Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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H2O’Clock

Dihydrogen monoxide chronometer fountain
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ZURICH – Standing in the center of the Alp Park reflecting pool, the impressive H2O’Clock was unveiled and activated by the city mayor yesterday. The six meter fountain timepiece, designed by Jean de la Ferme, immediately began displaying the correct time with its three water jet hands.

The dark blue streams shot from nozzles on a central axle and arched at varying angles in front of the clock face. The face itself is made up of three discs to achieve the analogue clock illusion. The pleasant spattering of the water jets was accompanied by the visual delight of the rotating, aqua second hand.

Replica souvenir H2O’Clocks to mount over the bathtub sold like chocolate chip croissants, and many visitors stayed until noon to experience all three jets streaming straight up and staccato hitting the chimes to strike twelve.

FarmerJohn, Oct 05 2003

click-here-and-all-will-become-clear-to-you sketch http://www.geocitie....html?1065353148326
[FarmerJohn, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

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       You could also have the streams landing on a marked and numbered strip, with the bottom half of the clock on one side of the axis, and the top half of the clock on the other, so that you can (partly) tell the time from where the streams land, as well as the clockface itself.
yamahito, Oct 05 2003
  

       i honestly have no idea where FarmerJohn gets his ideas from, but this is another beaut. +
jonthegeologist, Oct 05 2003
  

       g++d
thumbwax, Oct 06 2003
  

       I don't know how you do it, but I'm sure glad you do. Once again I wish I could award you with more than one croissant.   

       I think if Disney sees this they'll install one at Epcot within the year.
madradish, Oct 06 2003
  

       Those lucky Swiss. They get to have all the fun. +
k_sra, Oct 06 2003
  

       Oh, that's good.
k_sra, Oct 06 2003
  

       I would like an optional feature for larger fountain clocks. For the second hand -- a lawn-sprinkler style spray head that makes that "fffssst-fffssst-fffssst" sound as it moves.   

       With a dark-colored clock face, you can use transparent dihydrogen monoxide. But be careful -- that substance can be deadly.
Amos Kito, Oct 06 2003
  

       Dihydrogen monoxide? Bah, everyone knows it doesn't exist.
RayfordSteele, Oct 06 2003
  

       A swish in time
Will read nine
Especially with
The nozzle fine...
Cedar Park, Oct 06 2003
  

       Again, another cool idea but I think it would work better as a horizontal clock like a “waterdial” Imagine a black marble circular fountain with an inner ring filled with water. The edge of the inner ring has marks for the hours and minute carved into the edge. Kind of like a castle tower with the hour marks slightly higher than the minutes. The “lows” will all be the same height and water would be flowing out of them to the outer circle. The second, minute and hour fountains would be in the center and would “strike” the raised marble as they spun around keeping time.
crabbie, Oct 07 2003
  

       Neat. This would work just as well enclosed. Just put a clear plastic clyindrical shell around the whole thing.   

       Also, by enclosing it, you could turn up the speed of the water jets to get better precision on the time, without overspraying the whole area.   

       In fact, this might be neat as watch. To save energy, you can leave it off until you press a button to see the time. So it's just a swirl of colored water as you walk around, and then at the press of a button, it squirts through the jets to tell you what time it is. It could move the jets with a simple watch battery, and you could provide the pressure for the jets through a button w/ a diaphram @ the back.
sophocles, Oct 07 2003
  

       Simply a beautiful image in my mind. Thanks.
FobosDrakontas, Oct 13 2003
  

       Water clock...winter morning...a whole new meaning to "Getting up at the crack of dawn"...
Alcin, Oct 14 2003
  

       So, this really isn't YOUR NEW idea? Why are you posting it here?
bspollard, May 27 2004
  


 

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