Hi Guys,
Let me say first of all that I'm a pocket watch collector. But I went to sea for 40 years starting in 1972. At that time celestial navigation was still the primary way of fixing the ship's position out of sight of land and deep ocean transit voyages. The ship was a reefer ship (Chirippo) built Stephen and Sons Shipyard in the UK in 1957. By the time I worked on her she was under Honduran flag (renamed OLANCHO)and still working for United Fruit Company, carrying bannanas to the States and UK. My post relates to a question about chronometers made in the UK about this time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stephen_and_Sons
At that time the chronometers were still the heart of a ship's timekeeping and we carried two English models (although I can't remember the makers name). Both chronometers were key wind, but what made it unique is that one was connected by wires to a electric control box on the bridge. All the other clocks on the ship were electric and slaved off the signal from this chronometer. When you changed time zones you could advance or retard the electric clocks as needed and adjust the minutes for error also. Surprisingly, if you let the chronometer wind down (as I did once with a stern reminder from the captain) even though the slave clocks were electric, they would all stop. So I've recently wondered how the connection was made to to a mechanical clock. What I do remember was flipping it over, sliding the back plate over and winding it 7 1/2 half turns.
Subsequently I worked on American ships, and with very few few exceptions all were fitted with Hamiltons and all the rest of the clocks were were key wind Chelsea 8 day with some being bell strikers (at the time we were still striking the 1/2 hour bells from the bridge to announce the watch time to the deck).
Anyone have any idea of how the electrical connection worked? Was it like today's timegraphers with a microphone? Sorry I can't remember any details, but it was 40 years ago!
Thanks for any input!
Paul
Let me say first of all that I'm a pocket watch collector. But I went to sea for 40 years starting in 1972. At that time celestial navigation was still the primary way of fixing the ship's position out of sight of land and deep ocean transit voyages. The ship was a reefer ship (Chirippo) built Stephen and Sons Shipyard in the UK in 1957. By the time I worked on her she was under Honduran flag (renamed OLANCHO)and still working for United Fruit Company, carrying bannanas to the States and UK. My post relates to a question about chronometers made in the UK about this time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stephen_and_Sons
At that time the chronometers were still the heart of a ship's timekeeping and we carried two English models (although I can't remember the makers name). Both chronometers were key wind, but what made it unique is that one was connected by wires to a electric control box on the bridge. All the other clocks on the ship were electric and slaved off the signal from this chronometer. When you changed time zones you could advance or retard the electric clocks as needed and adjust the minutes for error also. Surprisingly, if you let the chronometer wind down (as I did once with a stern reminder from the captain) even though the slave clocks were electric, they would all stop. So I've recently wondered how the connection was made to to a mechanical clock. What I do remember was flipping it over, sliding the back plate over and winding it 7 1/2 half turns.
Subsequently I worked on American ships, and with very few few exceptions all were fitted with Hamiltons and all the rest of the clocks were were key wind Chelsea 8 day with some being bell strikers (at the time we were still striking the 1/2 hour bells from the bridge to announce the watch time to the deck).
Anyone have any idea of how the electrical connection worked? Was it like today's timegraphers with a microphone? Sorry I can't remember any details, but it was 40 years ago!
Thanks for any input!
Paul