University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

Page 10 text:

The Tower Clocks Mark 45 Years of Guillermo Resales, the caretaker of time outside the University ' s traditional timepiece, checks one of the faces of the Tower cli The Tower Clock is another institution. It, is a tradition for the University. The Tower on the main building has . traditionally symbolized the University. It beams a bright orange beacon across Austin after athletic victories, stands sol- emnly pale after defeats. On a tragic note, it has been the site of nine suicides and one sniper attack. Rising 307 feet above the campus, the Tower serves as a landmark, both of the campus as a whole, and as a guide to stu- dents new to the UT campus. To visitors, it is one of the most heavily visited tour- ist sites in Austin. The clocks, serving as the principle means of marking the pro- gression of the day on campus, signify the quarter-hours to the accompaniment of the Westminster Chimes. Guillermo (Bill) Resales, a University Communications Technician, is responsi- ble for maintaining the clocks and insur- ing that they remain on time. Actually, he says, the clocks pratically run them- selves, relying on waves from the National Bureau of Standards short wave radio station, relayed to the Tower clocks through slave clocks which translate

Page 9 text:

a University of the First Class M U u U II II U u u u This generation of Texans has Si opportunity to do what no other Americans have an opportunity to do: to build upon our great beginnings for the achievement of the greatest system of higher education this country has ever known. r Chancellor E.D. Walk Addjess to the Centennial Commission. UT Austin 30 March, 1981

Page 11 text:

y the waves into pulses. These slave clocks, like the Tower clocks, were built in the 30s, and were first run in 1936. To insure their smooth operation, the clocks are inspected daily, thoroughly cleaned and greased every six months, and the exterior faces are polished approximately every twenty years. The Tower clocks have not malfunctioned in six years. This, Resales says, is due to the constant inspections, so that whenever you see a clock on campus, it ' s right on the money. Behind the face of one of the clocks, Resales checks the bearings which support the clock hands. The view from the clock seen by few people since the Tower has been closed to visitors.