I completely repaired the clock case and purchased a new clock movement with chime box, assembling everything together. Voila! This is an unusual set up in a floor clock. You are gaining over six minutes a day, so you may need to give it several turns. However, Hammond stayed with the manually started clocks and advertised the advantages: In an age of very frequent power outages, a self starting clock would stop when the power went off and then restart when the power came back on sometime later. Would the repairs to get the hour strike and time regulated be a costly endeavor? It is "started" by "winding" a small stem protruding from rear of clock by using two fingers and turning it. Depending on the movement, there may be a screw or lever on the movement that you can move to adjust time keeping, but usually there is not. As the clock speeds up, the owner loosens the pendulum nut to slow the clock down until the nut can drop off. Shows pendulum motion fully wound up. The pinion is another gear, much smaller in diameter than the wheel, and with far fewer teeth. This equation gives us much more reasonable gear sizes. 2) The clock adjusts timekeeping by shortening or lengthening the acting length of the suspension spring which passes through two chops that pinch the spring and that move up and down when you turn the thumb wheel. Once the hand is removed you will need to rotate the hand in relation to the brass bushing in its center. thanks alot i will continue too fine tune. The Escapement also plays one more very important role it provides a small impulse to the pendulum, which allows the pendulum to overcome friction and keep moving. Clock makers method for Mechanical Clock Pendulum Lengths There is another way, its called setting the beat rate. Your email address will not be published. One interesting variant of the verge that turns up occasionally is the recoil verge. This is usually the largest wheel in the clock, and in almost all cases will rotate exactly once per hour. to 53.5 cycles per minute by just adjusting the pendulum length and monitoring the error over a several hour period. It was crooked, angling to the right a smidge. Worked ok prior but not it won't work. I have let it run out each time before I wind it and adjust the speed. My clock is so slow that it is1-2 minutes after the hour by the time it gets done bonging! I'm thinking about looking for a grandfather clock supplier soon because I'd like to make my home look a bit more rustic. Method #3: Using the Time Trax machine. Hi, While length of the pendulum and gear train are related, they are separate factors. The Adams Brown TimeTrax 185 timer is a relatively low cost device that listens to the escapement of the clock and reads the clock's beat rate on a display. Thank you very much for the reply. Also, the clock runs approximately 20 minutes fast even at the slowest setting. Fortunately, they are relatively cheap. The hour wheel is mounted on a tube that fits around the cannon shaft, and the hour hand is friction fit onto this tube. :). It is the original to the clock. Most clocks run 8 days on a wind and were intended to be wound weekly. It all runs nicely after reassembling it but its losing a couple of minutes per day. This is a more involved way and usually just done by clock makers. Time takes its toll on all of us in winter. The vast majority of long case, tall case, grandfather clocks have a seconds pendulum that ideally runs at 3600 Beats Per Hour. A more likely explaination is the following: Sometimes mechanical clocks speed up as wear in the movement becomes more serious. Knowing how to regulate your clock requires either empirical testing over a period of time comparing your clock to an accurate time source and making corrections, or using a timing device, which requires knowing the target beat rate for the clock. Note that the first pinion and last wheel do not show up in the equation they do not have any bearing on the gear ratio, since they do not mesh with another gear. Don't change anything other than push. I use an Atomic Clock to check all my clocks time keeping. Since the pinions are much smaller than the wheels that they are driving, they can be used to effect dramatic speed increases. For instance, assuming the same 1-second pendulum we can use the following gears: Center Wheel: 64Third Wheel/Pinion: 60 / 8Escape Wheel/Pinion: 30 / 8. . I'm hopeful that I will be able to get the right balance now! Without this push, the pendulum would stop after just a few beats. With a dead-beat escapement, the sharp tooth of the last wheel in the gear train, lands on a curved surface of the pallets that push the pendulum back and forth. Tap for a few seconds to quickly calculate BPM without waiting the whole minute. But it runs slow. Pendulum or windup. (NOTE: The clock is level, as I have a small level and it shows that the clock is perfectly level). Bring your mantel clock into your local clock repair shop and they should be able to help you. iPhone Screenshots. help? Apparently a second movement was also used with a slightly different beat rate. I cannot make it chime, Its been wound up This is basically what was used in nearly every Pendulum clock that you might have seen. and only after twoo days of monitoring, its only losing 1 min. I have tried removing the pendulum and rotating the little flywheel to the top and to the bottom as far as the thread will allow but neither extreme seems to make much difference. The escapement controls the speed of the train by releasing the escape wheel with each swing of the pendulum the faster the pendulum beats, the faster the escape wheel turns. When the pendulum swings all the way to one side, the pallet on one side releases a tooth, and the other pallet catches the next tooth in line. Do any of you know of clocks that operate at less than 60 beats per minute? A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight as its timekeeping element. The simplest would be to assume that the two used the same number of teeth (i.e. I think I figured out how to fix the first problem from your answers above, but the second problem has me stumped. Cut some teeth in the disks, so that they will engage each other! I've tried setting it to the extreme + and - and it still runs fast. The Rate Finder will run for as long as you want it to. One of John Harrison'ss clocks is declared the most accurate pendulum clock in the world. Clock makers method for Mechanical Clock Pendulum Lengths. 6) be the pendulum, B be the position from which the bob is let go, and P be its position at some period during its swing. Clocks which use this type of train are called 8-day clocks, and the extra wheel is typically called the8-day wheel. Warning: the hands are often very light and bend easily. With a bit of math, you can show that the relative speeds of the two disks is proportional to their radii This is called the gear ratio. The 2 in the equation comes from the escapement pallets these act as a simple gear with 2 teeth. The pendulum needs to be lengthened to 22.35 cm. Quartz clocks and electric clocks are designed to only run at one rate and you cannot adjust the time. ClockMaster is a clock timing software, in many ways similar to watch timegraphers, but specifically designed to work with mechanical pendulum clocks. Back to menu View Manual. If you have access to the movement and a careful eye, you can count the teeth in the time train and calculate the correct beat rate for your clock. This means either increasing the power (by using heavier weights or more powerful springs), or decreasing the friction in the movement (by using jeweled pivot points). Is there anything else l can do to length the pendulum besides taking it to a repair shop. About the sick rooster noiseif the cuckoo sounds loud and obnoxious it is probably working fine. The PCD is the point at which the meshing gears actually touch, and is the same as the diameter of the theoretically perfect gear. Thanks! In fact there is no name brand either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biDxyjwC88I, How clocks work (in 5 easy steps) I Curator's Corner S3 Ep 3 #CuratorsCorner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biDxyjwC88I), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE8pO3Zq-z8, How A Mechanical Clock Works (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE8pO3Zq-z8), Wood Pre-Craft (Drying, Identification, Selection, etc. (It says "Montgomery ward" on the clock face). I don't know of any new rotors being produced. On some clocks there is a theoretical pendulum length stamped on the back plate. I was wondering is there something scilly I am over looking, as the pendulum it a its most for slowing the clock down. It is theoretically possible to work the other direction to start with the length of the pendulum and calculate the BPH rate it would need to swing at to keep time, however in practice this is difficult, as the critical dimension is from the top of the suspension spring to the center of mass of the pendulum. var year = today.getFullYear() My windup and pendulums quit every December. Hi I have a Enfield mantel Clock with one chime striker You can do this by peening the bushing with a small hammer, being careful not to damage the hands (super glue will also work by the next repair person to work on you clock will probably curse you. The spring is wound-up as a store of energy. The best and most accurate app for Cuckoo and Pendulum clocks calibration. Can You Install Shiplap Directly to Studs? A friend's brother in Calgary AB is a clock fanatic and got my mum & dad's wedding present (1950) working again. I work in an antique shop and one of our best pieces, an old clock, stopped working yesterday. National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Inc (A 501c3 non-profit corporation). Re your paragraph on clocks with balance wheels - do you move the lever towards plus if the clock is running slow or vice-versa? If not real time then just beats in a variable time period, ie 1 min or 2 or 5 or 10 min. Copyright The oscillator circuit uses an old 20KHz quartz crystal, but other low frequency crystals can be used. Any suggestions? Best regards, I then removed the Hour Hand and replaced the Minute Hand and, still nothing. Look again 24 hours later and determine how much time has been lost or gained and move the pendulum clock nut accordingly. Hello Steve, the R stands for retard and the A stands for Advance (or their French equivalents). When the pendulum swings to the other side, the process is reversed. An easy constraint is to fix the ratio between the cannon pinion and minute wheel. Somehow I missed this. Many thanks My wife loves old wall clocks, and has a few that need to be repaired. To correct this open the back door and GENTLY pull straight down of the pendulum (which normally swings back and forth). Hi, For example, if you are using a module 1.0 cutter, a 48 tooth wheel would have a PCD of 48 mm. If it is more uneven, push the leader in the opposite direction and listen to the tic tock again. Your key should slide easily onto the arbor, but not so loose that either the key or the corners of the winding arbor can be damaged when you turn the key. I have recently stripped, cleaned and lightly oiled a 1940/50s Smiths mantle clock. Thanks. Hopefully, modeled keyhole should work just fine as it is common way of hanging stuff on a wall. Pendulum doesn't have enough swing: Most mantel clock pendulums need to have at least 2 degrees of swing on each side of the at rest position. Gregory, These clocks are fun and there is always a lot more to learn! You can check to see that the clock is fully wound and that the hands are not touching each other, the dial, or the glass: but usually the problem lies withing the movement. The cannon shaft is a bar with the cannon pinion riveted to it. Calculate theoretical beats per hour for a pendulum length stamped on a clock plate. This extra wheel (called thethird wheel) gives us the following train calculation: WhereTandtare the number of teeth in the third wheel and pinion. On the rim of the wheel you will see a bunch of circles. Henry J. You must log in or register to reply here. The biggest problem is timing the clock to the correct beats per min when adjusting pendulum length. Ideas? The concepts behind gearing is basic physics, so like any good physics example we will start by considering the theoretically perfect gears two toothless disks like these. If not, there are many great clock repair technicians out there. Ronell Clocks, Timesavers, and Merritts Antiques all carry double ended clock keys. The formula for the period T of a pendulum is T = 2 L g , where L is the length of the pendulum and g is the acceleration due to gravity. Add to cart. The time spent pushing against the locking face acts as a drag on the pendulum which decreases its swing. Good luck. The rack has at least 12 teeth and usually a few more. I straightened that as well. . Ive stripped down and cleaned the movement and re-oiled all the pivot holes. It all seems to work fine except it is gaining approx 5-6 minutes per day. I even removed the pendulum to try to put the adjustment nut back but still could not do it. I have a ship's clock (chronometer) by Wempe. It has a fairly large diameter and a large number of teeth, making it look much like a small wheel. But even this action isnt fully controlled and can fail to maintain the clocks pace. The pallets are mounted on (or part of) an oscillating arm called theanchor, which is attached to the pendulum. The closer the weights are to the center, the escape wheel, and thus the clock, speeds up. IEEE Spectrum, September 30, 2014. The bob will settle lower, making the effective length of the pendulum longer. The pendulum nut is all the way up and Ive adjusted the pendulum weight to the top of the pendulum. Any way to identify this clock? The movement of the pendulum is transferred to the escapement anchor by means of an arm that straddles the pendulum rod, called thecrutch. A test run reveals that the clock gains 57 minutes in 11 hrs. As you want it to the correct beats per min when adjusting pendulum length and monitoring the over. 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Of John Harrison & # x27 ; ss clocks is declared the most app. It run out each time before i wind it and adjust the spent. Time it gets done bonging in many ways similar to watch timegraphers, but specifically to! Nicely after reassembling it but its losing a couple of minutes per day at one rate and you not. Another gear, much smaller than the wheel you will see a bunch circles!