Historic clock is set for restoration

Glenn Frank, a web designer and resident of Garden Grove, CA, has an album sprinkled with images of a massive four-sided street clock that was located at Buena Park's Knott's Berry Farm for more than fifty years. A few months ago, Frank noticed that the family icon built by his great-grandfather, Andrew Dreger Sr., which had been the backdrop of memorable family photos, was no longer there.

An internet search provided a surprising result. The historic timepiece, built in the 1930's was for sale on an internet auction site. He began making inquiries and discovered that the Buena Park Historical Society, was interested in saving the clock, if funds could be raised.

The group purchased the clock and paid for storage, but is counting on private donors to provide additional funds to finance restoration and installation of the clock in the historic district of Buena Park, where several important structures and artifacts have been preserved by the Society. They hope to have it literally up and running within a few months

Andrew Dreger Sr. lived in Long Beach, California when he built the clock with dials on various sides representing solar times in 12 international cities, as well as the month, day of the week and phases of the moon. The predominant face represents the local hour and minutes in elegant Roman numerals on a frosted glass face.

Taking on the position of task force leader for the project, Frank has worked to get the word out to prospective donors . The website he created to help publicize the project, www.Dregerclock.org, gives an extensive history of the clock, and tracks progress of the funding. It also has detailed photos that reveal the surprisingly simple inner workings of the timepiece.

Unlike traditional complex pendulum driven clockworks, the Dreger masterwork used a small electric motor to power and relatively simple mechanical components which included chain drives similar to the ones used for driving bicycle gears. Dreger, as a young man, was known to have worked in a bicycle repair ship when his family sailed from Europe to Rio de Janeiro before they immigrated to the US over a hundred years ago.

For now the clock is hidden away in a dusty warehouse awaiting the day when it will be restored and again be admired by the public, as Andrew Dreger intended.

if you would like further information about this topic, check the website.

http://www.dregerclock.org