Greener pastures

In our last episode your local horologist had an opportunity to do a very modest adjustment of an 18th century English-style (and actually Dutch) tall case clock. Paul and Jane had reached out again...

The clock was ticking away just fine but now they reported a couple new issues.

Our Dutch friend was sometimes a strike behind, meaning that it is was striking 7 times at 8 o'clock, 3 times at 4, etc. 

But only sometimes. 

Hmm...

Also the moon dial was not turning and had before.

OK. 

YLH went over to take another look and after discussing the issues above it was agreed that the clock needed to come back to the shop. 

Important to note is that the movement and related works can be serviced without the case. A recent addition to the shop was a tall case movement stand custom made by Johnson Arts.

An additional feature of sliding panels proposed by the Johnson Arts majordomo proved to be invaluable in the accommodation of the extremely wide placement of the cabling anchors for this clocks three weights.

The robust stand stood up well to the three 16 pound weights and the large brass movement. Some photographers sandbags on the stand bracings kept everything steady as a rock. Now the whole thing was probably closer to 80 pounds of weight.

Once firmly planted it was time to inspect the beastie more closely.

Overall the movement was in excellent shape for a clock that is about 270 years old. 

Paul attested that the clock was made in the 1750's. 

An inspection found this etched inside the dial plate:

Yes far too rough a scribe to be attributed to the maker however if it is an accurate date scratched in by the owner(s) at some point, our Dutch friend is 270 years old this year.

The clock has clearly been serviced by many different clockmakers over the centuries. In some cases it has been bushed with great care but also soldered rather poorly in places and badly marked up in others.

But credit due. The thing is built like a tank and with continued service likely will run another 270 years.

YLH took about a million photos and will not bore the kind reader with endless details but suffice it to say this was an incredible learning opportunity.

"First do no harm" echoing around this surgeon's brain, probably a full hour was spent scanning the inner works before an attempt was made to remove the hands and dial.

Hands were removed.

Then the 4 pins for the dial plate. The dial is attached to the movement by four posts, each pinned in to a corner of the movement. Here's an example:

Easy now... and... yes the whole dial came off easily. It's huge.

That photo of the movement on the stand earlier showed the back plate of the movement. Pretty simple.

With the dial off we can now take in the front plate of the movement. Not so simple.

Holy cow is that a double snail?

It is. I've never even heard of that.

The outer one is a smooth snail and the inner one is notched.

The inner snail is classic part of the striking mechanism. The outer snail... 

I don't know what it's for. Yet.

That lever on that other wheel? Beats me.

Ahem.

Thankfully much of what was visible conformed to the classic elements of mechanical horology. 

Therefore this diagnostic detective suspected that the striking problem reported by the owners of our fine clock was probably going to be found somewhere in these elements:

Welp...

Adventures ahead!

Stay tuned.