ROLLING BALL CLOCK, 1969
Maynard E. Bell
Toledo, Ohio
This one of a kind clock is powered by the weight of 24 steel balls in the right hand segment of the large brass wheel. Seventy-eight more of the 5/16 inch balls are located in the base and in the tube that goes up the back of the mechanism (from which the conical pendulum is suspended).
When a ball leaves the wheel and follows the track to the base, it trips a detent which starts and stops a spring powered movement in the base. At that time, an eleven-tooth star wheel impels one ball into the black tube, thus forcing one out of the top onto the 12 foot long track. The time between two balls reaching any given point is one minute. The maker, Maynard Bell, estimated that it took 1500 hours to construct this masterpiece.
Donated by Maynard E. Bell
NAWCC Museum #77.16.1