SIX PIPS
HIS is a picture of the clock we all go by. Most 6f us would have to look at it for qujte a while before we discovered what time it was saying, even if the details were not lost as they are here: but just’ the same, it is the clock we all go by. Behind its dial is hidden a tiny gadget which makes certain movements at certain times, and those create the "six pips" of our broadcast time signals. So it is the claim of this clock to be the most regular of all radio performers in New Zealand. If it were not, it wouldn’t be doing its job. : The lower one of the two little dials goes in hours, up to 24, so it is nearly 23 houss, GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) or nearly
11 a.m. New Zealand Standard Time. The biggest dial of all is divided in minutes like any ordinary, sensible clock, and the hand is slightly past 47, so it is just after 13 minutes to 11. And the little upper dial, like the second hand of any watch, tells us about the seconds, of which six have passed since the last exact minute ended. Therefore the photograph was taken six seconds after 13 minutes to 11, or if you like, 12 minutes and 54 seconds to 11 (New Zealand Standard Time) or 22h. 47m. 6s. GMT. This clock stands on a_ special masonry foundation isolated from the floor of the Dominion Observatory, an uninteresting-looking brick building in the Botanical Gardens in Wellington, overlooking the harbour. It is
looked after by R. C. Hayes, the Acting-Director of the Observatory. and his staff, and checked at. intervals. by astronomy and by comparison with radio time signals from observatories in other parts of the world. The signals that we hear are six dots separated by intervals of one second, and the last one is on the exact minute. A group is broadcast each hour from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. by the NBS and in addition there are four groups of three signals (on the 28, 29 minutes respectively), ending at 10.30 am., 3.30, 7.30, and -10.30 p.m. And now for the funny part. The clock that does all this is not an.elec-. tric clock. It is wound up with a key.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19451019.2.15
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 330, 19 October 1945, Page 7
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388SIX PIPS New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 330, 19 October 1945, Page 7
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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