The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-06-09
MAKING GIANT TINIEPIECEs.
Big QiaIs Commonplace When in Po-
sitiOn, But Are POnderous.

I suppose there is no more famous
clock in the world none whose name
would be more readily recognized
when mentioned wherever the Eng
lish language is spoken, than big
Ben" at Westminster. Really, it is
not the clock itself that is so called.
but the great thirteen ton bell on
which the hours are struck, but few
ever refer to the clock tower, and it
is the time by Big Ben" that is ask
ed for when the exact hour is wanted.
And there is no object more looked
up to- in London. Its altitude of 800
feet detracts, however, from the visit
Ors' establishment at its size, for it
looks but a small affair from the
street level, and they are incapable of
approaching its dimensions from the
measurements glibly rolled out by the
guide or given in the cold type of a
guide book.
Mention of a 2215 foot dial with
two foot high numerals, and hour and
minute hands feet and 16 feet long
respectively, conveys little to the mind
until one is brought face to face with
these component parts on an equal
level; then the eyebrows rise with
establishment as one appreciates for
the first time the actual size of
giant clock.
Take, for example. the dial plan for
a Big Ben made for Toronto Can
ada. Men beside it look like Lilipu
tians, and it would take four of them,
standing on one another's shoulders,
to equal its height, for it has a diane
ter of twenty feet. It's minute hand is
the height of two men, While the hour
hand is five feet in length
Then the numerals have a height of
2 feet inches, and the minute strokes
are just half a foot in length. In per-
forming its daily task of indicating
the time, the long hand in this clock
which now announces the hour to the
good people of Canada from the
height of the town hall tower, travels
~. Of O ..
year!
The first consideration in the max
ing of a huge clock is the meteOrOlO-
gical conditions under which it will
have to perform the duty required of
1t. AS an instance, take the case of
the clock that was constructed by this
firm for Toronto. The hands do their
work at an elevation of $50 feet, and,
CnowstOrm or no. complete their daily
round without resting. With hands
not specially built to resist it, Can
adam snowstorm would do surprising
things, even to twisting them and
breaking them off.
Ordinarily, the hands of a turret
clock are cut out of sheet copper,
stiffened with ribs of brass at the
back Were this not done, the wind
would blow them out of tuth. But
where they have TO work under such
conditions as the Toronto timepiece
they are formed elliptical in shape of
double sheets of copper cOnVexed to-
WdEu the center, anu strongly IlNGIeu
every four inches of their length.
After the planning of the dial the
templet from which the mould is made
has to be cut, and the great dial is
cast whole in iron. The huge frames
to contain the intricate and delica tie
mechanism of the works are likewise
cast in one piece. Remembering that
the clocks are exposed to the chang
ing conditions of weather, and the in
fiuences of those conditions on metal,
the necessity of disDepsinar with nuts
screws and bolts becomes apparent.
The giant dials vary from is to 60 feet
in circumference, and the dial room at
a makers of tower clocks is an in
teresting sight. There are dials, mostly
skeletons, of iron. in various stages
toward completion all around, being
painted and glazed and gilded. Those
intended to serve in Illuminated clocks
are glazed with opal glass. as this. bet
ter than any other, diffuses the light,
equally over the surface of the dial.
But skeleton" dials. intended for a
tower whose wall will be the only back