G & F Cope tower clock

About the sound

The sound of tower clock manufactured by G & F Cope. The recording was realized in the Tower Clock Museum, branch of Gdańsk History Museum (Poland).
The clock was manufactured in 1911 by the G & F Cope & Co. company from Nottingham (Great Britain). The enterprise was established in 1845 and it operates until today.
Rate mechanism of the clock was based on Denison’s III gravity escapement (the system rarely used in continental Europe). The same escapement mechanism is applied in the clock of the British Parliament, commonly known as “Big Ben”. The recorded clock is equipped with the hour striking mechanism of the ratchet system.
Before the popularization of house clocks and pocket clocks, tower clocks were used to indicate the time in the town. Many of them were equipped with the hour striking mechanism thanks to which it was possible to find out what the current time was also from a distance.

Sound recordist: Monika Widzicka
Photographer: Piotr Leszczyński
Video recordist: Piotr Leszczyński