Mr. Philips can insist as much as he likes. However,
you might ask if he is related by ancestry to King
Canute. Same end result, won't and didn't work.
You might consider an analemma on the true north south
line, however, it only blurs the issue, not solves it.
All dials are presentation devices that present
projections of the sun, and thus its shadow. The
analemmatic dial is an azimuth dial with a gnomon base
point that moves with the date. The rules of physics
apply. The rules of geometry apply. Mr Philips wishes,
desires, and so on do not alter those basic rules.
Perhaps you might suggest that you can align the date
path for the dial with the house, by rotating the
house, that might be costly, but it would work.
There is a case study on my web site
www.illustratingshadows.com
which talks about constructing such a dial in a garden
area. Paragraph three states what by now must be
obvious:-
"The method is simple. A north south line is
constructed with a compass after considering
magnetic variation or declination."
Feel free to download it. And you can download similar
documents from other sources as well, all of which
support the above notes, and the answers that other
readers have returned to you.
Simon
www.illustratingshadows.com
--- Alison Shields <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> Dear Sundial Experts,
>
> I have recently joined this Mailing List, and hope
> that any members
> will be able to give me some assistance on the
> following situation.
>
> Our local Stately Home ("Kentwell Hall", Long
> Melford, Suffolk) is
> considering installing an Analemmatic sundial, as a
> new interactive
> attraction for visitors - but we are getting
> 'conflicting' advice,
> on whether this 'Human Sundial' will work in the way
> we want it to.
>
>
> We have been in discussion with "Modern Sunclocks"
> (apparently the
> acknowledged 'experts' for these features), who have
> told us that
> its central scale of dates must be aligned
> North/South - plus that
> hour markers must be correctly positioned on an
> elliptical ring,
> and which would lie on the Northern side of that
> scale of dates.
>
> Photographs on their website ( www.sunclocks.com )
> confirm this.
>
>
> However, our 'Director of Operations' (Mr Phillips)
> absolutely
> INSISTS that he wants the scale to run exactly
> parallel with our
> main driveway - on a compass bearing which is about
> 162 degrees
> from North, with the hour points placed on its
> Southern side.
>
> He also wants the hour points to form an exact
> semi-circle, and
> not be elliptical in shape. Mr Phillips refuses to
> accept that
> he cannot arbitrarily position the Human Sundial
> feature as he
> wishes, and says that it must be possible to create
> this so that
> it could then align with the existing layout of
> buildings/paths.
>
>
> Can anyone on this Mailing List tell me whether it
> is possible to
> install a Human Sundial to fit any existing
> orientations, (with
> appropriate re-calculation of its component parts) -
> or, if not,
> just confirm that it must be as "Modern Sunclocks"
> have told me.
>
> I can then show the 'weight of evidence' to Mr
> Phillips. Because
> "Kentwell Hall" is a well-known Stately Home (open
> to the public),
> we should not want to become a 'laughing stock' by
> installing a
> feature which does not work - despite Mr Phillips
> assurance that
> "all types of sundial can be adjusted to work, in
> any location".
>
>
> Looking forward to all comments (to this List, or
> sent privately).
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Alison Shields.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
>
>
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