SPRINGFIELD - Time stands still at the Springfield armory and has for some time. Now a volunteer group is looking to do something about that.

A group called the Springfield Armory Alliance is seeking to raise $12,000 to repair the four clock faces in the clock tower at the Springfield Armory National Historic Site at the Springfield Technical Community College campus.

The giant flag atop the tower can be seen for miles away, but take a closer look at the clock faces on different sides of the tower and one will see the hands of each clocks are stopped at different times. The bells that used to signal workers during the day are also silent

Standing on the common at the STCC campus and looking to the east or south, the time is always 4:30. Unless you are looking at the tower from the north, where is it always 7:02, or from the west, where it is always 5:13.

"It's about time - literally - to get the clock hands moving and the bells ringing," said Shera Cohen of the Springfield Armory Alliance.

The group was founded recently to raise money for armory programs that the U.S. Parks Service, which operates the armory as a historic site, will not fund though federal spending.

The alliance's first project is restoration of the clock tower as a functioning time piece.

"So many visitors enter the museum with comments like 'Do you know your clocks aren't working?' she said. "Yes, we know and we want to finally do something about it."

The plan is to purchase an electric clock mechanism that will power the four clock faces. The original gravity-driven mechanism that was built in 1848 and installed when the tower was completed in 1850 has been retired for a decade.

The goal is to raise the money and have the new equipment installed sometime this spring. Smith & Wesson has already donated $2,000, she said.

The clock tower remains a symbolic representation of the city's industrial past and a source of pride, she said.

Armory historian Richard Colton, himself a descendent of Shay's Rebellion participants who protested the federal government outside the armory on Jan. 25, 1878, said 150 years ago when the STCC campus was a working, functioning federal armory, the clock tower more than just ornamentation. It was a critical component in the work day.

"When the armory was working, it was a machine," he said. "All the machines started on time with all the workers in place. When the bell rang, all the machines started."

Colton, at the request of The Republican and Masslive, led a tour up to the top of the tower to show the inner working of the clock assembly. That section of the building is closed to the public, although he said, 100 years ago when it was one of the tallest buildings around, tourists would be allowed onto the roof to gaze over the Springfield riverfront.

The mechanism that ran the clock was set up in a closet-sized space three flights up the spiral staircase just inside the front door to the armory.

All that remains inside the closet is the gray, wooden table where it used to stand. Stapled onto it is a paper tag reading "Repaired by Bill Mason, Wed. March 25, 1970, 12 o'clock noon. Parts made by K. Miller Tool Co."

The original mechanism was gravity powered by 400-pounds weights that would have to be wound up twice a week. As the weights were pulled down, they would move the gears in the clock mechanism, which would turn drive shafts connected to each clock.

The clock system was manufactured by the Ransom Smith Company of New York City.

Even without the original drive mechanism, Colton said "We believe it it's the only one that remains in the original configurations in the original location."

For that reason alone, it is important to have it preserved, he said.

Colton insists that it is still capable of running the four clock faces. But there is one problem with doing that is more philosophical than technical.

"Ten years ago the original mechanism was working for a month after we worked on it just to see if we could get it working," he said. "It worked perfectly... We had all four faces running with the 1850 mechanism."

The reason the same mechanism no longer is used has to do with something the National Park Service calls "consumptive use."

That's a highfalutin term for when you use something it wears down and eventually wears out.

"If you want to demonstrate how a one-of-a-kind object works and you just run it, it's all fine for you and your generation," he said. "But future generations could be denied that because of your indulgence."

Donations may be made through the Springfield Armory Alliance, One Armory Square, Suite 2, Springfield, Ma., 01105. For more information, Cohen may be reached by calling (413) 271-3982 or at shera_cohen@partner.mps.gov.