I had heard that some of the delivery trucks has what were called "tattle tales" on board. They were devices that recorded the movement of the trucks, so that employers could see if it were stationary too long (for no apparant reason).

I got this clock at an auction the other day, and I believe that this is the device that I had heard about.

It is missing the paper on which to record movement of the truck, but it does have the arm that would vibrate when the truck were moving and record a more still pattern when the truck is stopped.

Does anyone have other examples of these? (If indeed my deductions are right.) I would imagine that not many survived "accidental" unfortunate things happening to them by various employees. this could be quite rare!

CLOSE UP OF TAG

This view shows where the stylus and vibrating arm are located.

The paper would somehow be attached to this half.

I took it apart this far, and you can see the movement is not of top quality. It seems to me more like a typical alarm clock movement.

Tom, All trucks over I think 7-1/2 tons have a modern Tach-O-graph device fitted, this records all stops starts and Idleing times and also constant speed recording. The paper disc has to be handed in every Journey end. This is a way of stopping drivers from exceeding driving hours and provides a record to be used in the event of any accidents. There has been many attempts to circumvent these devices and if caught by the Traffic Cops Heavy fines result. First one I ever saw was in 1963 but it wasn't law then it was just an over zealous Employer's way of checking on his workmen. Interesting Item you have there, Regards, Ged.