Photobucket WT album!

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While running a thorough Google search for <pulsynetic> I was delighted to find the following album in Photobucket:

http://s626.photobucket.com/albums/tt344/jjjjsmith317/Lafayette%20IN%20Gents%20Pulsynetic%20Clock%20movement/

A C40B(?) Waiting train installation and beautifully photographed! This WT  resides in Lafayette, Indiana in the USA. I finally found it on Google Earth next to the Shell gas station.

The clock dials on their own cupola. Sitting on a lantern on the roof a commercial building. The WT lives right up in there with leading-off rods going straight to the motionwork behind each of the dials. The opal glass and attractive cast iron dials are no doubt backlit at night. One wonders how accessible the movement is to visitors. The roof looks as if it is covered in shingles. 

A beautifully sharp image of the WT movement! Probably quite early judging from the black finish on rather slender castings. Later WT movements look relatively massive and robust in comparison.

The lacquered brass parts and electromagnets are all early. The WT technique has obviously been standardised here. Though there are detail differences in the design of many of the parts. The cranked, Hipp toggle damper hangs unused just above the rocking armature to the left of the drive electromagnets.

The hand setting dial is engraved with the original patents. Surely another early detail? Later dials just have "Pulsynetic". There is a strangely later feature in the contact steady bars being pressed rather than cast. They have also had to be heavily bent upwards to reach the Hipp toggle. Perhaps a replacement? The lack of adjustment in the base may have needed this degree of bending. Though the Hipp toggle does look rather short.

The supporting brackets for some of the parts have no slots for adjustment. The Hipp toggle and contact supports were provided with slots in later WT movements.

A close up of the large, pendulum drive electromagnets. They look quite similar to my own coils except for the brown colour and lack of thick wax. They would have been subject to bright sunshine for decades. Which may have bleached the green. My Synchronome has exactly the same bleaching problem. The rocking armature and pendulum impulse pallet are well seen here. Note the oiler on top of the cast brass(or bronze) armature bearing. The neat little dial pointer is present just below the dial. This would be used for setting the clock hands to time. Useful for summer and winter time changes.

The usual WT detail is rather more slender than I am used to seeing on later WTs. Not exactly conclusive but perhaps suggesting the 1920s?  The photographer has done a great job of catching all the detail despite the potential for glare from the dials in the background. There is no hand setting crank on the ratchet/worm shaft. It may have been lost over the years. I find it exceedingly useful for re-setting the time. 

 

Cast dial centre, 12:1 motionwork and sturdy expansion coupling with leading-off rod going back to the WT off the left side of the picture. The heavy steel frame seems like overkill but may be supporting the iron dial frame against wind loading.

 

Detail seen through the WT's cast frame showing modern wiring. Perhaps a replacement power supply to match modern wiring codes and practice? Two very different transformers are present.I was trying to make the orange 'hats' into diodes. The transformers may actually be related to the lighting system for the translucent dials.

The two hex heads on the right of the picture are the bolts holding the lower pendulum rod and attached bob to the upper section. Separation here made transport and movement for maintenance of the WT movement much easier. The bob being very heavy and unable to be removed easily at the top. Though the sealed bearing support cases can be unbolted and lifted away. This may seriously risk the safety of the upper components attached to the pendulum rod. There was always the problem of the slot in the support bench. The gathering pallet and Hipp toggle would not pass through the slot if the pendulum was detached at the top. By placing a suitable support under the bob the two bolts can be easily undone. Leaving the relatively light upper section to hang freely from its pivot bearings.

A serious amount of metalwork supporting another set of motionwork. The slotted expansion/universal coupling is in the foreground. This would allow for variations in alignment between the WT movement and dial. The leading off rods expand and contract with changing temperature. So the slots in the couplings allow for this too. These couplings are standard features on most turret clocks. They allow for considerable building movement without binding. Many leading off systems are far longer than in this very compact WT installation.

All of these images can now be credited to JJ Smith of Smith's Bell and Clock: http://www.belltowerinstall.com/

I am grateful to Mr Smith for allowing me to share these excellent images.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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Another WT on YouTube

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While searching for "Pulsynetic" I found another YouTube video of a larger WT. Possibly a C40B.

It follows the same practice as the smaller C40A but is scaled up to drive and control the hands of larger dials. The top of the cast main frame is arched with vertical members on each side. Making it an attractive and balanced design. The Hipp toggle damper now rises from the armature pivot casting. The contact assembly has pressed steady bars from the post war period. While the finish is the earlier black with lacquered brasswork. The time setting dial is present and much larger than those of the C40As. The drive electromagnets look like bare, enamelled copper wire. The video poster suggests it is running on 20VDC. I thought I had seen a table somewhere showing 30V for the B model. It may be a false memory.




It is a great shame that the video background is so busy. But much worse, the camera is being blinded by the glare from the windows behind the WT. One couldn't ask for more difficult filming conditions! The video claims to be 720p HD but sadly it doesn't look it for the reasons given above.

This is not petty criticism for its own sake. Nor some peculiar artistic snobbery on my part. I simply wish to be able to examine this very rare movement in much greater detail. To make valid comparisons with my own movement and all the other material available online and in print.

A published video is not just moving pictures. It is a unique historical record of a piece of technology, in action, on a certain date. Making a visual recording bears a certain amount of responsibility to future study. And yes, I do know that my own efforts are hardly inspiring. Nor do they set the pinnacle of creative video making. That said, they do show all the details reasonably sharply given my limited skills, lack of practice and rather humble equipment. So that a later researcher can identify exactly how the item works and the methods used.

This is not some wishful thinking on my part. Committing a video or photograph to the internet will probably provide an indelible record far into the future. When the item has been lost to the ravages of time, the video or photograph will be the only remaining record of a unique device. One can never tell how such information will be used in the distant future. Students of the future may trawl their own internet like historians and archaeologists search papers, church records and libraries today.

The irony is that future historians may well be far more interested in the background activities and clothing than the WT. Perhaps they will have the skills to 3D print any object which ever existed. Though they may need our help to do so. By our providing enough detail for their advanced technology to maximise our efforts.

Today, we can automatically improve our digital photographs. This, only a few short years after its invention. Tomorrow's technology may be able to rebuild literally anything from scratch. All at relatively low cost.

Perhaps fully realistic moving holograms will be more desirable and collect less dust? A future horologist may easily have a fully lifelike C40B WT clonking away in his study. One which he can walk through as he crosses the room. He may even smile to himself as he walks around it. Fully aware that it does not exist in reality. Happy to pretend that it does. As some private joke.

Few can predict the future. The absence of obvious time travellers could suggest it is truly impossible. Or that there are no time travellers willing to reveal themselves. It may be simply because man ceases to exist. Only a year, or three, into our own future. Some unseen catastrophe involving a crashing asteroid, global thermonuclear war or an incurable pandemic may cut short human progress away from his ignorance, superstition, greed and savagery.

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