News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-12-10
An Electric Town Clock.
A Description of a Timepiece That
Really Unique and Interesting.

A Description of a Timepiece That Is
Really Unique and Interesting.
The first tower clock actuated by
electricity in the United States is in
successful operation in the court house
in Los Angeles, Cal This pioneer
timepiece, that is commonly termed
''the big clock, might be call in boz
tanical parlance a compost :, for it is
in reality four clocks, as eacli iial in the
tower is supplied with its o.. separate
| apparatus, operated by wi from the
main battery. There d also sixteen
smaller clocks located t. iarious parts
of the building, and hese twenty
clocks beat time toget without tick
ing, but with instanta Jus precision.
The regulator viii does the time
keeping is a large c. day clock that
differs from an ord,l y regulator only
in being provided IN two insulated
wires, and when C.. second hand com
pletes it's round comes in contact
with a platinum lint, which instanta
neous touch n, .es nome itary cleo
trio circuit by leans of the wires, the
flash communicating with al the other
clocks, and each obeys the Geographic
mandate by pointing a new nute.
The source of the electric for all
this automatic whispering found in
batteries that are located ir )ne of the
tower rooms, where two ser ate install
lations, each containing . cells, are
in a cabinet together. On one of the
two sets is, however, requi d at a time
the other is simply for Il in case of
an emergency, and it is br the work of
an instant to connect the hole appa-
ratus with the unused ba Fry by sim
ply turning the handle OF compound
switch. The clocks ne, not lose a
minute in the change, l. the switch
ing can be accomplished atween the
electric flashes Among - interesting
parts of the ingenious III chanism is a
relay through which all the electric
currents pass.
This relay has at one end an arma-
ture and magnet similar to but larger
than those seen in II common tele-
graphic sounder. II. lever of the mag
net works a shaft I t causes eighteen
brass fingers to ate. When the
fingers fall they e. uplete the electric
current in eightep wires that run to
the twenty dials Jnnection being as
simultaneously b; lien when the fingers
are raised. Ocu'-. proof of the pres
sence of electri' y is given in green
sparks on the I of the brass points
when the come, on is broken.
Many persons climb the extra flights
of stairs above the battery room and
only pause in the section of the tower
where the four great dials are placed.
The gigantic hands of rolled steel each
weigh forty pounds and are to be seen
dimly through the translucent glass of
the dials that are about sixteen feet in
diameter. The shaft that carries the
hands pierces the center of the disk
where it is connected with large arm
allure with an attachment of brass cog
wheels.
Each flash over the wires leading
from the battery room whirls through
the big spool of wire. in the armature,
magnetizes the soft iron core and shield,
swings a ratchet lever, gives turn to
the brass cog wheels, and thus causes
the minute hand outside to swing along
nearly ten inches. We go down to the
outside world, 200 feet below, and
when we turn to look up once more at
the minute hand we understand that
its seeming short steps each announce
that down in the heart of the great
building the tiny, trembling second
hand of the regulator has Just com
pleted another delicate cycle and
marked the fight of another minute
Cor. Springfield Republican.