Hi Tony
I saw the steam clock yesterday. It is "wound" by steam which moves a bicycle chain that raises heavy little metal balls to the top of the clock. The weight of the balls as they desend drives the clock mechanism. Thanks for telling me about this wonderful timepiece Tony! I think I figured out why there are no sundials here. There's no sun. shadowless in Vancouver, John C. On Wed, 3 Jul 02 10:12:12 +0100 Tony Moss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Patrick Powers contributed: > >>By the way, the NASS registry shows no sundials in British Columbia (even >in >Vancouver). Why?< > >I guess NASS has fewer Members there...There is a new 'sundial bridge' >being built near Vancouver and the State library (I think) has had one >since 1959... There must be others but I don't know of them... My week in Vancouver after the NASS conference in Montreal revealed not a single sundial and my long-resident friends didn't know of any. The city does have a steam clock which marks the hours and quarters with Westminster chimes on five steam whistles but no sundials that I found. Careful examination seemed to suggest that, although the small steam engine is still in place and 'operating', the clock is now wound by some other source; an electric motor perhaps?...or am I wrong? The steam 'chimes' are real enough however. Tony Moss - -
