Electrical Horology Course

The Chapter is running a special course this year 2008 on Electrical Horology - involving clocks that use electricity in some way to provide power to a system which shows the time. We are concentrating on electromagnetic clocks and electromechanical clocks. In the former, the pendulum drives the clock and the latter, the clock weight or spring is wound electrically.

Members learn what tools are essential for testing clocks and their componentry and to carry out repairs. Also, simple clock circuits and the basic electrical equations are covered. The properties of magnets and coils lead to understanding how electric motors are used to drive clock mechanisms.

Members bring along clocks for diagnostics and to learn how to fix them. Specific brands such as Bulle, Brillie, Synchronome will be explored. The pictures show some of these activities.

The course started off by explaining basic circuit principles, Ohm's law and what the different components do in real life.	Everyone learned how to use their multimeter to measure voltage, current and resistance.	Testing various basic components, to understand how the multimeter displays different values.	Coil winder. It's crude, but very effective. The motor, gearbox and chuck are all from a cheap battery drill.	The coil winder in action. The wire is 0.1mm diameter, and around 800 turns will fit onto the bobbin.
A pair of master clocks. The one on the right is a Synchronome. The other uses the same principles, but is of unknown origin.