Accredited Museum

Please Note: Not all of the objects on this website are on display at the museum.

GENTS MASTER CLOCKTYPE C7, 1950's

Gledhill and Brook put their name on it, and Gents of Leicester supplied it, Parsons and Ball Manufacturing made it. Using the 'pulsynetic' principal which swings and impulses the pendulum with a gravity bar every 30 seconds. The gravity bar is then raised and reset using a magnetic solenoid. It is different from the GPO clock Item A0073 which uses a simpler 'Hipp Toggle' principal.
Removed from The Whippendell Electric Works in Watford.


SEE http://west-penwith.org.uk/misc/gent.htm

A0949

GLEDHILL BROOK/GENTS SLAVE CLOCK, 1940's

Gents of Leicester Slave clock supplied by Gledhill Brook for Master clock unit Item A0949, and donated by the Wemco factory in Whippendell Road Watford.

A1327

FACTORY BELL TIMER UNIT, 1950's

Removed from The Whippendell Electric Works in Watford. Driven by a long case clock Item A0949, and used to ring bells for tea breaks, clocking on and off times etc. In use during the second World War, and was installed long before that.
Commonly known as a "Bell Ringer".

A0824

NATIONAL TIME RECORDERS FACTORY BELL TIMER AND CLOCK, 1950's

It would appear that although Blick became the main user of National Time Recorders, NTR continued to supply recorders under their own name , an instruction book (not in the museum's possession) which gives Cray Avenue, St Mary Cray, Kent, as the Factory and head office address and shows that the company at that time had branch offices and local service departments in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield. The booklet is unfortunately undated but the telephone number for the London office was 01-928 6641.

A1291

WORKS CLOCKING MACHINE & CARD RACK, 1950's

This is an example of a time clock used for employees to log starting and finishing times. Inside one of the card slots was a punch card dated 10 Nov 1943, a lady whose name is creased out, was five to six minutes late every morning, 15 minutes would have been docked from her pay every day that she was late.
Removed from The Whippendell Electric Works in Watford. Driven by a long case clock Item A0949,

A0783

NIGHT-WATCHMAN TOUR CLOCK, 1950's

Night Watchmen had to carry this clock to prove they had carried out their tour correctly and at the correct times.

A1143

NIGHT WATCHMAN'S ELECTRIC LAMP, 1930's

Fitted with two Edison Type BS 1.5 volt batteries.

A0213

DIRECT CURRENT ELECTRICITY METER, 1930's

The National Grid was introduced in 1926. Power Stations such as Battersea, built in 1933, were to supply a grid of constant power to the entire nation. However building the plants and installing the power lines took nearly ten years.

Some homes up to the Second World War were still using gas or limited electricity from local private companies, some supplying Direct Current of 110 volts. Early wireless's would be battery only, and DC was more convenient.

This equipment was driven by an escapement which was wound up by the supply electrically, this drove the dials, their movement was controlled by two pendulums moving over the coils carrying the supply current, the more current drawn the faster the pendulums would swing, in a circular movement above the coils, this in turn moved the dials . No current at all, no movement.

A0193

MERCURY CONTACT RELAY, 1930's

Switching by contacts immersed in Mercury is almost maintenance free, and can carry reasonable currents.

A0303

RADIOVISOR LIGHT DEPENDANT RESISTOR, 1940's

Light dependant resistor for use in alarm systems or counting in factories.
Resistance of the unit varies with the light shone upon it, so if the light is interrupted the resistance will change.

A0563