CLOCK WITHOUT A TICK

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 36, 11 August 1923, Page 14

CLOCK WITHOUT A TICK

DRIVEN BY A. GRAVITY ARM.

A novel clock, now in aesign and conception, has been'invented by an Edinburgh clockmaker. That this is a real scientific advante in'the realm of horology is at once established by the fact that a paper was read, and the clock demonstrated before the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh, by Mr. Steuart, the inventor, ihe clock has a silent continuous motion, says the "Scotsman." It has no tick or intermittent movement like an ordinary clock.' The pendulum, which is driven by a gravity arm; is absolutely free, having no escapement to unlock, no mechanism to drive, nor any electrical contacts to make or break, thus realising what ha s been the clockmakers dream for many a decade., Being driven by electricity it, of course, requires no winding. Two models were demonstrated to tKe Royal Society, one m the form of an. accurate or precision regulator, with a,' heavy pendulum, and the other in the form of a heavy powerful turret clock, such as is used in the nuge dials on church tower or public clocks. The former, carefully checked over a long period by Paris observatory wireless time signals, has been regulated to within half a second per week. This is a marvellous result, when it is remembered that the timepiece was practically a rough model built for experimental purposes. -The clocks is absolutely silent m operation and its consumption of electrical energy is~ one-hundredth of a watt. In-other words, the power used m an ordinary 60 watt electric light bulb *l X ®nt. to drive six thousand such clocks., « is a' weird sensation to witness the curious floating motion of the seconds hand as it traverses the dial without . the familiar stopping jerk at each second. The other model exhibited built on exactly the same principle, but designed to demonstrate the adaptability of the movement to the heaviest work actually lifted half a hundredweight at the end of the twelve-inch minute-hand without in any way disturbing the tiraekeepmg of the little half-pound pendulum. This powerful movement or mechanism was contained in an eighteen-inch square. The "Westminster clock, familharly known as "Bitf Ben," has a 7001b pendulum, and could not equal this performance. One of the outstanding features of this patented principle is that accurate or precision time-keeping is now possible without the extremely fine workmanship -which has hitherto 'been necessary. Further, the power available is unlimited, and in this respect, snow, frost, and wind, the present" enemy of the waiter of heavy clocks, and elso the releasing of strike and chime movements, have.now lost their terrors.