The Big Ben Clock Tower in the Houses of Parliament in London
England is no doubt the most famous of clocks in the world. Its classic
Westminster Chimes have become the choice favored by millions in the
clock collectors world, especially for grandfather clocks. Below is a
picture postcard of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament circa 1910.
Also below, and even more fascinating, are pictures and facts regarding
"Big Ben", including the works and Dial and movement ALL ON THE INSIDE!
The book that these photos and description came from was also
published circa 1910. So look below at the Big Ben Tower Clock and step
back into TIME almost 100 YEARS AGO. It has not changed!
At the top of 360 steps in the Clock Tower at Westminster, Big Ben has
marked time for London for over hundred and fifty years. It is not
possible to realize the size of the clock as we stand on the ground. It
has four faces, each 23 feet across -- nine or ten times as wide as a
door. The minute hands are 14 feet long, and are higher than an ordinary
room. The pendulum weighs nearly 450 lb. The figures on the face are
each two feet long, and the minute spaces are a foot square. If you look
at your watch, you will see the minute hand move in little jumps; the
minute hand of Big Ben jumps half a foot every time it moves. It is not
easy to believe these figures, but that is because our eyes deceive us
when we look up to a great height, and Big Ben stands so high that if
thirty tall men stood on one another's shoulders the top man would only
touch the middle of its face.
Big Ben is the great bell which strikes the hours at the Houses of Parliament. It is made of copper and tin, and is nearly 8 feet high and 9 1/2 feet wide at the bottom. But Big Ben is not the largest bell in London. The largest is Great Paul, at St. Paul's Cathedral. Great Paul weighs 17 1/2 tons, and its hammer weighs 180 lb.