There's a parallel universe where Yerkes was so stubborn about efficiency that he decided not to bother changing the clocks for summer time. Londoners began referring to this as underground tube clock (UTC) time and the world gave up on the ludicrous notion of changing clocks twice a year sometime in the late 60's
In that same universe Scotland won the independence referendum, probably some time well before 2014 owing to kids getting mowed down walking to school in the dark & Westminster thinking changing the clocks was "ludicrous".
There is a parallel universe in which they actually tried abandoning it in the late 1960s, and didn't like it, so gave up. Oh, no that's *this* universe. Carry on!
It's pretty ironic, because in electronics engineering class one of the first things we were taught was how to gauge the state of charge of a 9V battery with our tongues 😅 y'know, to save time having to go get a volt-meter and all that. You quickly learnt whether it was a strong tingle for a full battery, a medium tingle for a used one, or weak/none at all for a flat one!
Most folks don't notice that on clocks (and watches) that use Roman numerals, that the 4 is often represented as IIII and not the usual IV. This was done mainly for aesthetic purposes as the 8 (VIII) and the 12 (XII) were quite "beefy" looking and by representing the 4 as IIII it balanced the dial out.
True. But also, until about 1800 (or MDCCC if you prefer), the "additive" style of Roman numeral - IIII, VIIII, etc - was used interchangeably with our more familiar style in many contexts. Pre 1800, the IIII on a clock dial wouldn't have looked as odd as it does to us. Fun fact: the Palace of Westminster clock faces use IV, not IIII.
I have to hand it to you: on the face of it, these clocks work so well you never give it a second thought. So it's good that they get notice. I live for the minute details of your videos, Jago. Thank you.
Fascinating. Easy to forget how, a hundred years ago, important having clocks with an accurate time was, because many people would not have a watch or one that would keep time even for a day or 2. Much easier to glance at the station clock and not be the White Rabbit.
When I bought my first watch for myself, in the 1960s, accuracy to a minute a day was considered a decent performance for a watch ordinary people might afford. And people would frequently ask each other what the time was -- or, IIRC "What time do you make it?"
Sorry to disappoint you, Jago but whilst many of the original clocks - dials, cases etc survive as you have shown, all the battery operated self winding movements were removed starting around the 1980s. They all now have bog-standard modern electric movements. Incidentally, when they were ASW movements the voltage was three volts, not two and the cases held two large cylindrical batteries, 1.5 volts each. They were approx. six inches tall. When the Northern Line was extended in the 1920s the LER bought a quantity of ASW movements and built their own wooden clock cases in the shape of the famous bulls-eye, now called the roundel. A number of these attractive clocks survive, but again, the original ASW movements were removed and all converted to modern electric.
@@keaton718 No, the only thing original is the clock case. The movements are modern mains electric movements. Some have even been fitted with Rugby Time clock movements (Google it!)
@@frainy345 Absolutely! The world has moved on. The Self-Winding Clock Co. of New York is no more, finally going out of business in 1970, so spares would be/are difficult if not impossible to obtain. Temple station (and a few others) still has, in the booking hall, an original 1906 case (American Oak) but as explained earlier, the movement contained within is modern. Incidentally, that style or design of case is not unique to the Underground. It was ordered straight out of the ASW company's catalogue and was known as the "No 10", because that was its number in the catalogue. In the USA, almost all the telegraph offices operated by Western Union around the turn of the last century had ASW of New York clocks, right up to the 1930s and many much later. In the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s etc. the London Transport Clock Section moved the clocks around so they did appear (and the very few that survive still do) at stations that would not have had them in the early days. One example of that is Ealing Common, which has a bullseye or roundel shaped clock case in the booking hall. Originally designed by the London Electric Railway for the Morden extension of the Northern line, the LER made these bullseye cases in their workshops (so they are unique to the London Underground) but they purchased ASW movements from America (Self Winding Clock Co. of New York) and fitted them here. Sadly, where the original 1906 and 1920s bullseye cases survive, all the actual dials have been replaced, I'm guessing so that modern electric movements can be fitted. Therefore, they don't look as correct or as historic as they should.
@@davetaylor1231 I hate that i'm difficult but yes, you can argue that they are still "Self Winding" clocks as they still display that as the brand name. I don't understand why you thought it correct at all to say "no" to that.
At this rate I'm expecting a future Jago video start with: "Yerkes!" Show a picture of him for two seconds, and then promptly non-sequitur onto another topic.
I never read the small text on the clocks. I honestly assumed they were modern quartz-driven, perhaps radio-set, clocks which were merely intended to look older. Knowing they're genuine original pieces is pretty neat!
You made me wonder how they're repaired. Who does it and where do spare parts come from? And why haven't they been replaced with some newfangled modern digital thing?
There is part of me that thinks that these station clocks been tampered with and had refits to be radio-set clocks? Electrically wound church/tower clocks are notoriously prone to failure. Do we think TfL will spill the beans on them? 😂
Another "things on the Underground that are older than you think" to add to the benches. I wonder how much the stations have changed since they were originally put in and the stories they would tell.
There’s a device I saw when I was on the Underground years ago. It was broken then, but it looked like a Mercator projection map with various cities labeled as well as countries. When working there was a filter or something that looked like would pass showing the hour and if it was day or night in these cities. Quite a bit of craftsmanship in that. Hope they fixed it, and it is still there.
I used to take apart those disposable cameras as a kid. The ones where the charged capacitor would be mechanically shorted to the flash. It was a young age when I learned the bittersweet kiss of mother electricity.
"New innovations" !? Stay back after class Hazzard. 😄 Love how you pick out these details to discuss - clocks and benches are features we all too often overlook.
@@JP_TaVeryMuch No, I meant old innovations...in contrast to the redundant "new innovations" that Brian Parker called out. And stop calling me Shirley.
Yes, especially at Chiswick Park served by just the Ealing Broadway branch of the District - you must get sick and tired of watching Piccadilly trains pass through.
As well as self-winding clocks, there are also self-winding watches - they use the movement of the wearer's arm to cause a widget to wind the spring. They were quite the thing when first introduced.
Another self operating clock,so obvious,yet so ubiquitous! Yerkes has left many things in and around London,many not very visible! But this is,and totally taken for granted! New York and Chicago,strike again![Something that also ties into the electrification of the Underground,and still exists today! The open third/fourth rails(London),is still followed in Chicago and Boston,there however its only an open third rail!! Again,taken for granted,and so commonplace,it's invisible! This is an FYI,and an addendum material!] Thanks Jago,for another timeless tale!! Thank you 😇! 😇
👍I would be very surprised if the electrified rails or the traction motors would (even under fault conditions) create sufficient magnetic flux to operate the solenoid up there in those self winding clocks. Even if the currents in the tracks or locos were large enough the orientation of the solenoids would have to be somewhat perpendicular to the rails and definitely not parallel to them. The other issue is the electrified rails are only a few feet apart, this will tend to cancel the overall magnetic 🧲 field they create when current passes through them.
An extra winding pulse wouldn't hurt, only leave less work for next time. Tripping the setting solenoid might, but there is a cam that only permits this within a few minutes of the top of the hour. As so often with this old engineering stuff, they thought of that!
This I didn't know, I thought they were synchronous electric motor driven (an electric motor that will spin precisely at a given number of revolutions per minute, governed by the electrical AC mains frequency. In the UK this is 50 Hertz or 50 cycles per second, that's what the hum is you hear on some appliances.) The electricity generating companies are obliged to maintain this frequency within specified limits and usually manage to maintain accuracy under 'normal' conditions at 0.4% making mains driven clocks an easy way to produce an accurate timepiece. I have drifted a little, let me come back to the point. The self winding clock I first experienced was in a car. I had little money and had to be quite frugal when I bought my first car back in 1988. So much so that I bought a 10 year old Vauxhall Chevette. It was basic to say the least, there wasn't even a clock. I ventured to the nearest scrapyard and retrieved a clock from a slightly less basic scrap Chevette. When I finished wiring it in, I noticed that it wasn't electric, it had a very ordinary ticking sound. But every hour or so there would be an intrusive kerchung. This turned out to be the solenoid self-winding solenoid mechanism, such a clever idea.
Yes a lot of 1970s cars had these, well done for replacing if as they can be a real pain to wire up and you don't know until it all fitted if the darn clock is going to work.
You'd think that with the USA having several time-zones and having Daylight savings time in nearly all of them, that a feature to advance or retard the clock by an hour would be an essential item. Methinks he was just a wind-up merchant.
@@hb1338 It was introduced during World War One (first in Germany in 1916 and then in the UK, France, etc in 1917) to save fuel used in lighting. So not productivity per se, but lighting which probably had a knock-on effect on productivity.
Thought you might be winding us up with the title, but this is a very timely video indeed! Even has a new Yerkes photo! Potential viewers shouldn't have a second thought about giving it a 'like'. It goes off like clock-work!
A perfect Jago Hazzard video. Something most of have us might have seen but seldom questioned. With an interesting answer to a non-clickbaity question. And a mention of THE MAN. 10 out of ten.
I built 4 or 5 master clocks that are still in use on the underground (they use GPS to set the time) I also build many of the grey digital clocks on the platforms. But I have to say a real clock looks far better.
Are those the ones which have a wire running to many slaves clocks and pulse once a minute to advance the time? They still existed in my secondary school when I was there, fascinating to see them doing the 'spring forward' adjustment when it was due!
Didn't know Underground stations had New York clocks but Yerkes being Yerkes, it makes sense! The famous clock at NYC's Grand Central Terminal above the main concourse information kiosk as seen in the DreamWorks movie Madagascar is also a Self-Winding Clock (but was built by the Seth Thomas Clock Company)! It was designed by Henry Edward Bedford, a sculptor and Self-Winding Clock Co. executive. The Grand Central clock has four faces that is 24 inches/61 cm and is made from opalescent glass or milk glass (not solid opal as a myth states). Atop the body of the clock there’s an acorn shape. Acorns and oak leaf clusters were a symbol that the Vanderbilts used to signify their hand in the making of Grand Central, they’re found all over the station. But the one on the clock is more than just a decorative piece as it functions as an accurate compass. One of the original clock faces was actually damaged in 1968 as police stopped an anti-war sit-in, but remained in use through the 1980s, and was only removed when restoration to Grand Central Terminal began. This face is now in the collection of the New York Transit Museum
Supposedly the clocks at the terminal are 1min ahead of the RR time so that people are not late for their trains. I will say I am happy that the loss of Penn Station sparked preservation movements because Grand Central is IMO one of the world's great terminals. Would have been nice to not lose Penn Station for MSG of course because it too was an amazing building.
Stations and their clocks! What would be one without the other... Even in Portugal the clocks made by the Reguladora de Braga were sinonmous with railway stations as they were the ones that were installed in the platforms. There are still a ton of them around today... Back then stuff was made to last!
very interesting. we have had similar clocks at West Dean College for repair and study for students. so good to see appreciation of these clocks, a really important part of history
There are in fact only a couple of the original self winding clocks still in use on the Underground - all of those shown in this video have had their works replaced by modern radio based devices. Self Winding Clock Co. never used the definite article on their clock dials - the dials seen here are modern pastiche replicas
The cool details you notice about the Underground is why I'm here! I'm pretty sure that in modern-day Britain, the press would still be somewhat concerned if TfL used anything overtly American on the network 😂
@@highpath4776 - that's coz we're not allowed to say anything negative about China for fear of being called racist. That and the Chinese FM will accuse us of slandering China 😆
I had a a self-winding pendulum shelf clock as a post-graduate student. It ran on a single D-size, 2½ volt battery, and it wound the mainspring once every five minutes. This prevented the clock from suffering from loss of mainspring power (isochronism). It was very accurate and a delightful ticking sound in my office/orchid nursery. Now, if I could have found a proper liquid mercury pendulum, I could have also compensated for temperature changes.
There are self-winding wrist watches, that use the kinetic energy of the motion of the wearer. The self-winding clock works in the same way, by harnessing the kinetic energy derived from the rotation of the Earth. They work really well at the Equator, but less so at the poles. Or something...
At 1:35 I'm afraid my inner pedant escapes. "New innovation" is a tautology. My inner pedant however doesn't stop me enjoying yet another excellent posting. Pedants of the world beware!!! You've nothing to lose but your enjoyment! 😱😁
What a fascinating piece of information. I am glad I came across this nugget. Your voice has just the right amount of sarcasm in it - don't change, ever!
US standard for railroad watches early in the 1900's was 30 seconds in a week, 4 seconds per day. In many cases, the user couldn't adjust the watch, had to go to the railroad timekeeper for adjustment.
Very surprised they are still in situ today and still working, considering the prevalence of radio set clocks using the various atomic clocks in Europe for the time signals, I have three and some weather instruments and time switches, two using the UK one, the others the one broadcast from Germany. Being in a listed station would ensure their preservation as the fixtures and fittings are part of a listing in many cases. I don't know if it still applies but electric clocks once set and the power was not turned off would be automatically corrected after a power outage or changing to BST by increasing the cycles per second (Hertz) of the AC current, this would take several hours for the clock to be corrected. The opposite would be done when the clocks went back for the change to GMT from BST.
I bet that the *Honoured Guild of Clock Winders* wasn't too happy when these clocks were introduced to the UK! there must have been widespread redundancies and threats to burn down the clocks wherever they were installed!
On a nearly serious note the present PIS on the Se and Ee buses in south west london is all pete tong. The old dot matrix bus signs displayed next stop and the present time unless the bell had been pressed and the time replaced with "bus stopping" under the stop name. While not helpful now some of the displays instead have route number, final destination , next bus stop name and a pictogram if a rail station lu station whatever, no time, unless you press the bell, then sometimes the time appears, but there is also a version that instead on one line shows journey time to next place of interest (again normally a train station).
There are so every nice clocks on the Underground. One at Bethnal Green has lots of Underground Roundels instead of numerals. They are even golden 🤩 The hour hand has a roundel too. Would make a nice pocket watch.
Do they really still use batteries that need changed out every so often? I always assumed they were connected directly to the mains so they have power continually.
@@thesteelrodent1796 If they are really well designed, they have a rechargeable battery which is trickle charged via the mains, so that it is always full.
I have a clock like this myself and it is lovely but very noisy as it winds itself, so noisy in fact that I have had to put it as far away from the bedroom as possible.
I remember being somewhat interested in the clock on one or more of my father's cars. Periodically they would make a somewhat strange noise. Apparently, this was them winding themselves up. Sounds like a pretty similar idea.
Exactly. They often used a regular coil spring in tension and would pull it around a small drum. The tension would rotate the drum, driving the clock. A short pulse through a solenoid would rewind the clock in an instant and put enough energy into the spring tension for a minute or two's running.
I'm so old, I expected to learn that these "self-winding clocks" used the vibrations from the passing trains to rewind the clock. Before you go thinking that I'm crazy, know that we used to have "self-winding watches" that used the energy from just be shaken around as you wore the watch to keep themselves going. No battery, and no need to physically wind a spring, as long as you kept wearing the watch. So just maybe the train vibrations could do the same. I'm a big disappointed to learn these clocks are effectively battery-operated, although it looks like some/most have been updated to take power from the electric mains.
We used to have one in our house - not on the scale of an underground click but a standard household click size with only 1 face. It took either a HP11 or HP2 (that's C or D size in modern parlance) - I can't remember which, bit I suspect it was the HP11 size (possibly actually using an SP11). I vividly remember the shllllllick sort of noice it made when the contacts touched and the solenoid activated to rewind it.
There being a possible problem whether it is truly new or new to the assembled multitude. Like westerners 'discovering America or Australia. The first peoples had known it was there for a VERY long time and as such it was the 'newcommers' that were the problem. There is very little that is truly new if you research hard enough.
I believe they are also synchronized from a central location using a pulse or pattern of pulses. Having all clocks showing the same time is critical for rail, and it was very useful in business (which is where I saw them in use). That capability is probably how they set the clocks back.
Most railways had synchronized clocks very early on. The Dutch Railways used (and in some places still uses) a slightly different system to synchronize clocks: the mechanical clocks run slightly fast, the second hand completing a tour around the dial in 58 seconds. It will then wait for a once-a-minute pulse to come down the line before starting to count the next minute. You can clearly see the second hand pause at the 12 hour mark every minute as it waits for the pulse.
Don't put electricity in your bathtub, either. Especially if you are standing in it while trying to get a stuck bagel out of a plugged-in toaster using a butter knife.
On my first day at secondary school, the very first session was school assembly, during which the headmaster lectured us all on the dangers of electricity. We were informed that the reason for the lecture was that Brightman major (ironic name) would not be in school again due to having electrocuted himself when he rose from his bath to adjust the volume on an electric radio. A nice reminder for his younger brother on his first day at 'big' school.
Another mention of Mr Yerkes, in combination with the Underground and time pieces, clocks in this case, many of my favorite subjects thank you Jago. Perhaps you could do a vid' on how the railways transformed/unified time in the UK?
Holy cow! That's a mechanical electricity storage unit! Wind up the appliance when rates are low, and use the stored spring energy to run a washer for example.
I'm surprised to hear you say the only thing you know about electricity is not to put it in your mouth. Here's another gem for you. The London Underground, that inspires so many of your videos, actually rings on electricity, and has done for a long time.
@@highpath4776 I think the time is now generated at NPL in Teddington using an atomic clock. Before that it was actually created at Hurstmonceux after large parts of the Royal Observatory moved there.
@@hb1338 Terry Wogan said the pips had to be imported from the international time place in Paris, did we lose them due to Brexit and importation delays at Dover ?
Развлечения
There's a parallel universe where Yerkes was so stubborn about efficiency that he decided not to bother changing the clocks for summer time. Londoners began referring to this as underground tube clock (UTC) time and the world gave up on the ludicrous notion of changing clocks twice a year sometime in the late 60's
And the bulk of Scotland would curse them when it didn't get light until past 8.30 am in the run-up to every Christmas.
In that same universe Scotland won the independence referendum, probably some time well before 2014 owing to kids getting mowed down walking to school in the dark & Westminster thinking changing the clocks was "ludicrous".
There is a parallel universe in which they actually tried abandoning it in the late 1960s, and didn't like it, so gave up. Oh, no that's *this* universe. Carry on!
@@SampleTracks2224 Not quite, they stayed on BST, rather than sticking with GMT (UTC).
@@rjjcms1 If we stuck to UTC all year round it would be the summer which was different, not Christmas.
Not putting electricity in your mouth is a great lesson.
Absolutely shocking, if truth be told.
@@ianpatterson6552 it can go in at low voltage, just dont touch the sides /teeth /tongue.etc
@@highpath4776 not something I am going to attempt.
It's pretty ironic, because in electronics engineering class one of the first things we were taught was how to gauge the state of charge of a 9V battery with our tongues 😅 y'know, to save time having to go get a volt-meter and all that. You quickly learnt whether it was a strong tingle for a full battery, a medium tingle for a used one, or weak/none at all for a flat one!
[PP3 9V battery has entered chat]
Most folks don't notice that on clocks (and watches) that use Roman numerals, that the 4 is often represented as IIII and not the usual IV. This was done mainly for aesthetic purposes as the 8 (VIII) and the 12 (XII) were quite "beefy" looking and by representing the 4 as IIII it balanced the dial out.
True. But also, until about 1800 (or MDCCC if you prefer), the "additive" style of Roman numeral - IIII, VIIII, etc - was used interchangeably with our more familiar style in many contexts. Pre 1800, the IIII on a clock dial wouldn't have looked as odd as it does to us. Fun fact: the Palace of Westminster clock faces use IV, not IIII.
Years ago I lost points on a programming exam, since I programmed IIII instead of IV, as that's what our grandfather's clock had.
I much prefer the IIII on a watch or clock face
I assumed it was so the IV wouldn't be mistaken for VI (six) since it would be printed nearly upside-down.
I did notice that and I always wondered. Thanks.
If Jago Hazzard merch is ever to be produced, it should absolutely be a Charles Yerkes plushie.
And a Jago Hazzard empty box
What about a Jago plushy?
GOD DAMN IT YERKES
Ooh, now I really want to crochet one!
YES 🇺🇸🇺🇲!
I have to hand it to you: on the face of it, these clocks work so well you never give it a second thought. So it's good that they get notice. I live for the minute details of your videos, Jago. Thank you.
I see what you did there!😉
I clocked it as well.
Hours is not to reason why
@@eddisstreet that's really a second hand comment.
Any more of these, and you will all have a time-out.
Fascinating. Easy to forget how, a hundred years ago, important having clocks with an accurate time was, because many people would not have a watch or one that would keep time even for a day or 2. Much easier to glance at the station clock and not be the White Rabbit.
The introduction of trains led indirectly to standard time in UK for first time with Greenwich Mean Time.
I hadn't even considered commuters re-setting their lagging hand-wound pocketwatches from the station platform's clock! That must've happened a lot.
@@ianpatterson6552 and from there, railways were fairly directly responsible for the introduction of timezones around the world.
@@kaitlyn__L Easier than asking a policeman, which (if you weren't already aware) is another traditional British method of finding out the time.
When I bought my first watch for myself, in the 1960s, accuracy to a minute a day was considered a decent performance for a watch ordinary people might afford. And people would frequently ask each other what the time was -- or, IIRC "What time do you make it?"
Sorry to disappoint you, Jago but whilst many of the original clocks - dials, cases etc survive as you have shown, all the battery operated self winding movements were removed starting around the 1980s. They all now have bog-standard modern electric movements. Incidentally, when they were ASW movements the voltage was three volts, not two and the cases held two large cylindrical batteries, 1.5 volts each. They were approx. six inches tall. When the Northern Line was extended in the 1920s the LER bought a quantity of ASW movements and built their own wooden clock cases in the shape of the famous bulls-eye, now called the roundel. A number of these attractive clocks survive, but again, the original ASW movements were removed and all converted to modern electric.
Arguably they are still Self Winding™ clocks even if the mechanism inside has been changed.
@@keaton718 No, the only thing original is the clock case. The movements are modern mains electric movements. Some have even been fitted with Rugby Time clock movements (Google it!)
It's a shame, but I imagine maintaining clocks from the early 20th century in the current underground environment would not be a tenable proposition.
@@frainy345 Absolutely! The world has moved on. The Self-Winding Clock Co. of New York is no more, finally going out of business in 1970, so spares would be/are difficult if not impossible to obtain. Temple station (and a few others) still has, in the booking hall, an original 1906 case (American Oak) but as explained earlier, the movement contained within is modern. Incidentally, that style or design of case is not unique to the Underground. It was ordered straight out of the ASW company's catalogue and was known as the "No 10", because that was its number in the catalogue. In the USA, almost all the telegraph offices operated by Western Union around the turn of the last century had ASW of New York clocks, right up to the 1930s and many much later. In the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s etc. the London Transport Clock Section moved the clocks around so they did appear (and the very few that survive still do) at stations that would not have had them in the early days. One example of that is Ealing Common, which has a bullseye or roundel shaped clock case in the booking hall. Originally designed by the London Electric Railway for the Morden extension of the Northern line, the LER made these bullseye cases in their workshops (so they are unique to the London Underground) but they purchased ASW movements from America (Self Winding Clock Co. of New York) and fitted them here. Sadly, where the original 1906 and 1920s bullseye cases survive, all the actual dials have been replaced, I'm guessing so that modern electric movements can be fitted. Therefore, they don't look as correct or as historic as they should.
@@davetaylor1231 I hate that i'm difficult but yes, you can argue that they are still "Self Winding" clocks as they still display that as the brand name. I don't understand why you thought it correct at all to say "no" to that.
So fascinating, this is why we love you Jago. By the way licking 9volt batteries used to be a rite of passage.
If you're a musician who uses effect pedals, it's illegal to install a fresh battery into them without licking the terminals first.
@@ianthomson9363🙃
I was thinking that! Nothing like the good old tongue tingle from a fresh 9V battery to perk you up in the morning!
What a shocking idea! 😁
@@ianthomson9363 indeed, regular practice around my workplace.
My uncle used to fix those clocks when he worked for the underground, Brilliant video though.
Probably not so long ago then. Do you recall if he ever mentioned where they got spare parts? Or did they make their own?
Never asked he retired about ten years ago.
Yerkes in at 54 seconds. Is this a record?
Always saddened when 'Tyson' doesn't get an airing.
Indeed, it Isa record. 😂
At this rate I'm expecting a future Jago video start with: "Yerkes!"
Show a picture of him for two seconds, and then promptly non-sequitur onto another topic.
Idea for a drinking game. The Yerkes game. Drink a shot for every time Jago mentions Yerkes
I never read the small text on the clocks. I honestly assumed they were modern quartz-driven, perhaps radio-set, clocks which were merely intended to look older. Knowing they're genuine original pieces is pretty neat!
You made me wonder how they're repaired. Who does it and where do spare parts come from? And why haven't they been replaced with some newfangled modern digital thing?
@@quintrankid8045 Probably because they have not needed repairing!
There is part of me that thinks that these station clocks been tampered with and had refits to be radio-set clocks? Electrically wound church/tower clocks are notoriously prone to failure. Do we think TfL will spill the beans on them? 😂
Another "things on the Underground that are older than you think" to add to the benches. I wonder how much the stations have changed since they were originally put in and the stories they would tell.
There’s a device I saw when I was on the Underground years ago. It was broken then, but it looked like a Mercator projection map with various cities labeled as well as countries. When working there was a filter or something that looked like would pass showing the hour and if it was day or night in these cities. Quite a bit of craftsmanship in that. Hope they fixed it, and it is still there.
@@donkeysaurusrex7881 Do you remember the station you saw this at?
Jago: Don't put electricity in your mouth.
Me: puts the live cable down, and closes mouth
I used to take apart those disposable cameras as a kid. The ones where the charged capacitor would be mechanically shorted to the flash. It was a young age when I learned the bittersweet kiss of mother electricity.
"New innovations" !? Stay back after class Hazzard. 😄 Love how you pick out these details to discuss - clocks and benches are features we all too often overlook.
The other tube lines and railroads were presumably buying old innovations. They're much cheaper, y'know.
@@JP_TaVeryMuch No, I meant old innovations...in contrast to the redundant "new innovations" that Brian Parker called out.
And stop calling me Shirley.
@@xqqqme I have an innovations catelogue somewhere in the flat.
@@highpath4776 Is it a new or an old one?
@@henrybest4057 last year's
I always thought that the clock faces were more recent reproductions. The font used for 'The Self Winding Company New York' is a bit 'Hounds of Love'.
After nearly 40 years of working on the clocks on the Underground (and buses ) still learnt something. Great content Jago.
Chiswick Park - I know that clock so well. Many's the time I've consulted it: 'Where's my b****y train?'
Yes, especially at Chiswick Park served by just the Ealing Broadway branch of the District - you must get sick and tired of watching Piccadilly trains pass through.
You should be consulting the station master, not the clock.
At face value a video that is second to none.
As well as self-winding clocks, there are also self-winding watches - they use the movement of the wearer's arm to cause a widget to wind the spring. They were quite the thing when first introduced.
Yeah automatic movements are still very common
I don’t know who produced them, but I believe there was also a clock that used changes in atmospheric pressure to operate the winding mechanism.
The moment I heard that these clockes were from America, I know we will hear "Yerkes" again...
0:49: WOO HOO!
Another self operating clock,so obvious,yet so ubiquitous! Yerkes has left many things in and around London,many not very visible! But this is,and totally taken for granted! New York and Chicago,strike again![Something that also ties into the electrification of the Underground,and still exists today! The open third/fourth rails(London),is still followed in Chicago and Boston,there however its only an open third rail!! Again,taken for granted,and so commonplace,it's invisible! This is an FYI,and an addendum material!] Thanks Jago,for another timeless tale!! Thank you 😇! 😇
👍I would be very surprised if the electrified rails or the traction motors would (even under fault conditions) create sufficient magnetic flux to operate the solenoid up there in those self winding clocks. Even if the currents in the tracks or locos were large enough the orientation of the solenoids would have to be somewhat perpendicular to the rails and definitely not parallel to them. The other issue is the electrified rails are only a few feet apart, this will tend to cancel the overall magnetic 🧲 field they create when current passes through them.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🥇
Ta👍
An extra winding pulse wouldn't hurt, only leave less work for next time. Tripping the setting solenoid might, but there is a cam that only permits this within a few minutes of the top of the hour. As so often with this old engineering stuff, they thought of that!
Nice name! I figured the distance made it too weak, forgot about the orientation stuff on top.
Plus it's DC not AC so there won't be much of an induced field anyway.
I love that youtube can just have 5 minute videos on the history of a specific type of clock.
This I didn't know, I thought they were synchronous electric motor driven (an electric motor that will spin precisely at a given number of revolutions per minute, governed by the electrical AC mains frequency. In the UK this is 50 Hertz or 50 cycles per second, that's what the hum is you hear on some appliances.) The electricity generating companies are obliged to maintain this frequency within specified limits and usually manage to maintain accuracy under 'normal' conditions at 0.4% making mains driven clocks an easy way to produce an accurate timepiece.
I have drifted a little, let me come back to the point. The self winding clock I first experienced was in a car. I had little money and had to be quite frugal when I bought my first car back in 1988. So much so that I bought a 10 year old Vauxhall Chevette. It was basic to say the least, there wasn't even a clock. I ventured to the nearest scrapyard and retrieved a clock from a slightly less basic scrap Chevette. When I finished wiring it in, I noticed that it wasn't electric, it had a very ordinary ticking sound. But every hour or so there would be an intrusive kerchung. This turned out to be the solenoid self-winding solenoid mechanism, such a clever idea.
Yes a lot of 1970s cars had these, well done for replacing if as they can be a real pain to wire up and you don't know until it all fitted if the darn clock is going to work.
Thank you. Now finally I know what an old clock I inherited from my father was. I always wondered where it was used.
You'd think that with the USA having several time-zones and having Daylight savings time in nearly all of them, that a feature to advance or retard the clock by an hour would be an essential item. Methinks he was just a wind-up merchant.
DST was not a thing before 1918. These clocks predate that.
Heh, well played 🤭
What made you spring to that conclusion?
@@zork999 The idea of daylight saving was to increase productivity in the factories. I can't remember the reasoning, but is seemed spurious to me.
@@hb1338 It was introduced during World War One (first in Germany in 1916 and then in the UK, France, etc in 1917) to save fuel used in lighting. So not productivity per se, but lighting which probably had a knock-on effect on productivity.
Never noticed these ancient self-winding devices on the Tube, something to watch out for on my next London trip. Thanks for the enlightening!
Apart from the Tube the most Famous Self-Winding Clock is at Grand Central Terminal. I feel lucky every time I see it and it STILL works!
Thought you might be winding us up with the title, but this is a very timely video indeed! Even has a new Yerkes photo! Potential viewers shouldn't have a second thought about giving it a 'like'. It goes off like clock-work!
I'm surprised I had to scroll this far down the comments section to find the first mention of it being a wind-up.
A perfect Jago Hazzard video. Something most of have us might have seen but seldom questioned. With an interesting answer to a non-clickbaity question. And a mention of THE MAN. 10 out of ten.
I built 4 or 5 master clocks that are still in use on the underground (they use GPS to set the time) I also build many of the grey digital clocks on the platforms. But I have to say a real clock looks far better.
Are those the ones which have a wire running to many slaves clocks and pulse once a minute to advance the time? They still existed in my secondary school when I was there, fascinating to see them doing the 'spring forward' adjustment when it was due!
@@stepheneyles2198 Im not sure to be honest, the ones I did ran every clock in its station.
Didn't know Underground stations had New York clocks but Yerkes being Yerkes, it makes sense! The famous clock at NYC's Grand Central Terminal above the main concourse information kiosk as seen in the DreamWorks movie Madagascar is also a Self-Winding Clock (but was built by the Seth Thomas Clock Company)! It was designed by Henry Edward Bedford, a sculptor and Self-Winding Clock Co. executive.
The Grand Central clock has four faces that is 24 inches/61 cm and is made from opalescent glass or milk glass (not solid opal as a myth states). Atop the body of the clock there’s an acorn shape. Acorns and oak leaf clusters were a symbol that the Vanderbilts used to signify their hand in the making of Grand Central, they’re found all over the station. But the one on the clock is more than just a decorative piece as it functions as an accurate compass. One of the original clock faces was actually damaged in 1968 as police stopped an anti-war sit-in, but remained in use through the 1980s, and was only removed when restoration to Grand Central Terminal began. This face is now in the collection of the New York Transit Museum
Supposedly the clocks at the terminal are 1min ahead of the RR time so that people are not late for their trains. I will say I am happy that the loss of Penn Station sparked preservation movements because Grand Central is IMO one of the world's great terminals. Would have been nice to not lose Penn Station for MSG of course because it too was an amazing building.
Stations and their clocks! What would be one without the other... Even in Portugal the clocks made by the Reguladora de Braga were sinonmous with railway stations as they were the ones that were installed in the platforms. There are still a ton of them around today... Back then stuff was made to last!
I assumed a self-winding clock was a development from the luminous sundial.
very interesting. we have had similar clocks at West Dean College for repair and study for students. so good to see appreciation of these clocks, a really important part of history
There are in fact only a couple of the original self winding clocks still in use on the Underground - all of those shown in this video have had their works replaced by modern radio based devices. Self Winding Clock Co. never used the definite article on their clock dials - the dials seen here are modern pastiche replicas
A 'time capsule' in itself Jago! Bravo Sir!
I'm a bit worried about new innovations - I've never heard of an old innovation. 😁
The cool details you notice about the Underground is why I'm here! I'm pretty sure that in modern-day Britain, the press would still be somewhat concerned if TfL used anything overtly American on the network 😂
no one mentions most london buses now made in China?
@@highpath4776 - that's coz we're not allowed to say anything negative about China for fear of being called racist. That and the Chinese FM will accuse us of slandering China 😆
Great video , another subject we properly never think of yet look at them without a second glance.
I had a a self-winding pendulum shelf clock as a post-graduate student. It ran on a single D-size, 2½ volt battery, and it wound the mainspring once every five minutes. This prevented the clock from suffering from loss of mainspring power (isochronism). It was very accurate and a delightful ticking sound in my office/orchid nursery. Now, if I could have found a proper liquid mercury pendulum, I could have also compensated for temperature changes.
My first ever correct prediction of the infamous "You are the _______ to my _______"!!
This day will go down in history.
In my house, at least.
There are self-winding wrist watches, that use the kinetic energy of the motion of the wearer.
The self-winding clock works in the same way, by harnessing the kinetic energy derived from the rotation of the Earth. They work really well at the Equator, but less so at the poles.
Or something...
🙃
Take more water with whatever your are inhaling.
I inhale nothing but fresh air (I don't live in London, naturally)!
Never thought about this, thanks for the great video, Jago!
Nice work Jago!
At 1:35 I'm afraid my inner pedant escapes. "New innovation" is a tautology. My inner pedant however doesn't stop me enjoying yet another excellent posting. Pedants of the world beware!!! You've nothing to lose but your enjoyment! 😱😁
Does an innovation stop being an innovation at some point ? Discuss.
What a fascinating piece of information. I am glad I came across this nugget. Your voice has just the right amount of sarcasm in it - don't change, ever!
US standard for railroad watches early in the 1900's was 30 seconds in a week, 4 seconds per day. In many cases, the user couldn't adjust the watch, had to go to the railroad timekeeper for adjustment.
In the early 1960s in Flint, Michigan USA, I attended a junior high school that had those clocks.
Very surprised they are still in situ today and still working, considering the prevalence of radio set clocks using the various atomic clocks in Europe for the time signals, I have three and some weather instruments and time switches, two using the UK one, the others the one broadcast from Germany. Being in a listed station would ensure their preservation as the fixtures and fittings are part of a listing in many cases.
I don't know if it still applies but electric clocks once set and the power was not turned off would be automatically corrected after a power outage or changing to BST by increasing the cycles per second (Hertz) of the AC current, this would take several hours for the clock to be corrected. The opposite would be done when the clocks went back for the change to GMT from BST.
I bet that the *Honoured Guild of Clock Winders* wasn't too happy when these clocks were introduced to the UK! there must have been widespread redundancies and threats to burn down the clocks wherever they were installed!
An excellent video, timed to perfection.
Is this a wind up? Someone's in for a ticking off. 😂
So basically it`s a battery clock with a mechanical energy transfer part - the spring !!
Roll on the Pulsynetic system !!
On a nearly serious note the present PIS on the Se and Ee buses in south west london is all pete tong. The old dot matrix bus signs displayed next stop and the present time unless the bell had been pressed and the time replaced with "bus stopping" under the stop name. While not helpful now some of the displays instead have route number, final destination , next bus stop name and a pictogram if a rail station lu station whatever, no time, unless you press the bell, then sometimes the time appears, but there is also a version that instead on one line shows journey time to next place of interest (again normally a train station).
There are so every nice clocks on the Underground. One at Bethnal Green has lots of Underground Roundels instead of numerals. They are even golden 🤩 The hour hand has a roundel too. Would make a nice pocket watch.
Do they really still use batteries that need changed out every so often? I always assumed they were connected directly to the mains so they have power continually.
most clocks that are connected to mains also have a battery backup or a capacitor so they can keep going if the power's out
@@thesteelrodent1796 If they are really well designed, they have a rechargeable battery which is trickle charged via the mains, so that it is always full.
Any orifice, really, Jago…
As for the clocks - great little nugget of Yerkesm!
I have a clock like this myself and it is lovely but very noisy as it winds itself, so noisy in fact that I have had to put it as far away from the bedroom as possible.
I remember being somewhat interested in the clock on one or more of my father's cars. Periodically they would make a somewhat strange noise. Apparently, this was them winding themselves up. Sounds like a pretty similar idea.
Exactly. They often used a regular coil spring in tension and would pull it around a small drum. The tension would rotate the drum, driving the clock. A short pulse through a solenoid would rewind the clock in an instant and put enough energy into the spring tension for a minute or two's running.
Probably a clock that angers itself.
I'm so old, I expected to learn that these "self-winding clocks" used the vibrations from the passing trains to rewind the clock. Before you go thinking that I'm crazy, know that we used to have "self-winding watches" that used the energy from just be shaken around as you wore the watch to keep themselves going. No battery, and no need to physically wind a spring, as long as you kept wearing the watch. So just maybe the train vibrations could do the same. I'm a big disappointed to learn these clocks are effectively battery-operated, although it looks like some/most have been updated to take power from the electric mains.
I certainly enjoy these timely minutiae videos!
I love the pragmatism of a 'self winding' clock rather than an electric one.
We used to have one in our house - not on the scale of an underground click but a standard household click size with only 1 face. It took either a HP11 or HP2 (that's C or D size in modern parlance) - I can't remember which, bit I suspect it was the HP11 size (possibly actually using an SP11).
I vividly remember the shllllllick sort of noice it made when the contacts touched and the solenoid activated to rewind it.
In old parlance those batteries would be U11 or U2....
Self Winding Clocks are those that hourly punch themselves in the abdomen
I would leave you some feedback if I had time and could clock on 🤣 Another useful story for dinner parties! Thanks JH
Nice interesting video Jago! 👏
more clocks, please
When I first "Clocked" this video, I thought "What a Wind up"
😂😂😂😂
Jago: 'The clocks were made in New Yor-'
Me: YERKE BINGO!!
I felt the same way too! As soon as he mentioned "New York", I just knew Yerkes had to be involved somewhere.
Love the channel. Great video as always!
Another thing I have to look for when I come to London.
The old timers for switching street lights on were self winding too. Great video, thanks bud.
Brilliant! One tiny addition to Pedantry Corner: you didn't need to say "new innovations." Innovations are by definition new 🙄
There being a possible problem whether it is truly new or new to the assembled multitude. Like westerners 'discovering America or Australia. The first peoples had known it was there for a VERY long time and as such it was the 'newcommers' that were the problem. There is very little that is truly new if you research hard enough.
A good philosophical point. I agree with you. My point was merely grammatical.
I was hoping it was the shaking from the trains that wound the spring. Maybe I should patent that idea! Great vid, many thanks.
Charles Yerkes and UERL! My favorite semi-villain and the efficiency-mad tube company!
A brief encounter in time.
I have a self-winding watch, but did not know self-winding station exist.
@@JP_TaVeryMuch James's one that spins on a windy day ?
Another great video from the regular as clockwork Jango. I have to hand it to you, we can always relay on your content
Electricity in the bath is bad as well, I went to a grammar school so I know this sort of thing!
Jago springs into action and We know this was first shown on tik-tok, there's no escape you know
I can't imagine Jago on TikTok. He feels like an older taste.
Absolutely thrilled to see the picture of Yerkes in the ticket hall at Hampstead yesterday
I believe they are also synchronized from a central location using a pulse or pattern of pulses. Having all clocks showing the same time is critical for rail, and it was very useful in business (which is where I saw them in use). That capability is probably how they set the clocks back.
Most railways had synchronized clocks very early on. The Dutch Railways used (and in some places still uses) a slightly different system to synchronize clocks: the mechanical clocks run slightly fast, the second hand completing a tour around the dial in 58 seconds. It will then wait for a once-a-minute pulse to come down the line before starting to count the next minute. You can clearly see the second hand pause at the 12 hour mark every minute as it waits for the pulse.
@@kaasmeester5903 Awesome! That must look like something from a Twilight Zone episode ... waiting for a new minute to begin 🙂
Self winding clock? Oh come on now Jago, really? Sounds like a complete wind-up to me!!! Thanks for another great video 😊
Oh and your tip on not putting electricity in your mouth is good advice. I did it one, never again, shocking experience 😮
Your videos are great and informative 👍
Don't put electricity in your bathtub, either. Especially if you are standing in it while trying to get a stuck bagel out of a plugged-in toaster using a butter knife.
On my first day at secondary school, the very first session was school assembly, during which the headmaster lectured us all on the dangers of electricity. We were informed that the reason for the lecture was that Brightman major (ironic name) would not be in school again due to having electrocuted himself when he rose from his bath to adjust the volume on an electric radio. A nice reminder for his younger brother on his first day at 'big' school.
@@hb1338 Must have been some kind of eejit.
Another mention of Mr Yerkes, in combination with the Underground and time pieces, clocks in this case, many of my favorite subjects thank you Jago.
Perhaps you could do a vid' on how the railways transformed/unified time in the UK?
The second JH said the clock Co. was from NY I said "Yerkes is at the bottom of this!"
I own a self-winding clock made by my father-in-law some 80 years ago. Works great.
Holy cow! That's a mechanical electricity storage unit! Wind up the appliance when rates are low, and use the stored spring energy to run a washer for example.
Great video Jago
This was quite this time worthy video.
*Sinister music plays, enters Charles Tyson Yerkees”
Beautiful pieces of art.
I'm surprised to hear you say the only thing you know about electricity is not to put it in your mouth.
Here's another gem for you. The London Underground, that inspires so many of your videos, actually rings on electricity, and has done for a long time.
Westminster is Twinned with Pisa. One has the time, the other the inclination
@@JP_TaVeryMuch Greenwich Sets the Time. The British Dictate when the Germans sit down to eat dinner.
@@highpath4776 I think the time is now generated at NPL in Teddington using an atomic clock. Before that it was actually created at Hurstmonceux after large parts of the Royal Observatory moved there.
@@hb1338 Terry Wogan said the pips had to be imported from the international time place in Paris, did we lose them due to Brexit and importation delays at Dover ?
I don'y need to be self-winding, I have a neighbour that winds me up