Emett water clock...and other clocks


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I agree with FLY2 that they shouldn't be oiling the butterflies. Each butterfly has a stainless steel shaft, sitting in a pair of brass blocks which are attached to the cobweb wheel. The blocks were new this year. Some slight misalignment of the mounts coupled with the shafts not being true meant that the butterflies didn't all swivel freely (small ones seemed worse - maybe due to less mass). I did drill out the blocks slightly to counter some of the error but some butterflies still wouldn't swivel freely. It was (and still is) on my snagging list to align the mounts nearer to true (i.e. by judicious bending). I don't think oiling is the remedy. If the alignment is not addressed, the stainless steel shafts will probably wear the brass to a point where the butterflies can in fact swivel. They might need to re-think the arrangement and install some sort of self-aligning bearings.

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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

Thank you for the kind comments, especially from those of you who have followed me on this journey. On location, I think the natural daylight is great - it is after all meant to be a sunflower, cobwe

Nope, not TT. On the matter of drinking, each day I've worked within that enclosure has been physically exhausting because of the heat and humidity - somewhere between a greenhouse and a sauna. Have

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What do members think of the new look Victoria Centre?

Went down Notts the other day to do some shopping, to my amazement the clock at the front had gone!!! this was hard for me to tack in as if I was to meet anyone in Notts is would always be by the clock.

On going to catch my bus at the other end of the centre there it was now I don't know what you think but to me it's now in the wrong place.

People just walk by and now never stop to look at the clock.

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The engineer needs to fix the clock again as it is bang out of order it has been acting wrong cause the birds and squirrels weren't dancing and the petals were moving the opposit way to what they should be doing and my solution is taking it back to it's original location and make a new octagonal frame and whilst the frame is being build please move it to a temporary spot in another centre

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Just realised I'm actually in that photo!!
Behind the clock and to the left there are two 'big' girls, then a small boy, then a lady with white hair, well that small boy was me!

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Thought I would pop back to the forum to see what's occurring.

 

Must say I don't visit the clock for fear of seeing it not in fine fettle.  I am saddened to hear that it might not be getting the attention it needs.  Those of you who followed the journey will know that I put a lot of hours into it over several years.  I would have liked an on going arrangement to fettle it as necessary but it wasn't to be.  If 'The Management' ask, I would happily sort it out at any time.

 

Pete (The Engineer)

 

 

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...and it would also be much better if it was sited in its original location - in the large 'exhibition area' of Victoria Centre.

 

Its current location - hidden away upstairs, with the upper features of the clock lost in the roof girders - is completely inappropriate.

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I was passing yesterday so stopped to check at midday.  The bell rang and the music played.  However the petals (a few of which now look bent) cycled down-up-down-up throughout the performance and the 'orchestra' (three birds and three squirrels) were not spinning.  Looking back in this thread it appears that these faults I observed may have been present for over a year.

 

The cobweb water wheel was turning but several butterflies were not tumbling.  All butterflies look tarnished/verdigris.  One of the 12 water jets looked a bit blocked.

 

I agree with the sentiment of most (all?) who remember it in the lower atrium.  It looks so lost upstairs and I was reminded yesterday how close the three rotating arms at high level come to touching the girders (luck rather than judgement I think).

 

It is coming up for five years since Emma switched it back on (17 June 2015).  How time flies.  Let's hope it still attracts enough coins to make a difference to the chosen charities.

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17 hours ago, The Engineer said:

I agree with the sentiment of most (all?) who remember it in the lower atrium.  It looks so lost upstairs and I was reminded yesterday how close the three rotating arms at high level come to touching the girders (luck rather than judgement I think).

 

Photos of the clock in its original location often crop up on various Facebook Groups, and those photos always produce a large number of comments saying that its current location is stupid, and it should be back where it was.

 

I'd be interested to know who thinks the present position is a good idea - apart from a few Intu managers who've never actually been there.

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I guess they needed that for those squirrels to dance too.  Should have used Bach's Gigue Fugue.

How about a bit of Poulenc?

When I lived alone for a couple of years after the first Mrs L died I had a young black Lab nemed Solomon.  He liked to lay in his bed in the kitchen.  There used to be a radio program each afternoon witn a real mix of music.  Every so often they'd play some Poulenc while I was making supper.  I'd say in an excited tone,  "it's Poulenc Sol!"  He'd come flying out of his corner, jump up and put his front paws in my hands, and we'd go whirling round the kitchen.

Sorry!  Irrelavent to the thread, I know, but it brings a tear as I write and was reminded of it.  It was quite danceable.

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Lovely memory, Loppy!

 

I often dance round the house, sometimes with a cat in my arms. Sometimes, they humour me...and sometimes they don't! When they don't feel like dancing, I have claw marks in my neck!

 

I think the reason why I don't like that particular piece of Rameau is because either it or another piece from the same Suite turned up in my Association Board exam set pieces around the time the Emmett clock was installed and every time I went in there afterwards, it struck up. It's a bit sewing machine-like and I've never been keen on it.

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I have just finished reading this thread right from the word go. Starting from page one, it were like reading a book on the life of the Emmet clock. Gotta  admit though I  was lost with some of the technicalities posted by The Engineer, but even so, found it fascinating. A pity that some of the photos showed as ' no longer available', so can't comment on peoples replies. It does strike me though that the clock is very high maintenance. Remember seeing it back in the seventies, but it's over 40yrs since I've been in Vic., centre. B.

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I was joking about Bach's Gigue Fugue, but when you think about it, it is probably one of the most danceable pieces Bach ever wrote.  A good organist's feet have to dance on the pedals to do it justice.  I've never tried to even learn it.  It's way beyond my level.

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