My wife asked me how my day has gone.

Canuck · Oct 24, 2020

@Walrus ,

This clock weighs about 1,200 pounds. To ship it on a round trip involving about 5,000 miles, fully assembled, would create a huge problem trying to ship it safely, without dismantling it. What has surprised me is that this clock was operating well before it was shipped for a “cosmetic” freshening. Since it’s return, it certainly is better looking, but it has involved the efforts of a lot of folks to re-assemble it, and get it running again. The four 6-foot diameter cast iron and glass dials, each weighing about 1,000 pounds have also been freshened. (Not by me.) They were taken apart, each dial comprising about 12 parts, were powder coated, dials re-assembled, and all the translucent glass panels (13 per dial) were replaced. This was done locally. New hands as well, and all four dial trains have been replaced by newly fabricated dial trains. These were done by the restorer. My part in the whole operation has been very small, actually. But vital! Making it run!

Dan S · Oct 24, 2020

Canuck
Saturday morning. Having heard no word re: the tower clock, I drove downtown to check it out. It was set on Friday at 1:00 pm. At 11:35 this morning, running and on time. Might be a bit premature to crow about it, but I am encouraged!

How many batteries does that thing take? 😉

Canuck · Oct 24, 2020

Dan S
How many batteries does that thing take? 😉

it is powered by approximately 2,000 pounds of cast iron weights on the strike side, and approximately 450 pounds Of cast iron weights on the time side. And must be wound every 7 days. Oh! I see! You were kidding!

JimInOz · Oct 24, 2020

Threads on this forum often lead down a rabbit hole.

Prompted by Doug's clock, I went on a wander through the www. Among many interesting things I found this.

http://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_tower_clock_and_how_to_make_it_1903.pdf

I'd say it is very close in design to Doug's clock and aside from the technical facts, I enjoyed reading the text just for the sake of the way it was written in the style of the time. A bit like reading De Carle.

If anybody wants hard copies, they are on Amazon and Forgotten Books

Dan S · Oct 24, 2020

Canuck
it is powered by approximately 2,000 pounds of cast iron weights on the strike side, and approximately 450 pounds Of cast iron weights on the time side. And must be wound every 7 days. Oh! I see! You were kidding!

Yeah I was kidding, but I still appreciated the answer.

Canuck · Oct 24, 2020

In 2000, we were on a National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors tour of England which covered about 38 tower clocks. We saw the Great Clock in Westminster (Big Ben), St. Paul’s Cathedral, Royal Courts of Justice, St. Martin’s in the Fields, Salisbury Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, and on and on. The subject clock in this thread is much simpler than many of the tower clocks we saw. This clock has only one bell, and rings on the hour and half hour only. I also look after the only other local tower clock. This one was produced by E. Howard & Co., of Boston. Tower clocks go back to the 14th century. The earliest ones were not equipped with hands or a dial. Their purpose was to automatically ring bells to call the faithful to mass. A tower clock in that era was called a “cloche”, or “bell” in French. Of course, they are now called “clocks”. Most early tower clocks (Or clocks, generally) had only an hour hand. These clocks might be Inaccurate by half an hour or more, so a minute hand was useless. The development of the pendulum made it possible to produce more accurate clocks, so minute hands were added. Tower clocks fascinate me.

queriver · Oct 24, 2020

Canuck
In 2000, we were on a National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors tour of England which covered about 38 tower clocks. We saw the Great Clock in Westminster (Big Ben), St. Paul’s Cathedral, Royal Courts of Justice, St. Martin’s in the Fields, Salisbury Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, and on and on. The subject clock in this thread is much simpler than many of the tower clocks we saw. This clock has only one bell, and rings on the hour and half hour only. I also look after the only other local tower clock. This one was produced by E. Howard & Co., of Boston. Tower clocks go back to the 14th century. The earliest ones were not equipped with hands or a dial. Their purpose was to automatically ring bells to call the faithful to mass. A tower clock in that era was called a “cloche”, or “bell” in French. Of course, they are now called “clocks”. Most early tower clocks (Or clocks, generally) had only an hour hand. These clocks might be Inaccurate by half an hour or more, so a minute hand was useless. The development of the pendulum made it possible to produce more accurate clocks, so minute hands were added. Tower clocks fascinate me.

A number of years ago we visited Salisbury Cathedral and saw what was claimed, and accepted by Guinness Book of Records, to be the oldest working clock in the world, dating from 1386 or thereabouts. They already used "air-brake" paddles to control the bell strike, but without any apparent method of regulation that I can see because the 2 paddles are fixed perpendicular to the air-flow. Perhaps they removed metal from the paddles until they were satisfied with the strike rate and left it at that.

Canuck · Oct 25, 2020

The Salisbury clock (above) was built using “verge & foliot” escapement as you see it in the picture above. The escape wheel on this type of escapement has been called a “crown wheel”. This clock had been converted to a pendulum model with crown wheel, some time in the past. But it has been restored to the original configuration, as the sign indicates. Regulation of the verge and foliot escapement on this clock was done by moving the two weights on the foliot (see pictures) outwards to slow the clock down, or inwards to speed it up. Clocks with verge and foliot escapements were notoriously inaccurate. As the sign indicates, it originally did not have a dial or hands. It’s sole purpose was to ring a bell to call the faithful to mass.

Larry S · Oct 25, 2020

Is this the city crew?

Canuck · Oct 25, 2020

These aren’t the guys. I don’t have a picture of the City crew, but their names are Larry, Moe, and Curly!

BlackTalon · Oct 25, 2020

Not Bob and Doug? Surely some beer was involved...

Canuck · Oct 25, 2020

I do have a picture of “Shemp”, the foreman!

Canuck · Oct 25, 2020

Our 1910 sandstone City Hall after a 34 million dollar restoration. Approximately 15% of the sandstone has been replaced, and a lot of the sandstone has been removed and turned around. This picture was taken al 11:14 on Sunday morning. Clock running fine after a 42 hour run, and on time! Patting myself on the back!

BlackTalon · Oct 25, 2020

Congratulations on the clock repair!

Beautiful building.

Guessing sandstone isn't the most durable material for the weather up there. That's a lot of repair.

Canuck · Oct 25, 2020

BlackTalon
Congratulations on the clock repair!

Beautiful building.

Guessing sandstone isn't the most durable material for the weather up there. That's a lot of repair.

Our city is like many cities. Structures far younger than our a City Hall are regularly demolished and replaced with something more up to date. Few of us have to look very far to see old buildings that have survived far newer ones.
There have been a number of previous attempts at stabilizing the sandstone over the decades. Sandstone absorbs moisture, and the freeze and thaw cycles eventually leads to chunks falling off the building. Some of the techniques involved in the past salvage attempts have actually made the problem worse. This restoration involved importing sandstone from around the world. The building was built in 1908-1910, using local sandstone. Those sources have dried up. It is an honour for me to have been involved, even though my efforts have been minuscule.

Canuck · Oct 26, 2020

Sunday. On the way home from a fiddle gig, I stopped by the tower clock to check. The time was 11:00 P M, and the clock was running, and on time! It was set to time and set running Friday at 1:00 PM, so it has run for 58 hours. I do have a few things to check in the morning. When you are standing behind a translucent dial, and trying to set the clock to time, looking through the dial at the minute hand, you are looking at the SHADOW of the hand, not the hand. I think the clock is 3 minutes fast!

JimInOz · Oct 26, 2020

Can't you use the clock on the frame?
Or are they not linked/synchronised?

And can you take your camera tomorrow and take some good shots? Dial train, hand counterwrights and stuff, and better pics of the strike side.

Thanks, that'll be all for now.

😁

JimInOz · Oct 26, 2020

Don't worry any more, somebody competent is involved now!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calg...rrel-bell-new-york-covid-19-calgary-1.5772042

akshayluc420 · Oct 26, 2020

Canuck
looking through the dial at the minute hand, you are looking at the SHADOW of the hand, not the hand

Oooh that can be annoying, especially since shadows are cast differently through the year; so how would you manage the difference between actual hand placement and the shadow?

Setting your watch to the clock time first before heading in for the adjustment would probably give you an idea of the deviation, and you can use your phone (gasp!) or another watch for the correct reference time. Is that the way to do it?

queriver · Oct 26, 2020

akshayluc420
Oooh that can be annoying, especially since shadows are cast differently through the year; so how would you manage the difference between actual hand placement and the shadow?

Setting your watch to the clock time first before heading in for the adjustment would probably give you an idea of the deviation, and you can use your phone (gasp!) or another watch for the correct reference time. Is that the way to do it?

If they've spent $34m on city hall, you'd think they could afford to have someone stand on the footpath in front of the tower, look up and call in the alignment via a mobile phone.