[time-nuts] Regulator Clock

Mark Gulbrandsen ksa50amp at yahoo.com
Tue Sep 14 13:27:34 UTC 2010


"Not as bad as the disaster in Northfield, MN (S of the Twin Cities)
where a guy drilling holes for Cat 5 cables broke the vacuum jar
of a Reifler clock, and nobody thought anything of it."
 
 Actually that also apparently happened many many years ago at the Elgin Watch Company Observatory. About 20 years ago I was involved in the restoration of the two "Vault" Rieflers and the recovery of one of the two "upstairs" wood case Rieflers(which had been sitting in a crate in a guys garage for many years). One of the "Vault" master clocks was in it's normal glass tube and the other was in a replacement metal tube that did not look original. Both clocks were of the same vintage and by the way, all the Rieflers and transit scope were mounted on concrete piers that went 70 feet into the ground!! Yes, they were very accurate but we never did get around to doing calculations on them, If any of you are ever in the Elgin Illinois area during a weekday be sure to go by there and visit the place. It's owned and operated by the Elgin School District. An attached planetarium serves to teach children about stars and time.
 
Mark Gulbrandsen


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