|
|
The City Hall of Ogdensburg, NY, has an E. Howard movement with hour strike in its' tower. The clock was made around 1890. The parts in this photo are related to the escapement and pendulum suspension and have been fully restored. |
|
|
The large cast frame of the movement has been carefully refinished as well as all the gears and parts that run inside the frame. This is a view of the strike portion of the movement. |
|
|
David Kuyt stands next to the movement to show its' scale. Also clearly visible, is the gravity escapement. The large wheel in the upper left of the photo is part of the automatic night time shut off for the strike. |
|
|
This is one of two drive motors for the clock. When the clock was moved from the opera house that burned down, motors were installed so the clock would not need to be manually wound. The clock was made around 1890, the motors were added around 1930. |
|
|
This is the same motor and gear reduction system as shown above after it was restored. This one winds the weight for the time function. The time portion of the movement is still weight driven. The strike portion of the movement has had the weights eliminated altogether and is direct driven by a similar motor and gear reduction system. |
|
|
The clock as a whole had been neglected and was in a state of decay as can be seen from this photo. In addition to corrosion, a great deal of concrete dust had impregnated the bearings and other working parts. The brass parts were tarnished and the activation levers and swithces were loose and malfunctioning. |
|
|
Here is the same view of the movement after American Tower Clock Company had completed the restoration. In addition to the surface treatments on all the different kinds of metals, new activation levers were fabricated, installed and adjusted for proper operation. |
|
|
The large bell for the hour strike resides out doors in the lantern style structure at the very top of the tower. The dials underneath are cast iron frames with translucent glass panels. The dials are illumintaed from inside. American Tower Clock Company painted the numerals gold and the numeral track and markers black. In this photo, the hands and motion works (gearing behind the dial) have not yet be reinstalled. |
|
|
This photo was taken looking down at my shoes. It shows the pendulum rod that is 16 feet long and swijngs a bob well below in the room below. The pendulum swings once every two seconds. The slow pace adds to the accuracy of the clock. Any deviation in time keeping is multiplied fewer times by a slower moving pendulum. |
 |
Towers are always fun to climb. This view shows a ladder going to the next level and then an opening with more ladders above that. The pulleys that are visible are directing the steel cable that eventually ends up pulling the hammer for the bell at the very top of the tower. |
 |
The Ogdensburtg clock has four dials that are about 8 feet in diameter. The shadows cast by the hands are visible from the inside. |