Pocket Sundial

Drifting only slightly off topic:

This is very good **LINK**

https://www.m-a.org.uk/resources/Vol-27-No5_Nov_1998_Time_for_some_mathematics.pdf

MichaelG.

I believe so, but I couldn't see it in the dark. Besides, Mum wouldn't let us stay up late to see it.

George

I bought a garden sundial about thirty years ago at a hardware store. It was clearly a modern reproduction but I thought it would be be a nice feature in the garden..

Some assembly was needed and it was unclear which way the gnomon attached. However it all went together and I waited until noon, local time, and set in the garden aligned to north to give 12 noon on the dial. I returned a couple of hours later to check it and found it was indicating ten o clock. It was working backwards.

Of course without thinking the matter out properly, I assumed the error was mine and that I had attached the gnomon upside down. Needless to say that didn't fix it. The problem, probably obvious to you all, was that it was made for the Southern hemisphere .and was then copied and then mass produced for a garden decoration.

I returned it to the hardware store. The manager told me they had sold about a hundred of them and that mine was the only one returned..

I still don't have one in my garden.

Edited By Gerard O'Toole on 26/03/2023 16:07:51

On a work trip I once had a spare weekend in Sydney and a hire car. Off I went for an explore using the city map provided and got hopelessly lost. I couldn't understand what my problem was until I realised I'd been thinking the sun was in the South... Days befor Google Maps of course.

🤣🤣🤣

Worth starting this thread just for the humorous replies and anecdotes!

For clarity here's the thing I was looking at. For the price, I am tempted. I know one of my brothers would love one as a birthday present - he has a steampunk streak.

Neil

Available at considerable discount on Amazon... from the makers.

Neil I have one of those and if the sun is shining it does work

Roy

Of course if you really want to get complex you could get an astrolabe.

.

Useful discount

But, having just looked at the close-up photos on Amazon … the family of Austrian watchmakers presumably get a lot of use out their press-tools.

MichaelG.

The same company also produces a Nocturnal, working on the Polaris Kochab alignment, so I guess not much use if you plan on travelling too far south

There's a simple demonstration on the maker's site
https://www.pocket-sundial.com/products/kala-pocket-nocturnal

Bill