Dear puzzlers,
But what is the meaning of the longitude on a sundial showing solartime?
I think its only function is a 'nice to know' feature, like where its
original location was (or to keep us puzzling).
Anyhow northing to do with the construction of the sundial if that
indication indeed relates to some kind of longitude.
Thibaud Chabot
At 10:50 26-04-2007, Patrick Powers wrote:
The Hawkshead dial markings indicate that all measurements were
taken with considerable precision so such a large degree of cant is
odd. We do not even currently know if the canting is necessary or
not The BSS Register entry alludes to the fact that the dial may
have been canted in order better to reflect the old school hours of
the day. In August of 1998 our recorder Bob Sylvester wrote an
addendum to his first sighting of the dial (in 1990). He wrote:
"The delination of the dial is a puzzle as it seems unnecessary to
skew the dial at such an angle. It does however catch the hours from
5am to teatime and these fit in better with the old school hours
when scholars had to be at their desks at 6am. There is some
evidence that the scholars had a part in the construction of this
dial. In times past, part of a boy's mathematical training included
astronomy and dialling. Hawkeshead Grammar School had a reputation
for mathematics and astronomy and produced several pupils, such as
William Pearson, who achieved greatness in later life as an
astronomer. Although not on general display, the curator has
available examples of the scholars' work from 1829 in calculating
the position of the moon".
I suspect that we need a proper measurement of the orientation of
the School House wall to see whether there is a need for canting out or not.
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Th. Taudin Chabot, . [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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