[GreenKeys] Western Union Time

[James Young]

For anyone who has a WU Self Winding clock, like used in banks, municipal
offices and train stations, there is a way to get them to run as intended
back in those days. I have two such clocks, both running and keeping great
time and both are identified as being Western Union "Official Time" or
"Naval Observatory Time."

Ken's Clock Clinic in Texas makes batteries and synchronizers which look
like the old No. 6 dry cells. One contains enough D cells to run the clock
for a year; it rewinds itself every hour. The other dry battery looking
device contains a "synchronizer" which when connected to the coils on the
clock, will reset the clock to the correct time every hour. They keep
remarkably accurate time over a long period of months.

Here's the link to Kens Clock Clinic. I have no financial interest in his
enterprise, but I'm a satisfied used of his products which support the
Western Union clocks.

http://www.kensclockclinic.com/

Best regards,

Jim Young W8MAQ


-----Original Message-----
From: greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Bruce Gentry
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 11:35 AM
To: GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Western Union Time


Bruce Gentry wrote:
> Larry Tighe wrote:
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> Slightly "off topic" but very much Western Union (the folks who had
>> all those teletypes) I have a collection of WU clocks.  They were
>> made by the Self Winding Clock Co. of NYC.  WU sent a pulse every
>> hour to a solenoid in the clock that pulled the minute and second
>> hand straight up.
>>
>> I wrote to the NIST who opereate WWV et.al. from their time site...
>> http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java  ....asking if
>> there is a way to use their web site to get that hourly correction
>> pulse for my clocks. Mike Lombardi wrote back that they don't have
>> the 1 KHz correction pulse on the internet site that is on WWV et.
>> al. on the hour.
>>
>> I know some of the nerds on this list talked about having their TTY
>> machines print time...so my question is, has anyone the ability to
>> extract a pulse from a computer to sense the hourly zeros at the
>> above site?
>>
>> BTW, Mike (at NIST) asked if I know anything about "radio controlled
>> clocks"...which I've never heard of...anyone here that can comment on
>> these?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Lar
>> K2JIA
>> www.antiquetelephone.com
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>>
> 40 years ago it was still common to see large clocks in stores and
> especially news stands offering "Western Union Naval Observatory
> Time".  Usually they were adjusted to run a second or so ahead of the
> true time so the reset backtracked the second hand to zero.  At the
> Armed forces radio station I was at in Taiwan in 1970,  we had one of
> those clocks in the main studio. The hourly reset was accomplished by
> a tone sent through the often unreliable telephone circuits, as well
> as a manual sync bottom we would push when we heard the tone on the
> main program channel. I am not familiar with the sync tone from WWV,
> but it would make great sense for them to transmit it.  Because larger
> hotels often had messenger calls, faxes, and Western Union teletype
> service,  I would think there was a method of transmitting the tine
> sync signal on the same lines.  As for WWV clocks, I have one that
> receives a VLF signal around 100KC.  It takes a few hours for the
> clock to recognize and process the signal, then it promptly resets and
> displays the time.  Another interesting variation on all of these are
> central clock systems in factories, schools, and hospitals. Some of
> these advance every minute  when they receive a pulse, others
> synchronize with a pulse, and the most interesting sense an audio tone
> riding on the power line. The audio tone system can be used to turn
> lights on and off and ring bells as well as synchronize clocks. I
> learned about this system when I was in high school, and figured out
> how to  ring the bells a few minutes early on Friday afternoons.
> Nobody could restrain that stampede!
>     Bruce Gentry       KA2IVY
>

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