Grandpa Harry's Atmos Clock and Theme Thursday

The Mister received his Grandpa Harry's Atmos clock

recently. I remember seeing it in their home in Michigan

back when we were in high school.

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The Atmos Clocks have an interesting history.

In 1928 a French engineer named Jean-Leon Reutter

constructed a clock driven quite literally by the air.

Inside a sealed capsule, a mixture of gas and liquid expands

as the temperature rises and contracts as it falls,

moving the capsule back and forth like a

tiny unseen accordion. This motion is used to constantly wind

the mainspring thus enabling the clock to run and

keep perfect time. A small temperature variation of just

one degree is sufficient for over two day's operation.

Such variation occurs naturally in normal room

temperature and thus without any additional sources

of energy, the Atmos clock will continue

to run, if left untouched, "forever".

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It looks a bit like an Anniversary clock with a spinning

pendulum that changes direction every few seconds.

The name plate says

Harry Brock

Nash~Kelvinator Corp.

1921-1953

I'm guessing it was a retirement gift from his employers.

It's always fun to get something that belonged to

Grandpa Harry, since one of our boys is named after him!