In the bulletin of the Britisch Sundial Society, volume 14 (iii) september 2002, Mrs. Margaret Stanier gives a survey of the contributions to the art and science of dialing in the twentieth century. Two new designs of sundials with the world's first creation in the Sundial Park at Genk in Flanders (Belgium) are absent in this survey:
1. The conical sundial, the world's first horizontal dial with a conical gnomon. The two shadows of the cone indicate Babylonian and Italian hours, respectively. This sundial is an invention of Javier Moreno Bores, Madrid, Spain. 2. The digital sundial, an intriguing new design that combines the ancient science of sundials and advances of modern technology with elegant simplicity. Like a digital clock, the digital sundial displays the current time using digits without using any form of energy. Asked for an explanation Mrs. Stanier answers she agrees that the Bores design is indeed an interesting new design. She dosn't however consider that the digital sundial should be recorded as an entirely new design. It is a read-out of the conventional vertical sundial and just a convenient addition to help in the ease and accuracy of reading a dial face of an ordinary sundial, she sais. Can I hear the opinion in this connection of ohter sundialists? Willy Leenders Hasselt, Flanders in Belgium. You can find more information about this sundials on the website of Frans Maes: http://www.biol.rug.nl/maes/genk/welcome-e.htm The digital sundial is described by the inventor Daniel Scharstein on his website at page: http://www.digitalsundial.com/background.html and in detail at the page of the patent: http://www.digitalsundial.com/patent.html The conical sundial is decribed in "Zonnetijdingen" the periodical of The Flemish Sundial Society, number 1998 - 09. It is mentioned in the bulletin of the Britisch Sundial Society No. 97.3 on page 53 (foto 2) -
