Original Emett For Sale

An original Emett artwork is for sale at Abbott and Holder in London. The 1954 drawing depicts the 'battle' between the British Motor Company and Ford and is being sold for £1250.

The exhibition starts at midday on 20th September just as the Birmingham exhibition comes to a close.

If you do buy this artwork, please let us know.

Do you remember Rowland Emett?

The Society is interested in hearing from anyone who remembers Rowland Emett. Where did you first encounter his work? Did you ever meet him? Did you work with him on his machines? Did he inspire you? Did you ever take pictures of his work?

If you, or anyone you know, has memories or information you would like to share' please get in touch. To make it simple you can upload text files or pictures directly to us by clicking this link and using the upload password 'steamboat52' :

www.dropitto.me/canonvela

Second Emett Convention

You can now register for the second Rowland Emett Society Convention on the Society Website www.rowlandemett.com

Alongside the exhibition there will be films talks and further Emett exhibits not currently on display.

Emett Society Convention

We need to know approximate numbers for the Society Convention on 13th/14th September. If you are hoping to attend can you please pre-register on the Society website (Under the 'Society' tab.) ASAP.

For more information go to the 'Convention' page (Also under the 'Society' tab). This is where updates will appear.

New Rowland Emett Booklet

The Society is publishing the first ever booklet describing and illustrating all of Emett's known machines at the end of June. The 32 page A5 colour booklet will cost £3.00 + p&p and is available to pre-order through the Society Website Shop (under the 'HOME' tab.)

All profits will go to the Rowland Emett Trust to support efforts to promote and preserve Emett's work. The booklet will also be available at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery shop from the end of the month.

The Nottingham Water Clock

We have finished assembling the Nottingham Water Clock at Millennium Point. It took us three days but the Clock is complete. All we need to do now is get her working!

Time ran out Wednesday evening with more adjustments to be made to get the clock fully functional but that will happen over the next few days. The task of getting a 7.5 metre high machine into an 8 metre high space has presented its own challenges. Thanks to Pete Dexter, Ed Copcutt, Janet Griffiths, Richard Partington, Iain Sweetnam and Alison Sweetnam for their work on the assembly. The accepted way of greeting the Clock appears to be "Wow".

The Bouquet

At the centre of the Nottingham Water Clock is a feature that has slowly become less noticeable as it has become tarnished and covered in grime. The bouquet consists of a copper autumn leaf supporting a white cluster of foliage in which a number of woodland birds and animals perch.

The bouquet not at its best.

The leaf had become blackened and covered in dust. It was barely possible to make out that it was actually copper. Wayward coins were found buried in the grime, everything was in a sorry state.

A build up of grime and corrosion.

Photographs from Emett's workshop show the way it was intended to look. The leaf should be bright and shiny as should the animals. The foliage should be white (they are coloured by reflections from the copper leaf).

As Emett intended.

So we have had the whole structure soda blasted and the bright parts polished. The leaf is now clearly copper again and ready to be reassembled with the foliage..

An autumn leaf.

The foliage has been restored by blacksmith and jeweller Shelley Thomas at the Kew Water and Steam Museum using salvaged and newly made parts to replace the corroded foliage using the photographs from the Forge as a reference.

Shelley Thomas in her studio.

The finished piece has been primed and painted white and the woodland animals have been restored to their perches. One the Clock is installed at Millennium Point the bouquet should, once more, make its presence felt.

The foliage repainted white.

The animals are added back.

Waiting for installation.

Frame

The main frame of the clock has had a number of elements removed over the years and has changed colour to a neutral and boring off white. Actually, it may have been white when re-painted but faded with time and grime. Added to this it has suffered the attentions of coins thrown by the public who have difficulty aiming at a large pool of water.

We have now returned the Clock to the way Emett intended it. The frame has been stripped, The upper sections have been primed and painted and the main frame, which sits in water, has been thermal zinc sprayed and powder coated.

The return of the frame.

The main frame can be seen here after returning from the powder coating company. It has regained its height and complexity and has discs of steel to form a base. This is a mixed blessing. It will help with stability but the access doors to the atrium at Millennium Point measure only 2100mm high and 2200mm wide. As the frame is 2800mm high 1700mm wide and 2500mm long it will be a tight squeeze to get it in. Much head scratching and measuring of diagonals has convinced us that there is a way of doing this but it did give pause for thought. It was only after we noticed that the frame is shaped that to slide forward and tip back to go under a door head that we remembered where Emett had fabricated it. The Forge at Streat only has a double door of normal height and everything had to be designed to go through it. We needn't have worried, Emett thought of everything!

Primed and ready.

Clock Cube gets its final coat.

Top section of tower is painted.

Mid section of tower is painted.

Control Box goes blue.

Control box door also goes blue.

Brass highlights.

The upper sections of the frame have been painted in the Aircraft Grey Green colour Emett originally chose and the control box is now his chosen blue so that the brass coloured lattices will stand out against it.

Petals

We are about to install the Nottingham Water Clock at Millennium Point in Birmingham for the Emett Exhibition. The last parts are being finished off ready including the 36 sunflower petals. These have been dismantled, stripped, blasted, polished, copper plated, painted, re-jewelled and re-rivetted and are now somewhat shinier than they were when removed from the clock in February.

 The copper plated brackets.

Polished petals.

Nearly all of the 36 petals.

Music at an Exhibition

The music arranged for the Emett Exhibition in Birmingham is now being uploaded to Soundcloud. Feel free to download but please acknowledge if you use it elsewhere.

https://soundcloud.com/rowland-emett

Motive Power

The only failure we experienced amongst the Emett machines when we fired them up in the Gas Hall was the Hot Air Rocking Chair. Somewhat ironic as this is one of the simplest of the machines and would have been the last to be expected to misbehave.

The problem was the electric motor. When the machines came on in sequence, triggered by the controller, the chair sometimes worked, and sometimes didn't, depending on the position it had been in when stopped. We needed a new motor. The motor bolted to the underside of the seat said 'MR Supplies' on the label. Unfortunately MR Supplies no longer exist so we checked to see if Parvalux could help. All of the other machines, including the Nottingham Water Clock use Parvalux motors so they have a history in Emett machines. Looking up their address it turned out that Parvalux were based in Aston, only two or three miles from the Exhibition hall so the motor was removed and taken there, more in hope than expectation.

When the engineer looked at it he said it was actually a re-badged Parvalux unit and reading the serial number walked over to the microfiche. Pulling out a film and sliding it into the viewer he confirmed that it was one of theirs, that it had been bought in November 1967 and that he had the complete specification on file - I was quite impressed.

Unfortunately they don't still make exactly that motor. Unsurprising really as it is over 46 years old! They did however make an equivalent so we ordered one. Today it arrived and putting it side by side with the original motor it can be seen just how equivalent it is.

Side by Side

The fixing points line up exactly and the spindle aligns nicely. Even the form and diameter of the spindle itself appears to match so the pulley wheel should transfer without too many problems. The only slight problem is cosmetic and the temptation is to give it a coat of black paint. Hmm. Decisions, decisions. After that, we just need to get in before the public and fit it...

More Shiny Things

The iron brackets supporting the copper petals around the edge of the sunflower are, at last, back from the platers. It has taken a lot longer than expected or promised. But it was worth the wait. If you look back at the photo posted on 27th March you will see one of the brackets after the layers of gold paint and grime had been removed. Now you can see that they positively shine with their polished copper plating. Just as Emett intended.

 A plated bracket ready to re-join its petal.

The next task is to re-unite them with their petals. This is a task made easier because Emett stamped numbers in each petal and bracket. The bolts and brass-coloured flowers are ready. The replacement jewels are ready. We have the rivets and a rivet head forming tool. Unfortunately the wrong one, so we have another on order that should be with us mid-week. There is then the task of forming 72 rivets and that part of the job is done. Simple.

Emett Wrangling

There are many elements to the display of the Emett machines in a live environment. They will be on display for four months in Birmingham and any thoughts of leaving them running continuously were instantly rejected. The machines need to be cared for and maintained. When Rowland Emett was alive he took great pride in caring for his 'Things' and lavished attention on them regularly.

 The Cloud Cuckoo Locomotive.

To reduce the time that they are actually moving the machines are all controlled centrally. They run to a pre-ordained sequence with pairs of machines in action followed by a pause, followed by another pair of machines... 

Every 15 minutes the clock strikes in Cloud Cuckoo Valley and all of the machines are brought to life. At the same time they are accompanied by music. When all the machines are active it is a set of pieces by Thomas Arne (of 'Rule Britannia' fame) with a harpsichord and wind arrangement. When the individual pairs are in action it is a set of pieces written for mechanical clock by Haydn arranged for harpsichord, musical box and assorted percussion.

To achieve this level of coordination Professor Peter Wooliams has written control software that can be programmed to operate a series of relays and play the relevant music files. It is very flexible allowing for fine tuning and refinement of the sequences and is, best of all, simple to operate.

The Emett Controller in action.

The Emetts are coming out to play.

The largest ever exhibition of the work of Rowland Emett opens tomorrow, the 10th May in Birmingham, England and is on throughout the summer until 21st September. This is a once-only opportunity to see this many Emett machines and artworks in one place. So head for Birmingham and see the Emetts in action.

The Bell

The bell that strikes the quarter hour on the Nottingham Clock stirring it into action has now been restored. Soda blasting and polishing has removed layers of gold paint and the body of the bell has been polished inside and out. The metal leaves at it's crown and on the bracket below have also been cleaned and repainted a metallic brass colour.

 The bell before restoration.

 

The bell waiting to receive its final polish before lacquering.

Two other items that have received attention are the flowers that decorate the sunflower petals. These have been stripped zinc primered and brass painted. The jewels that were at the centre of the leaves have disappeared long ago and the ones that survived had been painted over with gold paint. These are now being replaced.

 A petal flower

On the Beeb

As part of the promotional activity for the Birmingham Exhibition we had three of the Emett machines appear on  BBC Television's 'The One Show' on Wednesday. To get the machines on screen for an all too brief appearance took over two days of work involving a number of volunteers.

It started on Tuesday when  David Griffiths, Simon Goodyear, John Whitaker, Steve Jackson and myself converged on the store room under the Merrion Centre in Leeds to dismantle the Featherstone Kite and transport it to our 'secret location' near Birmingham. The Kite, along with the Little Dragon Carpet Sweeper and Visivision machine were given soft protection and secured in two long wheelbase vans for the journey.

After an overnight stay the vans were driven down to London and directed onto the piazza at BBC Broadcasting House by the very friendly and helpful team down there and we were joined by another group of volunteers including Michael Crofts, Dave and Sue Watts.

Unloading the Little Dragon

The machines were assembled under cover on the piazza and turned on. All of them worked perfectly and without issues. They may look fragile but Emett knew how to build reliable machines. They passed the electrical testing carried out by the BBC and were left to attract attention for the afternoon.

 

Connecting.

Adjusting 

 

 Dusting

Testing

 On the Piazza.

Matt Baker does a little vacuuming.

Late afternoon rehearsals took place and hard on their heels the show itself started. The machines appeared on screen at the beginning and were left operating whilst the rest of the show was broadcast. Halfway through the threatened rain materialised and the machines were swiftly and carefully repositioned in a more sheltered area and re-lit by the BBC technicians. At the end of the show the machines appeared with a brief interview of Emett's daughter and of Adrian Hall who played Jeremy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The repositioning of the machines undoubtedly had an effect on the available time for their appearance but appear they did.

On air at last.

 

Claire interviewed by Alex.

 Adrian Hall interviewed by Matt.

Dismantling.

After the show the machines were repacked and transported to Birmingham where they are now in position and in full working order at the Museum and Art Gallery.

Thanks to Michael Crofts for the majority of the photographs. The crew at the BBC for their professionalism and the volunteers who made it all happen.

Taking a Shine

After a long period carefully stripping the multiple layers of paint and grime from various elements of the clock the finer detail is being revealed. The bright metal pieces were the first to be cleaned by soda blasting and manual cleaning and all of the animals and birds except two are finished ready for re-assembly. The last two animals from the orchestra are currently being cleaned by Team Humpherston and should be ready in the next week.

Two days of lacquer stripping and manual polishing have removed the blackened areas from the copper sunflower petals and given them back their shine. The counterweight brackets are nearly finished being copper plated and polished and should be re-united with their petals at the end of next week.

Sunflower petal cleaned and polished.

The spire from the very top of the clock has been stripped ready for painting. After waiting some time to get the special-order powder coating for the main structural frame in the original colour a sample has now been prepared and matched with the paint for the upper sections of the clock. Paint spraying of these elements will start next week.

 

Spire stripped ready for painting.

The large bolts that secure the upper part of the clock to the main frame are being cleaned. Meanwhile, the decorative elements that attach to the end of these bolts have now been stripped, primed and re-painted.

 Main bolt decorative ends.

The upper turntable supporting the radial arms at the top of the clock has been re-polished and the flowers that decorate the edges have been removed, cleaned, primed and painted. The copper bolt heads at their centres now reflect in the shiny brass-coloured petals.

Decorative flowers from top turntable.

The 'bud' at the base of the sunflower has also been stripped of the thick gold paint that had built up to obscure the detail and the coins that had become lodged in the basketwork have been removed. This has now been primed and painted in its original brass colour.

 The 'bud' from below the sunflower.

The decorative lattices that adorn the control box have been stripped, primed and painted in their original brass colour. This should stand out against the blue colour that will be restored to the control box.

One of the repainted control box lattices.

The main frame has now had its hub assembly re-fashioned after the removal of the ugly and ungainly bearing housing that had been fitted at some time over the last forty years. A new axle for the cobweb waterwheel has been made and the frame is now ready for zinc plating and powder coating.

 The frame with its replaced hub.

There is still a lot to do before the clock can be installed at Millennium Point for the summer but good progress has been made.

Striker

There has been a short period of 'radio silence' on this blog due to a badly-timed but much needed holiday for yours truly. Things have not been static whilst away so the blog will need to do some catching up.

One thing that has appeared is the electric striker mechanism to replace that missing from one of the Emett machines that will be on display in Birmingham. Now all we need is a bell. We have ordered a solid brass 8" ships bell that will be adapted by shaving the standard hanging bracket away and drilling a 3/8th" hole to take a hollow bolt. This bolt will fix the striker mechanism in place and allow cables to pass through unseen. This bell will play an important role every 15 minutes marking the beginning of each period of machine operation in the exhibition.

Team Billington will be taking on this task shortly.