William Kelly Clock

this was going to be my blip last Wednesday till a pretty flower got in the way, so here it is today.

This is the face of a clock that takes pride of place in the Reception area of New Lanark Visitor Centre. It is a most unusual clock made by William Kelly.

William Kelly was mill manager when the mills were founded in the late 18th century. He was an inventive engineer, devising heating systems for the mills as well as improvements to the machinery. Although the case is not original, it is likely that the clock itself is one described in this extract of the travel journal of an American visitor to New Lanark in 1785, John Aspinwall:

"This manufactury of cotton yarn employs thirteen hundred people. There are about twelve thousand spindles going in these mills. There is a remarkable clock there, with a face something larger than a common clock. It has five dials, one for the hours and minutes and seconds, one for the weeks, one for the months, one for the years and one for the ten years.... and by which they regulate the Mill, as the same wheel turns the clock and the Mill"

The clock is now worked by a pendulum but the clockwork is unconventional. Mill clocks linked to the water-driven machinery were once used to regulate production and output. Only six days are shown as there was no work on Sundays.

I wonder what William Kelly would be inventing if he were alive today...

Regular visitors to my journal will know I have a long-standing love affair with New Lanark. any of you blippers that plan to visit should let me know and I'd be pleased to show you round.