Rowland Emett's "Heath Robinson Clock" - Merrion Centre

Post by **chameleon** » Thu 15 Mar, 2012 2:56 pm

somme1916 wrote: uote nick="Sibo"]Here you go.......http://www.britishpathe.com/video/emett ... machineYes! It's that old!Can someone clarify if it is still there?If you search the net it seems as it's been to Otarion museum of Science!Did Leeds CC sell it?!Grrrrrrrr!John 'Sibo' Sibbald mmm I wondered that too....wouldn't have thought it was council's to sell though.....still, WHERE has that clock gone ? The Merrion Centre is privately owned as are the artefacts within. Old posts elsewhere on SL show similar exhibits from there were being stored in the underland of the centre.

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Thu 15 Mar, 2012 3:09 pm

According to Wiki he made 2, one is in Leeds and the other in the USA."He turned more and more to designing and supervising the building of what he called his "things" – always with silly names such as The Featherstone-Kite Openwork Basketweave Mark Two Gentleman’s Flying Machine, two copies of which exist, one placed in a glass cage in the Merrion Centre, Leeds, the other on permanent display at the Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In the mid-1960s he was commissioned by Honeywell to create a mechanical computer, which he named The Forget-Me-Not Computer. In 1968 he designed the elaborate inventions of Caractacus Potts (played by Dick Van Dyke for the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

ArmleyLass47 · Post by **ArmleyLass47** » Thu 15 Mar, 2012 5:21 pm

Strange that they should have a Rowland Emmett clock in the Merrion Centre, in the city of my birth, but they also have one in Nottingham where I live. It was great to watch the music, the twirling ornaments go round and round. Sorry for the one of us who doesnt like that kind of thing. Ours in Nottingham is now broken and although it sounds the hour with a bell it no longer twirls. I often wonder is it because poor Emmett is dead and no one knows how to make it work again or is it lack of money from the Council???

Post by **chameleon** » Fri 16 Mar, 2012 10:35 am

ArmleyLass47 wrote: Strange that they should have a Rowland Emmett clock in the Merrion Centre, in the city of my birth, but they also have one in Nottingham where I live. It was great to watch the music, the twirling ornaments go round and round. Sorry for the one of us who doesnt like that kind of thing. Ours in Nottingham is now broken and although it sounds the hour with a bell it no longer twirls. I often wonder is it because poor Emmett is dead and no one knows how to make it work again or is it lack of money from the Council??? Glad to see you finally managed to sort out your registion

TenDaysaLoiner · Post by **TenDaysaLoiner** » Sat 17 Mar, 2012 3:16 am

I vaguely remember rows of derelict (presumably condemned) cottages up by what became the Merrion Centre - must have been the 60s. Anyone else remember what it was like before it all made way for the Merrion?

uncle mick · Post by **uncle mick** » Sat 17 Mar, 2012 4:24 am

TenDaysaLoiner wrote: I vaguely remember rows of derelict (presumably condemned) cottages up by what became the Merrion Centre - must have been the 60s. Anyone else remember what it was like before it all made way for the Merrion? There are numerous pics on Leodis of houses/cottages before demolition to make way for the Merrion Centre

Loiner1960 · Post by **Loiner1960** » Sun 18 Mar, 2012 12:53 am

Oh yes. When there was a road and bus stops as the roof hadn't been built over the centre. The garage on the corner opposite the Coburg pub. I will look at Leodis to jog the memory. I do remember a fire outside the Merrion Centre on Woodhouse Lane in 1966/7. Seemed very nasty to the small lad that I was.

uncle mick · Post by **uncle mick** » Sun 18 Mar, 2012 3:02 am

Loiner1960 wrote: Oh yes. When there was a road and bus stops as the roof hadn't been built over the centre. The garage on the corner opposite the Coburg pub. I will look at Leodis to jog the memory. I do remember a fire outside the Merrion Centre on Woodhouse Lane in 1966/7. Seemed very nasty to the small lad that I was. Picture of the service road herehttp://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIde ... SPLAY=FULL

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sun 18 Mar, 2012 9:34 am

uncle mick wrote: Loiner1960 wrote: Oh yes. When there was a road and bus stops as the roof hadn't been built over the centre. The garage on the corner opposite the Coburg pub. I will look at Leodis to jog the memory. I do remember a fire outside the Merrion Centre on Woodhouse Lane in 1966/7. Seemed very nasty to the small lad that I was. Picture of the service road herehttp://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIde ... SPLAY=FULL That's my comment on the Leodis picture, and the garage was Rowland Winn. The right hand curve on the service road was far tighter than it looks in the picture, and we often had a devil of a job to get past bread vans etc which were quite unavoidably parked right on the corner as their drivers completed their deliveries on foot.

Post by **chameleon** » Sun 18 Mar, 2012 11:16 am

Loiner1960 wrote: Oh yes. When there was a road and bus stops as the roof hadn't been built over the centre. The garage on the corner opposite the Coburg pub. I will look at Leodis to jog the memory. I do remember a fire outside the Merrion Centre on Woodhouse Lane in 1966/7. Seemed very nasty to the small lad that I was. Worth having a read through this thread:http://www.secretleeds.co.uk/forum/Mess ... ighLight=1