12:00, 1:05, 2:10, 3:15, 4:20, 5:25, 6:30, 7:35, 8:40, 9:45, 10:50, and 11:55 are the times when the minute and hour hands of a clock pass each other. These are also the only times when this particular alarm clock may be set, because the crossing of the two hands is the main component in this device.

As the name suggests, the two hands have been replaced by a set of scissor blades, one being a bit longer than the other. At their crossing point, they carry out a cutting action.

This action is brought to bear on a fake finger which is pre-set to protrude from a series of holes corresponding to the cross over hand times. When the hands cross, they slice off the tip of the finger, and release a pre-recorded expression of shock and horror. The severed tip tumbles down and lies at the bottom of the clock, removal being facilitated by opening the glass front.

Extra fingers are stored in a magazine, which must be loaded and replaced when they are all used up. (as they are made of rubber, they can be used again in their severed form to erase pencil drawings)

Happy new year all - may the hands of time leave you unscathed for another year.
-- xenzag, Dec 30 2012

[+] but please, correct the list of times.
-- pocmloc, Dec 30 2012


I'm pretty sure the list should be:

0:00:00.00
1:05:27.27
2:10:54.55
3:16:21.82
4:21:49.09
5:27:16.36
6:32:43.64
7:38:10.91
8:43:38.18
9:49:05.45
10:54:32.73

...so, [xenzag] thinks the minute hand overtakes the hour hand 12 times every 12 hours whereas I think it overtakes the hour hand only 11 times every 12 hours.
-- hippo, Jan 02 2013


Bun. Extra notional bun if finger is hollow and contains fake blood, plus has a brittle core that makes that distinctive crunching noise that scissors make when slicing through bone (unless the cut is at the first joint, in which case something to give a gristle noise is needed).
-- 8th of 7, Jan 02 2013


Re times: times are only approximate, as the width of the finger will be a factor. I actually, and lazily of course, just copied and pasted the results of a search for crossover times.
-- xenzag, Jan 02 2013


So, the hands cross eachother at 11:55 and again 5 minutes later?

Strange clock.
-- RayfordSteele, Jan 02 2013


Hence my point about this clock's hands crossing 12 times every 12 hours, rather than 11 times, like normal clocks.
-- hippo, Jan 02 2013


Ha! If you want a "normal" clock, don't come to halfbakery :-)
-- xenzag, Jan 02 2013


Perhaps, instead of rotating smoothly, geared together, each hand jumps forward incrementally. So the minute hand jumps forward once a minute, and the hour hand jumps forward once an hour. That would satisfy the original list of times, including a superposition of hour and minute hands at 5 to 12 (as the minute hand jumps forward onto the 5 to mark) and then 5 minutes later when the minute hand jumps from 1-minute-to to the o’clock mark as the hour hand simultaneously jumps forward from 11 to 12.

The 12 finger-holes in this clock would of course be spaced equally around the clock face, symmetrically inbetween the 12 hour markings. The slicing would be an incremental 5-minute series of 5 crunches.
-- pocmloc, Jan 02 2013


OK guys, get ready to cringe: will there be an optional Lorena Bobbitt model?

<cue horrific male screaming>
-- Canuck, Jan 02 2013



random, halfbakery