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Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Ind. Courts - "What time is it? Check the courthouse clock"
Nick Schneider of the Greene County Daily World reported yesterday:
The clock on the Greene County Courthouse in Bloomfield is working again after at least a decade of working only sporadically.The electric clock is not ticking, but it is quietly and efficiently "purring" again, according to veteran Bloomfield clock repairman Basil Bennett, who operates the "Dancing Bear Shoppe" -- about a half block from the courthouse on West Main Street.
Last week, Bennett made his way up some rickety ladders on the third floor of the courthouse and climbed to the clock tower and replaced the five-feet wide timepiece's electric motor.
Bennett was summoned a couple weeks earlier to take a look at the long-time, out-of-service clock by William "Butch" Brown, who is a Greene County Councilman and head of courthouse security.
The clockmaster said the fix was an easy one that took only a couple of hours to complete once he located a new motor.
"The motor that they put on in 1977 was bad and it wasn't available any more (from the company). So I had to change one of the gears and put a different motor on it." Bennett explained. "I had to re-machine the mount."
The Vernon Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, installed the clock motor in 1977.
Bennett billed the county $225 for the repair.
The clockmaster said the original company wanted to sell a whole new gearbox since the motor wasn't available. He estimates the gearbox would have cost between $2,000 and $3,000 to change out.
The Greene County Courthouse was built in the 1886, but its clock tower was replaced in a 1954 renovation project and the old clock was reworked at that time.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 9, 2008 09:59 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts