We
think that our design for a paraconical pendulum is improved over Prof. Allais’s in several respects – which is not surprising, because it is the Mk. II…his was the first!
§The
stirrup member is symmetrical, which is obviously better
§The
ball and plane will be accurate to less than a micron
§The
bob is symmetrical about the vertical axis
§The
bob is streamlined for minimum air resistance
§The
registration of the azimuth will be performed with a CCD camera to an accuracy of 15 microns – more than an
order of magnitude more
accurately than Allais achieved by eye
§The
pendulum period will be measured electronically to better than ten microseconds
§The
support will be better constructed and much more massive – of the order of tens of tons