5 ms·
Fascinating piece of machinery, but have to wonder why the article doesn't state whether it tells the correct time or not.
by ricardo81 5y ago
Fascinating piece of machinery, but have to wonder why the article doesn't state whether it tells the correct time or not.
- eru 5y agoIt's a mechanical watch and not self-correcting. So obviously, it'll drift over time.
- ricardo81 5y agoA quick mention of accuracy at least would be worthy of inclusion, perhaps in relation to other mechanical clocks e.g. this one is accurate to 1 second per year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortt%E2%80%93Synchronome_clock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortt%E2%80%93Synchronome_clo... With that kind of accuracy the Beverley Clock would potentially only be 15 seconds out (putting aside the times it has stopped)
- evan_ 5y agoAccuracy is the least interesting part of the clock. The power mechanism could be paired with any random timekeeping device.
- eru 5y agoIn some sense you are right that accuracy information would only be a slight benefit, but adding a single sentence about accuracy to the article would also only be a slight cost.
- ricardo81 5y agoMight be the least interesting, but it's the sole purpose of a clock.
- eru 5y agoNo, long term accuracy is not the sole purpose of a clock. People make trade-offs depending on application. Eg if your clock loses a minute on average once a week, that's still good enough for most household applications. Similarly, wristwatches put a premium on low weight and small size, not necessarily on accuracy. (And that's not even mentioning clocks as status symbols.)
- ricardo81 5y agoWasn't meaning specifically long term, to be fair I get your meaning but you'll be needing to know the accuracy/inaccuracy for it to be useful beyond a status symbol.
- eru 5y agoOh, definitely. And I would have like the article to include that information. Even if it was just to say that it's accuracy is nothing to write home about either way.
- evan_ 5y agoThe interesting thing here isn't a clock, it's the novel power harvesting device. There simply happens to be a clock tied to the output end of the shaft. You could get some random highly-accurate clock and put that on instead, or you could put a wheel with an arrow on it, and it would be no more or less interesting.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]