

This movement was the subject of a German patent (number 714893) in 1940 and I think it to be very rare. One cannot think that many such clocks were made or that materials were available in the second year of the war.Notes:The principle is that a heater (at the lower left as you view the picture) warms the alcohol in the lower glass vessel. This causes some alcohol to vapourise and the vapour pressure forces the liquid in the vessel up the connecting pipe to the vessel at top right. As the weight distribution changes the wheel holding the four vessels turns and in so doing winds a remontoire spring which drives a normal escapement. In my clock the escapement is a pallet type with pendulum, but I have seen a picture of a Puja with a balance wheel escapement.
I suppose that the merit of this movement would be that it would operate from any mains supply, dc or ac (of any frequency) and the heater (which appears to be a carbon rod similar to a large old fashioned resistor) could be easily changed to accommodate different voltage supplies.
In wartime it would have advantages in that it was frequently found difficult to maintain a constant frequency in the power supply which made synchronous clocks unreliable.
Puja is a tradename used by the firm of Jauch and Schmid who were registered in 1930