[time-nuts] Hands on digital clock

[Lux, Jim (337C)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On Behalf Of Magnus Danielson
> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 5:01 PM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Hands on digital clock
> 
> Lux, Jim (337C) wrote:
> > (If you've ever seen the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, near Rome, you'd be amazed at what can be done with
> air and water pressure, ALL gravity fed)
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_d%27Este  (which is actually a pretty lame description)  google
> for "villa d'este organ fountain" and you'll turn up some youtube video.
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGJumf6m44M is one of them
> 
> As I recall it, it was an hours bus ride from Termini, so it is a nice
> day-activity to leave Rome and visit Villa d'Este and Tivoli. It was a
> bit cold when I was there over 20 years ago.

About 2 hrs on the Metro and COTRAL bus.  Big difference between getting the "local" and the "express" bus. The colder temperature is an advantage in the summer, when Rome is hot. That's why Hadrian built his palace up there, and later Pope Ippolito(?) did too.


> 
> Hmm... fluidistor counter, BCD decoder feeding small sprinklers for
> "fluid-digital" display? PPS electrical input controlling a single
> electrical-to-air-burst conversion. GPS-controlled of-course. :) Should
> be possible to implement. :)

Something like a pps (or ppminute) to "tipping bucket" to dump quanta of water into the clock is what I was thinking.  Of course, a more sophisticated approach would be to use the pps to "discipline" a more conventional (as in what the Greeks used) continuous flow regulator (i.e. a constant level in a container and a small hole). You'd need to compensate for temperature effects on the orifice size and the viscosity of the water (maybe there's a clever way to self compensate? You want the hole bigger as it gets colder, because the water gets more viscous (in an exponential relationship, I think), otoh, it depends if your clepsydra is mass or volume driven)


> 
> Cheers,
> Magnus
> 
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