Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-12-08
TOWER CLOCKS.
Interesting Machinery In . New York Clock
Store-The Changes That Have Ta-
ken Place In the Business.

Many people passing through Mas
sau street pause moment at . clock
store, and peer through one of the
large plate-glass windows at piece of
machinery within. 1t consists of large
cogwheels, rollers. and other parts. the
names Of which are purely technical,
which rest on an iron bed. 1t is q
mystery, for most people are unable to
imagine what such heavy machinery is
doing in a clock store, inasmuch rs It
is far beyond the size of ordinary clock
works and totally different in appear
apce. A reporter for the New York
Sun. who saw the machinery the other
day, entered the store and inquired.
That's the machinery for q large
tower-clock," replied an energetic
looking young man to whom the re-
porter was referred. II don't believe
you see such machinery in any other
store in the country excepting in our
Boston store and in that of a Connect
lieut. manufacturer. And yet think of
all the tower-clocks there are in the
United States
"Were many of them made by
youP'
"A vast majority of those put in dur
ing the past forty years. We have
been in business little longer than
that. The founder of our company
was the first clock manufacturer in
the country-that is, he was the first
man to turn out clocks by machinery.
One of our earliest tower-clocks is that
in the st. Lawrence hail, Toronto,
which we put in during l84S. Before
that time most of the tower-clocks for
American buildings came from En-
gland. That was the case with the
oldest tower-clock here.
1.-The Trinity clockP"
mo. The Trinity clock is popularity
supposed to be the oldest in the city,
but it is not That of St Paups
church, on Broadway, near Fulton
street, is the oldest. 1t was made in
London in 1893 1t is not a fine clock;
the several dials often contradict one
another to the extent of several min
utes. 1t is rather startling to pass the
church at five minutes to IL A. NJ, and
after taking few steps to look up at
the side dial and find 1t only two min
utes to IL, so that the three minutes
have apparently passed while you took
three or four steps. The clock in st.
Johns church. Varick street, came
from London In 1915, and Is much
better piece of workmanship than that
of st. Paul's. The clock in Trinity
church is of more recent date. 1t was
made here in 1886 /"
Il judge from what you say that in
England tower-clock manufacture is an
older industry than hprepD
..Oh, yes; much older. You can
Judge of that when tell you that the
Westminster clock was built in 1888.
A few years later clock was put up
in Canterbury cathedral, and in 1917 the
Exeter cathedral clock was made. The
Westminster clock is thesecond largest
in the world. In point of size the
great tower clocks of the world run
as follows: Mechlin (Belgium), forty
feet diameter of face; Westminster,
twenty-five feet and six inches; st.
Paul's cathedral, seventeen feet; Shan
don church (Cork), sixteen feet; Pan
cras station, twelve feet and nine
inches; Scarborough. Old church,
twelve feet; St. James (Piccadilly),
ten feet, and Kings Cross station, Bow
church. Manchester infirmatory, and
Royal exchange. each nine feet.
Have we nothing to compare with
any of these in this country"
Il am happy to say that we have
put up two clocks In this city which
rank with the Scarborough Old church
clock. They are twelve feet in diam
cter. One of these is tho produce-ex-
change clock. By the way, this clock
n al -
bells throughout the building to notify
members of the sessions Of the ex-
change. y
is that tho largest tower-clock you
are prepared to maker"
mo. We have machinery ready
for clocks with dials fifteen feet in d.
ametcr. But we can manufacture
them of any size. Tower-clocks are
divided into fime-clocks and striking
clocks. The former simply indicate
the hour, lac latter. in addition. strike
bells. and are either hour or quarter
strikers. Our clocks run from forty
inch dial plates up. The small clocks
are ordered forfact0ries and stables.
We have one, for instance, in William
II. Fanderbilt's stable
Does the size Of the bells depend on
the size Of the clocks?n
1T does Our clocks Of Eve feet d.
ameter are calculated to bring the tone
out Of bells weighing fifteen hundred
pounds. our ten-foot clocks will handle
bells of six thousand pounds weight.
and our tifteen-f0ot clocks use bells Of
ten thousand pounds weight
us there any rule for determining
the diameter of the dials?u
THE diameter of the dial should not
be less than 3 tenth Of the height 81 its
center from the ground. The center
Of the Mechlin clock is only three hum
dred feet from the ground; that of the
Westminster clock $50 feet. Speaking
again Of the Westminster clock re-