Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-09-24
The Town Clock,

In company with Mr.. Beaudry, the
Committee of the Council on the re-
pairing of the town clock, and Mr.. T..
E. Fisher, who made the repairs, we
visited the cupalo of the Court House
yesterday and examined the apparatus
which regulates our goings and COM
ings in Los Angeles. The clock itself,
If planted in some convenient nook up
cafion, would be taken by almost
any intelligent passer-by for a fair
sized saw-mill. We cannot guess in
telligently at its whole weight, but
some idea can be gained when it is
known that the machinery has here
tofore been kept in motion by weights
whose aggregate heft was between 4CO
and 500 pounds; that the iron frame
work in which the wheels are placed
will weigh as much or more than the
weights, and that the weight of the
pendulum alone cannot be less than
fifty pounds. To adjust this ponderous
machinery so that it will run with the
nicely of Lady Elgin, is something
of q triumph of mechanism. This
Messrs. Fisher & Thatcher have sue
ceeded in doing. For number of
years the town clock was given up as
hopeless wreck and pronounced be-
yond repair by watchmakers. Mr..
Scott, a carpenter of our city, was
found to have enough ingenuity to
keep it running in kind of uncertain,
spasmodic way, which was much bet
ter than nothing; and he retained the
charge of it until his death, which oc-
Cured about a month since. Messrs.
Fisher & Thatcher finally undertook
the arduOus task of repairing the
clock, under contract with the Council,
some two weeks ago, and we are glad
to announce their complete success.
The whole machinery was taken apart,
cleaned and repaired; the crooked
parts made straight and defective
parts substituted or remodeled; wheels
which had become worn by friction
were given new bearings, and, in fact,
the whole apparatus made as good as
new. With the machinery in order,
the weights were reduced to less than
one-half their former heft, retaining
buIlClcHU IAOCANc DOWCI lOI tuc puI-
pose required. These weights (the
running and striking) now weigh res
pectiveIy so and 125 pounds. They
are suspended by five-eighths-inch
hemp ropes, the best to be had, and
the accident heretofore feared of their
breaking loose and falling through the
building is now placed beyond pos
sibility. To successfully make all
the necessary repairs has required q
large outlay of time and patience as
we'll as the finest skill on the part of
Messrs. Fisher g. Thatcher. The work
was properly worth three or four times
the amount paid for it by the city, but
1t was done not SO much for profit in
dollars and cents, as to show what
could be accomplished notwithstand-
ing the reports of all the experts who
had examined the work before. How
successful the effort was, may be seen
when we state that, although the
clock has been running two weeks
since 1t was repaired, it has not varied
fifteen seconds from time determined
by transit observations. Mr.. Fisher
now pronounces the old time-piece as
good as it ever was, and says that, by
giving it a thorough cleaning every
two years, he would be willing to take
q contract to run it the remainder of
his natural life. The charge Of the
town clock has now been given over
entirely to Messrs. Fisher & Thatcher
by the Council, and we may have the
assurance hereafter that it will be
right to the minute and always rum
ming.