Bheem removed the the bevel gears connecting the four faces. The top gear shows considerable amount of wear. The edges have become sharp as evident from the pictures. His initial plan was to exchange the top bevel gear with the lower one which has much less wear. This didn’t work out as the two gears had different mounting holes. The pics are already in the drive folder.    After showing the gears to Prof. Sangwan the gear were put back next day. He was also saying the bushings on the faces have worn out too which need to be replaced after convocation.

Face Work

1. Decoupled the bevels at the center by lifting the vertical bevel and supporting it on a small block
2. Rotated the individual faces (Pankaj made note of the resistance faced)
3. Noticed that SR face was balanced such that the minute hand returned to the horizontal position no matter where it was let go.
4. Play in the shaft
5. Bearing appears to be the same type as in the bell hammer set up.
6. Set the faces at 12.02 pm and left them to see when the clock stopped again.
7. The clock had slowed by 1.15 and was lagging behind (showing 1.10)

Bell work
1. Inner casing(white) of the control cable coming out with the inner metal cable at the gong machinery end.
2. Kink in the control cable may be causing some disturbance in smooth operation.
3. Hammer was badly in need of lubrication
4. Lubricated the bell bearings and the control cable at the bell end
5. Need to get crimps(or the cycle thing -forget the name) to seal the ends of the control cable and    maybe a rubber cover to prevent shit from getting in
6. Need a walkie talkie app for communication from the bell chamber to the machinery room

Gather around children, and let me tell you a tale. I’m a pretty old tower you see, and I have many a story to tell. But today, I’m going to tell you a story of my older and smaller brother. He’s been silent for the last 20 years, but has just started singing again! Don’t let his size fool you, the Christ Church Tower in Kasauli has been around since 1863, and he’s a magnificently built fellow…

Ashwani with the gear trains of the Kasauli Clock Tower.

We clock-keepers are a connected lot. It was this May that Ashwani got in touch with us saying that he wanted to fix up a clock in Kasauli. Photos were shared and we discussed the problems in that clock and ideas on how to fix them. A motivated and resourceful man Ashwani is, he managed to get in touch with the military engineers in Kasauli and brought all his collected knowledge to the men with the skills and tools to do something about it! And our uniformed men have quickly shown us that we have every reason to salute them.

Military Engineers at work on the Kasauli Clock.

This is a success story. The tale of one man who saw something that could be done and got down to doing it… our team began in the exact same way. The Kasauli team has crossed milestones to reach where they are. We work on similar goals now, to keep our clocks running on time, challenging the elements that slow or stop it. We share a world of monitoring gears and tweaking pendulums. But in Pilani, our behemoth gives us an additional task of 9 more bells and separate tune machinery to solve… and solve it we will!

For the moment though, lets shower some applause on the men who have fixed a piece of their own little town’s heritage. We’ll be posting a link to their website once it’s up, but until then, more details of their work and the people behind it are on this page.

The most iconic landmark in the quaint, little hamlet that is Pilani, the BITS Clock-tower brings with it more than half-a-century’s worth of history and tales aplenty.  Occupying a central place in BITS folklore, over the years, attempting an ascent of this structure was something of a rite of passage for every BITSian who hopped onto the life-mobile and sauntered off into the sunset.

As clock-towers go, this specimen is about as unique as they come – its array of 10 bells, gives it an unparalleled musical range among its brethren nationally, and it certainly hits rarefied notes on a global scale.  That it has had to suffer in silence for the last 30 years is a deafening tragedy, with reports from its heyday extolling how its chimes could be heard from miles away!

Over the last couple of years, there has been a dedicated student-run initiative to restore this tired behemoth to the pristine glory of its yesteryears.  Mentored by a group of recent alumni, a team of able hands and minds have made great strides in this regard.

Wishing you well, ye old Methuselah. Long may you enthrall generations hence!