Speaking clock
A synchronous motor drove the disc with the driving source derived from a 5 MHz quartz oscillator via a multi stage valve divider.
From a maintenance point of view, the most important part of the mechanical clocks was to ensure that they were well oiled to minimise wear on the cams and to replace blown bulbs in the optical pickups from the glass disk recordings.
Building M5), the control signals were duplicated and a second bank of Caesium Beam Primary standards installed so the cutover was transparent with no loss of service.
Each state capital had a digital speaking clock for the local time of day with one access number for all Australia, 1194.
A recorded female voice says: "Es wird mit dem Summerton 15 Uhr, 53 Minuten und 10 Sekunden", meaning "At the buzzing tone, the time will be 15 hours, 53 minutes and 10 seconds", followed by a short pause and a 1 kHz, 0.25 seconds long beep (even though the announcement "buzzing tone" suggests otherwise).
[10] In Finland the speaking clock service is known as Neiti Aika in Finnish or Fröken Tid in Swedish, both of which mean "Miss Time".
the use of the Neiti Aika service has decreased significantly, and the press officer of Auria, the regional phone company of Turku, stated in an article of the Turun Sanomat newspaper that when the company started the service in 1938 it was used 352,310 times in its starting year, compared to 1,300 times in September 2006.
In May 2022, French telecom company Orange announced that the service will be discontinued on 1 July 2022, due to the "steady and significant decrease" of calls.
[18] Antoinette Rocks, also a P&T/Telecom Éireann operator, provided the voice of the speaking clock when it was updated to digital technology in 1980.
The Irish speaking clock service was permanently shut down by eir (P&T’s successor) on 27 August 2018 due to lack of use and reliance on ageing equipment.
On 1 October 1930, a system was installed in the Haarlem telephone exchange (automated in 1925) which indicated the time using a series of tones, accessed by the number 15290.
Leeuwrik built a speaking clock for the municipal telephone service of The Hague using optically recorded speech, looping on a large drum.
[23] In 1969, this system was replaced by a magnetic disk machine resembling a record player with three pick-up arms, telling the time at 10 second intervals followed by a beep.
The voice was provided by actress Joke Driessen and the clock's accuracy is maintained by linking it to the German longwave radio transmitter DCF77.
The first cities to be equipped with this device were Katowice, Warsaw (dialing number 05[27]), Gdynia, Toruń and Kraków (July 1936[28]).
In 1935, Soviet Central Scientific Research Institute of Communications received a government order to design the "Speaking Clock" for Moscow City Telephone Network.
[29][30] "Speaking Clock" was constructed based on cinematic techniques[30] and consists of discs with pulse-density modulation optical marks on photographic tapes, photocell with actuator, and audio tube amplifier.
[32] In 1969, the first Soviet "Speaking Clock" was replaced in Moscow City Telephone Network by a magnetic tape machine.
[34] The speaking clock in Spain is run by the Spanish Navy from the Royal Observatory in San Fernando, and is accessed by dialling the number 956599429 free of charge.
[citation needed] The speaking clock in South Africa is run by Telkom, the country's national telecommunications provider, and can be contacted by dialling 1026 either from a fixed line or a cellular phone.
[38] In the United Kingdom, the speaking clock can be heard by dialling 123 on a BT phone line; the number may vary on other networks.
However this code was only used in the Director telephone system of the cities of London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester.
[citation needed] The time announcements were made by playing short, recorded phrases or words in the correct sequence.
The company that manufactured the rotating magnetic drum part of the Speaking Clock was Roberts & Armstrong (Engineers) Ltd of North Wembley.
The complete apparatus comprises solid-state microchips, occupies no more shelf space than a small suitcase and has no moving parts at all.
[39] During the Cold War, the British Telecom speaking clock network was designed to be used in case of nuclear attack to broadcast messages from Strike Command at RAF High Wycombe to HANDEL units at regional police stations.
The rationale for using an existing rather than a dedicated system was that it was effectively under test at all times, rather than being activated (and possibly found to be faulty) only in the event of war.
The signals to automatic sirens were sent down the wires of individual (unaware) subscribers for the same reason—a customer would report any fault as soon as it occurred, whereas a problem with a dedicated line would not be noticed until it was needed.
[61] For all area codes in Northern California, and on the West Coast generally, the reserved exchange was 767[60] which was often indicated by its phoneword, POPCORN;[62][60] the service was discontinued in 2007.
The website Telephone World has recordings of past and present "Time of Day" services that also include temperature and weather announcements.
