Bytown TimesVol. 22, No.3, May. 26, 2002 ISSN 1712 - 2799

The Bytown Times is published five times a year bythe Ottawa Chapter 111, National Association ofWatch and Clock Collectors.President: Maynard Dokken, 16 Brian Cres. Nepean,Ontario. K2H 6X3. Telephone (613) 829-1565.Vice President: Bill Pullen.Secretary: Ben Roberts.Treasurer: Charles Beddoe.Immediate Past President: Dan Hudon.Program Director: Allan Symons.Bytown Times Editor: Ben Roberts. Telephone (613)828-9271 Email Address: benrobe@sympatico.caThe Chapter meets five times a year on the fourthSunday of the months of Jan., March, May, Sept., andNov., at 1:00 pm. Annual dues $16.Membership in the NAWCC is obligatory.Association dues: U.S. $55.

Next MeetingATTENTION

The next meeting will be held on Sunday May 26,commencing at 1:00 pm at:

The Canadian Clock MuseumDeep River, Ontario.

See Page 3 for details

Last MeetingThe last meeting was held on Sunday March 24 at theQualicum and Graham Park Community Centre.President Maynard Dokken welcomed visitors LenGaasenbeek, Burkhard Von Oppeln, Bernard Barber,Ian MacDonald and John Chamaillard. All becamemembers of the Chapter at the meeting.Maynard expressed the Chapters regrets at the loss offounding member Peter Bomford. Peter made majorcontributions to the success of the Chapter over theyears, notably the creation and editing of the BytownTimes, and the organizing of shows and exhibitions,and his constant willingness to undertake any taskcontributed to the ongoing success of the Chapter.Dan Hudon reported on the successful completion ofhis second clock repair workshop. Certificates wereawarded to Doug Millson, Mike Carroll, WarrenNelson (from Brockville), Dave Royer and FrankPrud’homme.Members were reminded of the Toronto Invitational tobe held in Toronto on Sunday May 5th.It was agreed that the Chapter’s next meeting onSunday May 26 should be held at the Canadian ClockMuseum in Deep River. Details will appear in the nextissue of the Bytown Times well in advance.An excellent selection of clock books, generouslydonated by Archie Pennie, was on sale at the meetingwith proceeds going to Chapter Funds. By the end ofthe meeting all the books had been sold and a total of$117 had been raised. Grateful thanks are extended toArchie for his most generous donation.A talk and demonstration by Dan Hudon on “AlarmClocks and Their Repair” proved to be very informa-tive and generated a lot of interest.There were a variety of show and tell items. DougMillson showed his Seth Thomas #30 Regulator, BenRoberts discussed a Hamburg Ships Bell Clock he isrestoring and asked for input about its maker, shownon the dial as Rolf Gerdes & Co. Hamburg 11. LesGaasenbeek showed a very attractive Carriage Clock.Two Skeleton Clocks made by John Chamaillardwhich he had brought along for display attracted agreat amount of interest. One was a spring drivenFusee, and the smaller a weight driven with a 39 inchpendulum. They were both fine examples ofclockmaking craftsmanship, and were much admired.Thank you John, for giving us the chance to examineyour fine work. March Madness was highlighted byAllan Symons and Maynard Dokken. Allan contrib-uted a Clock/ Table Lamp/Telephone/CigaretteLighter, manufactured by The Snider Clock Co. Thismulti-use object performed only three of it’s indicatedfunctions - the telephone handset is a cigarette lighter,not a telephone. Maynard Dokken showed a home-made decorative plywood clock case, some 36 incheshigh, acquired at an auction, and housing a Big Benalarm clock.Peter Clarke had several items for sale on the MartTable, including a full set of staking tools.

Timely QuotesA little help at the right time is better than a lot of helpat the wrong time.

TIME RUNNING OUTThe hands of Britain’s most famous clock could grindto a halt because of a dispute over its cleaning and main-tenance. Big Ben is due to be given its twice-yearly over-haul this weekend, but a dispute between the privatecontractor responsible for the timepiece’s upkeep andgovernment officials could mean that the spring clean-ing will not go ahead. Experts say without vital mainte-nance work, there is a real possibility that the clock couldstop.The above appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on Tuesday March 26.Will overhauling just one of its bells will keep the clock running ? B. Roberts

Page 2 VOL. 22, No.3, May. 26, 2002

Seen at the Last Meeting

Left: PresidentMaynard Dokkenopens the meeting

Dan Hudon presented a talk anddemonstration on ‘Alarm Clocksand Their Repair’

New member John Chamaillard displayedthe two Skeleton Clocks which he hadmade. They raised a great deal of interestand admiration. The larger of John’s Skeleton Clocks has a fusee movement. On

the right is a closer view of the mechanism.Left: Thesmaller ofJohn’sSkeletonClocks issingle weightdrivenmovement witha 19 inchpendulum

Right: DougMillson’s SethThomas Number 30Regulator.

The attractive Carriage Clockbelonging to Les Gaasenbeek, with aclose-up of its dial.

March Madness

The Snider Table Lamp/Telephone HandsetCigarette Lighter/ Clock, brought along anddemonstrated by Allan Symons as hiscontribution to March Madness.

Right: Maynard Dokken’scontribution to MarchMadness was a home-madeplywood case housing a BigBen Alarm Clock.

My contribution to March Madness is this picture of aSchool Clock. I took the picture but neglected to makea note of the maker’s name or who owns it. Please letme know if you recognize your clock. Ben Roberts.

Vol. 22, No.3. May. 26, 2002 Page 3

Participants in Dan Hudon’s second clock repairworkshop. Left to right: Doug Millson, WarrenNelson, Mike Carroll, Dan Hudon, George Royer andFrank Prud’homme.

Right: Dan Hudon presents Warren Nelson with hiscertificate of completion of the clock repairworkshop. Warren made the journey fromBrockville to attend every one of the five Sundaysessions.

Dan Hudon’s 2nd Clock RepairWorkshop.

Sunday May 26 Meeting DetailsMeeting DetailsThe May meeting of Chapter 111 will be held at theCanadian Clock Museum in Deep River, Ontario.The meeting will convene at the Clock Museum at 1:00pm on Sunday May 26.The meeting and museum visit will be open to every-one, so if you wish to bring along wives, partners, friendsor family they will be most welcome.Admission to the Museum is free to NAWCC members,but you must show your NAWCC membership card atthe door, so don’t forget to bring yours with you.All other adults in our group will be charged at a grouprate of $3.50 each, Students $2, children under 7 free.The drive from Ottawa to Deep River takes about 21/2hours, so we shall be starting the meeting promptly at1:00 pm in order ensure that everyone can start theirdrive home by 3:30 pm at the latest. However, it is up toyou to set your own time of departure.See the arrangements for lunch in the next column.

LunchPrior to meeting at the Museum at 1:00 pm on the 26th,several of us will be meeting for lunch at a local restau-rant in Deep River. Everyone is most welcome to joinus there at 11:30 pm if you wish to do so.The location is the ‘Pure and Simple Edibles Restau-rant’ which is located on Highway 17 in Deep River asshown on the map below.The restaurant will be expecting us at 11:30 am, andwill be giving us a private room, but your food selectionwill be from their menu. However, we do have to letthem know approximately how many people will becoming. Therefore, if you plan to join us for lunch, pleasecall either Ben Roberts at 828-9271 or Maynard Dokkenat 829-1565 no later than Sunday May 19 and let usknow how many people will be in your party.If you are not joining us for lunch, simply follow themap below and arrange to be at the Museum well be-fore 1:00 pm.

From Ottawa, proceed West on Hwy 417. Some 25 Kilometres West of Central Ottawa, Hwy 417 divides intoHighways 7 and 17. Take Hwy 17 heading towards Pembroke and North Bay. Most of Hwy 17 is a dual lanehighway with a 90 Km per hour speed limit. Allow at least two hours for the journey from Ottawa.

Page 4 Vol. 22, No.3, May. 26, 2002

A Revolution in TimekeepingIn Europe during most of the Middle Ages (roughly500 to 1500 A.D.), technological advancement was ata virtual standstill. Sundial styles evolved, but didn’tmove far from ancient Egyptian principles.During these times, simple sundials placed above door-ways were used to identify midday and four “tides” ofthe sunlit day. By the 10th Century, several types ofpocket sundials were used. One English model identi-fied tides and even compensated for seasonal changesof the sun’s altitude.Then, in the early-to-mid-14th century, large mechani-cal clocks began to appear in the towers of several largeItalian cities. We have no evidence or record of theworking models preceding these public clocks that wereweight-driven and regulated by a verge-and-foliot es-capement. Verge-and-foliot mechanisms reigned formore than 300 years with variations in the shape of thefoliot. All had the same basic problem: the period ofoscillation of this escapement depended heavily on theamount of driving force and the amount of friction inthe drive. Like water flow, the rate was difficult to regu-late.Another advance was the invention of spring-poweredclocks between 1500 and 1510 by Peter Henlein ofNuremberg. Replacing the heavy drive weights per-mitted smaller (and portable) clocks and watches. Al-though they slowed down as the mainspring unwound,they were popular among wealthy individuals due totheir size and the fact that they could be put on a shelfor table instead of hanging from the wall. These ad-vances in design were precursors to truly accurate time-keeping.Accurate Mechanical ClocksIn 1656, Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch scientist, madethe first pendulum clock, regulated by a mechanismwith a “natural” period of oscillation. Although Gali-leo Galilei, sometimes credited with inventing the pen-dulum, studied its motion as early as 1582, Galileo’sdesign for a clock was not built before his death. Huy-gens’ pendulum clock had an error of less than 1 minutea day, the first time such accuracy had been achieved.His later refinements reduced his clock’s errors to lessthan 10 seconds a day.Around 1675 Huygens developed the balance wheeland spring assembly, still found in some of today’s wristwatches. This improvement allowed 17th centurywatches to keep time to 10 minutes a day. And in Lon-don in 1671 William Clement began building clockswith the new “anchor” or “recoil” escapement, a sub-stantial improvement over the verge because it inter-feres less with the motion of the pendulum.In 1721 George Graham improved the pendulumclock’s accuracy to 1 second a day by compensatingfor changes in the pendulum’s length due to tempera-ture variations. John Harrison, a carpenter and self-taught clock-maker, refined Graham’s temperaturecompensation techniques and added new methods of

reducing friction. By 1761 he had built a marine chro-nometer with a spring and balance wheel escapement thatwon the British government’s 1714 prize (of over$2,000,000 in today’s currency) offered for a means ofdetermining longitude to within one-half degree after avoyage to the West Indies. It kept time on board a rollingship to about one-fifth of a second a day, nearly as well asa pendulum clock could do on land, and 10 times betterthan required.Over the next century refinements led in 1889 toSiegmund Riefler’s clock with a nearly free pendulum,which attained an accuracy of a hundredth of a second aday and became the standard in many astronomical ob-servatories. A true free-pendulum principle was introducedby R. J. Rudd about 1898, stimulating development ofseveral free-pendulum clocks. One of the most famous,the W. H. Shortt clock, was demonstrated in 1921. TheShortt clock almost immediately replaced Riefler’s clockas a supreme timekeeper in many observatories. This clockconsists of two pendulums, one a slave and the other amaster. The slave pendulum gives the master pendulumthe gentle pushes needed to maintain its motion, and alsodrives the clock’s hands. This allows the master pendu-lum to remain free from mechanical tasks that would dis-turb its regularity.Quartz ClocksThe Shortt clock was replaced as the standard by quartzcrystal clocks in the 1930s and 1940s, improving time-keeping performance far beyond that of pendulum andbalance-wheel escapements.Quartz clock operation is based on the piezoelectric prop-erty of quartz crystals. If you apply an electric field to thecrystal, it changes its shape, and if you squeeze it or bendit, it generates an electric field. When put in a suitableelectronic circuit, this interaction between mechanicalstress and electric field causes the crystal to vibrate andgenerate a constant frequency electric signal that can beused to operate an electronic clock display.Quartz crystal clocks were better because they had nogears or escapement to disturb their regular frequency.Even so, they still relied on a mechanical vibration whose

A Walk Through Time.The following are parts 3. 4 and 5 of a discourse on themeasurement of time posted on the Internet by The NationalInstitute of Standards & Technology. Parts 1 and 2 appeared in theMarch issue of the Bytown Times.

Contiued on Page 5

Vol. 22, No.3, May. 26, 2002 Page 5

The “Atomic Age” of Time StandardsScientists had long realized that atoms (and molecules)have resonances; each chemical element and compoundabsorbs and emits electromagnetic radiation at its owncharacteristic frequencies. These resonances are inher-ently stable over time and space. An atom of hydrogenor cesium here today is exactly like one a million yearsago or in another galaxy. Here was a potential “pendu-lum” with a reproducible rate that could form the basisfor more accurate clocks.The development of radar and extremely high frequencyradio communications in the 1930s and 1940s made

possible the generation of the kind of electromagneticwaves (microwaves) needed to interact with the atoms.Research aimed at developing an atomic clock focusedfirst on microwave resonances in the ammonia molecule.In 1949 NIST built the first atomic clock, which wasbased on ammonia. However, its performance wasn’tmuch better than existing standards, and attention shiftedalmost immediately to more-promising, atomic-beamdevices based on cesium.In 1957 NIST completed its first cesium atomic beamdevice, and soon after a second NIST unit was built forcomparison testing. By 1960 cesium standards had beenrefined enough to be incorporated into the official time-keeping system of NIST.In 1967 the cesium atom’s natural frequency was for-mally recognized as the new international unit of time:the second was defined as exactly 9,192,631,770 oscil-lations or cycles of the cesium atom’s resonant frequencyreplacing the old second that was defined in terms ofthe earth’s motions. The second quickly became thephysical quantity most accurately measured by scien-tists. The best primary cesium standards now keep timeto about one-millionth of a second per year.Much of modem life has come to depend on precise time.The day is long past when we could get by with a time-piece accurate to the nearest quarter hour. Transporta-tion, communication, manufacturing, electric power andmany other technologies have become dependent onsuper-accurate clocks. Scientific research and the de-mands of modem technology continue to drive our searchfor ever more accurate clocks. The next generation of

World Time ScalesIn the 1840s a Greenwich standard time for all ofEngland, Scotland, and Wales was established, replac-ing several “local time” systems. The Royal Green-wich Observatory was the focal point for this develop-ment because it had played such a key role in marinenavigation based upon accurate timekeeping. Green-wich Mean Time (GMT) subsequently evolved as theofficial time reference for the world and served thatpurpose until 1972.

Continued from Page 4

frequency depended critically on the crystals size andshape. Thus, no two crystals can be precisely alike, withexactly the same frequency. Such quartz clocks continueto dominate the market in numbers because their per-formance is excellent and they are inexpensive. But thetimekeeping performance of quartz clocks has been sub-stantially surpassed by atomic clocks.

cesium time standards is presently under developmentat NIST’s Boulder laboratory and other laboratoriesaround the world.As we continue our “Walk Through Time,” we will seehow agencies such as the National Institute of Stand-ards and Technology, the U.S. Naval Observatory, andthe International Bureau of Weights and Measures inParis assist the world in maintaining a single, uniformtime system.

The United States established the U.S. Naval Observa-tory (USNO) in 1830 to cooperate with the Royal Green-wich Observatory and other world observatories in de-termining time based on astronomical observations. Theearly timekeeping of these observatories was still drivenby navigation. Timekeeping had to reflect changes inthe earth’s rotation rate; otherwise navigators wouldmake errors. Thus, the USNO was charged with provid-ing time linked to “earth” time, and other services, in-cluding almanacs, necessary for sea and air navigation.With the advent of highly accurate atomic clocks, sci-entists and technologists recognized the inadequacy oftimekeeping based on the motion of the earth which fluc-tuates in rate by a few thousandths of a second a day.The redefinition of the second in 1967 had provided anexcellent reference for more accurate measurement oftime intervals, but attempts to couple GMT (based onthe earth’s motion) and this new definition proved to behighly unsatisfactory. A compromise time scale waseventually devised, and on January 1,1972, the newCoordinated Universal Time (UTC) became effectiveinternationally.UTC runs at the rate of the atomic clocks, but when thedifference between this atomic time and one based onthe earth approaches one second, a one-second adjust-ment (a “leap second”) is made in UTC. NIST’s clocksystems and other atomic clocks located in more than25 countries now contribute data to the internationalUTC scale coordinated in Paris by the International Bu-reau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). An evolution in

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timekeeping responsibility from the observatories of theworld to the measurement standards laboratories hasnaturally accompanied this change from “earth” time to“atomic” time. But there is still a needed coupling, theleap second, between the two.The World’s Time ZonesTime zones did not become necessary in the UnitedStates until trains made it possible to travel hundreds ofmiles in a day. Until the 1860s most cities relied upontheir own local “sun” time, but this time changed byapproximately one minute for every 121/2 miles trav-elled east or west. The problem of keeping track of over300 local times was overcome by establishing railroadtime zones. Until 1883 most railway companies reliedon some 100 different, but consistent, time zones.That year, the United States was divided into four timezones roughly centered on the 75th, 90th, 105th,and 120th meridians. At noon, on November 18, 1883,telegraph lines transmitted GMT time to major citieswhere authorities adjusted their clocks to their zone’sproper time.On November 1,1884, the International Meridian Con-ference in Washington, DC, applied the same procedureto zones all around the world. The 24 standard merid-ians, every 15º east and west of 0º at Greenwich, Eng-land, were designated the centers of the zones. The in-ternational dateline was drawn to generally follow the180º meridian in the Pacific Ocean. Because some coun-tries, islands and states do not want to be divided into

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CorrectionIn the March 24 issue of the Bytown Times, we included a noticeplaced by John Ruhland. We regret that the telephone numberincluded in the notice was incorrect. It should have read as follows:

WantedOne or more Tin Can Weights for Wooden WorksTallcase Clocks. Am into restoring my Canadians.Willing to pay good price.John Ruhland (613) 833-3276

Toronto NAWCC InvitationalThe Toronto NAWCC Invitational was held at theRamada Hotel (Hwys 400/401) in Toronto on SundayMay 5. Some Chapter 111 members were seen there:

The Mart: With Ernst Boldt at Charles Murray’sHorological Books table.

John KennedyPeter Clarke

Allan Symons had backcopies of NAWCCBulletins for sale at theMart, with proceeds tothe Canadian ClockMuseum.

Featured at the back of the seminar auditorium, was a displayof Canadian advertising clocks Allan had brought in from theCanadian Clock Museum.Charles Locke Bryan Hollebone

Allan later gave a seminar:“Canadian Makers ofAdvertising Clocks”

several zones, the zones’ boundaries tend to wander con-siderably from straight north-south lines.