Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 August 1880 — Pneumatic Clocks. [ARTICLE]

Pneumatic Clocks.

Time is now applied to street clocks, public offices, hotel and private dwellings in Paris, like gas or water, from a central station, by means ot compressed air, conveyed through underground pipes. Al the central station there is a reservoir of compressed air, and for the first twenty seconds of every minute, as given by a standard timepiece, a current of the compressed air is ‘ allowed to flow through the pipes to the re ceiving clocks. By means of a small bellows, which is expanded by the transmitted air, the works of these < locks are kept going at a practically uniform rate. The street mains are of wrought iron, about 1116 inch in diameter, and these are connected to service [ ipea of lead three-fifths inch in diameter ,while the different stories of a building are supplied by rubber tubes one eighth inch in diameter. Any number of clocks can be operated in this way within a radius of two miles from the central station; and the system has worked well.