Equatorial or Universal Sundial

As the name suggests equatorial or universal dials is flexible to use any place in the world. It is built such a way that you can adjust the dial according to the latitude reading of your place of living. This kind of dial is also adjustable in southern hemisphere of the world.

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Almost all the sundials are made to use for northern hemisphere. But, if you are living in Brazil, Australia or New Zealand than you are living in southern part of the world. In that, case using a equatorial sundial would not be problem at all.

You may probably heard about equator which is a imaginary line extend from east to west and splitting the world apart in two parts, namely northern and southern hemisphere. This equator line was drawn by imagining that the whole world is plane surface, just like the computer screen you are sitting in front now.

But,the world is not a plane surface, it is like a big ball. And if you draw a line from a center of the north pole to the centre of the south pole, it become the axis of the earth on which it spins every day. The earth slightly tilted on its axis. Celestial equator is the same imaginary line like equator but as it is drawn on the spherical original tilted world, so it get inclined by 23.4 degree with the equator.

When using a equatorial sundial, the one problem an user can face is that it will not world when the sun is on that celestial equator. Because at that time the sunlight falls on the edge of dial and the gnomon cannot cast any shadow to measure time on the dial.

What is Sundial?

A sundial is the ancient form of a clock used by humankind. The simplest sundial is a stick stuck in the ground, casts a shadow indicating the time.

If you asked time to a stone age human, they can differentiate time in two entities: Day and Night. Obviously they cant tell you what`s the exact digit of time because they don't have numeric sense or perhaps clock was not invented. However, it is clear that the sun rose and sets over the horizon. It's a fact that the shadow, the sun made its way across the sky has not escaped the attention of primitive man. The morning shadows were long, gradually decreased to disappear at lunchtime, then spread again in the opposite direction, behind the sun.Thus,shadow is a natural instrument for measuring time.

Using the shadow sun cast on the objects of earth, first clock was made in human history. No one can be sure that when the sundial was found, but we know that already in 3500 BC; The Egyptians built sundials not only maintained telling time, but it pointed time during the longest and shortest day of the year.

Sundials are usually with a circular disk used as face of a clock, On this disk, the lines use to curve down to represent the hours. There are also special sundial that can track the tides, the seasons and earthquake. In a sundial, obelisk is a gnome stands in the middle of clock disk that acts by casting shadow to mark time. In the northern hemisphere as the sun moves across the sky, this shadow moves clockwise. At lunch time, the shadow disappears which indicated noon or 12 hrs in our normal clock.

To compensate for the tilt of the earth on its axis,sundials are tilted to the north. Otherwise, the sundial will not compensate for slightly different way from the sun in the sky takes each day as the Earth moves through the seasons. Sundials are inclined to the north,called styles. These sundials are more acquarate because of its orientation is similar to the tilt of the earth, the hours remain the same all year round.

In English we use the word "hour" to tell time. This word can trace back its origin with the invention of sundial in Egyptian and Greek history. The word Hour comes from Greek or latin word Hor. The word Hor comes from Egyptian God Horus who was the God of Dawn.

In modern world, technology have gone so far to measure the time: mechanical clock, digital clock, atomic cock etc. But sundials still remains the most accurate time measurement, even after the invention of those clocks. People still use sundials to reset the times of clock invented by modern technology. However, with the invention of  Rolex!!!, sundial finds its place in gardens of modern society.

Pocket Sundial

We are using wristwatch now a day to keep a look at time in every day life. But, the history of  innovation of this miniature clock was not so smooth. During the time of it`s first development, wristwatch was facing lots of difficulty in accuracy for mechanical backlogging. It takes time to make a wristwatch with supreme perfection and became what it is now today.

The development of mechanical wristwatch began at Renaissance periods while Europe became increasingly trade oriented and business booms demands a accurate time time keeping device. Businessman and and traders movement becomes intense and they require a potable watch; but the armature mechanical watch cant satisfy their need. This continual pressure pressed the watchmaker to think of a different technology rather than blindly rely upon mechanincal technology to invent a potable clock.

What they came with is a millennium old technology of time-keeping: sundial and they perfected it to a pocket sundial. Since, the innovation,  pocket sundial become a very popular instrument collected by trader, craftsman and elites of European society. During earlier stage, those pocket sundials could be used only during day because sundial depends upon sunlight to measure time from shadow casted by it`s gnomon.

The Swiss watchmakers later perfected this pocket sundial usable during night as well in streetlights, gas lamp and even with a cigarette lighter. As it become more and more popular in Renaissance Europe, Pocket sundial become available for ladies and it became more as jewellery item than timepieces.The mechanical wristwatch also perfected after few decades and market domination of pocket sundial got gloomy.

Now a day, people uses pocket sundial as a instrument of antique and curiosity. These sundials are generally made of copper and brass and come up with built-in magnetic compass to be oriented north. The gnomon of this dial cast a shadow in sunlight and marks the local time by in the dial marked with 1 to 12 hrs. Some are ornamented with different designs and very handy with average weigh of 85 grams.