Viennese cube clock

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Cube clock in the traditional design: With red lettering "Normalzeit" and the coat of arms of the city of Vienna (remote control) and "Schauer" (manufacturer); Exhibition piece of the Technisches Museum Wien .

The clocks managed by the City of Vienna and especially the Viennese cube clocks are normal clocks and part of the city ​​furniture .

history

In 1885 the City of Vienna installed the first clock on the Naschmarkt on a trial basis . It was not yet a cube clock; the clocks at the time often had three dials.

The first prototype of the clock, which was soon developed into a cube clock, was installed in 1907 next to the Vienna State Opera at the intersection of Ringstrasse and Kärntner Strasse . The clock was operated electrically; a mother clock in a nearby advertising column (poster column) on the Ringstrasse controlled the cube clock with electrical impulses. The design of the successor models set up a little later already corresponded to the type of construction that had been used for decades.

Traditional lettering on the dial, above / below the pointer axis

After the First World War, the network of community clocks on their own stands and light poles was expanded. It was helpful that instead of the very heavy clockworks, smaller and lighter oscillating armature clockworks were used.

After a central clock control system was introduced in 1948 via the pipeline network of the Vienna fire brigade , in 1965 there were already 115 clocks that were centrally controlled. Another 22 still had to be wound by hand.

After the first attempt to control clocks by radio had been stopped in 1919, it was resumed in 1970. The transmitter required for this was located at Senngasse 2 in Simmering (seat of the Magistrate Department (MA) 33 - Vienna lights up) in the local office building, the associated receiver at Martinstraße 100 in another office building in Vienna. On May 18, 1971, the first radio-controlled cube clock was officially put into operation at the Heumarkt in Vienna- Landstrasse .

At the beginning of 2007, the news that the Viennese cube clocks might soon disappear from the cityscape caused a stir.

MA 33 is responsible for the technical support of the clocks, but due to a change in the state constitution of Vienna, the respective district has to bear the costs since January 1st, 1988. And since numerous watches would have to be replaced with a modern one for reasons of age, the costs for them - unit price around 18,000 euros - often exceeded the financial possibilities of the district budget.

Cube clock as advertising space for Wiener Städtische Versicherung, delicate hands (March 21, 2008)

The continued existence of the cube clocks was secured by Wiener Städtische Allgemeine Versicherung , which covered the cost of replacing the clocks in the amount of 550,000 euros. In addition to this amount, Wiener Städtische pays an annual amount of 733.33 euros for each watch so that it can put its company logo on the dials instead of the previous Viennese coat of arms . The first such watch was presented to the press on November 28, 2007 at the Ringturm , the headquarters of the insurance company, by Mayor Michael Häupl , City Councilor Rudolf Schicker and General Director Günter Geyer. Due to the poor visibility of the delicately designed hands against the background with the logo, this watch was replaced by a more legible version at the end of March 2008.

However, this caused criticism. The Viennese Greens criticized the fact that advertising space was allocated here without a public tender . The costs for ongoing maintenance work are not affected by this sponsorship. These remain with the districts.

On Floridsdorfer Spitz was meanwhile removed for this reason the first Würfeluhr. Since the social democratic district head - supported by the Freedom Party - took the position that at times when everyone has a wristwatch or a cell phone, public watches are no longer necessary and the money is better invested in other investments in the district the “Floridsdorfer Bezirksblatt” fbz launched a fundraising campaign in order to raise money for the purchase of a modern cube clock. This action was in turn supported by the Greens in the district. On November 30, 2007 - two days after the presentation of the newly designed clocks - a cube clock was put back into operation at Floridsdorfer Spitz.

In February 2012, the former clock from Stock-im-Eisen-Platz in Dorotheum was auctioned. Starting price was 10,000 euros. In fact, 14,940 euros were finally achieved.

In 2018, the sponsorship agreement between the City of Vienna and Wiener Städtische was renegotiated and extended for a further ten years.

layout

The shape of the Viennese cube clock has existed since around 1900. It is based on a truncated hexahedron , a polyhedron made up of 6 equilateral octagons and 8 similar triangles. This corresponds to a cube with the corners cut off. To ensure good visibility even in the dark, the four circular dials are backlit.

The year 2000 was taken as an opportunity to redesign the Viennese cube clock. The well-known analog cube clock was surrounded by a glass cube on which the time is displayed in digital form. The first such specimen was placed in the 11th Simmering district in Vienna at Senngasse 2, the seat of the Municipal Department 33, but it seems to have been dismantled in the meantime.

technology

After the first radio-controlled cube clock was put into operation, the remote control technology was further developed.

In 1976 radio reception modules - so-called teleboxes - were used for the first time. The UHF transmitter in the 70 cm band required for this was operated by the MA 33 responsible for looking after the cube clocks.

Between 1984 and 1986, MA 33 developed a control unit in its test room that converted the time signal from the DCF77 time signal transmitter from Mainflingen , Germany, operated by the Deutsche Bundespost , for public clocks. The first clock equipped with this was put into operation on May 9, 1987 in the inner city of Am Hof . With the changeover of the last cube clock to operation using DCF time signals in 1996, the period of the municipal clock radio ended.

In the same year, the cube clock in Dreiständegasse in the 23rd district of Liesing in Vienna was the first time a public clock was equipped with a GPS receiver for experimental purposes. Due to technical problems, this experiment was terminated after eight months. In 2002, the clocks were converted with GPS receivers ready for series production to control the time. The reason for this new change was interference in the DCF radio signal due to electromagnetic interference . The disadvantage of the GPS time signal, however, is that it does not transmit the changeover between summer and winter time. This is compensated for by a microprocessor that takes over this change based on the date. In 2008, all of the cube clocks in Vienna were finally converted to GPS control. Two teams of two leave Vienna in 8 hours from the changeover, i.e. by 10 a.m., to check the success on site.

The four clocks of a cube that can be seen from afar are technically "slave clocks", each individually driven, formerly by stepper motors, today by about 8 × 8 cm small hand mechanisms, always controlled by only one "master clock" in the cube. This brain currently only measures around 25 × 25 × 15 cm and lies under the 18 W fluorescent tubes (since the renovations were completed in 2019, LED lighting) that illuminates the dials from the inside, which can be folded up for service purposes.

The manufacturer of the "light mast clock model 'Vienna' with lighting" and 85 or 105 centimeters side length - that's the official name - is the Vienna-based company Schauer Time Systems .

Cube clocks elsewhere

Klagenfurt, Benedictine market

In Klagenfurt on the Benediktinermarkt (Benediktinerplatz), a centrally located lighting mast bears a cube clock, below the pointer axis the logo and the name of the Klagenfurt security technology company Aares.

In Villach there is an elevated cube clock on the canopy of the business portal Moritschstraße 1, corner of 10.-Oktober-Straße (formerly Strußnig & Berger, then Salamander, since 2010 Lederfranz).

In Wels around 1961 and many more years in front of the Semmelturm skyscraper on Kaiser-Josef-Platz (at the northeast end on the traffic island) there was an approximately 15 m high mast with a light above and a cube clock of the same design halfway up (dimensions estimated ) 105 cm side length. The dial, however, only bore a short word under the pointer axis.

Clocks in other cities

  • The old Constance harbor clock has a body shaped very similar to the cube clock, but clearly different hands and dials.
  • Falke clock (Hanover)
  • Berlin clock
  • Linear clock (Kassel)
  • The Weikhard clock in a round case has been on the main square in Graz since 1930 . It is a popular meeting place and the subject of a film made in 2014. The mast was bent in mid-July 2019 by a truck during construction work on the tram track, the clock was dismantled and reassembled at the end of August 2019. Today it has a clock face backlit by LED elements.
  • In Graz, a three-sided prism is mounted on a slim column on the high-rise Lendplatz 20 / Keplerstrasse. One of the three square side surfaces illuminated from the inside forms a clock with 2 dark, freely protruding hands and 12 lines, the other two bear the advertising logos of the Steiermärkische Sparkasse , which operates a branch in the house. The approximately 3.5 m wide and high prism rotated motor-driven with interruptions until about 2016, since then only little and erratically in strong winds.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Wiener Würfeluhr  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Payer 2015, pp. 43, 45.
  2. ↑ The clocks
  3. ↑ Page "2007 ... 1128 ... 026" wien.gv.at, Rathauskorrespondenz, presumably November 28, 2007, no longer available on October 20, 2015.
  4. ↑ Presentation of the first new cube clock, invitation to the photo session PID (Press Information Service) -Rathauskorrespondenz, APA-OTS , November 27, 2015, last accessed October 20, 2015.
  5. ↑ Time is money: sponsor saves cube clocks orf.at, November 3, 2007, accessed October 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ Landmark: Last hour for some dice clocks orf.at, February 23, 2007, accessed October 20, 2015.
  7. ↑ Auction date: February 29, 2012 - 4:00 pm; Lot No. 13, Wiener Würfeluhr (access required registration at dorotheum.com, as of October 20, 2015) - content no longer available April 16, 2016.
  8. ↑ Olga Kronsteiner: Successful debut for "Austrian Design": Considerable sales quota handelsblatt.com, March 7, 2012, accessed May 24, 2020.
  9. ↑ Cube clocks remain orf.at, September 17, 2018, accessed September 17, 2018.
  10. ↑ Kleine Zeitung, Graz, print edition of March 31, 2013, supplement Lebensart, p. 6 f.
  11. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Markets> Benediktinermarkt, website of the state capital Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, accessed on September 25, 2014. (Image) - Not available April 16, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.klagenfurt.at
  12. ↑ http://www.lederfranz.at/wp-content/gallery/chronik/chronik3.jpg Website Fa. Lederfranz (Fam. Franz Gelautz)> History (picture)
  13. ↑ 100 years of Welser Heimstätte, p. 53 (PDF: p. 57), Semmelturm-Hochhaus (picture) ( Memento of the original from November 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 20, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.welserheimstaette.at
  14. ↑ Do we meet at the Weikhard clock? kleinezeitung.at, December 22, 2012, accessed June 5, 2015.
  15. ↑ Harald Zettler (ed.): Around the Weikhard clock - 24 hours at the Graz meeting point (film, 2014). Uncut Movies, film magazine, accessed June 5, 2015.
  16. ↑ Marie O., Graz: The Weikhard clock is back on Graz's main square! meinviertel.at, Die Woche, September 2, 2019, accessed September 11, 2019.
  17. ↑ As of today, a meeting at the Weikhard-Uhr is possible again grazer.at, Der Grazer, August 30, 2019, accessed September 11, 2019. - The area behind the dial shows a very small number of components in concentric circles, typical for LED lighting.
  18. ↑ Note from around 1970, 14 floors.