Striking clock

A striking clock is a clock that sounds the hours on a bell or gong.

Related Topics:
Clock - Hour - Bell - Gong

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The striking feature of clocks was at one time more important than their clock faces; some early clocks struck the hours, but had no public dials to enable the time to be read. Striking clocks are the chief reason why a 12-hour clock is in general use, as opposed to a 24-hour clock; a clock that rang 24 times at midnight would be inconvenient both to build and to understand correctly. A typical striking clock will have two gear trains, because a striking clock must add a striking train that operates the mechanism that rings the bell in addition to the timekeeping train that measures the passage of time.

Related Topics:
Clock face - 12-hour clock - Gear train - Time

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