Perhaps there are some members from the Quebec Sundial Society (La
Commission des Cadrans solaires du Quebec) on the list. If not, I could put
you in touch with the society. Perhaps they would be willing to help.
-- Richard Langley
Professor of Geodesy and Precision Navigation
On Mon, 10 May 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>My dear dialist friends,
>
>I beg your indulgence for this long post but I believe that it
>regards a matter of some importance to all of us.
>
>Many of you are familiar with the Sunquest sundial which is shown
>in Waugh's book. This beautiful dial was once available in kit form,
>as a set of cast aluminum parts, directly from it's creator, Richard
>L. Schmoyer. After Mr. Schmoyer passed away in May of 1997, his
>daughter, Laurel Browning, undertook to make the sundial available
>again as a tribute to her father.
>
>Laurel wanted to find someone who could produce her father's dial for
>sale in a finished form. Toward this goal, she made contact with Harris
>Morrison of Morrison Associates in Montreal, Canada. Morrison Associates
>manufactures a familiar line of small, "wearable" sundials. In December
>of 1997, Laurel entered into an agreement with Morrison providing him use
>of the complete pattern set for the Sunquest dial for as long as six months
>in which time he would undertake trial production of the sundial. In June
>of 1998, Laurel asked for the return of the pattern set. The pattern set
>was returned to her without the patterns for the base cores and for the
>gnomon. When she asked Morrison about the missing patterns, she was told
>that they had been misplaced.
>
>Laurel went to the pattern makers who had made the original patterns
>for her father to find out how much it would cost to make a replacement
>for the gnomon pattern. In November of 1998, she sent Morrison a bill
>for the cost of making new patterns, in accordance with the terms of her
>agreement with him. To date, he has not honored this reasonable request
>to fund the replacement of lost patterns.
>
>For the sake of brevity, I have left out many details including my own
>involvement in this story. I have related events as accurately as I can
>without any prejudice toward Harris Morrison. Since making contact with
>Laurel late in 1997, my role has been to wait in the wings and provide
>any assistance I could to help her see this project through to its fruition.
>Because Laurel is a very busy person, running a farm with her husband Gary
>and operating her own tax preparation business, I took an active role in
>trying to help her recover the missing patterns beginning in January of
>this year. Although I have never spoken with him, I have written to
>Morrison personally and have used the services of an attorney to try to
>urge him to honor his liability to Laurel Browning for the return or
>replacement of the missing patterns. He initially responded by finding and
>returning the patterns for the cores of the sundial's base but the crucial
>and complicated gnomon pattern is still missing from the pattern set.
>
>At this point in time, Morrison is totally unresponsive. He does not reply
>to correspondence and does not return telephone calls which Laurel has made
>to him. I am aware that he suffers from a disabling illness but I cannot
>guess at his intentions. Laurel is exasperated and I am not able to do much
>more to help. Living in Oregon, I am a long distance from Laurel's home
>state of Maryland and do not have the time or the resources to fly to
>Canada to try to meet with Morrison or search for the missing pattern
>myself. It is
>my hope that one of you on this mailing list is familiar with Mr. Morrison
>or might live in or near Montreal and could help with the recovery of the
>gnomon pattern. If any members of this estimable group can offer assistance
>or advice, please reply to me in open forum or privately.
>
>Sincerely,
>David R. Gagnon
>
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Richard B. Langley E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Geodetic Research Laboratory Web: http://www.unb.ca/GGE/
Dept. of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering Phone: +1 506 453-5142
University of New Brunswick Fax: +1 506 453-4943
Fredericton, N.B., Canada E3B 5A3
Fredericton? Where's that? See: http://www.city.fredericton.nb.ca/
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