LONDON (Reuters Life!) – A pile of old coins which have helped keep the clock mechanism of London’s Big Ben accurate for the last 150-years were replaced on Thursday by a new five pound ($8.29) coin to mark the 2012 Olympics.
The pre-decimal pennies are stacked on the pendulum of the clock and have acted as weights to help regulate it since 1859 when the clock tower was completed and the first strikes of its 13.7 ton bell, nicknamed “Big Ben,” were heard.
The center of the ,mass of the pendulum are where the pennies are applied.