Money can buy you everything, but can it buy you, love? It can buy you the most expensive commemorative clock, but can it buy you a lifetime of memories? Maybe not, however that doesn’t stop a fan of John Harrison, pioneer of Longitude to get a £1m Corpus Clock built for the namesake college. The 1.5-meter wheel is a Grasshopper, one from a fantasy sci-fi series and represents a method called “Grasshopper escapement”, explained the creator of the clock Dr. Taylor. This clock also refers to the device used by Harrison to turn rotational motion into a pendulum motion for timekeeping.
Described, as the grasshopper moving across the top of the circular timepiece, and animation appears that enthralls clock-watchers. As a stark reminder of our own short life, on the hour every hour, a chain drops down onto a wooden coffin hidden behind the clock. A number of LED’s placed in the casing, light up the appropriate “slit” in the hours, minute, and second. The clock is to be unveiled by Prof Stephen Hawking.
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