SunPointer Clock

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The “SunPointer” clock adds an extra “sun” hand that rotates completely once every 24 hours, half the speed of the current “hour” hand. With the clock placed on the South wall (looking from North point of view), the sun hand would point to the sun and would follow the sun during rotation. At noon, the sun hand would co-locate with the hour hand. At midnight, the sun hand would point straight down opposite to the hour hand.

Currently, there is no such clock enhancement on the market. Although this is only a stylistic innovation, there is a large opportunity for something new and different in the time-piece market. Increasingly, people are becoming more aware of the cosmos and our place in it. Scientists, geologists, meteorologists, astronomers, and people just looking for a different gift would embrace this.

Design and manufacturing would be as simple as it gets with only a different look and feel to the existing clock adding a small amount of gearing (mechanical) or software logic (digital) for the new display of sun hand motion. This innovation would not cost any more than other clocks. Several enhancements could be added for a digital clock as follows.

For a digital clock:
1) A “moon” hand could be added with slightly slower speed than the sun hand to track the position of the moon. The moon hand would co-locate with the sun hand approximately once each month.
2) The clock could be placed instead on the North wall (looking from South point of view) with a switch activated to reverse sun hand travel and moon hand travel from clockwise (CW) for South wall placement to counter-clockwise (CCW) for North wall placement.
3) Horizon spokes (one for sunrise and one for sunset) could be added and adjusted for seasonal changes in the time of sunrise and sunset. The background above the spokes would be light color to indicate day, and the background below the spokes would be darker color to indicate night.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Wes Fulton
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Profession:
    Engineer/Designer
  • Wes is inspired by:
    Working with companies and organizations around the world to provide SuperSMITH(R) statistical analysis software and training inspires me with the huge variety of applications to be served.
  • Software used for this entry:
    None
  • Patent status:
    none