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Post by ronruble on Oct 27, 2019 21:16:48 GMT -5
On early wall clocks made by Telechron (possibly others) there is a red dot between the center and the '12'. When you pull down the piece at the bottom of the clock to set the time, it changes to white and when you release it, it goes back to red. I tried winding it through 24 hours thinking it was for AM and PM but it stayed the same. Does anyone know why they had this feature on these clocks? I searched the internet but did not find the answer. Clock – Telecton 1930's Art Deco kitchen wall clock I purchase last week for my new kitchen (when I get it done).
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Post by mach12 on Oct 27, 2019 22:30:31 GMT -5
If it's plugged in when you pull down the knob it should stay white until there has been a loss of power. It's to tell you that the time the clock shows might be incorrect because there has been a loss of power.
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Post by chipperhiker on Oct 27, 2019 23:06:39 GMT -5
That is really cool!
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Post by pooka on Oct 27, 2019 23:40:39 GMT -5
From Wikipedia page for Telechron. If there is a temporary power outage while the owner is out, the running clock will display the incorrect time when he returns. Warren, foreseeing this difficulty, provided his clocks with an "indicating device": a red dot that would appear on the dial whenever the power failed. This red dot alerted the consumer to the need to reset the clock (by obtaining the accurate time through the telephone, for example, or from a radio). Setting the clock would reset the indicator.I've got a similar black half round clock someone was throwing out at an old dental chair factory I worked at. I think someone in engineering had it. They replaced the dial with a home made paper one that said Chayes Standard time, except the numbers were in reverse, because for some reason the clock runs backwards. The company was call Chayes Virginia. They went bankrupt not long after I left there.
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Post by ronruble on Oct 28, 2019 9:00:40 GMT -5
If it's plugged in when you pull down the knob it should stay white until there has been a loss of power. It's to tell you that the time the clock shows might be incorrect because there has been a loss of power. Just tried it and you are right. Nice technology from the 1930's - Thanks mach12 and pooka
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Post by mach12 on Oct 28, 2019 14:18:36 GMT -5
All of our clocks when I was in grade school were Telechron clocks and every room had a special outlet high on one wall where the clock hung that they plugged into so the cord and outlet were hidden. When there had been a power outage we'd see the red dot and know that the janitor, Mr. Brewster, would be coming around with his ladder and setting all of the clocks. He was a tall, old lean guy and always wore those striped bib overalls and he seemed to be able to fix anything, usually better than original it seemed. He had a pocket watch on a chain that was always in a pocket in the bib and he kept it set spot on. Even all of the teachers would set their wristwatches according to Mr. Brewster's time. Every time I see a Telechron clock I think of Mr. Brewster.
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Post by nana on Oct 29, 2019 16:45:01 GMT -5
Man I wish we had those old clocks in the school where I work! Ours were somehow hardwired in all together--they look like regular clocks, but the time setting is controlled at one central location, which went kerplooey sometime in the summer of 2018 at quarter to six, and all of last school year and so far this one, every clock in the school has been stuck at quarter to six. Apparently because of the way they were hard wired in it was super expensive to fix, and the project turned into this big thing that had to be bid out and state grants were applied for, etc, etc. For what it's costing we could have gone to the Dollar General and bought a clock for every room and enough batteries to run them for decades. End of story, as if it wasn't hard enough to get kids these days to use an analog clock! Now they have a whole year+ under their belt where they were technically right not to want to look at it. Except the High School library, which has a big ornamental one right over the front desk that does work. One of my private little moments that I shouldn't be too proud of is when the kids are signing out chromebooks or to go to the bathroom and they ask me what time it is and I point up at the big analog clock over my head and let them squirm a bit before I relent and tell them the time. (The library is a cellphone free zone.) Some come right out and say "I can't tell time on that." Others give it a try, hmmming and biting their lip...The real annoying ones get a little lesson from me: When the big hand is between the 6 and seven...the little hand shows the hour...
The flesh is weak. I did say I wasn't proud!
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Post by mach12 on Oct 29, 2019 23:14:49 GMT -5
I'm amazed the things kids can't do these days that I take for granted. There was a video going around not too long ago showing kids trying to figure out how to use a rotary dial phone. They wanted to know how you log in, where the screen was and so on. That being said, we took our 3 year old great-granddaughter over to the ocean a couple of weeks ago and she brought her own computer that her mom has set up for really cool educational type entertainment. We had wi-fi in the house we rented so I decided to connect it. After about 10 minutes I gave up trying to figure out how to turn the stupid thing on so with visions of the kids with the rotary phone I asked the 3 year old. "Oh Papa, you just hafta do dis". Insult to injury lol.
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Post by nana on Oct 30, 2019 8:49:06 GMT -5
Ridicule and scorn all around! Thus is balance in the universe maintained!
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