The Engineer

Titter ye not! Now then, I have a query - I think we need a new drive pulley for the top mobile thing with three arms. The pulley fits on a bicycle bottom bracket, the old type that is designed to fit cranks with cotter pins. If I can buy a new pulley, i think it will need boring out to fit but I don't know the diameter of the shaft where the crank goes on. Maybe a trip to a bike shop with my caliper will answer this. Eng

I guess you meant Flashheart (Blackadder II and IV) (Flashman was the bully in Tom Brown's Schooldays) Woof! RIP

Looking ahead to next year, I spent some time over the weekend drafting a design for the pumps, filters and pipework that will be needed when the clock is back in Vic Centre and passed this to the architects.

In that last photo, it's me up the step ladder (I'm terminating the bell). That was late in the evening last Wednesday - the bell was the last thing I wired before applying mains. I'm heading back to Brum on the morrow to do some snagging.

I was going tweet but couldn't convey the mesage in 140 characters. I hope my voluminous post gives a sense of the trials and tribulations in this endeavour :-)

Yet another update! We've put some serious hours in this week, building the clock in Birmingham (Millennium Point - access is free if you are anywhere near but read on to understand what you might see!) MONDAY 02-JUNE We moved most of the parts from Hut E to Millennium Point. Even in its dismantled state, some sections are heavy and awkward, especially the main frame, the control box, the cobweb water wheel and the sunflower. A drive shaft for the Top Feature (the three pendants) wouldn't fit back into the control box so I had to use emery and files to sort that out. There wa

No, I wasn't there on 22nd - it was 20th (Tuesday) when I had a meeting on-site. We were looking at drawings but we were sitting in the area where the clock is going to go. Not sure whether intu have let the media know of the new location yet so I'd better not say where it is in case anything changes. All I can say is that it is not where it was and obviously it is somewhere that has 7m of headroom (probably needs 7.5m now that the clock has grown). I spent all of yesterday working on the clock - mostly at Hut E. I took all the parts back that I worked on (motors, gearboxes, electrical co

We plan to rebuild/install the clock in Millennium Point, Birmingham on 01/02-Jun. I'm meeting others in Hut E over this weekend to check that all parts are present and to understand whether we have any further refurb work to do in the final week before Birmingham. Did I mention a Parvalux geared motor that I awaited for the cobweb wheel drive? Well I have that now and have amended the control wiring to accommodate it. I also got access to a lathe and turned a few parts I need for the drive arrangement. Meanwhile, I have had another meeting recently at Vic Centre in regard of the re-insta

A certain GPO General Postmaster on hearing of the invention of the telephone said: "We won't need that in Britain, we have plenty of messenger boys"

As I understand it, posties on collection duties have to adhere to a standard working method - hence the "it has to go in the pillar box" stance. The point is that if he/she were to accept odd items by hand, they might forget to add them to the mail in the sacks in the back of the van. On my visit, they told me that security of the mail is sacrosanct. They can't and won't take any risks as they could lose their jobs. It's the same rationale that means they are instructed not to leave parcels "in the porch", "by the bin" or "inside the gate", etc. unlike other carriers (TNT, DHL, DPD, etc.)

What you need is a conversion toolkit - pair of scissors and a rolling pin - get those cards down to size in no time :-)

I visited a Royal Mail processing plant and saw how it all works. The reason why they have a two tier pricing structure (standard and large) is down to technology. The standard size can be sorted by the machines. Anything larger than around C5 (the envelope size for A4 folded in half) or thicker than 6mm (not 3mm) involves a lot more manual handling, hence cost. It's just a pity that a lot of celebration cards are a little over-size, hence needing a "large" stamp. As for why they have First Class and Second Class, it's because they couldn't process all the letters overnight - they concent

I'm not a tech expert but here's my take: Apple and their iPad, iPhone, etc. make apps available via their App Store, which is integrated with iTunes. The proprietary Apple operating system is iOS (version 7 is current I think). Apple don't share this with anyone. Developers (who write the apps) have to register with Apple and apps are screened before being made available for download. Many other makes of tablet, phone, phablet and consumer devices (e.g. smart TVs) use Android as their operating system. This is owned by Google but is made available to hardware manufacturers. Android is

Water works for Vic Centre: We are looking at how we can minimise the requirements for circulation and sanitisation of the water when the clock comes home (for information, Birmingham will be a dry installation). The old setup included a couple of large reservoir tanks in the basement - we are considering an arrangement without a tank that uses one or two swimming pool pumps (resistant to the Chlorine or Bromine-based chemicals that are required to kill bacteria). The Engineer.

Update: The main frame and the control box (the part that sits under the petals and houses motors, etc.) are now with the finishers, to be powder coated. The cobweb water wheel is there as well but we have reservations as to whether it can withstand any form of blasting to remove the old paint. For now we are just going to have it resprayed white and will strip it back to metal (probably with a gentle chemical strip) after the Birmingham event. I stripped down the turntable that supports the Top Feature mobile (18 bearings and various brackets and shims). There is some wear on the turntab

In "Felicia's Journey", Bob played a Brummie factory catering manager who had been psychologically affected in his childhood by his mother who was a TV celebrity chef (a sort of Fannie Craddock). He would drive around picking up "lost girls" and later "despatching" them in some sort of need to cleanse the streets. Felicia was one such girl to whom he took a shine. Not one of his better known appearances but further demonstrates his versatility.

I've been photographing the parts I have worked on and I expect others have done the same. Tim from The Rowland Emett Society (who appeared briefly on The One Show on Wednesday last week) is doing the main documentation including a blog. Just to address the occasional comment we see here in the vein of "it won't be coming back", I had a meeting yesterday with a senior manager of Intu to discuss the electrical and water requirements in readiness for the clock's return to the Vic Centre next year. the engineer

Still not sure where the clock will go when it returns to Vic Centre but notice there's a suitable space between Monsoon and River Island. Sounds like a good place for a water feature!

Update: I shall be inspecting the main frame next week as it should be ready for painting. It has been embiggened by extending the legs (around 400mm) and several "missing" tubes have been fabricated and welded in place. The bearing arrangement for the cobweb wheel will be reverted to the original configuration (shaft fixed to frame and sintered brass bearings in the wheel). I'm still trying to get hold of a new geared motor to drive the wheel (the distributor is awaiting stock). I have a new shaft and coupling but need to source or make a suitable drive pulley. I opened up the Top Featu

In regard of the recent announcement that Pathe are putting their entire collection on-line on YouTube, there are several of their films featuring Emett and his creations.

I see a new timepiece adorns the Vic Centre atrium - on the wall above entrance to Next. Not quite in the same league as Emett but at least it's keeping time.

Just a heads up: Some other creations by Emett (not the clock) will be featured on "The One Show" next Wednesday - probably to plug the upcoming exhibition in Birmingham. Engineer.

These things take time - just read that there's a group still looking for Amelia Earhart, whose plane went down in 1937.

Instead of a few "spotters" staring out of various aircraft with binoculars, whey don't they have high resolution cameras streaming the video back to base, or even onto the net to enable everyone to have a look? As for conspiracies - I'm with the one where certain administrations don't want to let on to others just how much they are being watched. That data stream from RR Trent 800 engines - presumably they can tell if/when the engines were throttled back (slowing down) and whether reverse thrust was used (during a planned landing). What is clear now is that it is common to have one or two

"Velvet" curtains were probably Velour? It was a knitted fabric made from cotton or polyester.