A talk on cables and wire-ropes - The Clock Tower, BITS Pilani

We inspected the existing cables atop the tower to decide whether any replacement is necessary and whether we need to source new ones for the Gong and Carillon.

Driving Weight Cable (a wire rope is called a cable if it is less than 3/8 inch in diameter)

Right hand Regular Lay 6mm cable rope.

The winding of the cable is good.
The end of the cable for the driving weight is tied up with some sort of a GI wire. We will mostly be replacing them with thimbles: Thimbles

Carillon Weight Cable:

We are planning on setting up pulleys on the water tank supported by the beams on it and connecting the fixed end to the drum of the gong. (Shown below is the drum of the gong).

Also one of the nuts of the water tank top surface was loose. So I am assuming there should be several of them. We should consider tightening them before setting up any pulleys and it can only be done by going inside the tank.
The cable doesn’t wind properly onto the drum often leaving a lot of space between each cable both at the beginning and at the end.

Welcome!

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!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Welcome!