This idea is for a neat clock.

The clock consists of two glass boxes with mostly airtight atmospheres. The first box is cold and acts to freeze a block of ice that is sent to the second box. This first box can be connected to a water line to avoid any and all user maintenance.

The second box is warm and melts the ice into a graduated funnel which accurately displays the time of day. This box is the actual clock. At "midnight", or whenever the user programs the change, the first box replenishes the second box with a new cube. The funnel is drained and the process starts all over again.

A long time user should mostly stop watching the funnel, bieng able to sense the time of day solely by the size of the block.
-- daseva, Feb 07 2006

a complete waste of electricity. (+).
-- neilp, Feb 08 2006


The rate of melt would depend on the room temperature. You could use the heat generated by the refrigeration unit to regulate the temperature of the melt box.

I like the idea, I'm playing with some waterclock ideas myself.....[+]
-- Minimal, Feb 08 2006


Useless clocks are great! An alternate one could use a column of water with a heating/cooling mechanism. From midnight to noon the water slowly freezes, from noon to midnight it thaws, you read the time at the phase change interface.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Feb 08 2006


I dub thee... [FarmerGumBob].
-- wagster, Feb 08 2006


Would the interface be truly discernable? Ice cubes, after all, seems to freeze on the outside edges first. But, maybe if you put your cooling source at the bottom of the column it would work. This seems utterly simple, and yet, I'm curious.
-- daseva, Feb 08 2006


The column would have to be well insulated, the cold source only be on the top, and the heat on the bottom. Ice tends to form from the top down.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Feb 09 2006



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