This clock is named “Metals No. 1″, the first in a series of clocks in oak cases with metal trim. The case is 22 3/4 inches tall and 14 15/16 inches wide. The paper face has a 4 7/8 inch minute track, and the minute hand is 2 7/16 inches long. The date code 9981 (meaning the year 1899) is stamped in ink on the back.
The movement is the “hip” style with front recoil escapement (replaced with the No. 89 movement with between the plates escapement ca. 1901). The following numbers are stamped on the front movement plate:
This Adamantine mantel clock with black slate and tan marble appearance has the date code 3981F (June 1893) on the bottom. The case is 10 3/16 inches tall and 16 1/2 inches wide at the feet. The paper dial has a 4 1/4 inch minute track, and the minute hand is 2 1/8 inches long.
The movement is the “hip” style with rear recoil escapement. (This movement was used in Adamantine clocks until replaced by the No. 89 movement in 1901.
Repair job 5979. I polished pivots and installed 5 bushings. The mainsprings were too wide so I replaced them. The mainsprings I used are CML 175.3 from Mile High Clock Supplies. The dimensions are 11/16 inch wide by 0.0168 inch thick by 96 inches long.
The pendulum bob is 1 1/8 inches diameter and weighs 2.4 ounces. It is old and may or may not be original.
Here is an early Big Ben alarm clock, made during the second year of preliminary production. The movement has the date code 7 3 9 (July 3, 1909). This is a Style 1 (leg model) Big Ben.
The dial has the early form of hands and numerals (note especially the 7). The words “BIG BEN” are red, and located above the dial center. “MADE IN U.S.A.” is below the center (instead of the usual place below the “6″).
The nickel plating on the bell-back must have been thin, as it is gone, exposing the copper. There is a shallow groove around the front lip of the bezel.
The following patent dates are on the back, arranged in two concentric circles:
Early form of repeat lever, riveted to a steel stud inside the front plate, with a brass tension spring,
Time barrel not removable from back plate,
No retainer for the alarm mainspring,
Deep teeth on repeat cam on third wheel,
Patent dates arranged in circular form near regulator slot,
Rounded key handles,
Keys have brass shanks, not nickel-plated,
Brass knobs, not nickel-plated.
Repair job 5991. Installed 2 bushings (third wheel), turned and polished the second wheel pivots (were very rough from the factory), sharpened balance pivots.
Oiling chart:
First wheel pivots: Keystone mainspring oil
Second through 4th wheel pivots: Castrol 5W-30 synthetic motor oil,
This Schatz cuckoo clock is dated 10 54 (October 1954) on the movement. It is the first one I’ve seen with a movement date. The movement also has RR for Remington Rand, the importer.
Schatz designed and made their own cuckoo clock movement. They made only one movement model, an 8-day, with the design of the bird in the plates.
This style of Adamantine mantel clock case has 4 full pillars and a half-round section on each side of the case. This particular model has black top and base, and marbleized trim. This style is made in other colors, including mahogany. The case is 17 3/4 inches wide at the feet, and is 11 11/16 inches tall. The paper face has Arabic numerals with a 4 1/8 inch diameter time track. The minute hand is 2 1/8 inches long.
The movement is a No. 89, but was made before that numbering system started, and is labeled “4 1/2″.
I just repaired this beautiful Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clock. The mahogany Adamantine finish is in excellent condition, and has not faded much, if at all. The 6 celluloid half-pillars are celluloid with metal bases and capitals. The paper dial has Arabic numerals. The movement is the popular and reliable No. 89C. The clock was made around 1905.
The case is 18 1/16 inches wide at the feet, and 11 1/32 inches tall. The dial’s minute track is 4 3/16 inches diameter, and the space minute hand is 2 1/8 inches long.
Repair job 6079. Partial overhaul. I polished the pivots of the time train only, installed 6 bushings. and tightened the time click rivet. The original mainsprings have the following dimensions:
Here is an early example of a Westclox clock, made while the company name was “The Western Clock Mfg. Co.” This clock was made around 1890.
The movement and its canister were made by ”The Western Clock Mfg. Co.”, and the Golden Novelty Mfg. Co. made the cast case front and marketed the clock.
The movement is one-day with lever escapement. The Western Clock Mfg. Co. had a patented process where parts of the movement are cast from a lead alloy that holds the steel and brass acting parts together. In this early movement, the following parts are made of the lead alloy:
Pillars,
gear arbor bodies,
hour wheel pipe,
balance rim and hub,
body of pallet fork,
The pallets are hardened steel of 4-sided cross section, and the escape wheel has club teeth.
The case is cast iron, well polished and copper plated. The dial is paper, with a flat glass over it. The brass back of the movement canister has the September 22, 1885 patent date. Charles Stahlberg’s patent of Sept. 22, 1885 describes the basic process used to make United Clock Co., Western Clock Mfg. Co., Western Clock Co. and Westclox clocks. To make a wheel and pinion assembly, steel pinion and pivot wires and the brass wheel were held together in a jig while a molten lead alloy was poured in. Then the lead alloy solidified, holding the steel and brass parts firmly in place.
This tambour mantel clock has the unusual feature of quarter-hour striking. It does bim-bam striking on the first, second and third quarters, and strikes one rod on the hour (see video below). The mahogany case is 9 1/4 inches tall and 19 inches wide. The dial is silver plated brass with applied bronze numerals. The minute track in 5 inches diameter, and the minute hand is 2 1/2 inches long.
The dial has no maker’s name, just “Made in U.S.A.” at the bottom. The label inside the back door says:
THE PLYMOUTH CLOCK
Thomaston, Conn.
Plymouth was a division of Seth Thomas, which marketed clocks made by Seth Thomas, but with the Plymouth name instead of Seth Thomas.
This clock uses the later type of Seth Thomas mantel clock movement (made in USA), as described in Plymouth (by Seth Thomas) 1940 Mantel clock, modified to strike quarters instead of just hour and half-hour. The model number 4601 is stamped on the back, as is the date code 11 39 (November 1939).
Repair job 5939. I polished the pivots and installed 20 bushings. There was lots of bearing wear due to the strong mainsprings that this movement uses. The time mainspring was replaced in the past, and I replaced it again with a thinner one (Empire 280-17-505 11/16 by 0.0163 by 96 inches, shortened by 13 inches). The strike mainspring is the original one measuring 11/16 by 0.018 inch.
This movement has rack and snail strike. To allow for quarter-hour striking, the following changes were made from the hour and half-hour strike movement:
The lifting cam on the front of the center arbor has 4 lobes of equal length (instead of 2 lobes) to activate the strike every quarter-hour;
There is a quarter-hour snail on the rear of the center arbor. This controls the number of quarter-hour strikes, from 1 to 3;
There is another cam on the rear of the center arbor (between the quarter-hour snail and the back plate). It has one lobe that holds the rear hammer up on the hour so that it cannot strike. Thus, the hour strike is on only one rod, and the first, second and third quarters strike bim-bam on two rods);
There is a lever on the rear strike hammer lifter lifted by the cam mentioned above;
There is a rack tail on the rear of the hour rack arbor that bears on the quarter-hour snail to control the quarter-hour strike.
When assembling the movement, set the hour snail so that the front rack-tail can fall into the notch between the 1:00 and 2:00 steps on the first, second and third quarters. If there is clicking when the rear hammer strikes, grease the rear end of its lifter.
