Engineer Peter Weare works on the Pioneers Park steam clock. In the foreground Peter displays another of his intricate machines, a miniature version of the 1930 marine steam engine used on naval crew change boats. The miniature runs on compressed air.By Jim Mynard
SPEND a few minutes in Berwick engineer Peter Weare’s workshop and you run the risk of becoming totally mystified.
Peter’s latest creation, a steam clock for Pioneers Park in Berwick looks simple, but in fact it is difficult to see what holds the mechanism in place because it is mounted on clear perspex.
Magnets operate the escape mechanism and a little clock from the Two Dollar Shop will help keep the timing mechanism on track by causing it to speed up or slow down depending how things are going with the big and little hands on the dial.
Last week Casey Council moved to ensure the clock was to remain a permanent fixture at the park, and Peter said it would certainly be.
However, the clock’s development is dynamic and still in progress because Peter is also experimenting in building another steam clock, but twice the size for a site in the city.
“I want to iron out all the bugs before I tackle the big one and this means I will be tinkering with it for quite a long time yet,” he said.
Peter said at this stage it was not a clock with a finishing time because of the need to get it perfect.
The clock will run on steam, but will revert to compressed air after midnight until morning each day.
“Later we hope to add a set of chimes and I have had talks with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra about that,” Peter said.
“We will have 27 tubular bells and you will be able to get most tunes from that many.
“We hope to have a keyboard so musicians can play tunes on the chimer.”
Peter said the clock was meant for community interactivity.
His enthusiasm for a steam clock started when he saw the steamer in Vancouver, Canada, which is heated by gas.
The Berwick clock has a modified electric steam cleaner boiler.
Peter said a clock driven by steam was an engineering nonsense.
“That is until you see it working, then human curiosity takes over,” he said.
“A steam clock seems to have a living, breathing personality of its own, style, and a measured syncopated rhythm to go with it.
Peter said there were only three steam clocks in the world – Berwick, Vancouver, and Otaru, Japan.
“The Berwick clock has a whole lot more interesting moving parts and is directly steam driven,” he said.
