NEW KNOXVILLE’S SETH THOMAS TOWER CLOCK
by Doug Hoelscher
Upon the retirement of Rev. F. H. W. Kuckherman in 1890 as the minister of the German Reformed Church (now known as First Church of New Knoxville) he was replaced by Rev. Abraham Schneck. Soon after that a rift developed in the church, and a sizeable portion of the congregation chose to follow Rev. Schneck and form a new congregation, the Emmanuel Lutheran Church. This split in the congregation grieved Rev. Kuckherman, and he came up with an idea to reunite the people of the community. He and his wife made a trip to Cincinnati and commissioned an artist to paint a picture. He requested of the artist: “Paint a picture of a majestic church, with simple and graceful lines and with a tall, massive, stately steeple that shall reach high into the heavens. In the tower must be a huge clock and a huge bell. Make it large – and do not mind the cost.”
After a few weeks the Kuckhermans returned to New Knoxville with a large painting of a church building. He hung it in a conspicuous place in his home where his visitors from the congregation and the community would see it. Soon the members of the congregation decided they should build a church building like the one in Rev. Kuckherman’s picture. According to the story, this is where Rev. Kuckherman bowed out of the situation and left it entirely to the congregation to hire an architect and build the building. His plan was successful. After the completion of the building in August of 1894 the congregation was soon reunited.
According to the church centennial book, the actual tower clock was somewhat of an afterthought. On page 42 it is stated: “The plans for the new church called for a mere representation of a clock to be painted on the four sides of the tower. A few enterprising young men feared this camouflage, once perpetrated, would mar the beauty of the church for years to come. They advocated a real clock that could tell time. On Feb. 12, 1894, a committee was appointed to collect, by popular subscription, the funds necessary to place a real clock in the tower. The committee consisted of: F. August Cook, B. E. Cook, and J. A. Wm. Cook. By dedication Sunday the clock was in its place and the bill was paid in full.”
The clock that was purchased is a Seth Thomas Number 16 tower clock, and the nameplate on the framework indicates the clock was installed April 24, 1894. The name of A. S. Hotchkiss on the nameplate indicates that Hotchkiss was the designer of the clock. Hotchkiss was a separate tower clock manufacturer whose company was sold to Seth Thomas in 1872. Indications are that he worked for Seth Thomas after the sale. The clock is a precision timepiece, a mechanical marvel and a work of art. It operated from 1894 till 2010 with only occasional repairs, and in 2010 it was completely disassembled and shipped to the Balzer Family Clockworks in Freeport Maine for a complete restoration. It was re-installed on the first floor of the tower with a shorter pendulum and a lighter weight. The vertical shaft driving the hands of the clock faces was extended downward one floor. A glass entrance door to the tower was installed so the restored clock could be viewed without entering the tower. It is a remarkable, functioning piece of history.
THE ORIGINAL INSTALLATION OF THE TOWER CLOCK
The cast iron framework and the machinery of the clock (movement), weighing about 1500 pounds, was installed in a very small room on the second floor of the tower, which is at the level of the attic floor above the sanctuary. The first floor and tower entrance is at the level of the balcony in the sanctuary.
In the picture above, the clock is shown in its small enclosure on the second floor of the tower. The vertical shaft connecting to the clock faces several floors above is seen at the top right of the framework. The wooden rod extending down on the left side of the frame is the pendulum, about 8 feet long, with a 175 pound weight on the bottom end. It extended down through the floor into the room below with the pendulum weight swinging in a long, narrow enclosed wooden box suspended from the ceiling. The winch drum in plain sight with cable wound on it carried the 300 pound set of weights to keep the clock running. The drum underneath the frame with the cable passing up by the window carried the large 900 pound set of weights that supplied the power to activate a mechanical hammer that would strike the bell on the hour and half hour. The square shaft ends protruding from the frame are for attaching the crank to wind the two sets of weights. The weights traveled in chutes in two corners of the tower.
A single vertical driveshaft equipped with universal joints was routed up through several floors, around the bells, and up to the level of the clock faces. At that level a beveled gear on the vertical shaft turns four distribution gears connected to four shafts, each extending to a clock face on one of the four sides of the tower. The vertical shaft from the clock to the bevel gears and the shafts from the bevel gears to the motion works are all equipped with both universal joints (or U-joints) and slip joints to simplify alignment and to compensate for any flexing of the tower structure.
The beveled distribution gears and the shafts to the four clock faces
A cluster of gears, known as the “motion work”, is located behind each clock face allowing the hour and minute hands to be driven by one shaft. As seen above, each clock face has a rectangular opening which will be explained in the following paragraphs.
The size of the clock faces and their components are aptly described on page 23 of the church sesquicentennial book as follows: “The clocks’ Roman Numerals are 1 foot high and made of lead, painted black. The diamond-minute divisions are 3 inches high. The minute-hand is 3 feet long, and the hour hand is 2-1/2 feet long. Both hands are made of ¾ inch thick redwood. The diameter of the clock is approximately 6 feet.”
The clock faces themselves are made of two layers of one inch boards. The weight of the massive redwood hands is counterbalanced by a rod extending 180 degrees from the direction of the hand. This makes the weight of the hand “neutral” whether it is traveling downward or upward around the face of the clock. Thus the strain on the clock movement is relieved so the hands always move at the same speed. Occasionally, although rarely, the hands have been affected by high winds, and on at least one occasion one of them actually blew off and landed on the roof.
Each clock face is lighted by a shaded light extended downward and outward on a conduit. The small rectangular opening seen above the center of the face can be opened from the inside for access to service the clock hands or to change the light bulbs. These openings have also been used by photographers to take aerial pictures of the town. The round corners on the tower extend out past the floors inside, thus providing chutes for the travel of the weights that powered the clock in the original installation.
The Number 16 is an 8-day clock with its operating energy supplied by gravity, using the principle of falling weights. A small set of weights supplies the energy to keep the clock operating, and a much heavier set of weights furnishes the energy to strike the bell on the hour and half hour. The weights needed to be wound up at least every 8 days. In the original installation the winding was just a routine weekly job.
Page 21 of the Seth Thomas catalog published in 1911shows a chart with specified weight and distance of fall required to keep the various models of tower clocks operating for 8 days. The Number 16 was said to require 90 pounds with 45 feet of fall on a single strand of cable to keep the time mechanism operational and 225 pounds with 120 feet of fall on a single cable for the strike mechanism. In our installation these numbers were altered by using heavier weights and a system of pulleys to reduce the distance of travel. The strike weights were increased by a factor of four to 900 pounds, and the cable passed through two stationary pulleys on the top end and two movable pulleys on the bottom end, thus reducing the required distance of travel by a factor of four to 30 feet. On the time side the weight was increased to 300 pounds, and pulleys were used, thus decreasing the distance of fall required for this set of weights also.
The illustration below is an image of page 32 from the 1911 Seth Thomas catalog that illustrates the Number 16 clock and gives some specifications of this model. In this illustration the four-way gearbox to operate the clock faces is mounted directly to the top of the framework of the clock. With this arrangement the movement would be mounted on the same floor as the clock faces, which would add massive weight at a high level in the tower.
As specified at the bottom of the page, the Number 16 can be equipped with an 8 foot pendulum with a 175 pound ball (weight) or a 4 foot pendulum with a 135 pound ball. The speed of the clock can be finely tuned by turning a nut below the ball on the end of the pendulum, thus moving the ball up or down and effectively changing the length of the pendulum. Lengthening the pendulum slows the clock, and of course, shortening it has the opposite effect. This is a very sensitive adjustment, which allows for precision timekeeping.
THE POST-RESTORATION INSTALLATION
As stated before, the clock was completely disassembled and restored in 2010 by the Balzer Family Clockworks, and the movement was re-installed one floor lower in the tower than in the original installation. Here it can be observed from the balcony level without climbing up to the higher floors of the tower. The clock movement was mounted on a 3-sided pedestal to give the pendulum clearance from the floor. In this new installation the strike train is no longer used, so the only set of weights that needs to be pulled up is for the time train.
Below the clock in the center of the pedestal is an automatic power winder to wind the cable suspending the weights that power the clock. Much less distance of travel is needed because the clock doesn’t have to be powered for 8 days at a time with an automatic winder. The weights travel in the vertical rack in the corner of the room. At the bottom of the rack is a limit switch that starts the motor on the winder when the weights reach the bottom of their travel. At the top of the rack are two limit switches to stop the motor. The second switch is a safety feature in the event that the first one fails.
The lever protruding from the frame on the left side of the picture is the lever that would pull the cable to ring the bell for the strike train if it were being used. Another weight rack is in another corner of the room in case the strike train is placed into service at a later date. This would require another automatic winder for that set of weights.
Corner view of the clock as seen from the tower entrance door.
The cable shown on the extreme left side of the above picture connects to the hammer to strike the bell on the hour and half hour, but as stated before, this feature is not currently in use. The brass colored arm extending upward with the flat paddle on the far side of the clock is part of a two paddle fan that is designed to spin rapidly when the clock strikes. The two paddles cause wind resistance, and the fan acts as a “governor” to control the speed of the strike train.
The beveled distribution gears in the center of the tower and the motion works at each clock face were also restored.
SOME MAINTENANCE CHALLENGES
As with all metal on metal moving parts, the clock mechanism requires occasional lubrication, but excessive lubrication is messy and tends to collect dust and dirt. Lubrication must be applied sparingly in strategic locations according to the instructions furnished by the experts, in this case, Balzer Family Clockworks. The universal joints in the shafts to the clock faces receive some extra stress because of the force of wind on the hands of the clock. Besides lubrication, these joints occasionally need special attention to keep them tight.
A Spectacular Failure
On Saturday, May 11, 1940, the cable supporting the 900 pound set of weights that powered the hourly striking of the clock snapped, and the weights crashed all the way to the basement. On Tuesday, May 14, the following report was published in the Evening Leader:
CABLE SUPPORTING WEIGHTS OF BIG CHURCH CLOCK, NEW KNOXVILLE, SNAPS
HALF TON WEIGHT CRASHES THROUGH CEILING AND FLOOR OF BELL TOWER, LANDING IN BASEMENT – CLOCK STILL TELLS TIME BUT FAILS TO STRIKE HOURS
(Special to the Leader)
New Knoxville, May 14 – The cable supporting the half-ton gong weights of the town clock in the tower of the Evangelical and Reformed church on Saturday evening at about 7:30 snapped, dropping the weights approximately 50 feet. They crashed through the ceiling and floor of the tower vestibule, landing in the basement.
No one was in the church building at the time of the accident save Miss Esther Holtkamp, organist, who was at the console of the organ putting on the finishing touches for her Sunday’s prelude and postlude. Hearing the crash she opined it was made by the janitor, but seeing a cloud of dust enter the auditorium, she investigated, found and reported.
The town clock had been installed in 1894 – 46 years ago, and until last Saturday has tolled away the hours, one by one, without a mishap. Even with the accident Saturday, the master clock did not stop showing the time on her face. The only thing is the tolling of the hour. Evidently it will be repaired very soon.
After that mishap in 1940, several short, heavy timbers were placed in the corners of the tower to stop the fall of the weights in the event of a cable failure. There were more failures through the years, some of them due to human error. After World War II, when military surplus equipment was plentiful, the church acquired an aircraft starter unit. This consisted of an electric motor combined with a gear reduction unit. A separate stand was built adjacent to the clock so the shaft of the starter was aligned with the cranking shaft of the 900 pound weight set. A short shaft could be quickly coupled from the starter to the clock, and the winding became effortless. The problem with this arrangement was the lack of a safety limit switch when the weights reached the top of their travel. If the attendant forgot about the winding and didn’t stop the motor, it overwound and tore the cable. In 1988 Gary Schrolucke and I replaced the cable on the large set of weights. The length of cable required was 180 feet. It is unknown how many times the cables were replaced before or after that time. With proper maintenance and occasional repair, our clock operated and served as our community timepiece for 116 years from 1894 to 2010. Since the restoration in 2010 it has operated for 15 years, and with proper care it will probably last another 100 years.
A Rare Piece
In the 1911 Seth Thomas catalog, only two clocks are listed in Auglaize County, one being ours in the First German Reformed Church in New Knoxville, and the other in the St. Paul Lutheran Church in New Bremen. The next nearest one was located in the Shelby County Courthouse in Sidney. Most of the gravity powered clocks of all brands have been converted to electrically powered clocks. In the 1970’s W. R. Bowsher, Jr. and his son Jim from Wapakoneta searched the area for gravity powered tower clocks. Our clock in New Knoxville was the only one he found that was running within a 30 mile radius of Wapakoneta. He found a Mathias Schwalbach clock in a church tower in Fort Jennings that was said to be in running condition but not running at the time. Since that time a restored vintage mechanical E. Howard clock has been installed in the Allen County courthouse at Lima to replace a modern clock movement.
Interesting Facts About Some Other Tower Clocks
A Seth Thomas Number 16 clock was purchased and installed at the Henry Ford Museum for its grand opening in 1929. In 2017 it was completely disassembled into 827 pieces and restored by The Tower Clock Company of South Charleston, Ohio. Rather than wood for the pendulum rod a special metal alloy had been used because of its resistance to expansion and contraction due to temperature fluctuation. This maintains a more consistent length of the pendulum and allows more precise timekeeping.
A.S. Hotchkiss, mentioned earlier in this article, is credited with building the largest tower clock ever manufactured in the United States. Only two of his Number 1 tower clocks were constructed, and one still exists and operates. The clock was installed in 1867 at the Rock Island Army Armory Arsenal Building in Rock Island, Illinois. The clock powers four 12 foot diameter clock faces and boasts a 32 foot long mahogany pendulum rod. The Tower Clock Company was contracted in 2020 to totally restore this piece. They made new bushings and other parts as required, and they were able to preserve the original paint.
In 1905 a local farmer donated a Number 15 Seth Thomas tower clock to the village of Plain City, Ohio. It was installed in a self contained pod and was placed on top of a building that was a hardware store at that time. In 2017 the entire pod was removed with a crane, and the clock was restored by The Tower Clock Company. The clock is one of the more prominent features of downtown Plain City and is a source of great community pride.
Many pictures of the restoration of the Rock Island and the Plain City clocks can be seen on the Tower Clock Company website, as well as the Henry Ford and the Allen County courthouse installations. (See link below.)
These tower clocks are fascinating machines, and although they are scarce in our area, there are many still in operation in the United States, and they can be found in court houses, churches, and universities among other places.
NOTES:
A PDF of the 1911 Seth Thomas tower clock catalog can be viewed at:
https://ia800207.us.archive.org/14/items/TowerClocks/SethThomasTowerClocks1911..pdf
The websites of the rebuilders include pictures and stories of the clocks they’ve rebuilt, and Balzer’s website has pictures before and after restoration of our clock and also a letter of appreciation from Rev. David Williams, who was the pastor at the time of the rebuild. Following are links to the rebuilders’ websites:
https://www.balzerclockworks.com
https://thetowerclockcompany.com
Here is a link to a YouTube video that shows the strike mechanism running on a Seth Thomas clock very similar to ours. This particular movement is located in Lampasas, Texas, and is used only to strike the bell on the hour and half hour. In this installation the clock faces have been electrified.
https://youtu.be/sx_w62HZf-E?si=BdnaaHNlW5GAN95V
Here are two more links to informative websites on the subject of tower clocks:
http://www.tscchapter134.org/
https://www.my-time-machines.net/speech_final_web.pdf