Pi Fight

Dr Michael Hartl is proposing a movement in mathematical circles (no pun intended) that will mean a lot to Comitti engineers and designers or anyone with a vested interest in clock making and its inevitable concerns with radial trigonometry. Dr Hartl (an educator and former theoretical physicist) proposes the scrapping of pi in favour of a new constant symbolised by the Greek letter tau and which would be equal to 2 x pi. This measure fits more elegantly with the radian definition of circles rather than the conventional angular measure based on pi. The idea is that tau will simplify many areas of mathematics and engineering. Have a look at the BBC article for a deeper explanation of the concept: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13906169

The Gitton Time Flow Clock

Here at Comitti Clocks we like to show you something just a little bit different from time to time and as we have a vested interest in artfully crafted engineering clocks such as our Congreve and Grasshopper models we do like to consider other novelty designs and concepts at times.

Bernard Gitton is a french physicist and artist who combines a fascination for liquid engineering with a love for novelty. He is well known within horological circles for his amazing and very entertaining Time Flow clocks.

The Gitton Time Flow clock has to be one of the most ingenious and inventive clocks built in the last 50 years. It does, in fact, embody quite a revolutionary principal and is a masterpiece of hydrodynamic engineering. Without going into too much detail (because it is mind boggling) the Time Flow functions on a principal of cascading syphons and vacuum locking and breaking that forms a system analogous to the escapement mechanism in a mechanical clock. The system takes its primary power from a pendulum which drives a pump. This concept of a pendulum driven hydrodynamic system with a very beautiful aesthetic has conferred a certain legendary status on this clock and consequently the original Time Flow is a highly collectable (and very valuable) item.



Time Flow iPhone app :)

Gitton is known for many other innovative hydrodynamic inventions not least his liquid 'logic' devices which are analogous to digital electronic circuits, such devices have been used to create an extraordinary water calculator that actually has the same functional principal as its electronic counterpart only using flows of water instead of electrons. Of course it is not quite as fast as the electronic version.

For those who are interested click the link below for more detailed information on the Time Flow principal including a very technical explanation of exactly how it works.

The Gitton Time Flow clock

The Time Flow antique clocks

Time Eternal - Oldest Working Clock

Salisbury cathedral

Salisbury cathedral clock is one of the oldest working timepieces in the world. We thought you may be interested in this nugget of information which also serves to remind us of our significant associations with horology and time keeping in the UK.

The clock is thought to date from 1386 and fell out of use for many years until it's restoration in 1956. As was common with many early church clocks the Salisbury machine does not drive hands on a face, but instead marks time by ringing the cathedrals tower bells by way of a striking train. At the time of its introduction the church had a much more significant place in the fabric of English society and culture than it does today, the clock was more important for its function as a device to remind the congregation(s) of the timings or intervals between the seven routine daily services rather than being an aid to other aspects of life which would have continued to rely on more instinctive ideas of time, if at all.

It is interesting to consider whether the assertion of the routines of religious worship or the technicalities of maritime navigation were the first practical motives for the social and industrial use of clocks.

Changing Time Zones

A Brief History of Time Zones is an interesting BBC article on the thorny subject of global time differences. The item has a very engaging (flash) graphic that helps to delineate the topic very effectively. In our age of globally linked communications it seems a little odd now that cultural, political and other forces have contributed to the most complex disparities in global time references since the 19th century. The clamour for daylight saving time and other associated ideas which attempt to completely change our temporal frames of reference have a large part to do with this complexity. See more here:-

A brief history of Time Zones