ClockInfo.com

This beautiful clock came into my shop for repair recently. It was made by Birge, Peck & Co., Bristol, Connecticut. The accepted name for this style of clock is “Eight-Day Standard Column and Cornice Clock”.

I really like the reverse painted glass tablets in the doors. The middle glass shows “Public Square, New Haven”, and the “S” in “Square” is printed backward. The lower glass shows “Smithsonian Institute, Washington”

See more photos.

Birge, Peck & Co. was in business from 1849 – 1859. The backboard label says at the bottom: “Press of Elihu Geer, 10 State Street, Hartford; which dates the clock from 1850 – 1855.

When the clock came into the shop, the dial had brass grommets around the winding holes. These grommets were not original to the clock, and I removed them per my customer’s request.

The verge (the antique American term for pallets or anchor) had been replaced in the past with an incorrect part. The old replacement verge spanned only 7 teeth instead of 8, so I installed a new verge of the correct size. I moved the saddle (brass piece with the bearing holes) toward the exit pallet to be half way between the pallet tips to make their motions equal (before moving it, it was too close to the entry pallet, causing the exit pallet to move too far and dig into the escape wheel teeth). I also moved the crutch wire toward the exit pallet.

The backboard label has the following headlines:

Extra Eight Day
Rolling Pinion Steel Pivot
Brass Clocks
Birge, Peck & Co
Bristol, Conn.

The label features  a picture of a locomotive named “The Breeze”. The case is 32 1/2 inches  tall, and 19 3/8 inches wide at the top. The dial’s minute track is 7 inches in diameter. The minute hand is not original.

Birge, Peck & Co. was one of a series of clock companies involving John Birge. They used rolling pinions, a form of lantern pinion in which the pinion wires or “trundles” are pivoted on each end and rotate in the brass shrouds. Regular lantern pinions have the wires don’t rotate.

Here is a summary of the Birge companies as listed in “The Contributions of Joseph Ives to Connecticut Clock Technology 1810 – 1862″, by Kenneth D. Roberts, Revised Second Edition, Bond Press, Hartford, Connecticut, 1988.

• John Birge    Birge & Ives 1831 – 1833;
• Birge, Case & Co. 1833 – 1835;
• Birge, Gilbert & Co. 1835;
• Birge & Gilbert 1835 – 1837
• Birge, Mallory & Co. 1837 – 1843;
• Birge & Fuller 1843 – 1848;
• John Birge    John Birge & Co. 1848 – 1849;
• Birge, Peck & Co. 1849 – 1859.
• Clock manufacturing was discontinued in 1859 and John Birge died in 1862.

When setting up this clock, the heaviest weight goes on the right (time) side. The weights weigh as follows:

• Time weight (right): 7 pounds 11 ounces
• Strike weight (left): 5 pounds 10 ounces

The pendulum bob is 2 3/16 inches diameter and weighs 2.4 ounces. The regulating nut is not original, it should be a thin, straight knurled disc.

References:

“The Contributions of Joseph Ives to Connecticut Clock Technology 1810 – 1862″, Kenneth D. Roberts, Revised Second Edition, Bond Press, Hartford, Connecticut, 1988.

“The Greek Revival Influence on  American Clock Case Design and Empire Clock Case Development”, Lee Davis, NAWCC Bulletin Supplement 18, Spriing 1991.

Repair job 5524.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

I repaired this Seth Thomas 44 AG clock movement. It uses 11/16 inch wide mainsprings, and has 4 gears in each train (time and strike). The movement has a strip deadbeat escapement, and stopworks for time and strike mainsprings. This shape of movement is sometimes called a “hip” movement because of the shape of the plates. Is is a fairly large movement, the plate dimensions are 6 3/8 inches high and 3 15/16 inches wide.

The owner had attempted to install a new mainspring himself, and ended up with the tangled mess in the first photo below! (The tangled mainspring is the original strike spring, which is good and was retained in the clock, the time spring (which was broken) is not present in the photo.

The replacement time mainspring spring is a Timesavers 20506 11/16 x 0.0165 x 96 inch spring that actually measures 0.0157 inch thick and 23/32 inch wide. This spring opened out to 12  inches diameter when first released from its clamp. The original strike mainspring is 0.016 inch thick and exactly 11/16 inch wide.

Below is a movie of the movement striking. It strikes hours using the countwheel strike mechanism:

Here is a movie showing a closeup of the escapement and general views of the movement:

Repair job 5109. Besides installing the new time mainspring, the pivots were polished, 7 bushings installed, and some adjustments made to the striking.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

This Seth Thomas Cottage clock has an 8-day time and strike lyre-shaped movement and was made around 1865 (movement marked Plymouth, case label marked Thomaston). The case is 14 7/16 inches tall.

In the past, someone coated the time second wheel with solder (visible on the right in the photos below). I have no idea why they did this. My customer and I decided it was not worthwhile to try to remove the solder. The dial is not shown because all of the paint has come off and it has had a paper face applied.

This movement has 4 wheels in the time and strike gear trains, and uses 11/16 inch wide mainsprings. I installed a new time mainspring 11/16 wide by 0.0165 inch thick by 96 inches long from Empire Clock. This spring opens out to about 9 inches when first released from its clamp. The movie below shows the escapement motion with the spring fully wound. The motion is good but not excessive.

I installed a new strike mainspring also, Timesavers 20506 11/16 x 0.0165 x 96 inch. (This spring opened out to 22 inches diameter when first released, but opened out to 13 inches after 2 winds.) I replaced both mainsprings because the originals were rusty.

Repair job 5072. Needed the pivots polished, 13 bushings installed, the escape wheel teeth trued, replace the wires in pinion T4, reverse the wires in pinion T3, smooth and polish pallets. No oil on the pallets.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

The “Verdi” drop octagon wall clock was made from 1877 to 1893. From 1877 to 1885 it was made with a Welch, Spring and Company label; after that it had an E. N. Welch Manufacturing Company label. The case is rosewood veneered, 31 inches long, 12 inch dial (11 inch minute track).

This example has an 8-day time only movement driven by two mainsprings. The mainsprings are the original thick, roughly finished springs. They are in good condition and provide plenty of power to operate the clock. They are narrower than standard 8-day mainsprings, only 3/8 inch wide. They are quite thick, 0.022 inch.

The escapement is a club tooth deadbeat (or semi-deadbeat, as there is slight recoil during locking). The escapement was patented by B. B. Lewis on August 31, 1870, patent number 106,843.

The dial on this example was repainted by The Dial House, Dallas, Georgia. The second hand is a replacement.

Besides cleaning, the movement needed the following repairs:

• Tighten the click rivets;
• Polish pivots;
• Install 7 bushings;
• Replace one bent pinion wire in the second pinion;
• Replace the pinion wires in the escape wheel;
• Increase the hand set tension.

Here is a video of the escapement:

Here is a video of the case:

Here is a slide show of the clock and movement:

Repair job 5023.

Historical reference: NAWCC Bulletin Supplement Number 12, February 1978, “The Welch, Spring and Company”, by Owen H. Burt and Jo Burt.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

I recently repaired the movement of this Seth Thomas 8-day OG shelf clock.

Before repair, the clock would run for several minutes and then stop. While running, it would go in and out of beat (the ticking would sometimes be even and sometimes uneven).

The movement was taken apart and cleaned. The major problem was that some of the escape wheel teeth were non-uniform. I used the Webster escape wheel tooth straightener to ensure that all the teeth were at the same angle. The wheel was mounted in the lathe and the teeth bought to a uniform height, then the burrs were removed. The pallets were polished, the worn pinion wires in the escape wheel pinion were replaced, the pivots polished, and bushings installed in the worn pivot holes.

The following video shows the escapement action before and after repair:

The following video shows the movement in the case and shows the hour striking:

It is possible that the movement is not original to the case. We suspect this for two reasons:

• The pendulum bob is quite low in the case;
• The end of the center arbor touches the glass when the door is closed.

The movement is labeled “Plymouth” which means that it was made in 1865 or earlier when the town where Seth Thomas was located had the name “Plymouth Hollow”. It 1865 the town name was changed to Thomaston to honor Mr. Thomas. The case label says “Thomaston” so this could be a transition clock made around 1865, or it could be a later case with a older movement. The reverse painted glass is not original to the case, it appears to be a New Haven multicolored glass.

The weights are replacements, weighing as follows:

• Time weight: 8 pounds 1 ounce
• Strike weight: 6 pounds 9 ounces

Repair job 5064.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

I recently repaired a Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clock made around 1905. It has a No. 89 movement. This movement is very efficient in operation, due to the use of a deadbeat escapement. Even with a thin time mainspring, these movements typically take an excellent escapement motion.

This particular example has thin, original mainsprings.

Time Mainspring: 3/4 x 0.0167 inch.

Strike mainspring: 3/4 x 0.0163 inch. (Unfortunately, I had to replace the strike mainspring because it had a rough action when nearly wound, typical of springs that may break soon. I used a new Merritt’s Antiques P-1956).

Many examples of the No. 89 movement have thicker springs, quite often around 0.0175 inch thick, sometimes thicker. After proper repair, this movement will run well with thin springs.

Here is a video of the escapement motion, first run down 6 1/2 days, then fully wound:

Repair Job. 4970.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

I just repaired this beautiful and impressive French mantel clock. The clock is 25 3/8 inches wide and has 2 matching candle holders. The visible escapement and black dial chapter ring are very good looking.

The only major problem with the clock was that the mainspring hook in the strike barrel had pulled out. I securely re-riveted back in place, after flattening the area around the hook, which had bulged. I also tightened the hook in the time barrel.

A common problem with French clocks is a torn hole in the outer mainspring end, but in this clock the mainspring ends were fine.

Here are videos of the escapement, and the clock striking:

Here is a slide show:

Repair job 4889.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Noah Pomeroy received patent number 92644 on July 13, 1869; titled “Improvement in deadbeat verge clocks”. The patent describes a way of making a cheap deadbeat verge from a strip of steel.

The standard recoil American strip verge escapement has just one face on each pallet, doing both locking and impulse. Pomeroy’s verge has both a locking face and an impulse face on each pallet. Note particularly the shape of the impulse face on the entrance pallet (on the right).

Many American clocks in later years had strip verges with separate locking and impulse faces that show slight recoil and are called semi-deadbeat. This post shows a movie of one by Seth Thomas.

The movie below shows it in action.

This movement is from an Ithaca Farmer’s model double dial perpetual calendar clock. The photos below show the movement, dials and complete clock.

Be Sociable, Share!

•