Comitti Congreve Clock

This is an animation of the Comitti Congreve clock, another popular and well known specialty model from the makers of the equally notable Grasshopper.

The clock is based on a design by William Congreve c1808, a very popular concept clock with a curiosity value revered by collectors through the ages. The solid brass ball rolls along specially constructed guide channels on a tilted plate where it then triggers an escapement which in turn tilts the plate in the opposite direction sending the ball back to the other end of the channel and again triggering the escapement thus reversing the process once more.

The function of the clock manifests an engaging delineation of the passing of time as a physical process of momentum. The Victorians were particularly keen on machines or mechanical devices that employed novel systems or appeared to describe, measure, or define the magical, divine or simple processes of time and nature, this was a time when the barometer, music boxes and all manner of automata became popular household novelty items.

The Congreve clock actually pre-dates the Victorian era by more than 20 years and many of the innovations that came to be synonymous with the industrial age though it is a highly advanced piece of mechanical engineering. The cycle and regulation of the clock is determined by very complex calculations which take into account the mass, diameter and velocity of the rolling ball and part of this is a function of the angle of the sloping plate, the length of the guide track and radius of the bends in it. The passage of the ball from one end of the track to the other takes approximately 15 seconds. The essential appearance of the clock gives an impression that it is somehow in a state of perpetual motion with only gravity and the potential energy of the ball as a driving force but this can not be possible as another form of energy is required to lift the plate and the ball at each end of its travel. The main driving force for this clock is a large wound coil spring and this provides the lifting energy for the plate which is then transferred to the ball that in turn operates the escapement mechanism.

please visit the Comitti website for more information on the Congreve clock and other traditional grandfather clocks, table top and wall clocks.