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Big
Ben Facts:
Did you know: Big
Ben is the bell, not the clock or the tower.
"Big Ben" is the most commonly used name for the
Clock Tower, which is itself also known as St Stephen's Tower.
That name may have come from St Stephen's Hall, the western
wing of the Palace of Westminster, which is the entrance used
by visitors wishing to view the proceedings of the Houses
of Parliament, and British subjects wishing to lobby their
MP.
Related Information:
Big Ben web cam links [Cam
1][Cam
2]
The story of Big Ben More.. |
The following is a summary of the main facts about the clock, tower
and bells:
The Clocktower
- The total height of the tower is 316 feet
- The height of the belfry is about 200 feet
- There are 290 steps to the clockroom and
340 to the belfry
The Bells
- The quarter chiming bells are in the key
of F
- The hour bell (Big Ben) is note E and weighs
13.5 tons and has a maximum diameter of 9 feet
- The hammer of the hour bell weighs 4 cwt.
- The four quarter bells weigh (in order of
size) 1 ton, 1.25 tons, 1.6 tons and 3.5 tons
The Dials and Hands
- The diameter of each of the four dials is
23 feet
- Each dial contains 312 panes of glass (and
we are happy to dispel the myth that there are 365, one for each
day of the year, yes, we've counted them!)
- 28 bulbs are used to light each dial from
behind
- The hour hands are 9 feet long and weigh
0.8 cwt.
- The minute hands are 14 feet long and weigh
2.5 cwt.
- The Roman numerals are 2 feet high
The Clock Mechanism
- Three train flatbed mechanism with Grimthorpe's
double three-legged gravity escapement and two-second pendulum
- The frame of the mechanism is about 16 feet
long and the entire machine weighs 5 tons
- The driving weights weigh 2 cwt. (going),
1 ton (striking) and 1.25 tons (chiming)
- The chiming and striking trains have been
wound by motor since 1912 but the previous hand winding took two
men 5 hours per train
- The going train is still wound by hand which
takes less than 30 minutes
- The overall length of the pendulum is about
14 feet and it weighs 2.5 cwt.
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