Whangarei's Ball Clock

A group of men in Whangarei has been working on a ball clock for several years.  The prototype is now running and was open to the public at the weekend.  Naturally, we went along. It was quite difficult to photograph but was fascinating.

The following is an excerpt from the local paper about a year ago.

The model includes a clock portion as well as a "fun" section designed to teach passersby the basics of physics. It even includes a small lifting version of Te Matau A Pohe Bridge.

"It would be getting up towards 1000 hours that we've spent on it," said About Time project team member Graham Brice.

The ball clock has four main rails, one labelled with seconds, two with minutes and one with hours.

The bottom rail represents the hours; the next rail represents 10-minute increments; the third, one minute increments; and the top rail, seconds, in 15-second increments.

The top rail receives a ball from a racheted electronic motor every 15 seconds dumping it onto the rail below every minute, while the other balls disperse.

Every 10 minutes, one of the "minute" balls drops onto the 10-minute rail below, while every hour, one of the "10 minute" balls becomes an hour marker. Confused?

Imagine trying to build it, complete with a washing machine motor and series of cogs that have to deliver balls.

"Something has gone wrong pretty much every step of the way," said committee member Pete Romer.

Mr Brice said he was "very proud of the creative imagination and endeavour the team have put into it."

This excerpt came from here where there is also a short video