SUNDIAL SECTIONS:

Sundials Home

History of Sundials

Why the Sun Dial keeps time

Developing and Making Sundials

Sundial Materials

Sundial Hour Lines Lay out

Sundial "Furniture"

Declination Lines of Sundials

Portable Sundials

Interesting Sundials of the World

SUNDIAL MATERIALS - Page 11

DIRECT RECLINING sundials There are four direct reclining sundials; each faces a cardinal point of the compass; and their planes (as you stand before them) lean from you (recline from the zenith). The equatorial and polar sundials are reclining but due to their position they are named separately. The length of time the sun shines upon them varies according to the amount of their reclination or slope. They are seldom used except in combination with other sundials, but there is no reason why one could not be placed on the roof of a summer house or small shed, if the roof faces one of the cardinal points.

DECLINING RECLINING sundials (Figure IX) This type of sundial was commonly used during the Renaissance period when blocks of stone were cut with a great many faces, like a gem; some with as many as seventy-two surfaces. These were called facet headed sundials, see upper right photograph opposite page 62. The great number of gnomons protruding from all sides made them look like octopuses. However, these sundials can be placed on sloping surfaces that do not face the cardinal points of the compass, such as most roofs, or the sloping cap of a garden wall. They are not so easily laid out or computed, and seldom does one take the trouble to make them.

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