The rebuilding of the missing and ruined parts and the revision of the whole gear have allowed this jewel of physics applied to hydraulics and mechanics to work again. There were many technical difficulties, despite of deepened researches, because there aren’t been found technical documents to obtain the original project; furthermore, different past operations and efforts to make it work had change its possibility of function. A re-planning was necessary, trying to imagine and respect the original Father Embriaco’s idea. Then the following parts were rebuilt:

missing wheelwork;

the escapement gear with inclinate thrust plans weared and frayed;

the swinging basin didn’t provide enough water because of its excessive weight;

funnels and pour pipes were too small;

force transferring rods, not thrusted properly;

the swinging balance wheel had a modified centre of mass;

the four mechanical gears were frayed and deformed by the excessive weight of the hands;

the new copper hands, lighter than the iron made original ones.

Then it was made an aesthetic rebuilding, through the nickel plating of the mechanism like the original

Several divisions of ELIS Centre Professional Formation School were involved in the project, with the technical drawing support in order to set up documentation and operational description to hand in at the Administration of Rome. Technical staff had the purpose of keep on rebuilding the whole bell system, missing since the second World War.

The speech of Pierluigi Bartolomei, ELIS School director:

“Two years ago we thought to do something useful for Rome. […] The idea of undertake the hydrochronometer of Pincio’s Boulevard by the Administration of Rome, was aimed to propose to our young students a way to qualify them as active citizens […] This project assumed more and more educational relevance and became part of School’s schedule through several learning techniques. The teacher explains the mechanism in class, linking it to numbers theory, using scientific contents, then the visit to Pincio in order to put in practice how much they studied. Then finally Padre Embriaco’s clock arrived at the School, was arranged and then began the recovery process. Diagnosis, therapy and daily treatments, these are the ingredients of the success, together with passion and wish of making mark.“