Wednesday 5 November 2014

Facts of Big ben clock tower, london

Big ben tower clock, famous for its accuracy and for its massive bell in london and around the world. The Elizabeth Tower is the name of the famous tower of Parliament - more popularly known as Big Ben. Although often referred to as Big Ben, this is actually the nickname of the bell housed within the Elizabeth Tower - and Big Ben's official name is the Great Bell. It is the great center of visitors.

The clock was designed by Edmund Beckett Denison (later Sir Edmund Beckett and Lord Grimthorpe) in association with Sir George Airy (then astronomer royal) and the clockmaker Edward Dent. Denison’s principal contribution was a novel gravity escapement that imparted unprecedented accuracy to the clock. In a pendulum clock an escape wheel is allowed to rotate through the pitch of one tooth for each double swing of the pendulum and to transmit an impulse to the pendulum to keep it swinging. An ideal escapement would transmit the impulse without interfering with the free swing, and the impulse should be as uniform as possible. The double three-legged gravity escapement designed by Denison for Big Ben achieves the second of these but not the first.

Contrary to popular belief, the clock tower itself is not named “Big Ben”.  Rather, it is named “Elizabeth Tower”, after Queen Elizabeth II; named such during her Diamond Jubilee (the 2012 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne).  Before that, it was just called “Clock Tower”. So why is it so often called “Big Ben”?  That is due to the great bell inside the tower that chimes the hour out and goes by that name.  Over time this has morphed into many calling the clock tower itself that even today, despite the recent, very public, name change.

So how did “Big Ben”- the great bell- get its name? People seemed to be in the habit of nicknaming giant bells and Big Ben was one of the biggest in the world and the largest in the British Isles at the time of its casting, so certainly name-worthy. The origin of Big Ben’s name is probably rooted in Sir Benjamin Hall. Hall was reportedly a large man (6 ft. 4 in. or 1.93 m, with a girth to match) and was the first Commissioner of Works, affectionately known as “Big Ben.” Go ahead...

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