Escapement

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...

In our last episode your local horologist was evaluating the Thomas Adams movement, a collaborative service effort with Jeff the retired clockmaker.  In addition to the items reviewed with Jeff at his house, back at the shop this clock detective discovered more than a few things that were of additional concern.  One significant example was the anchor arbor and crutch. There it is out of the movement (for clarity's sake) but YLH saw something of concern while still in the assembled movement.  The anchor is a central part of the clocks escapement. Its pallets regulate the power to the pendulum. A thorough summary of the escapement and how it powers the crutch and pendulum is here . Short version: The anchor rocks the arbor and the crutch which drives the pendulum.  To have a pendulum run evenly is known as putting a clock in beat  and to do so the crutch is adjusted (often gently bent).  This clock has a very rigid steel crutch, a not uncommon design in som...

In our last episode your local horologist told the tale of reconnecting with Jeff (the master clockmaker) and the daunting offer to collaborate on some clock work. And so we landed on the Thomas Adams English bell strike movement. Yes that seatboard is way off kilter. Something to explore when / if this horological hack ever gets to the "install it back in the case" stage with this beastie. Jeff provided a verbal description of the clock case and the various issues he unearthed in working on the movement as well as his original notes captured when he first evaluated the clock. Your correspondent will skip some of the smaller details and stay on the big stuff. Summarily Jeff notes:  An "Astro Regulator" Time & Strike. Astro?  The back cock is cracked. This particular "cock" is the piece that supports (from which hangs) the entire pendulum (and reminder... that weighs a ton). The "fly" is broken. The fly is the last arbor on the strike train t...