01-02-2019, 11:41 AM
1
Perpetual calendar
I bought this on my second trip to the USA in 2004. I don't know what powers it but every month it automatically changes to the correct days and month.It even shows family birthdays and stuff like that on the correct day.
How on earth does it know?
My Lovely Cousin is a fan of Thomas Kinkade so I nearly bought one of his, but I prefer this. In any case, this one was over a hundred dollars cheaper so there was really no contest.
Some of the spare tiles.
Plates of the months
Everything was double wrapped in tissue paper and spare hotel bog roll then packed in individual polystyrene boxes, then wrapped in clothes in my suitcase. Thankfully there was not a single breakage.
01-02-2019, 12:41 PM
3
Re: Perpetual calendar
I hand crafted an Excel file that does exactly the same thing. It is purely manual, you have to select the month and the year from drop down lists but otherwise it works well.Not quite as elegant as yours though, perhaps more functional because you can add entries and print it out.
01-02-2019, 12:54 PM
4
Re: Perpetual calendar
Originally Posted by Bruce
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I hand crafted an Excel file that does exactly the same thing. It is purely manual, you have to select the month and the year from drop down lists but otherwise it works well.Not quite as elegant as yours though, perhaps more functional because you can add entries and print it out.
01-02-2019, 07:22 PM
5
Re: Perpetual calendar
You say you don't know what powers it.Is there some sort of winder somewhere?
After all, unlike a clock which is going all the time, this calendar only needs to have bits move once a day, so one wind might last quite a while.
How do the month plaques change, or do you have to do that manually?
I love things made of clockwork, so I am intrigued!
02-02-2019, 02:24 AM
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Re: Perpetual calendar
Originally Posted by Pyxell
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You say you don't know what powers it.Is there some sort of winder somewhere?
After all, unlike a clock which is going all the time, this calendar only needs to have bits move once a day, so one wind might last quite a while.
How do the month plaques change, or do you have to do that manually?
I love things made of clockwork, so I am intrigued!
Originally Posted by toners
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Yes same here- there must be something powering it- wondering about it keeping time/date?Yes quite a curious puzzle -Tell us more about it.
Such calendars seem to be American in origin (perhaps from Victorian times?). The plates and tiles are adjusted manually, like the hymn numbers display in a church:
They seem to retail for less than $100 dollars.
Here's another form of "perpetual calendar":
It's an original 1900 model and costs about £500 .....
02-02-2019, 06:35 AM
10
Re: Perpetual calendar
Yes, I too, did a Google trawl and have come to the conclusion that Fruitcake is being tongue in cheek.I think the 'mechanism' is probably the 'lovely cousin'!
However, there are some truly wonderful types of clockwork things out there, so it's about time a clockwork perpetual calendar WERE built!
Naughty Fruitcake!
Still, it made me research Terry Redlin, and I had never heard of him before!
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