SKY AND TELESCOPE
“SUNDIAL OF THE YEAR 2000”
COMPETITION WINNER, NOVEMBER 1966
“From Richard L. Schmoyer comes the Sunquest dial, first described in Scientific American in October 1959. It has a wavy gnomon to correct for the equation of time. This has two wings which meet at an angle of 90 degrees along the polar axis, forming a narrow curved slot through which sunlight falls on the time scale. One wing corrects the half of the year in which the sun is moving south, the other for the half when the sun is moving north.
The meridian crescent, 13″ in diameter, can be set to any latitude, while the 13″ time crescent is adjustable according to the difference in longitude between the sundial site and the standard time meridian. To read the time, the gnomon is rotated on its pivots until a thin band of sunlight passes through the slot and falls on the time scale, which has five-minute graduations. Since the gnomon has to be turned to coincide with the direction of the sun, Sunquest is appropriately named. It is built of architectural aluminum with a sanded finish.”
Download a pdf of Sky and Telescope Nov 1966 sundial competition article.