Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 285, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1911 — BUTLER MAKES ODD CLOCK [ARTICLE]

BUTLER MAKES ODD CLOCK

Man Spends Seven Years on TimePiece Composed of Brads, a Beer Tap and Other Things. , An English butler by the name of James Gibbs has made a curious clock out of an astonishing collection of odds and ends. Redesigned it himself and spent his spare moments for about seven years in constructing it. “In addition to showing the time of day 'and the secohds,’*' he says,’ “it also shows the days of the week, days of the. month and month of the year and the phases of the moon, besides striking the hours and half bobrs. “The wheels were all originally of wood, but last summer I changed some of them for others made with sheet brass. The axles are all skewers and the bearings are the eyes cut from brags Wpges. and let into fog wooden, frame. / “Bootmakers* brads are used in making divisions in the days of the week, etc., the hammer it strikes with is part of a beer tap, and the pendulum, cut from sin old chest of drawers, 'swings on a steel spring obtained from a woman’s corset. The dates themselves are taken from an almanac. “The large hands and Roman figures are carved on oak and the minutes around the dial pieces Of matches, the case is made of oak with the exception of the panels, which are walnut. I bought it in the rough plank and worked it with the few tools I got for the purpose ■< : “I am a butler and have beenifo service all my life and know nothing of clock or cabinet making, so you can realize what an enormous amount of patience and perseverance baa been required. The clock Js a perfect timekeeper and everything is in thorough working order.”—Strand Magazine.