Standard Electric Master Clock
Circa 1900
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This old beauty is 60 inches tall with a 12 inch dial and was built about 1900. It has a pendulum
that is one second long which means that it takes exactly one second to complete one cycle. The clock
is powered by 24 volts AC and once a minutes a contact is closed that sends power to a solenoid that winds
a small spring. That spring provides to power to drive the escape wheel that poweres the pendulum.
At the same time the solenoid receives power to wind the spring, the power goes to another solenoid that
drives a wheel connected to a control tape. It would also send power to other slave clocks through out
the building. The control tape which wound around wheels and through the contact assembly would control
electronic bells to signal the different times of the day. The tape was marked with the 24 hours of a day
in 5 minute segments. By punching a hole in the tape for a certain time of the day, when that spot of the tape
would reach the contact points, because there was a hole in the tape, the contacts would short out causing a bell
to ring. This clock was able to control 2 different bell circuits and any number of slave clocks.
There are two 5 inch slave clocks and one 5 inch amp gauge mounted to the back board. These clocks would let the
clockmaster know that the circuits were working, and the amp gauge would show how much the slave clocks were drawing. If the
current droped, the clockmaster would know that some of the slave clocks were no longer connected. If the current increased,
the clockmaster would know that there was a short somewhere in the circuit, or the external clocks were not working as they should.
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