Highlights of November's Meeting

Dave demonstrating the need to support the
chimes at precisely 22.4% of the overall length
to ensure undamped resonance

DAVID PEREZ - Dave Weisbart was gracious enough to bring his skeleton clock to the meeting to discuss how he was inspired to build such a strikingly beautiful and unique time piece. His masterpiece won first place in the Class 5— Experimental Timepiece Designs and the People’s Choice Award at the 2015 Crafts Competition at the 71st Annual National Convention in Chattanooga, TN.

His idea for the clock came from a set of Energy Chimes. The chimes consisted of 3 metallic rods of particular lengths mounted to a common wooden platform. The exact lengths dictate the resonant frequency produced. When designed properly, these three metallic rods produce a lovely harmonic sound.

Exceedingly important to his design was that these rods must be suspended at exactly 22.4% of the length from each end. This ensures that the rods can vibrate at their resonant frequencies without being damped. If they were suspended incorrectly, the rods would simply make a “thud” when struck—not very pleasing to the ear to say the least.

Dave’s beautifully conceived and executed timepiece.

For those of you who are familiar with the piano, felt dampers are utilized to stop the strings’ vibrations when lifting one’s finger from the key. This prevents notes from blending into subsequent notes or measures. Dave’s term for this is articulation. He designed dampers to articulate the sounds of the chimes at precisely the right time so as to prevent this from happening.

For the chime, Dave wanted to use a musical piece that would fully utilize all 14 chime rods and emphasize the articulation capabilities of his clock. After much research, he settled on a piece by F.J. Haydn titled “Haydn in Plain Sight”.

Dave activated the chimes at the end of his presentation. The music from his masterpiece was truly impressive.