Hi everybody: When I listed the requirements for a poor man's heliochronometer, I knew that the stumbling block for low cost production would probably be the requirement that it show Standard Time. If you remove this requirement, and supply the buyer with the EOT, then all sorts of possibilities open up.
I just read that Nike, the tennis shoe company, will now let each customer custom-design his own shoes on the net! For years, car manufacturers have let each customer pick which options they want in their new car. Something similar could be done with sundials. Every customer could order a latitude & longitude specific sundial for his location. This would give him a garden variety sundial that is much like the current mass-produced cheap ones being sold, only it would work! Abandoning the requirements that the dial be adjustable for any location and that it tell Standard time, would eliminate moving parts (cams etc.) and would drive down production costs considerably. I believe Larry Bohlayer, of Celestial Products, is planning to offer his Sun Vial through his catalogue, to each customer, custom-made for the buyer's coordinates. This could be done with almost any type of dial, including the ever-popular horizontals. I don't know, however, if there exists a manufacturing process that would do this for each customer. Any ideas? John Carmichael Tucson Arizona http://www.azstarnet.com/~pappas
