There is nothing quite as charming as an old Grandfather Clock that quietly ticks in the recesses of an old house or mansion. Doing so in a manner so stately that people walking past it tend to pull their shoulders back and appropriate an air of dignity to themselves. The grandfather clock is both a visual and audio experience. Not only does it look a piece of art but it also sounds music at the strike of every hour. The soft steady tick-tock is assertive and relaxing and has for many owners become an integral part of their living rooms or study; one that they perhaps cannot do without. Grandfather clocks are also largely reminiscent of the times spent in one’s grandparents’ house. Where the furniture was old and quaint and the clock blended in just fine. Such an elegant and beautiful machine is one of the rarer instances where form and function complement and add to the beauty of the clock as a whole.
The grandfather clock was not always the way we have come to know today. The evolution of the clock literally passed through the hands of time and rudimentary function gave way to form and beauty. Infact the clock as it were got its name from a song written by Henry Mark called ‘My Grandfather’s Clock’. The clock however stemmed from the idea and the concept of the pendulum clock. The pendulum clock was originally invented in the seventeenth century by a Dutch astronomer cum mathematician cum physicist known as Christiaan Huygens.
The invention of the pendulum clock was hailed as a breakthrough of sorts. What it did technically, was to solve the ‘escapement’ problem that contemporary watches faced and provide people with a more accurate time keeping device. The movement consisted of wheels made from brass and steel and a compartment that housed gears which were as the ‘train’. The gears were most likely to be positioned between a pair of brass plates to protect it from wear and tear and other likely sources of damage. The gear train acts like the powerhouse of the clock, providing it with kinetic energy with the help of weights and springs. The escapement stops the unwinding of the gears every ‘second’. Otherwise the gears would go on unwinding without stoppage.
The pendulum, as it oscillates, moves the escapement between two states. That of ‘motion’ and ‘rest’, making the escapement move intermittently for a brief amount of time. The gear teeth lock onto the escapement as it moves and this gives the clock the necessary time gaps to advance the second hand on the face of the clock. This timed hold and release is what gives the clock its ticking sound.
