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The Engle Monumental Clock

This final stage of Engle's clock (Figure 9) consists of nearly all of the original phase 2 clock, plus two additional towers and a new base. The organ movement in the base of the phase 2 clock has been moved to the right tower of the new enlarged clock, where the figures of Orpheus and Linus, the muses of music, appear from two doors at the top of the tower when it is in operation. The nest of bells in the movement that operates the apostles has been removed, presumably to prevent distraction from the two organs. The right tower organ plays its original hymns on the half-hour and the hour, as before, when the apostolic procession commences in the center tower, and gilded false pipes and flutings decorate the tower. The left tower adds the dimension of a patriotic flourish to the clock's theme with a depiction of the battle of Monmouth and patriotic tunes played by a fife organ. Amid painted backdrop scenery and a three dimensional rendition of a log fort, Molly Pitcher appears from one of the cabins, carrying her water pitcher and cheering on the Continental soldiers as they march off to battle.

Figure 9. The final phase of Engle's clock as it was exhibited in the early 1900's.

It is not known why Engle chose the battle of Monmouth for the left tower tableau, other than because Molly Pitcher was a local Revolutionary war heroine from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which is not too far from Hazleton. As history and legend have it, Molly Pitcher, whose real name was Mary Hays, saved the day at the battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1788. While carrying water to the battlefront for the thirsty soldiers (thus the nickname Molly Pitcher), she saw her husband John Hays fall mortally wounded while loading a cannon. Mary cast her pitcher aside and took her husband's place and "with tears running down her face, she rammed that cannon until the battle was won." According to legend, Washington personally gave her the rank of sergeant for her heroism.

The organ movement in the left tower plays six patriotic tunes in sequence on fife pipes as the Continental soldiers march to war. The tower is activated manually; presumably between the times the center and right tower are operating, by the ever-present "lecturer." Both organ movements (Figure 10), although similar to some Black Forest organ movements, appear to be specially designed for the clock, since the same unique alloy used in the other movements is also in the organ gears and castings. The fife organ, (forefront in Figure 9) sits on its side, so the extended axle holding the drum can rotate the turntable (background, Figure 9) for the battle of Monmouth figures.

The tellurian in the base of the third phase clock is especially fascinating. A six-inch globe rotates every 24 hours with the moon making its orbit around the earth every 29 and 1/2 days, and an elliptical dial, 25 inches in diameter, rotates around the earth every 365 days. The elliptical dial has the constellations, zodiac signs, and months of the year painted on a dark background. The whole tellurian is set in a box eight inches deep in the center of the base, below the center tower, and geared so that an hourly tug on a wire from the main clock movement to the tellurian mechanism advances the system. The basic mechanism for the tellurian was patented by Engle, and smaller models were manufactured as educational tools in astronomy.