Clock No. 2

Photo of clock No. 2 Immediately after finishing clock No. 1, Rasmus Sørnes started working on clock No. 2. It is larger than the first one, but still a mantelpiece clock size. Not much is known about this clock, as it was never fully completed. It is functioning, but without any finish or decoration.

Already during construction of this clock, Sørnes started outlining a larger clock. It seems like clock No. 2 became to small to incorporate all the features he wanted, not accurate enough, or simply to crowded for the necessary maintenance.

A perfect astronomical clock must have a perpetual calender, for example a Gregorian Calendar, which is not found in this clock. It incorporates the Julian Calendar, which gains 1 day in 128 years.

This might sound more than sufficiently accurate for a man's lifetime, but as seen in clock No. 1, Sørnes wanted to be able to run his clocks forwards and backward in time to examine previous and coming events.

Another shortcoming is that the sidereal works will slow down 1 minute in 10 years.

On the other hand, the error for the Earth's rotation around the sun is only 0.7 seconds per year. This can be compared to the famous astronomical clock in Strasbourg, which has an error of maximum 2 seconds per year.

Location

This clock is on display at Borgarsyssel Museum, Sarpsborg.



Source reference

  1. Tor Sørnes: The clockmaker Rasmus Sørnes, Sarpsborg 2008
  2. All images in this article are copyright the Sørnes family.