Can You Imagine Time Machine Tabletop Clock
5413 Features: -Time machine kinetic display clock.-Materials: Plastic.-Kinetic display clock that’s fun to watch.-Just turn it on and its precise mechanism transfers a chrome ball every sixty seconds for the perfect time.-Batteries: 4 C.
Product Features
- High quality wooden spiral track
- 3 drop/connecting holes
- Helix: 14 3/4 long, 9 1/2 inch diameter
- Accelerator: 1 1/2 x 1 5/8 inches Ages 4+
Great Clock but not durable I had the original ball clock back in the mid-70s but it didn’t survive a move so when this version came out we bought a couple this time.Unlike the original, you don’t have to put it together, which was a positive. Also unlike the original, the arm doesn’t move constantly, which turns out to be both a positive and a negative. On the positive side, the arm moves faster than one revolution a minute, which means it is less likely to drop a ball, which happened often with the old clock. On the negative side, the gearing that keeps the arm stationary for most of the minute failed after 9 months, rendering the first clock useless. The arm moves constantly now, picking up several balls per minute.The second clock was found to have been put together slightly off true, so the balls get stuck in the vertical tube instead of rolling to the pickup point. So neither clock works now and they’re not worth sending back for fixing, although I might try to swap the motors to see if I can get one good clock out of the pair.
Don’t underestimate how LOUD these are! I had always wanted one of these, and finally got one a few years ago. I’m still very fond of it, but I rarely plug it in. It’s fine if you’re actually sitting and watching it, but there was nowhere I could put it in my house that the incessant clunking of balls wouldn’t drive me nuts the rest of the time. Don’t even *think* about putting one of these in a bedroom, unless it’s occupied by somebody with severe hearing loss. Other than that, though, these clocks are fascinating and great fun.