Hi Frans et al, I think the device looks like a long-working-distance microscope, positioned to allow observation of the details of the flowers or the insects that land on them! Regards, John -----------------------------
Dr J Davis Flowton Dials --- On Fri, 19/8/11, Frans W. Maes <f.w.m...@rug.nl> wrote: From: Frans W. Maes <f.w.m...@rug.nl> Subject: Fwd: Re: Question on a possible sundial. To: "Sundial List" <sund...@rrz.uni-koeln.de>, electr0magn...@msn.com Date: Friday, 19 August, 2011, 20:19 Hi all, Thanks to the increased attachment size I can post the illustrated question of Duncan Meyers to the list, together with my initial response. Any additional suggestions regarding the nature of this object? Best regards, Frans Maes -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Question on a possible sundial. Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:49:21 -0700 From: Duncan Meyers <electr0magn...@msn.com> To: f.w.m...@rug.nl Frans, Yes, you are more than welcome to post it to the mailing list and see if anyone else knows or has an idea.. My thought when first seeing this was that it would allow light into the tube and focus the light to a point which would then move along a line and would track not only the time but also the date as well. Yes, the tube has lenses inside that has a small image when looking through it. Kinda like looking through the end of a telescope and you see an image but it is really small and far away. I'm part of a solar spectrograph competition to design and build a spectrograph and was thinking about using this model as a setup design. So the light would pass through the tube and be reflected downward into the vertical tube where it would pass through a collimeter and then through the grating. But, thank you for your help. I look forward to seeing what your members have to say. Best regards, Duncan Meyers Connected by MOTOBLUR™ on T-Mobile -----Original message----- From: "Frans W. Maes" <f.w.m...@rug.nl> To: Duncan Meyers <electr0magn...@msn.com> Sent: Fri, Aug 19, 2011 03:14:40 PDT Subject: Re: Question on a possible sundial. Hello Duncan, It looks sundialish, but I don't think it is. If the tube is pointing at Polaris, it could have been part of a pole-style. But no ring with hour numbers, parallel to the equator, is present. Neither are there numbers on the rim of the flower bowl. In the old days a type of sundial was known as "noon cannon" (see attachment for an example). A lens focused the sun's rays on a small, loaded cannon at noon, which then fired. So the neighbourhood could synchronize their watches and clocks. But then it is necessary to adjust the tilt of the lens holder to the sun's noon altitude on that day. And I don't see such an adjustment here. What else could it have been? Does the tube have lenses at either end? Can the tube slide in the tube holder? If it is a monocular, one could perhaps observe enlarged flowers with insects on them or so. Or if the sun passes the point in the sky at which the tube is aiming (which would occur twice a year) a hot spot could set a piece of wood, paper or so on fire, or heat a cup of water. That reminds me of a sculpture with a similar function, the 'Solar Orbit Transit Station'. See my website, www.fransmaes.nl/sundials and choose "Related objects" in the main menu. It is the first thumbnail. Does this make any sense? If you like, I could post your question to the Sundial Mailing list, a forum of sundialists around the world. Best regards, Frans Maes On 17-8-2011 20:20, Duncan Meyers wrote: > > Hi, > > I looked through your site and other sites and can't seem to figure out what this is. Do you know if it is an exotic sundial that uses a point of light instead of a shadow? > > Duncan Meyers > 503-933-6097 > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
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