SUNDIAL

Image Gallery

In times such as these—when high technology sems to complicate every aspect of our lives— it's all too easy to forget the natural reasons for the things we do. But one way to get back in touch with time is to build a...

While a clock is actually little more than a mechanical or electronic contraption that mimics the temporal progression of the earth's revolution about its axis, a perusal of the timepieces in a typical jewelry store's display cabinet might convince one that the business of telling time has become downright bewildering in our "digital age". One informal study recently found that half of a group of Ph.D.'s weren't even able to operate one particular watch without referring to the owner's manual. (In fact, the chronometer's manufacturer suggests that wearers always carry their instruction booklets along!)

It's puzzling that devices conceived to ease humankind's burden (by substituting gears and/or circuitry for human calculation) have come full circle and are now more complex to use than were the first clocks: sundials. And in truth, much of the ciphering that is necessary to tell time accurately with a sundial has resulted from our complex manmade system of time zones (which often fail to follow meridians—and, therefore, the progression of the globe's revolution-accurately), the creation of mean solar time, and the vagaries of "daylight-saving time" .. . all of which can be seen as questionable meddlings in our daily dealings with the sun.

And, whether your interest in sundials stems from a reaction to the arbitrary way we've come to look at the concept of time . . . historical curiosity . . . a desire to get a little closer to the ways of nature . .. or just a love for the uncomplicated workings of a "helioclock", we think you'll find that building one of the devices is an interesting project that will produce an attractive (and useful) addition to your yard or garden.

GETTING THE LAY OF YOUR LAND

In order to lay out the face of a sundial, you'll need to know your location in terms of latitude and longitude. So start the project by consulting an atlas to find out where on the world you are. Latitude lines run across the map, from east to west (or vice versa) and will be marked "North" if you live above the equator. Longitude marks run north-south and will be designated as "West" if you are located in the Western Hemisphere. (Please note that all of the rest of the instructions in this article apply only to the Western Hemisphere, north of the equator.)

LAYING OUT THE DIAL FACE

At this point you should decide how large a sundial you wish to build. Faces can be designed in any reasonable size (though larger dials allow more accurate readings), but we chose a 9"-diameter circle because a 1-1/2"—deep, 9"-wide cakepan provided us with a very convenient mold. The diameter of your "clock's" face will become Dimension A in the drawings.