Another job has come in the door, and another problem child, here is a short video of the clock running as it came in.
You ask, but what is wrong….. Well, it runs fine but only for two hours, then it grinds to a halt until you swing the pendulum again…. and away it goes for another two hours.
It does stop with a couple of the gears in the same position each time, so once I pull it down hopefully I will find some problem with meshing of the gears, then an easy fix. Famous last words
Here is the video.
For those that are wondering what the escapement is it is called a Coup Perdu, (which is French for lost beat) this escapement impulses in one direction only, in this case a 1/2 sec pendulum shows 1 sec increments on the dial.
After some close inspection and some consultation with other clock makers it has come to light that this clock is a relatively new construction.
It was baught at auction by its current owner, the clock was listed as a French clock from 1850s, a month going skeleton clock.
When I started to inspect this clock it became apparent that the clock was probably not as it appeared, the screws that had been used on some of the clock were British Association (BA) threads which you wouldn’t see on a French clock and certainly not a clock of the supposed age. There was also Whitworth threads on the pillars holding the plates together. Another thing you wouldn’t see on a French clock. Moving on to the gears there were anomalies here as well lantern pinions for one not usual in French work, moving on to the pivots the work was very agricultural and large unlike French work which is normally fine and well finished.
I was discussing this with a friend who later informed me that he knew who had made this piece so problem solved.
I won’t be doing much more with this clock, it is running which while I was going over the gear train I found that there was gears that were bottoming out at one point by moving 90 degrees the problem was sorted…….
Views from the work bench 