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.