Hourly reference work
An hourly reference mechanism is an additional striking mechanism of large tower clocks that repeats the striking of the hour on a bell that is often tuned lower.
history
The hour reference mechanism is often used in tower clocks, mostly in large town churches and cathedrals, as an additional striking mechanism and repeats the striking of the hour on a (mostly lower-pitched) bell . It automates the manual look-up of the tower guard , who watched over his town from the tower keeper's room until well into the 20th century and, above all, had to warn of the danger of war and conflagration by bells. So that every citizen of the city could always control the silent watch of the tower keeper and to ensure that he was not asleep, he had to descend into the bell every hour and repeat the chime of the tower clock on the bourdon bell of the chimes. For cost reasons, the tower clock was usually designed to be less powerful and only struck a medium-sized clock bell with a light hammer.
By installing modern master clocks for churches, which also control the hourly index, a separate striking mechanism is no longer necessary.
use
The hour reference mechanism is a self-striking mechanism triggered by the hourly mechanism. Even if it repeats the strike of the hour (repeats), it must not be confused with the repeater mechanism. This is never used in tower clocks, but is primarily used in small portable watches such as wristwatches, pocket watches, but also travel watches for the acoustic time display triggered by the user.
In many Italian and French towers, but also in domestic use in Comtoise or Burgundy clocks, the hour look-up is performed on the same bell as the hour strike. In these cases the second strike is effected by the hour strike, which is triggered twice in quick succession for this purpose. The lookup is triggered a few minutes after the hour has struck and there is then no separate reference work.
Clocks with hourly reference works (selection)
- Clock tower of the Grand Temple in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Armand Collin ( Paris )
- Church tower clock of the Assumption, Marktoffingen
- Church clock in the Eschenau Wendelinskirche in Obersulm
- former tower clock of the cath. Parish church St. Kilian in the foyer of the Kolping House in Schweinfurt (see picture)
- Tower clock E400D by Philipp Hörz (Ulm) the cath. Parish Church of St. Anton in Schweinfurt
- Tower clock by Georg Rammenee (Graefenberg / Ofr.) In the tower clock museum in Neulußheim
- Tower clock by Benedikt Schneider (Schonach) in the tower clock museum in Neulußheim
literature
- Eugen Engelhardt: The Ulm tower clock factory Philipp Hörz. Biberach: Verlag Dr. Karl Höhn KG, 2000. ISBN 3-924392-41-2 . Page 31
- Curt Dietzschold : The tower clocks including the so-called art clocks. Weimar: Bernhard Friedrich Voigt, 1894. Pages 169f, 179ff
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Frankfurter Glockenbuch , edited by Konrad Bund, Verlag Waldemar Kramer, 1986, page 28
- ↑ Nicke Electronics, master clocks for churches
- ↑ http://www.stimme.de/heilbronn/nachrichten/weinsbergertal/sonstige;art1911,1852004
- ↑ http://www.turmuhrenmuseum-neulussheim.de/9.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.turmuhrenmuseum-neulussheim.de/10.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
