I bought a kitchen clock in a second-hand shop. I think it must be
German, from the around 1960.

Photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0ie31px6lq5zhc/ELMA%20clock.jpg?dl=0

It's not a good picture, sorry. The clock is ceramic, and is very
pretty.

The mechanism is very unusual. It's driven by clockwork, and but powered
by a battery.

There's a solenoid, which every minute or so taps a brass disk, spinning
it round 120 degrees or so and thus charging up the spring that's
attached to it. That spring powers the clockwork mechanism, and as it
runs down the disk rotates back to its original position, once again
triggering the solenoid that sends it round once more.

I've never seen anything quite like it.

The clock is marked "ELMA Elamatic".

Daniele

On 9 Dec 2017 16:16:43 GMT, Huge coalesced
the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful
comprehension...

On 2017-12-09, D.M. Procida wrote:
I bought a kitchen clock in a second-hand shop. I think it must be
German, from the around 1960.

Photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0ie31px6lq5zhc/ELMA%20clock.jpg?dl=0

It's not a good picture, sorry. The clock is ceramic, and is very
pretty.

The mechanism is very unusual. It's driven by clockwork, and but powered
by a battery.

Not that unusual in clocks of that age. Several of those in my MILs house
had similar mechanisms.

Quite. The first clock I encountered that worked on this principle was
in the dashboard of my grandfathers Hillman Minx.
--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%

On Sat, 09 Dec 2017 16:35:33 +0000, Graham. wrote:

On 9 Dec 2017 16:16:43 GMT, Huge coalesced
the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful
comprehension...

On 2017-12-09, D.M. Procida
wrote:
I bought a kitchen clock in a second-hand shop. I think it must be
German, from the around 1960.

Photo:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0ie31px6lq5zhc/ELMA%20clock.jpg?dl=0

It's not a good picture, sorry. The clock is ceramic, and is very
pretty.

The mechanism is very unusual. It's driven by clockwork, and but
powered by a battery.

Not that unusual in clocks of that age. Several of those in my MILs
house had similar mechanisms.

Quite. The first clock I encountered that worked on this principle was
in the dashboard of my grandfathers Hillman Minx.

I've always liked the Congreve clocks, although they are remarkably
inaccurate!



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 09/12/17 16:10, D.M. Procida wrote:
I bought a kitchen clock in a second-hand shop. I think it must be
German, from the around 1960.

Photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0ie31px6lq5zhc/ELMA%20clock.jpg?dl=0

It's not a good picture, sorry. The clock is ceramic, and is very
pretty.

The mechanism is very unusual. It's driven by clockwork, and but powered
by a battery.

There's a solenoid, which every minute or so taps a brass disk, spinning
it round 120 degrees or so and thus charging up the spring that's
attached to it. That spring powers the clockwork mechanism, and as it
runs down the disk rotates back to its original position, once again
triggering the solenoid that sends it round once more.

I've never seen anything quite like it.

I remember (1960s) one with a similar mechanism, mechanical time keeping
but electric winding.


The clock is marked "ELMA Elamatic".

Daniele



--
djc

(–€Ì¿Ä¹Ì¯–€Ì¿ Ì¿)
No low-hanging fruit, just a lot of small berries up a tall tree.

On 9 Dec 2017 18:30:05 GMT, Bob Eager coalesced
the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful
comprehension...

On Sat, 09 Dec 2017 16:35:33 +0000, Graham. wrote:

On 9 Dec 2017 16:16:43 GMT, Huge coalesced
the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful
comprehension...

On 2017-12-09, D.M. Procida
wrote:
I bought a kitchen clock in a second-hand shop. I think it must be
German, from the around 1960.

Photo:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0ie31px6lq5zhc/ELMA%20clock.jpg?dl=0

It's not a good picture, sorry. The clock is ceramic, and is very
pretty.

The mechanism is very unusual. It's driven by clockwork, and but
powered by a battery.

Not that unusual in clocks of that age. Several of those in my MILs
house had similar mechanisms.

Quite. The first clock I encountered that worked on this principle was
in the dashboard of my grandfathers Hillman Minx.

I've always liked the Congreve clocks, although they are remarkably
inaccurate!

I like digital clocks. Here is a video I shot of my favourite one ;-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy6Y_NWckEA

--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%

I have a feeling that that make made novelties. When I worked for a TV
company, one of the blokes showed me what was called an atmospheric clock.
It bore the same name as yours but the battery in this case powered a tiny
heater in a cylinder with some kind of valve arrangement. The piston drove a
kind of escapement which kept the clock wound up. What I never did figure
out was that how it knew it was unwound enough to allow the battery. a U11
to start the piston again.
I suppose there must have been some little microswitch somewhere as the
spring unwound.
The question is, why go to all that bother in the first place?
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...
I bought a kitchen clock in a second-hand shop. I think it must be
German, from the around 1960.

Photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0ie31px6lq5zhc/ELMA%20clock.jpg?dl=0

It's not a good picture, sorry. The clock is ceramic, and is very
pretty.

The mechanism is very unusual. It's driven by clockwork, and but powered
by a battery.

There's a solenoid, which every minute or so taps a brass disk, spinning
it round 120 degrees or so and thus charging up the spring that's
attached to it. That spring powers the clockwork mechanism, and as it
runs down the disk rotates back to its original position, once again
triggering the solenoid that sends it round once more.

I've never seen anything quite like it.

The clock is marked "ELMA Elamatic".

Daniele

Brian Gaff submitted this idea :
I have a feeling that that make made novelties. When I worked for a TV
company, one of the blokes showed me what was called an atmospheric clock. It
bore the same name as yours but the battery in this case powered a tiny
heater in a cylinder with some kind of valve arrangement. The piston drove a
kind of escapement which kept the clock wound up. What I never did figure out
was that how it knew it was unwound enough to allow the battery. a U11 to
start the piston again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmos_clock

On Sat, 09 Dec 2017 21:34:28 +0000
Graham. wrote:

On 9 Dec 2017 18:30:05 GMT, Bob Eager coalesced
the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful
comprehension...

On Sat, 09 Dec 2017 16:35:33 +0000, Graham. wrote:

[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]

I've always liked the Congreve clocks, although they are remarkably
inaccurate!

I like digital clocks. Here is a video I shot of my favourite one ;-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy6Y_NWckEA

And I suppose this is an early MIDI implementation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsfxTyhCzr8
:-)