I read about the Corpus Clock a week or two back. Another posting in a blog this morning made me more curious and I went looking for more information. This utube video explained sufficient detail to satisfy my initial curiosity. I watched it three times until some of the detail sank in. The grasshopper eyes. The escapement ideas (the grasshopper can clearly be seen).

It seems that Dr Taylor, 72, designed the timepiece as a tribute to English clockmaker John Harrison who solved the problem of longitude in the 18th century. He put a big bundle of his own money into the clock, partly as a tribute to Harrison, perhaps partly as a monument to himself at his college. Perhaps the time eater idea is personal, I also wanted to depict that time is a destroyer - once a minute is gone you can't get it back. Taylor is quoted as saying. I'm beginning to have a growing curiosity about the man.

this piece is from one of the recipients of Taylors generosity, perhaps says something of him.

Another piece tells of carving the 'waves' out of solid stainless.... by using explosives underwater? I'm sure there's a book in there somewhere. He seemingly funded a couple of students to do the mechanical construction, but the video detail shows the quality of the workmanship. Seems the only real let down is that it's fronted by glass which is quite reflective, spoiling it for those wishing to take photographs. And that on a million pound clock? I wonder if the college paid for that part.

This is the Flash file (.flv) that Cambs Uni created. Thanks for doing it Dr Taylor. This is the wikipedia article on the clock.

The clock is on the corner of Benet Street and Trumpington Street in Cambridge (UK, not US) if you want to see it.