The morning journal-courier., 1908-05-28
BIG CLOCK AT WORK
Thomaston Clockmakers Nam
moth Timekeeper Set
Going.
0VERL00kS NEW YORK BAY
Mayor of Jersey City Leads Ccrcmo-
MICS Defeating Worlds Big
gcst Clock.

| When the mayor Of Jersey City
touched an electric button on the roof
of the factory Of Colgate s. Co, on
| Monday afternoon what Is said to be
| the largest clock in the world was
started definitely on its career OF time
! keeping 1t Is not often that a clock
is wound up with such imposing cere-
monies as wnIstle-b blasts. mayors
speeches, and general Publications,
but this time piece Is so unique In
many ways that 1t was thought to
merit special kind Of inauguration.
Some Idea Of its size, aside from the
mere figures Of It's diameter and
works, may be gained from the fact
that the dial has more than twice the
area of that Of the clock on the Phil
adelphla City hall, hitherto he larg
est clock In this country, The Jersey
| CITY clock Is thirty-eight feet across
the dial. and It has an area of 1874
square feet. The minute hand Is
twenty feet long and with It's coun-
terpoise, weighs nearly a third Of a
ton, while the ponderous weight that
moves the mechanism will weigh just
two thousand pounds, and the whole
clock approximately six tons. Twenty
men Of average size could stand across
the dial Of the clock, shoulder to
shoulder.
So far as Is known the .wo next
largest timepieces in the world are
those Of the Philadelphia City hall,
already referred to, which is 25 feet
across the dial, with an area Of 400
square feet, and the Westminster
dlals Of Big Ben, on the Houses Of
Parliament in London, which are
90 1-2 feet in diameter, with an
I area of S9S square feet each
In building 50 mammoth a clock,
several serious problems had to be met
with For one thing, the wind press
ure, eight stories In the air. on the fac
tory roof, is considerah Bile, and It would
have been dangerous 20 erect a solid
I structure without supports so heavy
that the face must have been obscur-
ed. on the score Of weight, too, 1t
was found inadvisabe 10 construct the
dial Of metal.
AS It stands, the clock back Of the
dial Is nothing more than a great
framework of white pine, octagonal in
shape, through the lattices of which
the wind can blow, ereely There are
no works visible, as they are all con-
tanned IN small house at the base of
tho structure, a shanty, probably ten
or twelve feet square. There is, how
ever, system of gears, regulating the
operation Of the minute and hour hand,
in the ratio Of twelve to one. at the
center of the dial In back. or course
clock Of this nature has but one face,
fronting toward the river and Man
haitian,
An advantage which has been gain
cd by employing lattice-like struc-
ture for the face is, that no matter
how the sun shines, behind or toward
the clock, IT is always distinct be-
cause the open spaces allow OF a per-
manent background Of sky that
strongly outlines the situation of the
hands.
There are no numerals on the big
clock. Numerals. indeed, are seldom
placed on clocks of this size. One
must tell the hour By the location OF
the hands. BY day, black wedges on
the white surface of the dial show
the hours and minutes, and at night
they are marked by red electric bulbs
Recent experiments have proved that
II can be read with ease al a distance
Of two miles In the darkness. The
hands also, will be outlined in red
incandescent lamps
Between every one Of the minute
n arks there is space Of twenty-fom
riches, and the minute hand travels
Il is space In two jerks, one every half.
minute, so that the time can be TOLD
by the clock to within thirty seconds
The tip-end Of the hour hand. by the
way, travels over half a mile day
The operation Of the clock Is really
very simple. II winds up just like any
ordinary timepieee. and It is operated
on the same system OF weights ant
pendulums. To wind 1t up require.
fully twenty minutes and then 1t rum
for four days.