Electric clocks employing a mains synchronous motor are accurate time keepers and were quite popular up until the advent of the quartz movement.
In 1946, a French Meccano enthusiast designed and built such a mechanism. It is an interesting design as, although synchronous motors had previously been built in Meccano, in this design, the motor also drives a striking train.
The clock was documented and his work submitted to Meccano Ltd. for possible publication as by the company. No action was taken, as the model employed certain parts that were not reintroduced after WWII and more importantly required the fabrication of a count wheel for the strike movement.
Shortly before the closure of the historic Binns Road factory complex, Meccano Ltd. established an archives committee to manage the holdings of documents and drawings relating to three quarters of a century of production. One of the documents preserved was the original handwritten draft of the design of this clock.
Ironically, by the time that the instructions were rediscovered, Meccano Ltd. had reintroduced a range of electrical parts which enabled the motor to be constructed more or less as originally designed.
A drawing that was sufficiently detailed to enable reproduction of the original locking plate formed part of the documents.
The model reproduces the design with only minor variations, and these are mainly to do with omitting some of the case platework to improve the view of the mechanism.
