The Central Clockwork

The home of the Hungarian legislature was equipped with the latest technological innovations. Knowing that the building was equipped with gas and electric lighting, central heating and cooling, a fire extinguishing system and a telephone system suitable for connecting both internal and external numbers, it is not surprising that so many rooms in the building were fitted with clocks controlled by a central mechanism.

Instead of somebody having to go through all the largest halls and offices every day winding up clocks, attempting the impossible of setting them all accurately and uniformly, the 112 electrical clocks were controlled by one central system, which was originally placed in the library on the ground floor.

This clockwork was able to run for eight days after being wound once. After this it sent an electrical signal every minute to the secondary clocks in the chambers of the Upper House and the House of Representatives, which then transmitted the signal to the clocks connected to the other power circuits. Although it took the ‘new minute’ signal four seconds to reach some of the rooms, this technology outperformed every other possible solution thanks to its accuracy, reliability and central control.