In order to create the Shipping Container Clock, a large dockside area such as the port of Rotterdam is required.

Two rows of shipping containers are arranged end to end, one row sitting on top of the other in the '12 o'clock' position. Using a variety of mobile cranes and fork lifts, the line of containers representing the minute hand is carefully rotated by one 60th of the circumference of the perimeter circle. Apart from the times when they overlap, the hour line of containers will be doubled up for support, with the minute line holding up the centre pivot.

This entire process is filmed directly from above. At each time position, every item of the moving equipment is withdrawn and a static image also taken.

This entire process is repeated until all of the hour and minute positions of a 12 hour clock are recorded.

The time can now be displayed in either of two formats on a high res screen; one showing the frantic speeded up moments of the containers at one minute intervals, and the other featuring the containers leaping seamlessly from one static position to the next with the interim movements edited out.

Idea name may change following some research.
-- xenzag, Nov 04 2019

Similar https://www.engadge...-giant-truck-clock/
But with trucks instead. [neutrinos_shadow, Nov 04 2019]

The Conundrum of the Workshops http://www.kiplings...poems_conundrum.htm
Rudyard K. has this one nailed ... [8th of 7, Nov 05 2019]

<Demon on your shoulder>

"It's pretty, but is it Art ? "

<Demon on your shoulder/>
-- 8th of 7, Nov 05 2019


"It's pretty, but it's full of migrants."
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 05 2019


<Obligatory Dave Bowman parody>

"My God ! It's full of Slavs !"

<Obligatory Dave Bowman parody/>
-- 8th of 7, Nov 05 2019


//"It's pretty, but it's full of migrants."// That would be the Shipping Container Wall Cuckoo Clock, which I haven't created yet, but you can imagine - instead of a cuckoo emerging, when the doors of a miniature container spring open, a group of migrant figures would spring out and emit a chorus of "Lon-don, Lon-don, Lon-don, Lon-don"
-- xenzag, Nov 11 2019


Hmm, it might be nice to do it as a representation of 7-segment digital displays. I think i’d Like to see it with the moving equipment in-shot speeded up too.
-- Frankx, Nov 11 2019


The 7-segment concept is superior to the original idea as the digits 0 to 9 only need to be set out once; the rest is done by image superposition.And seconds can be displayed, as well as hours and minutes.
-- 8th of 7, Nov 11 2019


It’s too easy to view containers as segments of a digital format, which is why I dismissed this version. The whole idea is to massively over- engage in making an analogue clock out of cumbersome, unwieldy units. Shifting containers in a box grid format is just not halfbaked enough for me.
-- xenzag, Nov 11 2019



random, halfbakery