How does it Work ?

Great Gravity Clock in Fort Lauderdale
How Does It Work?
Gravity causes the balls to travel the rails. The three slightly tilted rails just below the face of the clock hold the minute balls, ten-minute balls and hour balls. Each minute a ball moves around the face of the clock and is released onto the rails. A ball rolls onto a rail with the passing of every minute, every ten minutes and every hour.
Tell Time By Counting The Balls.
If two balls are on the bottom "hour" rail, five balls are on the middle "ten-minute" rail and one ball are on the top "minute" rail, the time is 4:35.
Kinetic Energy In Motion.
On the east wall, the pendulums swing. The weights on the end of their shafts affect their motion unpredictably. On the west wall, the top wave bar twists when a ball passes, causing a wave motion to travel down the spring and back. Kinetic energy from the top twist is stored and released.
How Does It Track The Time?
The top "minute" rail holds up to nine balls, each measuring one minute. When the tenth ball rolls onto the top rail, it causes the rail to empty and one ball to drop to the "ten-minute" rail.
The middle "ten-minute" rail holds up to five balls representing up to fifty minutes. As the sixth ball rolls onto the rail, it causes the rail to empty and one ball drops to the "hour" rail.
The bottom "hour" rail holds up to twelve balls, catching one ball per hour. The rails will be completely full at 12:59. At 1:00, all the balls will cascade down to the bottom of the tower and the twelve-hour sequence starts again.
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