M&D 157

[davemarc]

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> With a little more encouragement in the form of an example from Sobel-- 

>"The Maritime Museum curator who now cares for the sea clocks refers to
them
reverently as 'the Harrisons,' as though they were a family of people
instead
of things."<--

Donn ("The Clockwork Historian") Lathrop adds:

**This is a frequently noticed syndrome.  It's likely not that they are so
much
a family--although they are all descended from H1--as they are an animated
entity.  The clocks *do* something.  They are not controlled by various
inputs such as day/night, weather, (some) geological catastrophes and other
"Acts of God".  Once started, they merely measure the passage of time, yet
remind us of that passage via the movement of the hands, and their voices.
 Very few owners have all their clocks striking at the same time--they
invariably prefer to hear the various voices speaking through the day and
if
they wake in the night, the clock's tick and its strike are reassurances.

As for family, I would suppose that one could also ascribe 'family' to a
clock that been in the family for years.  I've been involved with clocks
since 1968, and have noted during those years that most (roughly 80%)  of
my
customers have been women, and nearly 100% of those women referred to the
clock as a "wedding/anniversary/etc., gift to *my* great--, grand--, 
mother,
or " My father collected them, and I fell in love with them."
Some other personalizations:
Blind man's watch--has hands that can be felt, and raised dots at the
hours.
Dead beat--a type of escapement
Finger
Flirt--a lever that is thrown up in aa flirtatious fashion
Hair spring
Joint
Limb
Lips
Skeleton clock
Toe (of a tooth)
and there are likely more.**

I'll just add a few thoughts.  Clockwork strikes me (heh, heh) as a
breakthrough in mechanics.  It's at the heart (heh, heh) of automata,
artificial "life."  What is a "ticker" if not a clockwork description of
the heart?

davemarc