Answer:
The Irony stems fromthe fact that Layeville had attempted the invention of a Time Travel Machine which in essence liberates man from the constant repeated continuum of having to live out his life in the presence without any ability to go back to the past or visit the future.
The time machine was meant to free man from time.
His efforts was an astronomic failure as the invention went belly up killing the countrys 30 best scientists in one go before an audience who had gathered to view the unveiling and public trial of the time travel machine.
As a punishment, the city build a life size version of the machine which contained a clock and a pendulum as a prison for him. Thus, Layeville, the scientist who sought to free himself from time became ironically but literarily trapped in a giant clock in the full glare of the city.
Cheers!
