We recently received an unusual request for spare parts for an electric motor that has been doing its job in an extremely prominent place for decades: in the tower clock of the Lorenzkirche in Nuremberg. The motor has been running reliably for more than 70 years.
Representatives of the Nuremberg City Council, which is responsible for maintaining the Lorenzkirche (Church of St. Lawrence), recently approached our Sales team about servicing an electric motor that had apparently been manufactured by BEN Buchele for the tower clock. The representatives wanted to know whether spare parts still existed for this model, which was delivered and installed in the early 1950s. After describing the model and its workings, our colleagues from the design department indicated that wearing parts of the old motor could indeed be replaced. This asynchronous motor with an output of 0.55 kilowatts was one of the first motors that BEN ever designed. It operates on a temporary basis to move the hands whenever the clock is being adjusted from summer to winter time and vice versa.
In all these years, only one ball bearing has ever needed to be replaced. This shows how robust and durable our BEN motors are. In fact, we often receive such requests for spare parts. The BEN emblem can be found on plenty of old but still reliable drive units – albeit rarely in such special places.
The remarkable thing about our tower clock motor is that the commission was purely preventative: The council wanted to know whether repairs could be carried out if the worst came to the worst. However, the spare parts are not currently required. The motor continues to run reliably. What better news to ring out the old year?
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful start to the New Year!