I always wanted a Godfather Drosselmeyer grandfather clock. Something like this only with a big damn... I think the original may have been an owl, but I want a Raven, up top... definitely with the moon movement... weight-driven, Westminster chimes, with an eight-hour shut-off... unless I live in a house big enough I can leave it on all night. (I think it'd be kind of cool to hear the big clock cue up 4am from far and away down the stairs... not enough to wake one up, but enough to hear reasonably clearly if already so... e-g-f-b, e-f-g-e; g-e-f-b, b-f-g-e, E, E, E, E... (being E Major, the G's and F's are sharp...)
The cool bit is there are five note sequences, and they're done in continuous order, so that the mechanical strikers can be on a rotary, and the position of the hands controls how far each chime goes.
15: Sequence 1, g-f-e-b 30: Sequence 2 and 3, which are the first two above. (this is the "first half" of the traditional chime) 45: Sequence 4, 5 (the second two above), 1 00: 2-3-4-5 + hours
One of my more memorable moments is arriving at Westminster Station, looking up at the clock on the tower, and noting that it was 11:46. "We're not going anywhere for about fifteen minutes, mmmkay?" The hands went straight up, the clock rang off the chimes, and Big Ben tolled the full twelve.
Lucky me, too; the bells are silent for the next three years while the clock undergoes restoration, with a few exceptions: it would've rang Sunday before last at noon for Remembrance Sunday, and it will strike Midnight at the end of the year. They'll likely use the electric strikers for that rather than the old Victorian clockworks, to make it accurate; the first stroke of midnight is supposed to be +/- 1 second, and since the works aren't currently running, it would be virtually impossible to tune it in 15 minutes' runtime... they'll probably trigger the strikers off the BBC Pips, since the lightspeed distance from Rampisham Down (BBC transmitters) to Westminster is negligible, and a lot easier than trying to rig a signal from Greenwich itself all the way up into the bell tower... :)
I've always been fascinated by mechanical clocks. A long time ago -- '50's, IIRC, Scientific American had an article on the Shortt–Synchronome clock. Very cool.
I haven't thought about it for years, but I think it would be cool to build a wooden, pendulum, digital clock, with 7-segment readouts.
We used to hear these sometimes growing up. I would love to get my hands on a dead one-sometimes it was a bit difficult to get the owners to let us touch theres because of the delicacy. I do remember one where the bird came out of its hous on the hour, though-back when I was about5 or 6, maybe? It's a fuzzy child's memory but it's definitely there.
This was definitely a fascinating and fun read. :)
Our grandpa hada grandfather clock that was given to our uncle when he got his hous )He used to be a boatdweller). I grew up with that thing. I don't remember wat sort it was, but I know it had three different chime setttings. Witney, Westmister and something else. It was definitely wated though; I remember grandma having to wind it and having to be careful f the pendulum lest she knock it out of place.
I sort of miss that clock-I wish I had one similar, but I would have no where to put it.
>> I would love to get my hands on a dead one-sometimes it was a bit difficult to get the owners to let us touch theres because of the delicacy. <<
That's a great idea. In fact, it would be an awesome service for blind people if someone collected defunct appliances and other items for them to explore by touch.
A cuckoo clock isn't actually all that delicate if you're careful with it. Mechanical clocks have to stand up to being reset by hand, as well as their own movements. Except for the external moving parts -- the cuckoo, hands, and weights -- most of the interesting features are sturdy because they're carved out of wood. The housing of the clock tends to be quite elaborate. But not everyone knows this, and in any case, with a dead clock you could take it apart if you wanted to in order to explore it.
Hmm. There are maker workshops where people take things apart to explore how they work. You could try to find one of those in your area -- Indianapolis is big enough that there should be some. It might take a while for anyone to find a dead cuckoo clock, but that's the kind of thing makers would go nuts over. Right after Christmas is a good time to look for the toy version of this project where kids disassemble mechanical or electronic toys. Some of those allow older participants too.
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ysabetwordsmith
(no subject)
Date: 2017-11-22 08:27 am (UTC)The cool bit is there are five note sequences, and they're done in continuous order, so that the mechanical strikers can be on a rotary, and the position of the hands controls how far each chime goes.
15: Sequence 1, g-f-e-b
30: Sequence 2 and 3, which are the first two above. (this is the "first half" of the traditional chime)
45: Sequence 4, 5 (the second two above), 1
00: 2-3-4-5 + hours
One of my more memorable moments is arriving at Westminster Station, looking up at the clock on the tower, and noting that it was 11:46. "We're not going anywhere for about fifteen minutes, mmmkay?" The hands went straight up, the clock rang off the chimes, and Big Ben tolled the full twelve.
Lucky me, too; the bells are silent for the next three years while the clock undergoes restoration, with a few exceptions: it would've rang Sunday before last at noon for Remembrance Sunday, and it will strike Midnight at the end of the year. They'll likely use the electric strikers for that rather than the old Victorian clockworks, to make it accurate; the first stroke of midnight is supposed to be +/- 1 second, and since the works aren't currently running, it would be virtually impossible to tune it in 15 minutes' runtime... they'll probably trigger the strikers off the BBC Pips, since the lightspeed distance from Rampisham Down (BBC transmitters) to Westminster is negligible, and a lot easier than trying to rig a signal from Greenwich itself all the way up into the bell tower... :)
(no subject)
Date: 2017-11-22 04:29 pm (UTC)I haven't thought about it for years, but I think it would be cool to build a wooden, pendulum, digital clock, with 7-segment readouts.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-11-22 05:12 pm (UTC)We used to hear these sometimes growing up. I would love to get my hands on a dead one-sometimes it was a bit difficult to get the owners to let us touch theres because of the delicacy. I do remember one where the bird came out of its hous on the hour, though-back when I was about5 or 6, maybe? It's a fuzzy child's memory but it's definitely there.
This was definitely a fascinating and fun read. :)
-Fallon~
(no subject)
Date: 2017-11-22 05:17 pm (UTC)I sort of miss that clock-I wish I had one similar, but I would have no where to put it.
-Fallon~
Thoughts
Date: 2017-11-22 08:45 pm (UTC)My parents had one when I was little.
>> I would love to get my hands on a dead one-sometimes it was a bit difficult to get the owners to let us touch theres because of the delicacy. <<
That's a great idea. In fact, it would be an awesome service for blind people if someone collected defunct appliances and other items for them to explore by touch.
A cuckoo clock isn't actually all that delicate if you're careful with it. Mechanical clocks have to stand up to being reset by hand, as well as their own movements. Except for the external moving parts -- the cuckoo, hands, and weights -- most of the interesting features are sturdy because they're carved out of wood. The housing of the clock tends to be quite elaborate. But not everyone knows this, and in any case, with a dead clock you could take it apart if you wanted to in order to explore it.
Hmm. There are maker workshops where people take things apart to explore how they work. You could try to find one of those in your area -- Indianapolis is big enough that there should be some. It might take a while for anyone to find a dead cuckoo clock, but that's the kind of thing makers would go nuts over. Right after Christmas is a good time to look for the toy version of this project where kids disassemble mechanical or electronic toys. Some of those allow older participants too.
http://www.nova-labs.org/blog/2013/01/22/takeapart-ii-the-aftermath/
https://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/2014/06/09/toy-take-apart-after-dark-play
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/article3868719.html