Re: Gloranthan Hours

From: TTrotsky_at_aol.com
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 13:19:16 EST


Peter:

<< >In *all* RW systems prior to the invention of clockwork AFAIK (though
>there may be some I'm not aware of). Which made reading water-clocks and the
>like a little complicated, since you had to figure out a way of reading off
a
>variable-length hour from a constant-rate device - you generally had a sort
>of chart that an arm from the water-clock pointed at, which cross-referenced
>the date of the year with the length of the hour.
 

 I've never heard of a water clock like this. >>

      They're clearly not as common as I thought, but as I've seen pictures of them and read essays about them in textbooks, I'm pretty confident they must have existed ;-)

<<There _is_ a problem with water clocks in that they are not constant-rate devices but
 that the length of their hours changes with respect to the clock's water level. Thus to keep the hours constant, an additional mechanism must be added (such as a ballcock valve attached to a reservoir to keep the water level constant) to negate this problem.>>

      That too, certainly.

Forward the glorious Red Army!

     Trotsky


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