# Big Ben



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

From the "Times"

BIG BEN will be without its familiar chime for up to a week after a crucial part of the 144-year-old clockâ€™s mechanism snapped off while striking 12.45am yesterday.

Westminster was treated to three minutes of continuous chiming as the one-tonne counterweight fell down the Clock Tower but fortunately two engineers were on hand to stop it crashing to the floor.

During repairs the â€œbongsâ€ of the 13.5-tonne main bell will still sound but they will come unheralded by quarter-chimes which give the clock its distinctive signature tune.

Michael McCann, the Keeper of the Great Clock, said that the four quarter-chimes were silenced when the steel shaft of their brake mechanism unexpectedly broke loose.

Mr McCann said: â€œIt fractured where there was a hole drilled in it so we have had to lower the one-tonne weight to the bottom of the tower to disconnect it all and take the shaft out.

â€œIt will take a week so we will not have any quarter-chimes.â€

Brian Tipper, the Clock Engineer, had been working on the clock at the time and with another engineer saved the mechanism from greater damage.

Mr McCann added: â€œThe clock would have chimed continuously until the one-tonne weight hit the bottom of the shaft but as it was the engineers managed to stop it after two or three minutes.â€

The mishap was not as serious as the main brake failure in 1977 that stopped Big Ben chiming for a week.

The last failure was in 1997 when a bearing seized up and the clock was halted for an hour.

Mr McCann added: â€œSeven years is not bad for a 144-year-old clock. We do not want to go around replacing every bit of it because it is an historical clock and you would end up with a whole new one.

â€œMaintenance causes many difficult decisions because it is like stripping down an old car â€" you can cause more harm than good if you just want to examine the different parts.â€


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