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This is an old Flexchron Bell Ringing Clock from an old school.
When I was in elementary school, each room had a clock above the door with a face just like this one. Whenever I walked by the principal's office I saw one of these large housings embeded in the wall there. I knew that this was the "Master Clock" that controlled all of the other clocks in the building. But I wondered why the housing is so large. Well, 20 years later I found out. I bought one of these clocks and found that what is inside is fascinating !! |
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The purpose of the clock is to ring the school bells all over the building in
the morning, for lunch to start, at the end of the day, etc. Today these
devices are on circuit boards and probably fit in the palm of your hand. But
this device is probably from the 1950's and is all mechanically driven.
A long 1 1/2" wide paper "tape" travels up and down through the "pulleys" inside. Each minute of the day is represented on the tape by a 1/8" portion of the tape. Note that the tape is not shown in the picture here. It normally runs up and down on the pulleys on the left side of the box shown. |
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The tape runs over this steel sprocketed drum and down along a steel rod.
Several metal pins push against the steel rod. Each pin is attached to the
ground of one of the bells around the building. The paper tape is inbetween
the pin and the steel rod.
If the bell is to ring from, say, 9:00 am to 9:01 am, a small hole is punched in the tape at the 9:00 am location. The tape advances and lets the ground through from the steel rod to the pin and the bell rings !! At 9:01 am the tape advances and interrupts the ground to the bell and it stops !! Fascinating !! |
| Description | Samples | Wish List |
|---|---|---|
1970's & earlier Games |
The Partridge Family |
Starsky & Hutch |
Unusual 8 Track Players |
Panasonic portable Dynomite Plunger (yellow) |
. |
Antique Hair Permanent Machines |
1930's model- Eugene |
. |
Antique Computers |
IBM 64K PC & 10 MB Expansion unit |
Altair 8800 |
Antique Televisions |
1959 Philco Predicta floor model |
. |
Click on this little picture to see a larger color picture of the 3 antique Hair Permanent Machines mentioned above:
As for collecting, here's what some people do with their old Apples:
Here's what some people do with their old IBM PCs:
Thanks for stopping by and if you have any comments about this page just send me some e-mail at the address below.
