[HN Gopher] Corpus Clock
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Corpus Clock
Author : Hooke
Score : 91 points
Date : 2021-06-02 15:45 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
| jkire wrote:
| Directly behind it is the student library, with an echoey three
| story tall open space [1] (why would you design a library like
| that?!). When you're there at 2am you can hear the chains
| dropping and hitting the coffin on the hour, which is not at all
| terrifying...
|
| [1] A terrible picture of the space, where the back of the clock
| would be on the left:
| https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e1/9b/1c/e19b1c997dc06c45e8b9...
| Silhouette wrote:
| Questionable library design is something of a speciality in
| Cambridge. Ask the lawyers...
| blibble wrote:
| videos of it don't really do it justice
|
| definitely worth seeing if you're in the area (though it's right
| on King's Parade so you would anyway!)
| shirleyquirk wrote:
| I worked with the artist who designed and built the sculptural
| parts of this clock: Matt Sanderson. His page on the clock is
| here: http://www.sanderson-sculpture.com/projects/millenium-
| clock/
| johtso wrote:
| My immediate thought was a morbid clock that used a live insect
| to measure they time. Once the creature dies you know that a
| certain amount of time has passed.
| fanf2 wrote:
| Here's a bit of clock-related JS animation I did many years ago,
| which helps to explain how the LED hands work on the Corpus
| chronophage clock:
|
| https://dotat.at/random/clock.html
|
| more words on my blog:
|
| https://fanf.dreamwidth.org/93037.html
|
| I also wrote some notes on a talk given by John Taylor on how he
| made the Corpus clock
|
| https://fanf.dreamwidth.org/96948.html
|
| The Wikipedia page asserts that the clock is purely mechanical,
| without any computer programming, but I believe (based on what
| Taylor said in his talk) that the clock has a computerized
| regulator which makes it tick erratically, and keeps it synced to
| the MSF radio time signal. But Taylor is _very_ cagy about it,
| saying he prefers the clock's weirdness to be mysterious.
|
| (if you have an electric kettle, it's very likely the element /
| switch / thermostat were made by Strix, John Taylor's company)
|
| of course the video link in my blog post 12.5 years ago is now
| broken but it might well have been the same as this video blurb
| from John Taylor on YouTube
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHO1JTNPPOU
| abecedarius wrote:
| It's a bit surprising that this was invented so recently, when
| the basic idea of the dial ought to work mechanically. (When I
| had that idea I searched for "vernier clock" and that was how I
| first heard of this one.)
| hangonhn wrote:
| In case anyone is interested in the history of watchmaking, etc.
| there's a great book titled Longitude:
| https://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-...
|
| An accurate marine chronometer was necessary for reliable
| navigation in order to calculate one's longitude. It turned out
| to be an incredibly difficult problem that was ultimately solved
| by John Harrison, who invented the Grasshopper escapement, which
| the Grasshopper Clock uses.
|
| I think some of us will find Harrison to be very relatable --
| more hacker than scientist and never satisfied with his work. He
| kept coming out with new and improved versions even after he won
| the Royal Society's prize, IIRC.
| xenocratus wrote:
| In Our Time podcast had a great episode on this really
| recently: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vyn6 Great
| stuff!
| berlinquin wrote:
| Beat me to it...
|
| I just finished Longitude and it was a great read! Harrison is
| an interesting character since he really spent his whole life
| working on the same problem of keeping time at sea. A whole lot
| of perseverance.
| bluenose69 wrote:
| I agree with your recommendation of Dava Sobel's book. I
| recommend it to many of my (science) students, as either (a) a
| present for a family member who has an interest in science,
| navigation, history, etc. or (b) a hint that students can give
| to family members who want to give them a gift.
|
| Many of these students have told me how much they enjoyed the
| book, and none have told me the reverse.
|
| Undergrads can be a tough audience, so this reception is a very
| good recommendation for this book. And this is not the only
| engaging book Sobel has written ... I would recommend any of
| them.
| jonny_eh wrote:
| There was a great PBS series made based on that book:
| https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/longitude/
|
| (That site is 23 years old!)
| axiomdata316 wrote:
| Lol! Purchasing this book was the very first online purchase I
| ever made from a very cool new upstart online bookstore called
| Amazon. <- Funny name I think. Not sure if it will stick
| around...
| wjdp wrote:
| Huh always thought because of the blue LEDs it was electronic and
| dismissed it as "nice but would have been better if mechanical",
| turns out it it's actually a feat of mechanical clockmaking.
| gmiller123456 wrote:
| Here's a video showing a grasshopper escapement in motion:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TBWJC0HYRE
| quickthrowman wrote:
| This looks a lot cooler in motion than a lever escapement,
| thanks for the link!
| jagrsw wrote:
| From https://youtu.be/cCqGtvTA36k?t=58
|
| "the clock ... depicts time as a wave coming out from the center
| of the universe".
|
| I see some liberal handling of scientific lingo here :).
| tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
| The article does a terrible job explaining it.
|
| The LEDs are apparently permanently lit, with overlapping slits
| ensuring that only the correct ones are visible.
| berlinquin wrote:
| The grasshopper escapement was invented by John Harrison, who
| built the first clocks that could keep time at sea. These were
| used to calculate Longitude. There's a nice short biography
| called Longitude that covers his story.
| tzs wrote:
| To elaborate a bit, the significance of that was that without
| accurate clocks navigators could only reliably figure out their
| latitude at sea.
|
| Imagine if you are trying to navigate to some far away island
| that is southwest of your starting position. If you tried to
| sail the direct route, when you reached the correct latitude
| you would have no idea if you are east of the island or west of
| the island.
|
| Instead, you'd have to sail south or mostly south until you got
| to the right latitude, then sail west until you reached the
| island. This could be a much longer journey.
|
| Even if you are going for something much bigger than an island,
| like a particular port on a continent, not knowing longitude
| made it difficult. Say you are going from Spain to someplace in
| South America. Unlike the island example above, you might think
| you can just try for the shortest route because if you end up
| too far west when you reach the right latitude, you'll at least
| be able to find the coast of the continent and come down that.
|
| But that coastal territory might belong to Spain's enemies who
| might not take kindly to a Spanish ship in their waters without
| permission. To avoid that risk, you have to do just like you
| would do in the island case--go south until you are at the
| right latitude and then go west.
|
| A practical and reliable way to find longitude at sea was seen
| as something that would confer major economic and military
| advantages to any country that had it over those that did not,
| and so governments provided funding and prizes and other
| incentives to encourage development of a solution.
| mhb wrote:
| Video of clock with narration by inventor:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCqGtvTA36k
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(page generated 2021-06-02 23:01 UTC)