Regarding Alain's message about the Pro-Ruler protractor-thingy (appears at end): Summary: (1) Yes, it's an address. (2) The Pro-Ruler website appears to be defunct, but the product (now made in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada) is still available from vendors. (3) The address format could have implications for dialling...
(1) LaGrange is a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois in the U.S., about 18 miles from my home in downtown Chicago. '60525' is the 5-digit ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) code, or what you may think of as a postal code. ZIP codes were instituted in the U.S. during the early 1960's. About 15 years ago, the U.S. Postal Service subdivided the 5-digit ZIP code areas so that a numeric code could accurately target mail to a specific house, floor of an office building, or individual highrise residence. This created an additional four digits which are appended with a hyphen to the first five digits. The use of 9-digit zip codes by the sender is entirely voluntary, but the sender will always want to use at least the original 5-digit code. The 9 digits are useful to bulk mail and institutional senders, not to mention the U.S. Postal Service. On the receiving end, most institutions who provide pre-addressed envelopes (for bill payments, etc.) use the 9-digit codes. Institutions also use bar codes on their outgoing mail, and the bar codes include the 9-digit information to facilitate reading and routing by high-speed mechanical sorters. Ordinary mail such as birthday cards may also be stamped with such a bar code during handling by the Postal Service. I live in a highrise in which my unit has one code, my floor has another code, and my building has another code; all are valid and all begin with the same 5-digits. Although an individual home or business may have its own 9-digit code, senders will still want to use the street address when mailing. Only the very largest mail recipients use an address with a 9-digit zip code but no street information. (2) www.proruler.com appears to be defunct, but see the last item on http://www.exmeasures.com/safetproducts.htm for a photo and pricing information. Note that the presence of a 9-digit zip code on the Pro-Ruler indicates that it was made after 9-digit codes were introduced in the U.S., so the device isn't an antique. (3) As you may suspect, the 9-digit code would be perfect for determining a site's sundial parameters, if only one could find the correspondence between the code and some GPS-style coordinates. Most of us don't know our house's 9-digit zip code, but starting with a street address, a diallist can visit www.usps.gov and find the postal service's 9-digit zip code for the address; this pinpoints the site. Commercial software is available that can then convert the 9-digit zip code to latitude/longitude with (probably) enough accuracy for dialmaking. A final point: the 9-digits themselves do not contain any encoded or embedded information regarding latitude/longitude; that's why a database lookup is necessary. > -----Original Message----- > From: -ce- [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 13:44 > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Finding the North South line in a hurry > > Hello sundiallers ! > > What a pleasure, reading again good news under the sun ! > I do work like Mike Shaw, even when I'm not in a hurry ! > On my first times in sundialling, ten years ago, I realised an accurate > horizontal sundial, and according with a radiopiloted watch, two levels > and a rotating protractor (USA made ! : PRO-RULER safe-T LaGrange IL > 60525-0692, what does it mean ? An address ?), I can find directly the > declination of a wall within 1 degree accuracy. > We are working on Vosges pink-yellow-white veined sandstone and such > accuracy is enough. > > Friendly yours > > Alain R MORY > 7°E 48°N (GPS reading)
