Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-13
SOME WONDERFUL CLOCKS
The Marvels Of Astronomical and Chrome.
metric Mechanism.
st. Petersburg Has q Timepiece with
with Famous Automatic.

From T1t-Bits.
| OF course. every Briton has heard at one
time or other of the famous clock tower
adjoining the houses of parliament No
| doubt he imagines 1t to be very fine
| structure, and, as a matter Of fact, 1t is re-
| garded as the best specimen in our coun-
| try: but there are many more wonderful
| clocks in existence today, perhaps not in
| size, but certainly in their skillful mech
anism.
The most wonderful clock in the world Is
exhibited in St. Petersburg. Its magnifi-
| cerce may be imagined from the fact Of
| this colossal timepiece having no fewer
tEan ninety-five faces. 1t indicates stimuli
tareously the time of day at thirty different
spots on the earth's surface. besides the
movement Of the earth around the sun, the
phases Of the moon, the signs Of the z,sdiac,
the passage over the meridian of more tina n
fifty stars of the northern hemisphere, and
the date according to the Gregorian. Greek.
Mussutman and Hebrew calendars. The
works took two years to put together after
the clock had been sent in detached Pieces
fiom Switzerland to Russia.
A certain matchmaker constructed q
clock whose mechanism represents, every
fifteen minutes, all the activities Of a MN
ieture railway station. The telegraph cper-
ater sends a dispatch, the doors of the sta
tion open, the stationmaster and his assist
ant appear on the steps, the clerks open
the windows and distribute the tickers
several travellers rush toward the train that
comes in at full speed. In short, until the
train has gone the usual stir Of such sta
tons IS exactly reproduced
AS the train leaves. each automaton re-
| turns to its place. and for quarter of an
hour every thing is peaceful The clocks
dimensions are not known, but 1t is said to
have had six years labor expended upon it.
Another remarkable clock is that made
by Villingen. the clockmaker Of the Black
Forest, Germany. 1t shows the seconds
minutes. quarter hours. hours. days. weeks.
months, seasons. years and leap years to
the last second of the year AID. Sg.y99, be-
sides a host of other astronomical, geo.
graphical and historical facts.
There is a celebrated clock tower at
Berne, in Switzerland. The approach of
the hour is announced by the Growing of
| a cock. At the same time may be seen at
the very top Of the tower a man clad in a
coat of mail striking the hours with his
sword on a large bell. AS the hours are
striking a troupe of bears make their APP
pearance and parade round the tower,
then make their exit. Long strings of car
riages draw up every hour for the occu-
pants to witness this interesting spectacle.
A gigantic clock. made of cycle parts, was
shown at a recent exhibition held in Paris.
The hour figures are composed of brightly
plated crankS. All the smaller wheels re-
volve by means of gear chains, but this
was only for attraction. The clock kept
| excellent time, and struck hours. half and
quarter hours the real mechanism being
concealed in the base.
At the time of the coronation of the EN-
| press of Russia at Moscow in 1924 she was
presented with a watch as wonderful in
every particular as the famous Strasburg
clock On the opposite side of the time
Keeping part there was exact counter
part of the holy sepulcher, with a carved
Image of the Roman guard, the scene being
viewed through the glass in the case. Upon
opening the case the Imitation stones would
| roll away from the mouth of the miniature
| sepuicher, the guard knell, angels appear
at opposite sides of the opening. and at this
time the music would begin to play, in soft
sweet strains. the Easter songs SO we'll
known to all Russians. The watch only
weighed seven ounces. The maker of this
wonderful piece Of mechanism is said to
nave worked upon 1t almost uninterrupt-
| edly for period of nine years.