Electrically controlled clock

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Electrically controlled clock
Manufacturer	(unknown)
Production years	19th century
Production location	(unknown)

This clock illustrates a method of synchronization introduced in 1858 by R. L. Jones, in which the pendulums of a number of ordinary weight-driven mechanical clocks are made to swing in unison with that of a ‘master’ clock by means of electro-magnetic impulses due to electric currents sent out every second from the master clock.

[edit] How it works

With this, which was one of the first systems of distant control of a number of clocks to be introduced in this country, the individual clocks will continue to go even if the electrical circuit is accidentally broken, though they are then no longer synchronized. The pendulum of the subsidiary clock carries a coil which swings over a system of two magnets with their north poles facing, as in the adjacent Bain clock. Currents from the master clock, which is of the Bain type, pass through these coils every second; if the pendulum is late the forces on the coil tend to accelerate it, if early to retard it, so that it is kept synchronous with that of the master clock. The example exhibited was made about 1880 for the General Post Office.

[edit] Memories

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[edit] In the Science Museum's Records

Inv. No: 1913-580