Swis Railway Clock - An Icon
The Swiss Federal Railways station clock was designed in 1944 by Hans Hilfiker, a Swiss engineer, together with Mobatime, a clock manufacturer. Since then the clock has become a national Swiss icon.[1]
The clock owes its technology to the particular requirements of operating a railway. First, railway timetables don’t list any seconds; trains always leave the station on the minute. Second, all the clocks at a railway station have to run synchronously in order to indicate a reliable time for both passengers and railway personnel anywhere on...
more... or around the station premises.[2]
For the reasons above, the station clocks are synchronized by receiving an electrical impulse from a central master clock at each full minute, advance the minute hand one minute further. The second hand is driven by an electrical motor independent of the master clock. It requires only about 58.5 seconds to circle the face once, then the hand pauses briefly at the 60 second position. It starts a new rotation as soon as it receives the next minute impulse from the master clock.[2] This gives the conductors enough time to blow their whistle and the train doors to close. That way, the train starts moving just as the second hand starts moving. [3]
On September 20, 2012 a Swiss newspaper reported that Apple Inc. copied the clock design for its iOS6 clock application.
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