Water clock (Indianapolis)
Encyclopedia
The Water Clock, also known as The Giant Water Clock, is in the permanent collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
located in Indianapolis
, Indiana
, United States
. The modern water clock
is located in the Sunburst Atrium of The Children's Museum, and is adjacent to the Grand Staircase leading up to the second floor. It was created by French scientist and artist Bernard Gitton in 1988, the same year that the museum acquired it.
The 26.5 foot (8.1 m) artistic timepiece is the largest water clock in North America
.
, is approximately 30 feet tall and made of more than 40 pieces of glass and 100 pieces of metal. The lights on the clock are bright green and the water is dyed blue. The clock is made of glass, steel, and 70 gallons of a solution of deionized water, methyl alcohol, and coloring dye (any color).
It was assembled in France
to ensure that it worked, then dissassembled and shipped to Indianapolis. It was assembled again in the Children's Museum over two weeks time.
is a tube in an inverted "U" shape which causes the solution to flow up, without pumps, powered by the fall of the liquid as it flows down the tube under the pull of gravity. One minute globe represents two minutes. When all thirty minute globes are full, they empty and an additional hour globe fills. Twice a day, at one o'clock, all of the hour globes and minute discs are full and the water empties until only the first hour globe is left full.
To read the clock the viewer finds the number of filled "hour" spheres lining the left side of the clock and the number of filled discs on the "minutes" side of the clock, with each disc equaling two minutes.
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is the world's largest children's museum. It is located in the United Northwest Area neighborhood on Meridian Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums. It is with five floors of exhibit halls...
located in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The modern water clock
Water clock
A water clock or clepsydra is any timepiece in which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid into or out from a vessel where the amount is then measured.Water clocks, along with sundials, are likely to be the oldest time-measuring instruments, with the only exceptions...
is located in the Sunburst Atrium of The Children's Museum, and is adjacent to the Grand Staircase leading up to the second floor. It was created by French scientist and artist Bernard Gitton in 1988, the same year that the museum acquired it.
The 26.5 foot (8.1 m) artistic timepiece is the largest water clock in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Description
The water clock, created by French chemist and artist Bernard GittonBernard Gitton
Bernard Gitton is a French scientist, and builder of modern water clocks.He constructed the " The Water Clock", at the The Children's Museum of Indianapolis,, "Clepsydra Water Clock" at Abbotsford, British Columbia, "Time Flow Clock" Europa Center, Berlin, and "Time-Flow Clock" Rødovre Centrum,...
, is approximately 30 feet tall and made of more than 40 pieces of glass and 100 pieces of metal. The lights on the clock are bright green and the water is dyed blue. The clock is made of glass, steel, and 70 gallons of a solution of deionized water, methyl alcohol, and coloring dye (any color).
It was assembled in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to ensure that it worked, then dissassembled and shipped to Indianapolis. It was assembled again in the Children's Museum over two weeks time.
Process
Functionally, a Gitton water clock consists of four subsystems: An oscillator (the pendulum), a frequency divider, a minute counter (the minute discs), and an hour counter (the hour balls). Water from a pump in the basement, just below the clock, is pumped through a pipe running up the middle of the clock into a reservoir at the top. The water then drips down onto a scoop at the top which is connected to the green, swinging pendulum. The pendulum causes the scoop to dump the water into a series of siphons. The siphons fill and empty into the minutes' globes. A SiphonSiphon
The word siphon is sometimes used to refer to a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. But in the English language today, the word siphon usually refers to a tube in an inverted U shape which causes a liquid to flow uphill, above the surface of the reservoir,...
is a tube in an inverted "U" shape which causes the solution to flow up, without pumps, powered by the fall of the liquid as it flows down the tube under the pull of gravity. One minute globe represents two minutes. When all thirty minute globes are full, they empty and an additional hour globe fills. Twice a day, at one o'clock, all of the hour globes and minute discs are full and the water empties until only the first hour globe is left full.
To read the clock the viewer finds the number of filled "hour" spheres lining the left side of the clock and the number of filled discs on the "minutes" side of the clock, with each disc equaling two minutes.