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Peter Wagner's Crazy Clock
The Carousel
High above the clock tower on the original clock sat a "carousel" which had six "petals" suspended on a pole. When in the rest state, these petals hung down in a closed position, as shown in the top image in the Introduction section. When performing, these petals elevated to a horizontal position then started to spin around. On the end of each petal hung a Guinness advertising character. The petals were raised by a mechanism similar to that of an umbrella using a motor-driven lead-screw. Cords and pulleys attached to the sliding hub of the linkage then lowered the folded pendant figures into position. The whole carousel was rotated on its axis by a worm-geared motor through a chain and sprocket located at the base. A large-diameter tube encased these mechanisms as shown below.
5=Foram 3 Basler Ace acA1440-220uc
My carousel would act in a similar way, although the machanisms would be different. On the end of each petal I proposed having a 2-dimensional image of some of the cars I used to own, including a rare Lambretta model D scooter. I worked out that I didn't need to hinge these in the middle as the original figures were. I also wanted the base of the carousel to look very similar to the original with the enlarged chamfered ring at the top, although this complicated the build somewhat!
Original Carousel and mechanism
The tube I made by cannibalising a small steel pedal bin of just the right size. I managed to solder four small brackets around the base in order to fix it to the top base board which carried the yacht mechanism. I also needed to cut away an area at the back to allow the yacht motor wheel to protrude.
To construct the conical ring section at the top of the carousel tube, I carefully calculated the shape of a flat ring that, when pulled so the ends joined, would create a section of a cone with an approximately 45 degree slope. I also allowed for six tabs to be present on the inner circumference to allow it to be glued to the inside of the top of the main tube. The calculations were somewhat complex and I'll not bore you with them here. The aluminium shape was cut out and rolled in a similar way to the method used for bending the cone of the pulpit. The ends were overlapped and fastened together. The six tabs were folded to fit just inside the top of the tube amd glued with an epoxy resin.
To make the vertical side to the top ring, I simply cut a long strip of aluminium with nine lugs to the correct length, curved it into a circle, and glued it to the top of the conical ring with epoxy resin. Any small gaps were filled with a filler compound. The completed tube was spray painted using masks to give the Barber's Pole effect using black and white car body spray paints.
Conical top ring
Finally, a strip of self-adhesive draught-excluder tape was applied around the top of the tube to act as a soft cushion for the folding petals.
Top ring vertical side piece
Central (literally) to the top baseboard and mechanisms is a tall 20mm diameter steel pole in two sections which are screwed together to ease transportation. This pole is screwed to a "dome cover" which in turn is screwed to a wooden disc which in turn is screwed to the centre of the base board inside the carousel tube. All the mechanisms are mounted on this wooden disc so everything can be removed from within the carousel tube in one piece.
Carousel mechanism schematic
This schematic diagram shows the basis of the mechanisms for raising and rotating the petals. The pole is shown in the middle and one petal is shown in blue on the left. The profile of the tube is shown only on the left, but of course encompasses the whole mechanism.
I shall describe the raising/lowering mechanism first. This is basically two circular linear slides that fit over the 20mm pole and are strapped together with a coupling bar. These can slide up and down the pole. Alongside the pole is a steel plate fixed to the base board and rising vertically parallel to the pole. It is fixed to the pole at its top by means of a support stay wrapped around the pole. At the bottom of this plate is a geared motor with a 20-tooth wheel attached. At the top of the plate is another 20-toothed wheel, rotating on an axle. Running around these two wheels is a 2mm pitch toothed drive belt in tension. A clamp and bracket connect the bottom of the belt to the bottom linear slide, which in its rest position sits on top of the pole's base-plate. When the motor is energised, the drive belt is driven round by the bottom wheel. This in turn lifts the two linear slides up the pole. After rising 15.5cms, the top of the bottom linear slide activates a microswitch which stops the motor. When descending, the belt drives in the opposite direction, lowering the slides, and the bottom of the bottom slide actuates another microswitch which again stops the motor.
Attached to the top of the upper slide is a ball bearing whose internal diameter is 2mm larger than the pole allowing it to rise up and down the pole freely. The inner ball race is attached to the top of the slide. The outer ball race is free to rotate. A wooden disc is attached to the outer ball race and is free to rotate around the pole. Six hinged push-rods are arranged around the top of this wooden disc. The other ends of the push rods are attached to pivots glued to the centre of each petal.
A similar setup is attached higher up the pole, but this time the inner diameter is a tight fit to the pole, so cannot rotate. It is held in place by two jubilee clips around the pole. A hexagonal wooden disc is similarly glued to the top of the outer ball race which can rotate freely. The top of each petal is attached to the top of the disc by a hinge. The wooden disc extends below the ball bearing and has a large internally-toothed gear attached to the bottom. A 12-tooth spur gear attached to a small 45rpm geared motor meshes with the inside of the large 50-toothed gear. The motor is strapped to the rear of the pole out of sight. As this motor rotates,, it turns the upper wooden disc which rotates the petals. The push-rods can rotate with the petals as they are attached to the freely-rotating lower wooden disc.
As the linear slide motor at the bottom drives the linear slides up and down, the push-rods raise the petals to the horizontal position. Once in this position, the rotation motor is energised. Rotation stops just before the petals are finally lowered.
Attached to the end of each petal with two hinges is two-dimensional thin tin plated steel coutout of some of the vehicles I have owned, i.e. a Morris 1100, Lambretta D scooter, Morris Marina, 1972 MG BGT, VW Polo 1.2 and a VW Transporter T5 Topaz campervan. Images from the internet were downloaded, heavily modified and printed onto self-adhesive vinyl. The steel plates were cut to the same shape as the vehicle outlines using strong scissors, and the vinyl applied, then sealed with clear lacquer. For each model, a thin cord was attached at just the right distance from the hinge to the back of each model. This was passed through a guide tube and through a small ring hook screwed to the side of the top wooden block. It then passed back down to be attached to the hinge at the base of the push-rod. In this way, the vehicle was folded up behind the petal as the petal closed, and was conversly allowed to hang down under gravity as the petal was raised. I had to experiment a bit to get the right point to attach to the rear of the vehicle.
The original Guinness clock, whilst in operation, continuously played "Oh, my darling Clementine" on an amplified music box. I thought it would be nice to recreate this bit of history and arranged for my clock to do likewise while the carousel was in operation.
You can see the completed carousel in the closed position on the previous "Yacht" page. Well, that was quite a comlicated setup. I hope that all made sense! A few more pictures below to show the actual mechanisms.
Linear slide in raised position showing lower limit switch
Rear of linear slide showing motor and upper limit switch
One petal fitted in closed position
Rotation mechanism and pully system
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