THWAITES AND REED, CLERKENWELL, ENGLAND, 1838

Three train, rack & snail quarter strike with chime drum (Westminster tune). Post and strap frame, Graham deadbeat escapement , Bolt and shutter maintaining power. 1 1/2 second wooden pendulum rod with 110lbs. cylindrical bob. Clock without weights is 1000 lbs., with weights est. over 1 ton.  72"w  x 36"h x 30"d.

 The clock came from The Church of St. Sepulcher-without-Newgate, London, England. A black and white photo of on it's original location around 1939 is shown. Notice the slender connecting rod and small motion works compared to the large movement. Clearly the church has a fairly small dial in it's tower, but a heavy set of bells! The remaining photos are of the church as it appears currently. Notice the very small clock dial.

The escapement was converted in 1891 by John Moore & Sons to run four days per winding from the former one day. Imagine having to wind this up every day! As far as I can tell there was no provision for a reduction gear on the clock. There may (or must have!) been such on the winding crank itself. The weight needed just to turn the chime drum is 300lbs. and it takes 100lbs. to turn the hour strike train. Note that these are the weights needed without the strike train being loaded with the work necessary to raise the hammers. At the same time I can run the going train on just 15lbs., however this is using a 4 foot pendulum with the original bob. I can't fit a 12 foot pendulum in my basement's 8 foot ceiling height!

Thwaites is one of the few remaining tower clock companies still in business. Clock drawings by Thwaites were supposedly seen dated 1610, but the first recorded fully manufactured major clock by Aynsworth Thwaites was in 1751. His son sons established the partnership with George Jeremiah Reed, and this partnership is the foundation of the business today.