Chiming 100
SAXONBURG — The bell clock housed in the old Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church at the end of West Main Street in Saxonburg turned 100 years old Wednesday.
There was no celebration or fuss made over the anniversary of a bell that rings every 30 minutes every day.
According to Allen Carr, a church member and bell clock steward, the Seth Thomas church bell clock was installed in the church August 12, 1920.
Jim Vorp of Saxonburg said it was originally a weight-driven clock, which meant that it had to be hand wound once a week by pulling on the weights to keep it wound.Carr, who cleaned and oiled the clock in 1972, was given the job of “clock winder.”“It was inoperable for awhile,” said Vorp. “After he fixed it, he was made curator of the clock and manually wound the clock.”Carr said, “The clock didn't run, and I said I would take a look.”“It was just one of those things. I cleaned it and oiled it and it ran,” Carr said.Carr credits his father, who took apart windup alarm clocks and got them running, with showing him the basics of clock repair.“It was hard work,” he said. “The weights were on a cable in a big, long chamber. Once a week, usually every Sunday after church, I'd go in the clock tower and turn a big crank that wound a cable that lifted the weights.”In 1982, the clock was converted to an electric driven motor.
Another church member, Carl Myers, was involved in getting the clock converted to electric power, said Carr.Actually, it takes two motors to work the clock, according to Carr, one motor to run the clock and a larger one to move the hammer to strike the bell.Carr was relieved of his weekly duty of winding up the church clock, but he's still needed to reset the clock's four faces when the time changes.And when the power goes out, someone is always quick to point out to him that the clock is showing an incorrect time, he said.These days, Carr said, Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church engages a tower clock expert from Harrisburg to give the clock an annual checkup and do maintenance work.Mercury switches that had become unsynchronized led to the last clock malfunction: The bell either failed to ring on the hour and half-hour or it would ring and not stop ringing.The bell itself can also be rung manually using a rope. Access is through a door in a balcony at the church.The bell didn't make the move when the congregation moved to the new church building across the street. That's probably because it's estimated to weigh a ton, according to Carr.The bell was still used when the old church held a 7:45 a.m. Sunday worship service, but that service ended with the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
