Hello John L.
I’ve never heard of such a sundial and I can’t imagine how it would function. I’m not sure I understand the setup and positioning of the mirror. Is the mirror permanently fastened to the ground or is the mirror moveable? Does the mirror reflect sunlight onto the sundial face, or do you read the sundial by looking at the face’s reflection in the mirror? I just don’t get it. It sure would be helpful to see a drawing if possible. Puzzled in Tucson John C. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 4:08 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; sundial@uni-koeln.de Subject: RE: Advice wanted, on 'Analemmatic' sundial orientation Dear Alison One expedient, at least in theory, would be to fix a plane mirror, suitably angled in plan to the main driveway and tilted to convert the analemmatic sundial ellipse into a circle. The position of the human gnomon would not vary with the season. The sundial would receive reflected sunlight only on six months of the year, during the summer months, but this is when most visitors would be around. Unfortunately you would need either an enormous mirror or a very modest analemmatic sundial. John Lynes -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alison Shields Sent: 03 June 2008 18:57 To: sundial@uni-koeln.de Subject: Advice wanted, on 'Analemmatic' sundial orientation Dear Sundial Experts, I have recently joined this Mailing List, and hope that any members will be able to give me some assistance on the following situation. Our local Stately Home ("Kentwell Hall", Long Melford, Suffolk) is considering installing an Analemmatic sundial, as a new interactive attraction for visitors - but we are getting 'conflicting' advice, on whether this 'Human Sundial' will work in the way we want it to. We have been in discussion with "Modern Sunclocks" (apparently the acknowledged 'experts' for these features), who have told us that its central scale of dates must be aligned North/South - plus that hour markers must be correctly positioned on an elliptical ring, and which would lie on the Northern side of that scale of dates. Photographs on their website ( www.sunclocks.com ) confirm this. However, our 'Director of Operations' (Mr Phillips) absolutely INSISTS that he wants the scale to run exactly parallel with our main driveway - on a compass bearing which is about 162 degrees from North, with the hour points placed on its Southern side. He also wants the hour points to form an exact semi-circle, and not be elliptical in shape. Mr Phillips refuses to accept that he cannot arbitrarily position the Human Sundial feature as he wishes, and says that it must be possible to create this so that it could then align with the existing layout of buildings/paths. Can anyone on this Mailing List tell me whether it is possible to install a Human Sundial to fit any existing orientations, (with appropriate re-calculation of its component parts) - or, if not, just confirm that it must be as "Modern Sunclocks" have told me. I can then show the 'weight of evidence' to Mr Phillips. Because "Kentwell Hall" is a well-known Stately Home (open to the public), we should not want to become a 'laughing stock' by installing a feature which does not work - despite Mr Phillips assurance that "all types of sundial can be adjusted to work, in any location". Looking forward to all comments (to this List, or sent privately). Sincerely, Alison Shields. --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________
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