Clocks Going Forward

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PDQ Mobile
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by PDQ Mobile »

I suppose you could just leave the faced clocks on either summer (or winter if that's your thing) time, but add another (paper?) clock face. (for old and difficult clocks!)

Or just a prominent sign "this clock is an hour fast/slow*!

-*delete as appropriate
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Mick F
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by Mick F »

Good morning guys!
Happy BST. :D

So far .............. all three clocks in the living room done, and the battery clock in the bathroom done too.
Still to do, kitchen and workshop battery clocks ................. and the car.
I'll do the car when I think about it.
Computers, iPhones, iPad, Garmins, all do it automatically.

Cameras?
We have two, but I can't honestly say when we used them last. For all I know, they may already be on BST or even GMT from when we last reset them.

Just thought, I have a blood pressure monitor, and that has a clock on it. I doubt I'll bother though.
Mick F. Cornwall
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Audax67 wrote:I restored our ancestral grandfather clock in the early 90s. It was lacking the bell - removed when it stood in an office in the 1930s and subsequently lost - but I found one on a flea-market that fitted perfectly.

After it had been working for a week I removed it again.

Anyway, re springing forward: I have 8 cameras, some of which do it automatically and some of which don't. I can never remember which is which so I have to check them all. :(

Maybe I should just set them to UTC and to hell with it.

Eight cameras! Formidable
Some people on here have eight or more bikes but does one need eight cameras?
Mind, I have a lot of books, more than 8 x 8 x 8 :wink:

How does my digital camera keep the time when switched off, does it have a tiny inexhaustible battery?
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Run GMT/UTC on everything.

I don’t know why we don’t just shift the working day from 9am to 10am (for example)
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Mick F
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by Mick F »

I'd vote for putting the clocks half way between GMT and BST.
Just leave 'em like that permanently.

Lots of countries use half-hour time zones.
Mick F. Cornwall
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661-Pete
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by 661-Pete »

I don't quite follow.

Is this meant to be a rant about the whole GMT/BST changeover thingy? Surely, we've been doing this twice every year, all our lives (except for a brief hiatus in the 1960s when the Gov. saw fit to impose permanent BST for a few years). It can hardly come as a shock to the system!

As far as I'm concerned, I prioritise the devices I mostly refer to. Namely, my watch (which adjusts automatically, as it happens), my phone, the wall clocks in the hall and living room, and the bedside alarm. Oh - and the central heating timer, if by chance we still need it (like this year :( ). Other things can wait. Computers of course adjust themselves. I'm not really bothered about things like the cycle computer until I next happen to consult them.

No big deal, as I said. I cannot fathom why Mick should want to keep a workplace 7-day clocking-in/out clock in his home, but that's his affair... :roll:
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
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Mick F
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by Mick F »

I've always been interested in mechanical clocks. I used to tinker with stuff as a kid, and by the time I was in my early teens, I was fixing clocks.

Late father-in-law was a manager at a small engineering firm in Lancashire, and they brought in a new electronic clocking-on device, so the old mechanical one became redundant. He brought it home and gave it to me.

It wasn't long after we married - 1974 when we lived in Scotland - and I brought it home and got it going and placed it on the top of the landing upstairs. First issue I had to deal with, was that F-i-L hadn't thought to collect the keys! Firstly, the front door was locked, so I had to cut the lock off, and secondly, I had to make a key to wind it up! :lol:

Any road up, it's been ticking away since then. It's seen eight different houses, seen both girls as babies right through to marrying and leaving home. It's never skipped a beat, and we've had it for nearly 45years. Not sure how old it is, maybe a 1940s clock.

The ink roller is nigh-on dried up now, so if you put a card in the slot and work the handle, you get a faint set of numbers. They are red if you are late for your shift, or blue if you are early. There's a cam system that you can alter for the shift patterns. Also, there's a AM/PM stamp next to the 12hr time.

The timing system at the base of the clock is rod-driven from the clock mechanism at the top, which has two very strong springs. Unusually for a clock, they are wound anti-clockwise, and the springs are so strong, you need two hands to wind it them.
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If you look at the serial number bottom left of this sticker, it could possibly be a 1952 overhaul sticker.
Mick F. Cornwall
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661-Pete
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by 661-Pete »

...and now, having read your description, very impressive it is too!

I suppose what I should have said is, if you take delight in keeping such a timepiece in working order, the maintenance is something you have to take in hand. Just as someone who looks after a cherished bicycle, sometimes has to get their hands dirty! I'm sure the BST/GMT changeover is something you can take in your stride - however awkward!
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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Mick F
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by Mick F »

:D :D
My issues with clocks isn't the point I was raising. I can do them with ease and with a little bit of relish too.

The point is, there's millions of clocks in the is country that need changing from GMT to BST and back again in October. I read that HMQ has 80odd clocks in Buck House, and no doubt there's absolutely thousands of them in stately homes up and down the country.

This is not to mention the clocks in private hands, and all those countless millions of devices that defy logic how to alter the times. People have washing machines and microwave ovens with clocks, let alone cookers, and cars, and bike computers, and watches .................... the list is seemingly endless.

If you added up the time involved per person per clock/device to change them, I reckon it'll add up to thousands of man-hours, and if you multiply that by the National Minimum Wage, it must cost a small fortune twice a year - every year.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Audax67
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by Audax67 »

It's intriguing that the clock has no provision for BST adjustment. Summer Time (it wasn't BST until the Wilson govt's act in the 60s) was introduced in 1916. Do you think it could be from before 1916?
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661-Pete
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by 661-Pete »

As I understand it, British Summer Time (under that name) has been around since 1916. During WW2 it was replaced by British Double Summer Time. What Wilson's government did in 1968 was to re-designate it as British Standard Time and have it in force all the year around. This change was repealed in 1971 - we went back to the old system.

There was some evidence that year-round GMT+1 may have been a factor in reducing KSIs in road accidents. But the change coincided with several other road-safety measures: enhanced drink-driving legislation, the 70mph speed limit, and seat belt introduction. So the evidence is inconclusive.

I personally prefer the system as it is. Even when I'm doing stuff with my telescope in France, mostly during the summer months. All the work I do in setting up the mount right, I do with reference to GMT - so I'm having to mentally subtract two hours from the time I see on my watch. But I'm used to that!
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by PDQ Mobile »

In a recent item about Isombard Kindom Brunel on the BBC, (his short stature) it said that before the coming of the railways, Bristol used to run around ten minutes later than London.

Sunrise Time!
Druid Time!!


The new fast railways necessitated the introduction of a common nationwide standard.
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Cunobelin
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by Cunobelin »

pwa wrote:I like noisy clocks but have never had one.



Totally OT

When cycle touring in the West Country I stayed near Exeter (? Exton) and nipped into the pub for Supper. The pub had a collection of Cuckoo clocks, and for about 10 minutes around the hour there was a cacophony of Cuckoos
thirdcrank
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by thirdcrank »

There seems to be some suggestion on the internet that it's an asylum of cuckoos, but that may not include cuckoo clocks, I suppose.
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fausto copy
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Re: Clocks Going Forward

Post by fausto copy »

PDQ Mobile wrote:In a recent item about Isombard Kindom Brunel on the BBC, (his short stature) it said that before the coming of the railways, Bristol used to run around ten minutes later than London.

Sunrise Time!
Druid Time!!


The new fast railways necessitated the introduction of a common nationwide standard.


Alan Plater wrote a brilliant play called "Only a matter of time" where an English representative from the railway companies meets a Welshman in a field and tries to explain why Britain needs to go on standard time.
Utterly brilliant and well worth searching out.
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