BACKGROUND ART Generally, for predicting a particular tidal state a person normally needs to refer to a published document (i. e. a newspaper or tide tables) or needs to listen to a daily news bulletin to receive such information. (The information used to predict the tides is also locale dependent and therefore must relate to the appropriate location in which the individual is interested.) Conventional tide clocks usually comprise a single hand rotating on a clock face once every average tidal cycle (approximately every 12 hours and 25 minutes). Such tide clocks however suffer from several disadvantages in that: 1) they do not predict the time a future tidal state will occur; and 2) they do not take into account the considerable variation in actual tide cycle periods that occurs during a lunar cycle.

The object of the present invention is to provide an easy to use device to predict the approximate time of a particular tidal state on any given day for any calendar month.

All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.

It is acknowledged that the term'comprise'may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, the term'comprise'shall have an inclusive meaning-i. e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed components it directly references, but also other non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be used when the term'comprised'or'comprising' is used in relation to one or more steps in a method or process.

It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.

Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a tide predicting device which includes; an analogue clock face and an annular rotatable device (ARD) wherein the ARD has all the dates of a month marked thereon, the tide predicting device being configured so that the ARD is capable of being moved so as to align a date with a predetermined time on the clock face that corresponds to the time of a chosen tidal state on a particular day of the month, to thereby set the device, and wherein once the device has been set for a month, all the dates on the ARD become positioned so as to substantially correspond to the approximate time that the same tidal state will occur on different days for the month for which the clock has been set.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for predicting the approximate time of a chosen tidal state on any day of any month characterised by the steps of: a) moving the ARD so that the date is positioned substantially adjacent to the hour position on the clock face corresponding to the time on which the chosen tidal state is or was present on a particular day of a particular calendar month; and

b) reading the hour position substantially adjacent the dates on the ARD to predict the approximate time of the tidal state chosen in step a) for any other day of the month.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a tide predicting device substantially as described above wherein the tide predicting device may include further marking (s).

The term'Chosen Tidal State'as used herein may generally be considered to refer to either a high tide or low tide. However, this should not be seen as limiting as any tidal state may be chosen and therefore predicted by the present invention.

The term"time"as used herein refers to the hour position on the clock face. For example, if date on ARD substantially aligns with the hour position represented by the numeral 3 this would represent three o'clock. If the date on the ARD substantially aligns half way between five and six this would represent half past five o'clock.

The time of the chosen tidal state may be determined, once the present invention has been set substantially as described above in step a), by noting the position of the date of interest on the ARD with respect to the nearest two hour positions on the clock face.

For example, if the date of interest on the ARD may be the numeral three (representing the third day of the month) and its position may be substantially adjacent to three quarters of the distance between the numerals one and two on the clock face this would be interpreted as meaning the chosen tidal state may occur at approximately a quarter to two on the third day of the month.

In a further example, the numeral on the ARD may be substantially adjacent a single numeral on the clock face, this would be interpreted as meaning the chosen tidal state may occur at approximately the hour the numeral on the clock face represents.

The analogue clock face may have a variety of different configurations without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The analogue clock face may preferably have its marking (s) arranged concentrically about a given point.

The outer shape of the analogue clock face may be substantially circular, however this should not be seen as limiting as other shaped clock faces could equally be used in the present invention.

In one preferred embodiment the clock face may be substantially circular in shape.

In another preferred embodiment the clock face may be substantially rectangular in shape.

The analogue clock face may preferably form part of a working analogue clock however, this should not be seen as limiting the present invention.

The annular rotatable device (ARD) may have a variety of different configurations.

The ARD may preferably have its dates arranged concentrically about the same point as the marking (s) of the clock face and may be configured to be capable of rotation through at least 360° about this point.

In one preferred embodiment the ARD may be in the form of a concentric ring which rotates around the outside of a circular clock face.

In another preferred embodiment the ARD may be in the form of a concentric ring which rotates within the area of the clock face.

The ARD may have marking (s) representing all the days of any calendar month on the outer surface thereof.

In one preferred embodiment the marking (s) may be displayed as two concentric rows of numerals on the surface of the ARD.

The marking (s) indicating the days of the month may be positioned so the marking (s) for each day are evenly spaced around the ARD.

In one preferred embodiment the dates indicating the days of the month may be numerals positioned at approximately 25 degrees with respect to one another around the circumference of the ARD in relation to the central axis of the clock face.

In another preferred embodiment the dates indicating the days of the month may be numerals positioned as previously described above separated by lines whereby effectively dividing the ARD into segments and so may indicate an approximate time range during which the tidal state may be present. This embodiment takes into account the considerable variation in tide cycle periods during a lunar cycle.

In a further preferred embodiment the lines which separate the numerals may be either straight, substantially curved or preferably substantially radially angled with respect to the centre of rotation of the clock's hands.

The dates may have a variety of configurations.

In one preferred embodiment the marking (s) may be numerals representing the numbers one to thirty one. However, this should not be seen as limiting as any marking (s) capable of representing up to the maximum number of days in any one month could be used.

Further marking (s) may also be included as part of the present invention.

In one preferred embodiment the further marking (s) may include marking (s) representing all the calendar months in a calendar year.

In another preferred embodiment the further marking (s) may include marking (s) representing the different phases of the moon.

Thus, preferred embodiments of the present invention may have a number of advantages over the prior art which include: 1. The ability to predict the approximate time of a chosen tidal state on any day of any month without having to rely on external information.

2. The capability of being set for and used in any location that a person may require information related to the timing of the tide.

3. The ability of this invention to take into account the considerable variation within tide cycles during a lunar cycle.

4. The portability of the present invention and its ease of use.

5. Utilisation of a standard clock face as part of the invention which does not require any special timing mechanisms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description, which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic view of one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic view of another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a diagrammatic view of a further embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 shows a diagrammatic view of an alternative further embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION With respect to Figure 1 there is shown a tide predicting device indicated by the arrow 1 which is comprised of an analogue clock face 2 and an annular rotatable device (ARD) 3 which has a first row of numerals 4 and a second row of numerals 5 thereon. The numerals of the ARD 3 are arranged concentrically to the numerals 6 of the clock face 2.

The first row of numerals 4 of the ARD includes the range of the numerals from one to fourteen and the second row of numerals 5 includes the range of numerals from

fifteen to thirty one. The numerals of the ARD are separated from one another by approximately 25 degrees about the central axis of the clock face.

The tide predicting device 1 is set by firstly determining the time at which the chosen tidal state is, was, or will be present on a chosen day, and secondly rotating the ARD 3 so that the numeral representing the chosen day is positioned substantially adjacent to the hour position at which the chosen tidal state is, was, or will be present.

For example, if today is the third day of the month and the chosen tidal state is high tide and this is observed at 1.45 pm the tide predicting device would be set so that the numeral 3 (representing the third day of the month), on the ARD, is positioned adjacent to a position three quarters of the way between the numerals 1 and 2 on the clock face.

The term adjacent for the purpose of this specification means that if a radial line is drawn from the centre of the clock face outward towards the circumference of the clock face the numerals adjacent to each other would both be intersected by the radial line. With reference to the above example the radial line would intersect three quarters of the way between the numerals 1 and 2 on the clock face and the numeral 3 on the ARD as the tidal state is occurring at 1.45 pm.

Once the device 1 is set as described above the device is then able to predict the approximate time the same tidal state will occur on any subsequent day of the month for which the device has been set. To read the device to determine the approximate time a chosen tidal state will occur (with reference to Figure 1). For example, if chosen tidal state is high tide and the clock was set for the second day of the month whereby high tide occurred at approximately 1 pm. By reading the clock to determine when high tide will occur on the fourth day of the month the user would determine that the high tide would occur between 2.20 pm and 3.30 pm on that day as the segment 9 begins substantially adjacent to a third past two position on the clock face and half way between three and four on the clock face thus providing a range of time within which the chosen tidal state will occur.

Figure 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a tide predicting device indicated by arrow 1, which includes a circular clock face 2 and an ARD 3 which rotates about the

central axis of the clock face. The ARD 3 has curved dividing lines 7 which divide the numerals 5 effectively forming segments 9 within the ARD so as to provide a range of time 10 which the tidal state will occur within.

Figure 2 shows another preferred embodiment of the tide predicting device indicated by the arrow l which includes a circular clock face 2 and an ARD 3 which rotates about the central axis of the clock face within the area of the clock face.

Figure 3 shows a further preferred embodiment of a tide predicting device indicated by arrow 1 where the clock face 2 is square in shape.

Figure 4 shows an alternative further embodiment of a tide predicting device indicated by arrow 1 where the ARD 3 is positioned off centre from the central axis of the clock face 2 and has further numerals 4 arranged concentrically within the ARD which shares the same central axis as the ARD. Additional marking (s) 5 indicating the month for which the tide predicting device is set are also shown in this embodiment.

Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope thereof as defined in the appended claims.