Escapement

In our last episode your local horologist was trying to get the Thomas Adams Astro Regulator English Bell Strike to just run.  Rather to get the necessary repairs, adjustments and various tweaks done so we can see if the clock will function. This in service of YLH's first principle :  first get the thing to run . Your correspondent needs to apologize as he realized that he had jumped ahead rather rapidly in the last episode. Going from the installation of the cords directly to ready to test, he left out some of the good stuff. Specifically all the reassembly, tweaking, aligning, checking, testing and then the final installment of the weights, cords, etc. So summarily, with all those prior repairs in place,  reassembly of the movement commenced. One item in particular that YLH was watching carefully was the formerly bent hammer spring and how it would operate in action. Lots of parts for the motion works  (wheels that operate the hands) and the strike components ...

Patient readers, we have traveled far from what started as a review of parts on Jeff's kitchen counter... In our last episode your local horologist was still working to just get the Thomas Adams English Bell Strike clock  to run. This most recent essay was a flailing at friction to enable  beat adjustment of the movement. In particular that effort was to ensure that the precise angle between the crutch and the anchor would align correctly to the slot in the pendulum. Once again the image of the gizmo in question: Effectively speaking that crutch has to hang inline with the center of the anchor and the pin itself should point straight along in vertical alignment with the anchor arbor and at an angle such that it is centered and perpendicular to the slot of the pendulum and entering roughly at its center. Whew. Like this: Your bender-of-metal will spare you the details but between now being able to adjust the beat and seat the pendulum suspension spring in the suspension brid...

Friction is often considered the enemy in clockmaking. Us horology hounds often spend many an hour trying to unearth what is slowing or stopping a clock and most of the time it is some source of unwanted friction somewhere. Friction between wheels. Friction between a pivot and its hole. There are many sources of friction that can stop a clock. In today's story my friends... we want friction where it is missing. What!? In our last episode your local horologist was wrestling with pulley arms and pinning for the fjords suspension springs on the pendulum of the Thomas Adams "Astro" Regulator English Bell Strike clock (whew). One of the repairs highlighted in that essay was the replacement of the suspension spring and subsequent testing and alignment of the pendulum with the crutch pin. And towards the end of that story it was clear that this effort was lacking something . The regular reader will likely understand that this (any) clock must have some ability to adjust / se...

In our last episode your local horologist was making speedy progress (or rather what appears to be so because of the concise nature of the presentation of our posts) on a number of those early repairs of the Thomas Adams English bell strike clock .  Some readers may know that in a previous life your correspondent served in the technology wars. There is an adage when developing technical systems:  First get the thing to run, then get it to run well.  An early principle (and sometimes the first step) of horological repair work is: First get the thing to run. And once running assess what additional work is necessary to get the clock to run well. Our English friend had arrived in a considerably non-running state and accordingly the first few  many early rounds of repairs and service were to unblock and enable the thing to actually tick tock, much less run well. Perhaps your horological raconteur risks overstating the obvious but great care must be taken with very old cl...

With apologies to the incredible Mr. Le Carré. In our last episode your local horologist was unpacking some of the pending  challenges  entertainment of the Thomas Adams Astro Regulator .  This clock is an English Bell Strike (EBS) clock - a classic style of tall case (AKA grandfather) clock that was extremely popular throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The style is emulated still today. Our Canadian colleague Ron did a nice write up of his service on a 170 year old Scottish variant. Your clock collector wrote about his acquisition of a ridiculously inexpensive EBS that now resides in his dining room.  Our English friend had a very interesting set of wheels that descended below the plates of the movement.  They were... wiggly... as there was a loose screw on the minute wheel cock and a missing pin  / post on the hour wheel cock . With the loose cock screw it was clear that the plate and screw were badly stripped. So your local tap and die man e...