Quarter Clock

“The front view of a large quarter clock of Sir E. Beckett’s design, with all the wheels on the great horizontal bed, a gravity escapemen, and a compensated pendulum. They are made in two sizes, one wih a great striking wheels 18 inches wide, and the other 14. The striking is done by cams cast on the great wheels, about 1.125 inch broad in the large-sized clocks, which are strong enough for an hour bell of thirty cwt., and corresponding quarters. Wire ropes are used, not only because they last longer, if kept greased, but because a sufficient number of coils will go on a barrel of less than half the length that would be required for hemp ropes of the same strength, without overlapping, which it is as well to avoid, if possible, though it is not so injurious to wire ropes as it is to hemp ones. by this means also the striking cams can be put on the great wheel, instead of the second wheel, which saves more in friction than could be imagined by any one who had not tried both. In clocks of the common construction two-thirds of the power is often wasted in friction and in the bad arrangement of the hammer work, and the clock is wearing itself out in doing nothing.” — Encyclopedia Britanica, 1893

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