[mark_undoio]

In Cambridge we've got a clock called the Chronophage which is intended to be a sinister "eater of time" - the designer has done a good job of making it feel uncomfortable to look at. There's some detail here: https://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/secrets-corpus-clock

My memories of what I've heard over time:

* The grasshopper escapement actually is the demonic insect that sits on the top, "walking" around the serrated ring.

* Although it's backlit electronically it's actually a fully mechanical design - including all of the weird things it does.

* The Chronophage itself blinks its eyes unnervingly.

* It sometimes pauses or ticks slightly backwards, then runs faster to catch up again.

* On certain special dates it does extra weird stuff.

* The "chime" is a metal chain dropping into a box.

There were three made in the series, this was the first one. I've always found it slightly unappealing aesthetically but also compelling - there's no arguing with the fact that there's always a crowd of fascinated observers looking at it.

[lproven]

> a clock called the Chronophage

Until recently there was one in the wall of a bar in Douglas here on the Isle of Man. Apparently, the inventor of the thing lives here. Another is in his home.

However that bar, the rather rough 1886, is now the Island's first Wetherspoons... :-/

[2b3a51]

George Daniels, Roger Smith and this clockmaker John Taylor. Must be something in the tides?

[renewiltord]

I saw the one in Houston and it's quite fascinating. Not particularly unsettling unless you find bugs unappealing. Enjoyed the engineering for the device. Very cool and it looks cool too.

At first sight, it looks like some modern art piece but then you see the plaque that it's not an electronic clock (it has LEDs which made me think it was) and then it's cool!

[bombcar]

How do you build a completely analog "random" system? Building a regular one is easy, building one that might seem random because of how many regular ones are tied together ... but true sources of entropy?

[LeoPanthera]

I would imagine that analogue randomness is easier than doing it in a deterministic digital system. Surely there are all sorts of creative methods. Dice or coins in a box? A ball falling through a galton board? Sampling a double-pendulum? Floating particles in a heated liquid?

[cluckindan]

Heat and fluids are great sources of randomness, so you use a lava lamp.

[Rendello]

Wikipedia article with video:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock