When I first started out building the clock, I knew I wanted to be able to strike the quarter, half and three quarter hour. When making the counter section, the last three flips were dedicated to this function.
The idea here is to strike once for quarter, twice for half and three times for three quarter hour on a smaller dedicated bell. The hour strike will be a separate operation and use the big bell on top.
The plan was that every fifteenth ball would be counted by one of these flips or trigger the hour cycle. That working, there needed to be a way to detect how many were flipped so that the appropriate number of balls could be released into the striking mechanism. (Not built yet)
My only indication was the position of the flips after the ball had passed. If you remember, the balls that went through this section would trigger a clutch and reset the other 14 flips. I decided to use that same cycle to operate some arms that would feel the position of these three flips. The first photo give a good look at the clutch arm and how it is geared to the reset shafts. The ratio is about 3-1 so I get good rotation of the reset shaft with little movement from the clutch arm.
First a frame was made to hold the feelers and eventually the bell and striker. It was made in such a way that it could be easily be removed from the rest of the clock.
Next came the 3 feelers. When tripped, they would be stopped short by flips still in the reset position and allowed to travel more where they had been tripped. They follow the cycle of the reset lines for the rest of the flips.
Obviously they will have to do more than just cycle, but one thing at a time.
Now that I can detect the 15, 30 & 45 minute passing, I need some balls to select for the striker.
This is where the second lift rail comes in.