock/watch. The wheel is driven by a spring and kept starting/stopping at a constant rate, hence counting out time. This was the basis for the Harrison ship chronometer.

Wiki encyclopaedia has a good section on how knowing the time accurately can be used to help navigate. Google John Harrison and it'll get you there as well as other articles, if you're interested of course.

 

[thatbloke]

vhjsdian

 

[cantaloup63]

Fair enough

 

[thatbloke]

[quvjdias

 

[Mickymoody]

I've been reading a book , about England in the 14th century. ZZZZZZZZ I know, but one curiousity that you may be interested in is that back in them days, before clocks were available, they used to measure the day by dividing the period between sunrise and sunset into 12 hours. Thus an hour in the summer would be longer than an hour in the winter. They also used to estimate the time of the day by looking at the position of the sun as it traversed the sky.

Now, eventually, clock towers began to be built in towns and therefore to delineate between the solar time and the clock time, one would refer to the latter as being the time "of the clock", or rather it's abbreviated "o'clock" .

Well I found it interesting anyway

What a load of rubbish! OK you read a book, but clocks were well before that, to call people to prayer. Clocks didn't have dials. Only bells. Go do more research.

 

[cantaloup63]

What a load of rubbish! OK you read a book, but clocks were well before that, to call people to prayer. Clocks didn't have dials. Only bells. Go do more research.

With the greatest respect, I have pointed out that the use of the sun to determine the time has been used for a fair old while. The use of mechanical clocks was rare prior to the 14th century and even then only in towns.

So the difficulty was in knowing what time it was if one was out of earshot of the town bells and not near a sundial (which may not have been of use on less that sunny days), which if your local town had strict curfews might be of some concern.

I am sorry if passing on information gleaned from well researched and documented books and one particular website seems to have upset you in some way. Perhaps you could further the discussion by passing on some of yours knowledge? Indeed, it has been brought to my attention that you are a reknowned researcher of some considerable repute - maybe you have some area of expertise in this field?

 

[Norcon]

Very clever.
What is it?

Its called an "escapement" in clock making terms. Or "deadbeat" escapement to be more precise and used in pendulum clocks afaik.

This is a wooden version at the top.....

And is as far as my clock making skills progressed. Its doesn't work as smoothly as the one in the previous image but it looks quite good I like to think.

 

[sooey]

maybe you have some area of expertese in this field?

He's got a tent and he knows how to put it up.