Gordon, In the past in Europe on a lot of buildings and churches there was a clock and a sundial as well. The purpose of the dial was to correct the clock. For this rason sometimes only a noon line was placed on the wall of the church. This all was for local suntime and I think local suntime was in use for a long time.
Lateron at some places also an EoT curve was placed around the noon line and the clock could be set to mean time, but this isn't seen very often. There is a story in our country that the verger of the church got a spyglass to look at the sundial on the church of a nearby village to set his clock. This was cheaper then to build a sundial on the church. Best, 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: Gordon Uber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2001 7:43 PM Subject: Re: time in austria in 1803 > I have emailed Yaaqov that Flamsteed's and most subsequent Equation of Time > corrections are added or subtracted to obtain mean solar (or in reverse, > sundial) time. I am guessing that most church clocks in 1803 were corrected > to local apparent (sundial) time using a nearby sundial, perhaps daily or > weekly. > > I would appreciate having other comments posted to Sundials (or at least to > me). > > Gordon > > > > >We are doing a historical research. In an important document we find a > > >time indication in Matterdorf (then on the Estates of the Count > > >Eszterhazy in old Hungary, named Nagymarton, today: Mattersburg in > > >Burgenland, near Eisenstadt, in Austria): on Saturday, June 18, 1803, "5 > > > > > >minutes before the bell finished ringing 9 p.m.".. Can somebody tell me, > > > > > >how were church clocks calibrated at that place and time, and what does > > >it mean "end of ringing the bell". Was at this time, ~ 1 h after > > >sunset, an "Ave Maria" ringing, which lasted a several minutes ? Was > > >there in Austria/Hungary in 1803 a church, state or local(of the Count > > >?) regulation how to set public clocks ? > > > > > >It was surely not meant to be apparent (=true) solar time, as it is not > > >conceivable that the clock was set exactly at that date to show 12 at > > >true noon. > > > > > >It was surely not meant to be modern mean time, as this was introduced > > >only > > >later (in the first third of the 19 th cent.e.g. Paris in 1816, Zurich > > >1832 (Ginzel III). When exactly in Austria/Hungary ?). > > > > > >It was surely a kind of mean time. But at what date was that mean time > > >set to be the local true time? Perhaps at Nov. 1-3 (when modern Equation > > > > > >of Time was maximal), as the French did, and they used the French > > >"Equation de l'Horloge" (see in the old French almanacs "Conaissance des > > > > > >Temps" of the late 18 th century)? This runs from 0-31 min > > >this is the old "Equation of Days & Nights" of Ptolemy in his "Handy > > >Tables" - 0 min on Nov 1-3, 31 min on February 11) which had to be > > >added to true(=sundial) time, to give mean (=clock) time ? > > > > > >Pls. advise! > > > > > >Thanks. > > > > > > > > >Yaaqov L o e w i n g e r > > >mail : P.O.B. 16 229 ; 61 161 Tel Aviv / Israel > > >tel. : 972-3- 604 61 79; ++ 523 98 33 > > >fax : 972-3- 546 90 76 > > >e-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Gordon Uber [EMAIL PROTECTED] San Diego, California USA > Webmaster: Clocks and Time: http://www.ubr.com/clocks > >
