The Washington herald., 1910-05-15
AMERICAN CLOCKS
DWARF big Benz
Huge Timepieces at New
York Largest Known.
COMPARISON OF DIMENSIONS
Metropolitan and Colgate Clocks
Make Time Fly on IA Bigger Scale
the HOuse-SOme Facts and Fig
ures About These Clocks.

the House-some Facts and Fig
/ ures About These Clocks.
National pride IN every British institu-
ton. both large and small, is probably
/ accountable for the erroneous claim iu
/ the pictorial supplement Of the current
issue Of the London Sphere. 20 the effect
/ that the famous big Ben" clock n
/ Westminster tower is the titan Of time
! pieces. According 20 the English publi-
cation, Big Ben" IS the largest strik-
J ing. most powerful and most accurate
! public clock in the world. the first blow
on big Ben" at each hour denoting cor
rect time Perhaps the Britons base
their boastful assertion on the qualifying
/ adjective public" and consequently OK
clude from comparison the Colgate and
/ Metropolitan tower clocks here. as being
the possessions Of private concerns. But.
be that as il may the facts are that
/ big Ben" IS outclassed by both OF The
| above-named American rivals, says the
/ New York Sun.
The famous timepiece. by which every
pUuctUal LondOner sets his watch has
four diaIs, 3 feet in diameter. the cen
/ ters Of which arc $50 feet above the
/ ground. The numerals on the dials are
I two feet long. while the minute spaces
are one foot square. The minute hands
are fourteen feet long and weigh ap-
( proximately 900 pounds each; they are
made Of copper and travel a distance
. equal 20 100 miles each year. The hcur
/ hands are feet i1 length. and the pen
. dUlum is l3 feet long. with a bob weigh
. ing 800 pounds.
Wound by Hand.
The weights Of the clock aggregate
two and one-half tons. Two men are
. required 20 work five hours three times
a weel, % wind the mechanism up. after
/ climbing 5E steps 10 reach the cock
. room. The bell popularity sE0wa as
Big Ben" on which the hours arc
t0Ued, weighs thirteen and 0ue-half tons.
and the hammer that uufauinEly does THE
Bidding Of Father Time weighs s-1
pounds. A quartet o. quarter bells total
nearly eight tons Twice daily. as rho
tongue OF Big Ben" rnus.cally p-0c'l--s
10 the worlds metropolis
AL through this hour Lord. % -~ guide
Ard Dr. Thy power -l foot shan slide
it IS teleeraphed automatically ID -he
Greenwich Observatory. where its per-
f0yuauce is duly checked.
Big Ben" was SO named arta~ Sir
. Benjamin Hail. FIRST commissioner os
4 works 40 tho time of It's erection. and WAS
/ cast by George Nears. under the d.-ee-
ti0u OF Edward Beckett Deu.eou. i- r-s
. a crack was discovered I'm the bell short
. Iy after being placed lH position, which
I caused shru tone But the crack was
I filed open. SO as 20 prevent vihrato-.
and the tone as a result, became quite
. pure. 1t is heard In calm weather. over
. the greater part of London. Tl- four
. quarter bells were cast by Warner IN
1856.
High Above the Street.
Until the advent of-she Colgate Com
0anvs clock fin Jersey City. and the Net
ropoltau Life Insurance Courary'z
clock. big Ben" relg-ed supreme as the
masterpiece Of colossal clocks. The foFr
l.a-s OF the Metropolitan clock are -u.-e
as nigh above the street being Ea5 feet
gQ in tae air. They are built up OF Ie-
/ enforced concrete. faced with virre5us
glue and white mosaic tiles. Each dial
is -f feet g inches i1 diameter. exceeding
Big BeUs face by three and oue-la-E
feet The figures on the dial arc fus-
twice the height of those ON the famous
London clock. or four feet. The minute
marks. being ten and oue-aalt inches
. square. are trife smaller. Iut the
. hands. built on iron frames and shea-hed
I with copper. weigh 1000 pounds r1r the
/ hour indicator and 600 pounds for tie
minute hand The larger hand measures
. i7 feet from end % end and = feet from
/ the center 10 the point. The smaller
+ hand measures ie feet 8 inches over all
and feet : inches from center 20 point
/ They revolEe on roller bearings, AMI, UEa
I the numerals and minute marks. are IL
/ Illuminated by incaudescert lamps under
+ heavy plate, wired glass.
/ Being more modern than Big Ben"
+ the driving power Of this huge mo-rar-
/ ism is electricity. ald none of the many
/ devices connected tn---c-t1 require any
manual operation. :hc entf-c 'ns-ausu5a
being automatic.
Controls Many Others.
/ The master clock, which is located .-
/ the directors room on the second roo-
/ OF the building, controls about I.l ether
clocks throughout tho entire structure
/ besides this. 1t controls several pro-
/ gramme Instruments for sounding ysri-
/ Gus schedules Of bells in the different de-
/ partments. This clock IS a h!gh-graGe
regulator and adjusted 90 run within
five seconds per month. The chimes com
I prise four bells. the largest weighing
/ 700 pounds Gin the key Of B fau, the
/ second. 5000 pounds .E fao, the third
! 2,0CO pounds Of natural and the small
| est, 1500 pounds Ukey Of G1. They are
/ located on the f0rty-siNth floor. mounted
on UpriEhts and struck by clapqers
worked automatically from underneath.
At every quarter hour. through the
medium Of a trausmitter electrical SIM
| pulses are sent To the hammers ON the
! forty-siXth floor, and simultaneously the
tones Of the "oId. historic Cambridge"
! chimes peal forth their message Of
tempus fugit. Following the fourth orr
| last quarter, the hours are sounded ON
| the 1000 pound bell. with an impact or
! about 200 pounds
Looks Small in Comparison
The Colgate clock. which is the largest
| in the world. makes Big Ben" seem de-
I cidedly small by comparison The dial
Of the Colgate clock is 81 feet in diam
| eter. The minute hand measures o. feet
/ over all. with is feet inches from the
| center 20 the point The hour hand is