Earlier water clocks (those at Karnak and Edfu in Egypt, for example) had scales of twelve hours. Thus, one had sundials and night clocks, both with twelve-hour dials. With twelve hours each for the day and night, it would seem reasonable to have a twelve-hour dial on a mechanical clock. Some later water clocks, such as the anaphoric clock, did have 24-hour dials, corresponding to the rotation of the constellations. Several European tower clocks, often astronomical, have 24-hour dials.
Gordon At 04:48 PM 6/14/02 +0100, you wrote:
But I'll ask a subsidiary question If the above IS correct, why did the clockmakers make their clocks go round twice in a day, the shadow didn't. Mike Shaw mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jmikeshaw/ N 53º 21' 24" W 03º 01' 47" Wirral, UK.
Gordon Uber [EMAIL PROTECTED] San Diego, California USA Webmaster: Clocks and Time: http://www.ubr.com/clocks -
