Preventing shrinkage
We all know that clock cases suffer from shrink damage from modern central heating. Of course, in days gone by they sufferred from extremes of cold and damp. Cases have been under attack from all sorts of local atmospheric conditions for 300 years and yet they survive one way or another. However here is a tip , see photograph. This bowl of water is permanently placed in the foot of a very large tavern clock with a 4ft diameter dial which is to be found in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The clock was made by John Hawting of Oxford in 1775 especially for the Infirmary. It was restored at West Dean by Nick Dudley, former surgeon, in 2005. Presumably a small amount of water evaporation inside the clock case is recommended practice by West Dean Conservators as the resting spot for the vessel is bespoke in this case. In most longcases the water vessel could just sit on the floor.
Martin Gatto, UK
