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One of the Met instruments outside Flying Wing Headquarters.   It is a Campbell Stokes sunshine recorder and it is manufactured to the British Meteorological Office's specification.   The sphere is made from well-annealed optical glass and the hours the sun shines are recorded onto a card inserted into the base of the recorder.   The cards are marked with hourly intervals.   Two models are available: the choice depends on the latitude at which the recorder is to be used.   Record cards are included for the first year.   Please note there is a waiting period of six months from time of order for this product as the item is carefully made to order.   Today it costs: £1,521.70.   The record cards are made from a special board with a matt turquoise finish on which even weak sunlight produces a clearly visible trace.   They are treated to char rather than burn so that the trace produced by strong sunlight does not spread significantly.   There are three types of card to correspond to the behaviour of the sun at different seasons: long curved for use in summer, straight for use near the equinoxes and short curved for use in winter.   All are marked with hourly intervals and are used to reord the hours of daylight as measured in the "Met Garden".   (Thanks to John Hill.)
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