[time-nuts] gravity controlled pendulumn clock?

[Hal Murray]

> Suppose I have one of those beauties in my basement, with the requisite
> apparatus to compare it to a Caesium clock disciplined by GPS. Suppose my
> wife drives her 3000 pound car out of the garage, about 20 feet away. What
> will be the affect of that local change in mass?

> Could I discipline a Shortt clock to GPS by using a PLL that slid a one ton
> mass along the basement floor near the free pendulum? Sliding the one ton
> mass is left as an exercise for the reader, as is installing it in the
> basement. 

The one ton weight in the basement could be a lot closer than 20 feet.

One ton is not a big deal if you have the resources for a basement setup good 
enough to get the best from a Shortt clock.  Iron is 491 lbs/ft^3, so that's 
only 2x2x1 foot for a ton.


The book Tuxedo Park describes Alfred Loomis' home lab.  He had 3 Shortt 
clocks setup in a basement cave cut into bedrock.  They would get into lock 
step unless they were arranged in a triangle all facing the middle.  I don't 
know if the coupling was gravity or mechanical.



-- 
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