The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-12-12
TOWER CLOCKS.

Interesting Information on subject
That Is Little Discussed.
Il judge from what you say that in
England tower clock manufacture is en-
older industry than here?"
20 yes; much older. You can Judge
of that when l tell you that the West
minister clock was built in 1888. A few
years later clock was put up in Cauter-
bury Cathedral. and in 1917 the Exeter
Cathedral clock was made. The West
minister clock is second 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. Pauls Cathedral,
seventeen feet; Shandon Church Cork,
sixteen feet; Pancras Station. twelve
feet and nine inches; Scarborough. Old
Church. twelve feet; st. James (Picca-
dilly). ten feet. and Kings Cross Sta
ton, Bow Church. Manchester Infirm-
airy, 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 diameter One
OF these is the Produce Exchange clock.
BY the way. this clock. through elect
rical connection. rings bells throughout
the building to notify memb ers OF the
sessions of the Exchange"
'.Is that the largest tower clock you
are prepared to make?"
mo. We have machinery ready for
clocks with dials fifteen feet in Diane
ter. But we can manufacture them of
any size. Tower clocks are divided into
time clocks and striking clocks. The
former simply indicates the hour, the
latter in addition strike bells, and are
either hour or quarter strikers. Our
clocks run from forty-inch diameter
dial plates up. The small clocks are
ordered for factories and stables. We
have one. for instance, in William H.
Vanderbilt's stables"
'Does the size of the bells depend on
the size of the clocks?"
1T does. Our clocks of five feet d.
ameter are calculated to bring the tone
out of bells weighing 1,5O0 pounds, our
ten-foOt clocks will handle bells of
5000 pounds weight and our fifteen-foot
clocks use bells of 10000 pounds
weight"
rs there any rule for determining
the diameter of the dials?"
The diameter of the dial should
not be less than tenth of the height
of its centre from the ground.
The centre of the Mechlin clock
is only 800 feet from the ground;
that of the Westminster clock l8G feet.
Speaking again of the Westminster
clock reminds me that its dials cover
an area of 400 feet and cost f5, 1874.
The minute spaces are a foot square
and the figures two feet long"
do tower clocks often need regulat-
ing and oilingp"
when they are only recently put ND
the swing of the pendulum has to be
heightened or shortened by the adjust
ment of q movable weight A drop of
oil should be put in the oil hole once or
twice month. When the clock has
settled down to steady work a drop of
oil every two or three months will do. "
How do the prices of tower clocks
ranger"
'.Ail the way from $500 to $1,000.
The works for the largest as they stand
here, without dials and fixings, are
worth $1,700. The difference between
that sum and $1,000 is made up by the
dials and the work required to put the
clock IN. y Sun.