News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:'Temperamental' Big Ben was ringing up to six seconds late by Milner08 on Wednesday August 26, 2015 @04:01AM (#10121697)
Apparently so! I love the idea of them taking off a coin to speed it up and adding it back again once its in time.

For such a famous clock you would think they'd create some kind of perfectly accurate weight, but I guess this gives them more control (Easier to add and remove weight, and why make custom weights when you have a few in your pocket?!)

Re:'Temperamental' Big Ben was ringing up to six seconds late by ealexhudson on Wednesday August 26, 2015 @04:13AM (#10121730)
It's basically the fixed-chord problem, plus changes in friction / temperature / humidity etc. over time probably means the thing runs at varying rates.