Luke Coletti ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > Does anyone have any information on sundial designs done by Russell > Porter? Among many things, he wrote a series of articles in Scientific > American about Sundials and Amateur Telescope making during the > 20's-40's. I am specifically looking for any interesting Vertical > Sundials he may have designed, the only one I know of is at Stellafane > and it is a fairly simple construction.
There's a photo showing one of Porter's dials -- a cylindrical equatorial -- on page 134 in Winthrop W. Dolan's _A Choice of Sundials_. It's quite elegant, and it features a replaceable dial surface with wavy hour lines (a half-analemma split lengthwise, actually), one surface for each solstice-to-solstice period. It was sited at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. A few months ago, curious as to why this dial was not listed in the NASS's _Register of Sundials in North America_, I contacted an acquaintance who works near Caltech. Alas, his reply stated that the dial was stolen several years back, and it has been replaced with a more generic equatorial cylindrical model. I would hope that at least the other dial face still survives somewhere safe on the campus, but I'm not certain of its status. Also, I've been meaning to find a copy of _Russell W. Porter: Arctic Explorer, Artist, Telescope Maker_, by Berton C. Willard, to determine whether or not there is mention of Porter's sundial designs. Perhaps a reader of this mailing list with immediate access to the book can answer this question? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark Gingrich [EMAIL PROTECTED] San Leandro, California ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
