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Marcus du Sautoy flufs clock explanation
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Max Demian
Jun 12, 2013, 6:18:39 AM6/12/13
to
Precision: the Measure of All Things (BBC4, Mondays 9.00pm)
When looking at the old Salisbury clock (in last Monday's programme) he said
that it was "powered by weights" rather than "powered by a pendulum". Of
course most pendulum clocks are powered by weights as well. The pendulum is
the time keeping element - the restored Salisbury clock used a foliot - a
horizontal bar with a vertical pivot, knocked first one way then the other
by the escapement - it was clearly visible in the programme.
Unlike the pendulum the foliot doesn't have a natural period of oscillation,
which is why foliot clocks were so inaccurate.
I would have thought that Marcus could make a better job of explaining it,
especially in a BBC4 programme.
--
Max Demian
When looking at the old Salisbury clock (in last Monday's programme) he said
that it was "powered by weights" rather than "powered by a pendulum". Of
course most pendulum clocks are powered by weights as well. The pendulum is
the time keeping element - the restored Salisbury clock used a foliot - a
horizontal bar with a vertical pivot, knocked first one way then the other
by the escapement - it was clearly visible in the programme.
Unlike the pendulum the foliot doesn't have a natural period of oscillation,
which is why foliot clocks were so inaccurate.
I would have thought that Marcus could make a better job of explaining it,
especially in a BBC4 programme.
--
Max Demian
NY
Jun 12, 2013, 7:08:35 AM6/12/13
to
"Max Demian" <max_d...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:b1r07v...@mid.individual.net...
spring") is perfectly correct. It is *regulated* by the pendulum (as an
alternative to being regulated by an oscillating balance wheel or any other
escapement mechanism).
news:b1r07v...@mid.individual.net...
> Precision: the Measure of All Things (BBC4, Mondays 9.00pm)
>
> When looking at the old Salisbury clock (in last Monday's programme) he
> said that it was "powered by weights" rather than "powered by a pendulum".
> Of course most pendulum clocks are powered by weights as well. The
> pendulum is the time keeping element - the restored Salisbury clock used a
> foliot - a horizontal bar with a vertical pivot, knocked first one way
> then the other by the escapement - it was clearly visible in the
> programme.
No, I'd said "powered by weights" (as an alternative to "powered by a
>
> When looking at the old Salisbury clock (in last Monday's programme) he
> said that it was "powered by weights" rather than "powered by a pendulum".
> Of course most pendulum clocks are powered by weights as well. The
> pendulum is the time keeping element - the restored Salisbury clock used a
> foliot - a horizontal bar with a vertical pivot, knocked first one way
> then the other by the escapement - it was clearly visible in the
> programme.
spring") is perfectly correct. It is *regulated* by the pendulum (as an
alternative to being regulated by an oscillating balance wheel or any other
escapement mechanism).
michael adams
Jun 12, 2013, 8:04:45 AM6/12/13
to
mention of Henry Maudslay, Joseph Whitworth, Jesse Ramsden etc.
and the birth of the precision machine tool industry
in the UK.
A bloody disgrace.
While du Sautoy does really seem to believe that it was Henry
Ford who was the first person to make use of interchangeable parts,
when in fact it was Marc Brunel 120 years earlier manufacturing
wooden sailing blocks for the Royal Navy on machines designed
and made by Maudslay.
Eli Whitney had earlier claimed to be able to produce interchangeable
parts by way of samples but was unable to produce the machinery
that had been used to produce these. And so his claims to
priority are questionable.
Mid century interchangeable parts were widely used in the manufacture
of rifles in the US, quite possibly at that stage on machine
tools based on originals imported from the UK.
michael adams
...
Max Demian
Jun 12, 2013, 1:34:49 PM6/12/13
to
"NY" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:JMudnfq2u__qyyXM...@brightview.co.uk...
You missed the point. He said that pendulum clocks were "powered by a
pendulum" and failed entirely to say what regulated the (restored) Salisbury
clock.
--
Max Demian
news:JMudnfq2u__qyyXM...@brightview.co.uk...
pendulum" and failed entirely to say what regulated the (restored) Salisbury
clock.
--
Max Demian
Max Demian
Jun 12, 2013, 2:44:01 PM6/12/13
to
"Max Demian" <max_d...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:b1rppq...@mid.individual.net...
nearly as bad. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b02xbj6m/?t=31m28s
"Now it isn't driven by a pendulum... instead it's these weights at the back
which are controlling the clock. And as the weights fall, they unwind the
ropes around these barrels. It's gravity that drives the clock."
No mention of the regulating mechanism.
--
Max Demian
NY
Jun 12, 2013, 3:24:41 PM6/12/13
to
"Max Demian" <max_d...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:b1rtrj...@mid.individual.net...
mechanism (spring/weights) with the regulating mechanism (pendulum/balance
wheel).
But in your original posting you said
'it was "powered by weights" rather than "powered by a pendulum"' and it is
this statement that I was responding to - I had no way of knowing the
context of MDS's statement.
Mike Ruddock
Jun 13, 2013, 3:54:38 AM6/13/13
to
Murders) which was printed in The Guardian some years ago he confused two
problems (What is the maximum number of pieces a circle can be divided into
after n strokes of a knife and How many regions is a circle divided into
when all n dots on its circumference are joined by straight lines) and gave
the formula for one of them when the problem concerned the other.
I have noticed that in his television programmes he is often more imprecise
than a mathematician should be.
Mike Ruddock
>
>
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