GASTOWN STEAM CLOCK

innovation and , is located at the corner of Cambie and Water
Streets in the old Granville Townsite area, known as Gastown, in
Vancouver, B.C., Canada. It was designed and built as a feature of
the newly rehabilitated district by a local horologist and
sculptor, Raymond L. Saunders, who collects old clocks and watches
as a hobby he has around 300 of them.

In the area of Gastown, the Central Heat Distribution Plant
provides a continuous supply of steam to various properties in the
vicinity for heating purposes and an existing vent from their
underground main was harnessed to provide the power for the clock.
This vent would otherwise have been an eyesore or inconvenience
when the rehabilitation project was completed and the question was
what to do with it? Various ideas were put forward and the clock
was an idea of Vancouver City Councillor. It was this which finally
came to fruition, but not without many problems having to be
overcome.

Raymond Saunders had to turn to Great Britain for assistance
with the clock’s mechanism and this was built for him by
Gillett and Johnston of Croydon from an 1875 vintage design and has
a pin wheel escapement which drives a 42-pound gold plated pendulum
on a hickory shaft. Gillett and Johnston previously had connections
with Canada as they supplied the mechanism and carillon for the
Parliament Building Peace Tower Clock in Ottowa.

Three single cylinder vertical steam engines (one duty, two
standby) were supplied by Stuart Turner, Reading, and were
specially modified for this somewhat arduous duty to minimise
maintenance as, naturally, the engine has to run 24 hours a day. A
special ‘plastic’ piston and slide valve have been fitted
to the engines and all moving parts have special sealed bearings.
The steam engine is used to power a vertical chain drive which is
loaded with steel ball weights. About every five minutes one weight
rolls off the chain on one side, across a track at the bottom and
is carried back up to the top by a chain on the other side, driven
by the little Stuart Turner engine, thus providing an interesting
spectacle for observers whilst also giving controlled motion under
gravity to the clock’s mechanism.

The clock itself is designed in the Edwardian style, weighs over
two tons and stands some 16 feet high. It has ‘see through’
smoked glass bullet-proof side panels so the mechanism can be seen
by curious onlookers and the four clock dials are highlighted by
handmade enamelled copper dogwood flowers. The opalescent dials,
which glow at night, are surrounded by a 24 carat gold plated
frame. The basic construction is bronze and of necessity, because
the area on which it is situated is filled in land, special
arrangements had to be made to ensure external vibrations could not
interfere with the working of the clock. Five whistles are mounted
on top of the clock, one in each corner and one in the centre, and
these are controlled by pins on a drum, similar to a barrel organ
mechanism. These play the Westminster chimes every quarter of an
hour on four of the whistles, by means of small switches and
solenoid valves, whilst the large central whistle sounds once, on
the hour. This fine chime whistle once graced the paddle steamer
‘Naramata’ which cruised the interior lakes in British
Columbia in days gone by. If the wind is in the right direction,
every hour one can get a small shower of warm rain from the clock
as it goes through its cycle and many visitors delight in this.
During the hours of darkness, the whistles are silenced so as not
to disturb the local residents. Four bronze plaques form part of
the base and these record details of the clock’s inception,
dedication and the public subscription which paid for it. The
whistle playing mechanism is located behind these plaques.

Why has a project like this not been tackled before? Everyone,
even our Victorian ancestors, said that steam and clocks don’t
mix and it was not until 1974, when Jon Ellis of the Vancouver City
Council’s Gastown Special Projects Committee combined with Ray
Saunders, the clock’s builder and the Gastown Merchants and
Gastown Lions Club, that the project got underway. At that time,
Ray Saunders was a clock and watch repairer as well as a creative
metal sculptor and he didn’t know Steam and Clocks don’t
mix so he said he’d tackle this project. He subsequently
achieved the well-nigh impossible by actually constructing this
unique Steam Clock which is now a big tourist draw as well as being
a feature which has given him a new name for his business, a
trademark and worldwide fame.

Drawing up the plans, obtaining the parts and the manufacture of
the structure took some two years and the clock was first put
together in Saunders’ workshop which had to be specially
modified to take the tall structure. It was erected on site inside
a construction ‘cube’ in a continuous working ‘day’
of 28 hours by Saunders and his assistants in order to meet the
contract deadline of 24th September, 1977. The mechanism was
initially electrically driven, finally going fully ‘On
Steam’ in July, 1978 although the whistles have been on steam
right from the start. The total cost was in the order of 57,000
dollars. Although this seems a lot and it is well over the initial
estimate of 25,000 dollars for a modern day sculpture which is
useful in masking the steam vent beautiful and a great tourist
attraction, it is a relatively cheap price to pay for such a
magnificent object. The citizens of Vancouver can be, and are,
justifiably proud of their unique time piece which is a remarkable
achievement both in the horological field and from an engineering
aspect as well. In Vancouver they no longer say to their children,
‘The mouse ran up the clock, the clock struck one’, as
there it toots and the ferries on the nearby Burrard Inlet hoot
back.

Information for this article has been extracted from the
following Canadian papers and magazines: Vancouver Province,
Vancouver Sun and Western Living, to whom thanks are extended.