The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-08
Wound BY Hand

feet long, with a bob weighing 400 pounds.
Wound BY Hand
The weights of the clock aggregate two
and one-half tons. Two men are required
to work five hours three times a week to
wind the mechanism up after climbing
374 steps TO reach the clock room. The
bell, popularity known as big Ben," on
which the hours are tolled, weighs 1917
tons, and the hammer that unfailingly
docs the bidding of father time weighs
400 pounds. A quartet of quarter bells
total nearly eight tons. Twice daily, as
the tongue of Big Ben" unsteady pro-
claims to the worlds metropolis
All through this hour, Lord be my guide
And by Thy power not foot shall slide
it Is telegraphed automatically to the
Greenwich Observatory, where It's per-
Torrance is duly checked
big Ben" was so named after Sir Ben
| jan1in Hall, first commissioner of works
| 1amin Hall, first commissioner of works
| by George Mears, under the direction of
Edward Beckett Denson in 1855 A
crack was discovered in the bell shortly
after being place In position. which
caused a shrill tone. But the crack was
| filed open, so as to prevent vibration, and
the tone as a result became quite pure.
It Is heard, In calm weather, over the
greater part of London. The four quarter
bells were cast by Warner in 1856.
High Above the Street
Until the advent of the Colgate COM
pany's clock In Jersey City, and the
Metropolitan Life Insurance company's
clock, Big Ben" reigned supreme as
the ma sterpiece of colossal clocks. The
four dials of the Metropolitan clock
are twice as high above the street,
being 346 feet up in the air. They are
built up of REINFORCED concrete, faced
with vitreous glue and white mosaic
tiles Each dial is IS feet inches
in dia meter, exceeding big Bens" face
by 3K feet The figures on the dial
are just twice the height of those on
the famous London clock, or four feet.
The minute marks. being 101s inches
| square, are a trifle smaller. but the
hands, built on iron frames and
sheathed with copper, weigh 1000
pounds for the hour Indicator and
700 pounds for the minute hand. The
larger hand measures II feet from end
to end and IL feet from the center to
the point. The smaller hand measures
10 feet 4 inches over all and feet
4 inches from center to point. They
revolve on roller bearings, and like
the numerals and minute marks, are
illuminated by incandescent lamps I'M
der heavy plate, wired glass.
Being more modern than big Ben"
the driving power of this huge mechan-
ism is electricity and none of the many
devices connected Herewith require
any manual operation, the entire in
stal1ation being automatic
Controls Many Others
The master clock, which is located in
the directors room on the second floor
of the building, controls about 100 9TH
er clocks throughout the entire struc-
| ture; besides this, it controls several
| programme instruments for sounding
various schedules of bells in the diff
| ferent departments. This clock Is a
| htgh-grade regulator and adjusted to
run within five seconds per month. The
chimes comprise four bells, the largest
weighing 1000 pounds Gin the key of
f fat; the second 5000 pounds (F'
fat; the third 1000 pounds Of nat
uraD, and the smallest, 1900 pounds
| (key of c.. They are located on the
forty-sixth floor mounted on uprights,
and struck by clappers worked auto
matically from underneath.
At every quarter hour, through the
medium of a transmitter, electrical I'm
pulses are sent to the hammers on the
| forty-sixth floor, and simultaneously
the tones of the "old. historic Cam
ridge" chimes peal forth their message
of tempus fugit. Following the fourth
or last quarter, the hours are sounded
on the 1000 pound bell, with an i'm
pact of about 200 pounds.
Looks Small In Comparison
| The Colgate clock, which is the
largest in the world. makes big Ben
| seem decidedly small by comparison.
The dial of the Colgate clock is 3S feet
Ia diameter The minute hand measures
21 feet over all, with is feet inches
from the center to the point. The hour
hand is 10 feet from the cenetr to point
| ard II feet in total length. The pendu-
lum of the clock Is feet long, while
the weights sum up 1850 pounds. Elec-
| trio lights mark the minute divisions
on the dial, at 2 feet apart, and the
numerals measure 51a feet high and
80 inches wide. The center OF the dial
is lower than that of big Ben being
only 14O feet above the ground, but
owing to its peculiarly conspicuous
location on the Jersey shore. facing
lower Manhattan, its usefulness Is MOI