Hello John, Yes, it will work. In general a style in any direction may be used. Such a style is perpendicular to some plane and it measures the azimuth of that plane. ( which is not the sundial's plane ) So you may call it an azimuthal dial, however I don't know if this name is the best. Gianni Ferrari uses the name monofilar dial.
Happy dialling, Fer. Fer J. de Vries [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.iae.nl/users/ferdv/ Eindhoven, Netherlands lat. 51:30 N long. 5:30 E ----- Original Message ----- From: John Carmichael <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 7:06 PM Subject: Singleton's azimuthal > Hi Mac: > > you wrote: > >Hi John, > > > >As I was walking my exercise miles this morning, I found myself > >wondering why you are thinking of doing an azimuthal dial at all, > >given the problems of dealing with either a short shadow or a very > >long vertical post gnomon. Why not follow John Singleton's notion > >(p. 51, BSS Journal for Feb 2000) and use your normal taut wire pole > >style? > > > >Have I missed something in the discussion? > > Maybe we all have. I think John Singleton's azimuthal will not work (except > at noon, sunrise and sunset). I know this is a rather bold statement to > make, but I think there is a general misconception that azimuthal dials can > work with either a vertical gnomon or a polar axis gnomon as was originally > suggested in an earlier discussion. This has always bothered me because it > seemed impossible. If a polar axis works, then it would certainly solve the > gnomon height problem. > > Rather than speculate, I did a simple experiment. Using a Spin drawing of an > azimuthal for my location and an icepick for the gnomon, I quickly found out > that the dial worked correctly when the icepick was vertical and became > progressively worse as I tilted it towards the celestial pole. > > Now, I wonder what the theorists will say about this. I wish John Singleton > had an e-mail, because I too wonder if I'm missing something. But since his > dial is made for London, hopefully someone there will duplicate my > experiment using the actual drawing in the BSS journal and let us know the > results. > > John Carmichael > > p.s Sorry I already broke my promiss not to discuss azimuthal dials any > more, but I couldn't resist Mac's question! > >
