I repaired this Gilbert “Parole” shelf or parlor clock that was made about 1880. The walnut case is 19 1/4 inches tall. I polished the pivots and installed bushings (a previous repairer had punched the pivot holes to try to close them).
The clock had its original mainsprings, both of which were marked “W. Barnes Patented Nov. 27, 1866″. The strike spring was quite thick (0.02 inch). Both springs were stiff and very hard to remove from the mainwheels. I installed new Merritt’s P-1956 mainsprings that are 3/4 by .0165 by 96 inches. They provide a good escapement action and striking speed. Gilbert clocks of this type take a large pendulum swing with a small amount of supplementary arc (overswing) due to the design of the recoil escapement. I slanted the back of the mainspring arbor hooks to make the mainsprings easier to remove for future cleaning.
I recently repaired this clock. The movement was ugly to start with, because a previous repairer had soldered bushings to the front and rear escape wheel pivot holes (see slide show below). The pivots were bent in the process.
I removed the unsightly bushings, removed the solder and straightened the bent pivots. The pivots were polished, the worn trundles on three pinions replaced, and the necessary bushings installed (I use KWM size American made bushings, friction fit). I made and installed new click rivets, and replaced the unreliable brass clicksprings with spring steel wire.
Time mainspring is quite thin at 0.0168 inches, yet the escapement takes great motion (in the escapement closeup movie the clock is 7 days run down).
I just finished repairing this 1919 Gilbert Mantel clock (the movement has “19″ stamped on the front plate, meaning 1919). This movement has nickel plated steel plates with brass bushings. The brass bushings can be reamed and bushings installed, just like a movement with normal brass plates. This movement needed all the train wheel pivots polished, even the first wheel pivots, which were probably rough when the clock left the factory.
I replaced the trundles (wires) in the escape wheel pinion because they had notches worn in them. The cannon pinion has a crack, and was repaired in the same way as the previous Gilbert movement.
The video below shows the recoil escapement of this movement in action. The clock was run down about 8 days here, notice that it takes an excellent motion. The mainsprings are the original 3/4 inch wide springs. The time spring is 0.0173 inches thick, and the strike spring is 0.017 inches thick. They provide plenty of power and there is no reason to replace them (if they were being replaced, thinner springs about 0.0165 inch or thinner should be used).
Here is a slide show of the movement, gears, cracked cannon pinion, and 2 of the pivots that I polished.
I recently repaired an Ithaca grandfather clock. Ithaca is famous for its double dial perpetual calendar clocks, and they made grandfather clocks from ca. 1898 until 1917 (when Ithaca closed).
This clock has an 8 day time and strike movement made by Gilbert Clock Co. in Winsted, Connecticut. It is spring driven, and is a modified version of their shelf clock movement, changed to use a long pendulum. The escapement is a “strip” semi-deadbeat type. It is very nearly deadbeat, there is only a very slight recoil on the entrance pallet. The movie below shows the action of the escapement.
I made the following repairs to the movement (in addition to other small things not mentioned):
Polished the pivots;
Broached out previous bushing that were too tight;
Replaced 4 worn bushings;
Replaced the strike click and spring (it had a previous replacement that had solder globs and was a sloppy fit on its rivet. I used a steel click spring (instead of the brass one that came with the replacement click) and made a custom steel rivet to secure the click;
The cannon pinion was split, which removed the hand set tension. First, I pressed the pinion onto a tapered piece of steel rod to open the crack slightly, and squeezed the end of the split tooth closed. Then I secured the pinion to the arbor with a machinist’s clamp (put the center arbor and the hour wheel between the movement plates and screw them together so that the correct end shake can be obtained), held the arbor in a vice, drilled a cross hole through the pinion and center arbor, then installed a steel pin to secure it.
Train count:
Center wheel: 26 teeth
Third wheel: 39 teeth, 8 pins
Fourth wheel: 44 teeth, 10 pins
Escape wheel: 34 teeth, 10 pins
This works out to 3792.35 beats per hour; 63.21 beats per minute or 1.05 beats per second.
