curt!s Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Well... Found is a really strong word. Perhaps, Noticed is more appropriate. This benchmark is in a green space on the main campu of The Ohio State University. To be quite honest, I have walked by this spot countless number of times in the past ten years. I don't think that I ever stopped to look at it. Chances are few people do. The benchmark was first set in 1881. In 1932, it was moved 70' east of it original position in order to make way for the construction of a new street through campus. Considering its age, it is in excellent condition. The log includes pictures of the stone and benchmark. There are also pictures of an unusual sundial mentioned in the notes. Something that I am wondering about though. Columbus, Ohio is located in the Eastern Time zone. Was that not the case in 1905? The reason that I am asking is because the sundial has "Central Standard Time" engraved across the top of it. Quote Link to comment
+Kewaneh & Shark Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 Very cool 'find'. I like. If I'm ever in the neighborhood, I'll be sure to go take a look. Keep on Caching! - Kewaneh Quote Link to comment
Cholo Posted May 6, 2003 Share Posted May 6, 2003 quote:Originally posted by curt!s: There are also pictures of an unusual sundial mentioned in the notes. Something that I am wondering about though. Columbus, Ohio is located in the Eastern Time zone. Was that not the case in 1905? The reason that I am asking is because the sundial has "Central Standard Time" engraved across the top of it. I don't know the longitude of Columbus, but the true dividing line between Central and Eastern time should be W082.5 deg. This would make all of Mi, In, Ky, Tn and half of Ga and Oh in the Central zone. This is obviously not the case, and there are various reasons for it. A sundial doesn't care about any of these reasons, it only cares about noon at its location. I don't know what time Columbus kept in 1905, but I do know that in years gone by, many communities kept their own time. This of course, is impractical. Quote Link to comment
Deguello Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 From your photos, it looks like there is a set of coordinates marked on the sundial. Are you able to read them? Reason being, the dial may have been designed for another location then purchase by the class of '05 and moved to where it is now. That's not unusual with sundials, especially one this handsome. If you can read the coordinates on the dial we can determine exactly where it was intended to be used. This type of dial is called an analemic dial because the lop-sided figuure 8s on its face are analemas. It takes some pretty heavy-duty math to design one and great craftmanship to build it accurately. It appears that this one has been vandalized or broken because the gnomon is gone. The gnomon is the little thingee that actually casts the shadow. When this type dial is accurately designed and built it can tell the month of the year, and sometimes the day of the month, as well as the time of day. In 1905 standard time zones were still a fairly new thing in the U.S. The railroads initially pushed the concept through congress in order to unravel their nightmare of a scheduling problem. Before standard time zones, each city ran on local time so, cities just a few miles apart ran on different times. It could be that part of Ohio was in the central zone. Columbus is west of the W82.5 meridian and could therefor have been on central time. Let us know what you find out. - Deguello Quote Link to comment
+Web-ling Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I saw this marker years ago when I was a student at OSU. I thought it was pretty cool, even back then. One of these days, I'm going to get back up there and "officially" find it. Quote Link to comment
curt!s Posted May 7, 2003 Author Share Posted May 7, 2003 This is a close-up of the coordinates engraved on the sundial. It is a blow-up from one of the other pictures. I stopped by my on my lunch hour to verify what is says. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me. It says: Latitude: 40° 0 N Longitude: 83° 0 W I found a couple web pages with basic time zone history information. Links below... First there was standard time Today in History: November 18, 1883 Quote Link to comment
Deguello Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 The coordinates you found on the dial clearly show that the it was intended for use on the OSU campus. I believe you're correct in thinking that part of Ohio was not observing central standard time in 1905. Reading one of the web sites that you mentioned yesterday shows that some cities at first refused to recognize the time zone in which they were placed. Columbus? Might be interesting to ask the reference desk at a local library to research the begining of Eastern time for Columbus. Good luck - deguello Quote Link to comment
+emike Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 curt!s Quoted in his April 28 Benchmark Log ----------------------------------- My GPSr was giving me the following: Lat 40 00.007 Lon 83 00.895 The benchmark lists the following: Lat 40 00.00 Lon 83 00.54 Ele 759.716 ----------------------------------- I believe the second set of coordinates are in Degrees Minutes and Seconds the first set Are Degrees and Minutes. Note that .895 of a minute = 53.7 seconds (.895 x 60 = 53.7) so your reading was right on. EMike Quote Link to comment
curt!s Posted May 9, 2003 Author Share Posted May 9, 2003 So, what you're saying is my GPSr was having a good day?!? Cool!!! I took a look at the pictures that I have. The benchmark actually says... Lat 40 00' 00" Lon 83 00' 54" I feel a little silly. I suppose that I should correct my log. Thanks, EMike!!! Quote Link to comment
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