My Own Right Time: An Exploration of Clockwork Design - Hardcover

Woodward, Philip

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198565224 ISBN 13: 9780198565222

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1995

Synopsis

The pendulum is a constant source of interest to scientists. Great and well-known inventors such as Galileo, Huygens, and Kelvin all devised mechanisms to maintain its even oscillations. Others such as John Harrison, Lord Grimthorpe, and William Shortt are known only in horological circles but contributed as much or more over three centuries. By writing a personal account of his own inventions and achievements in horology the author involves the reader in the history of precision time-keeping before the advent of atomic clocks and the quartz chip. Escapements, the mechanisms that drive pendulums, are a delight to the geometrical mind as well as a delicate and subtle challenge to the mechanical engineer. In their most refined form pendulum clocks not only keep astonishingly accurate time they are also sensitive enough to detect the ebb and flow of tides and even the ceaseless quivering of the Earth itself.

Philip Woodward's deep knowledge of and passion for time-keeping mechanisms is evident throughout this highly readable and fascinating account of precision horology.

About this title

About the Author

An amateur horologist and retired Applied Mathematician, for many years Phillip Woodward led the mathematical research team at the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern.

From the Back Cover

The pendulum is a constant source of interest to scientists. Great and well-known inventors such as Galileo, Huygens, and Kelvin all devised mechanisms to maintain its even oscillations. Others such as John Harrison, Lord Grimthorpe, and William Shortt are known only in horological circles but contributed as much or more over three centuries. By writing a personal account of his own inventions and achievements in horology the author involves the reader in the history of precision time-keeping before the advent of quartz crystals and atomic clocks. Escapements, the mechanisms that drive pendulums, are a delight to the geometrical mind as well as a delicate and subtle challenge to the mechanical engineer. In their most refined form pendulum clocks not only keep astonishingly accurate time but are also sensitive enough to detect the ebb and flow of tides and even the ceaseless quivering of the Earth itself.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198565224
• ISBN 13: 9780198565222
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176