Snapshot of a clock movement I recently worked on. I wonder if anyone can spot something a little unusual about the dial?
Yesterday afternoon we motored over to Newmarket and had a meal with our friends Sandy and Irene. They gave us what I think was the best kedgeree we had ever tasted, and a salad; followed by lemon merangue pie with cream. Then we all got in our car and went over to Swaffham Bulbeck to see a performance of The Mikado. The Swaffham Bulbeck Gilbert and Sullivan Society annually puts on a performance (three nights) at this time of year, and people come from all over East Anglia to see it. We spoke to one person last night who had come from Brighton for the performance. The one caveat that might be entered is the usual one with G.and S. performances in village halls, which is that these days most of the performers are far older than the characters they are portraying. Some of the chorus of Japanese nobles looked almost as if they might have been trained by Sir Arthur Sullivan himself!! However the music they gave us was as good as ever, and they managed to bring out all the wacky humour of these immortal operettas. A young man a few seats from us was giggling all the way through the Tit Willow song; and indeed the very idea of a tough cooky like Katisha being influenced by a song about a suicidally love-lorn tomtit is typical of the dotty absurdity of the whole play. And I must place on record my suspicion (despite Koko's statement that 'he knew the bird personally') that what he says was a little tomtit plunging himself into the billowing wave because of unrequited love, might well have been a kingfisher going after his midday meal? Ah well, it was a lovely evening and if ever I learn of the existence of a Society for the Protection and Preservation of Provincial Gilbert and Sullivan Societies I might well make a modest contribution to their funds. There, see, I've been so influenced by the Mikado that I'm writing rather like Pooh Bah speaks. One last observation on last night's entertainment : In Pooh Bah's song 'I've got them on my list' a verse is traditionally left blank which can be devoted to modern 'society sinners'. Well, last night the whole of the song was devoted to to the wrongdoings of our present members of parliament and the expenses scandal. And very neat verses they were, too. That song was cheered to the echo. Oh well, I've been waffling on far too long about last night's entertainment (though not longer than it deserved). So - Goodnight All.
14 comments:
32! Which is divisible by 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32. There was some logic to the old units unlike 10 which is divisible by only 2, 5 and 10. But I have no idea why there should be a 32 on the date dial.
What exceptionally long months they have in Blackburn dear Bruv.
Was the entrance of the Mikado accompanied by the traditional roar of English Summer rainfall again?
I did so enjoy my last visit to this Suffolk Spectacular.
v words are being whimsical again,
previous was taTim and this one is emptor
I suppose there's a caveat in there somwhere?
Well spotted, Halcyon. I could try and explain that the old clockmakers tried to provided for every eventuality, even that one day a 32 day month might occur, but the truth of the matter is that this figure appears every month for a few minutes on the dial of this type of eight day clock, always during the early hours of the 23rd day of the month when the day dial is going from the 22nd to the 23rd of the month.
Hi Crowbard. Similarly well spotted. and no, it weas a lovely evening but rather cold, and we all went well armed with cushions and blankets.
So much easier on the engraver to mark out a metal disc into 32 equal sections (8 to the quadrant) than calculate 360 divided by 31 = er... 11.6129 etc. degrees and try measuring that off round the disc 31 times and coming back precisely to your start point!
I've cut and engraved a few calendar disks by hand (and don't forget that the teeth have to be cut on the inside of the wheel). I used (I think) Pi radius squared. As far as I know they are all still working.
I don't think I made that very clear. As far as I can remember I didn't use degrees to measure the distance between the tooth tips but the distance of 1/31 of the perimeter of the disc. Not really of general interest, I'm afraid, and I don't know that I'd like to do it these days. On a job like that you don't usually pay yourself fairly for the time involved.
Then the 32 must appear between 22 and 23. Does this mean that the cog distance is not regular, it must be a b....r to work out and i agree there is a lot of thinking time as well as actual 'mechanical' time. Crowbard must have a calculator. You could use grads (400) instead of degrees but this does not help too much.
Easier in these digital days when even the February leap years are taken inot account, but where is the fun in that. An old Geoorgian timepiece is much more fun.
Because the date circle revolves anti clockwise what you are seeing in the date aperture is the 3 of the 23 and the first 2 of the 22. I'll show you when I return the clock. You're right about the older ones being more fun. I think that's partly why I like them so much - they're about my mathematical level. Cheers, Mike.
Hi Halcyon (I always loved the Kingfisher days) You're right, I do have a calculator, but I haven't used it since 1963. Long division is much more reliable, and quicker!
That was a very convincing ploy Mike, as usual, you had me completely taken in.
v word is conblind - and I think I have been!
Crowbard I see you have a classical education. In the good old days there were slide rules not calculators. I always found the cylindrical ones a bit of a challenge. Hope to meet you sometime with Bruv
Hello Halcyon (just typing the word brings to mind vivid flashes of orange and blue darting through sparkling sunbeams reflected from rippling water.) It would be grand to meet you, but it may be some time before I can manage the journey to Suffolk.
I mostly employed Mr Napier's tables of logarhythms for calculus and trigonometry reserving the flat slide rule for mechanics and applied maths - how I envied the posh kids with their polished brass cylindrical slide rules in black leather cases!
Thinking about it Mike, if you multiplied the radius by 2 Pi you would get the circumference, which you could then divide by 31. (I believe Pi radius squared would give you the area of the disc?)
Would 22/7 be a near enough approximation to Pi for this kind of work or do you need to take it to several decimal places for the requisite accuracy?
Hello Crowbard. I think you're right and it's 2pi r. I'd have to look it up. I always got those two mixed up. At school I remember they taught us that 22/7 was slightly nearer than 3.142 for pi, but I can't remember which I used. It's not too critical for a date dial. If you end up wit one space between the 31 teeth very slightly longer or shorter than the others then the date engraved at that space may be slightly off centre - almost imperceptible.
Cheers, Mike.
P.s. when the disc is mounted in the clock dial and showing in the date aperture, I mean.
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