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Gilbert Tambour Mantel Clock with Oval Dial, 1928

Bill Stoddard — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:00:33 +0000

This Gilbert tambour mantel clock is unusual in that the dial is oval instead of round. The clock looks as though a clock with a round dial was stretched vertically! The overall height is 10 1/8 inches, and the width is 20 inches. The dial’s minute track is 6 5/8 inches tall and 5 3/16 inches wide. The minute hand is 2 5/8 inches long, center to tip. The movement has date code 28 (1928) in the back. The clock strikes bim-bam on the hour and strikes a single rod once on the half-hour.

Most of the pivot holes have been punched by a previous repairer in a poor attempt to close them (punched on both sides of the plate!). I installed brass bushings to create smooth bearings once again. The canon pinion had developed a crack in the past and had been soldered on. I drilled a hole through the pinion and arbor and inserted a steel pin to ensure that the pinion stays in place. The gear that drives the count wheel was loose on the second wheel arbor, I used Locktite to secure it.

Both mainsprings were original, 3/4 inch wide by 0.0173 inch thick with loop ends. They had a squeaky action during winding, so I replaced them. The original springs had special ends which allowed removing them without movement disassembly.

Time mainspring: 3/4 x 0.0165 x 120 inches, Timesavers 15959

Strike mainspring: 3/4 x 0.0168 x 120 inches, Timesavers 15959

The mainspring arbor hooks on the mainwheels were very tall, so I shortened them, to reduce the danger of mainspring breakage.

See more photos.

Repair job 5446.

Gilbert Tambour Mantel Clock, 1928

Bill Stoddard — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:00:19 +0000

This Gilbert tambour mantel clock is dated 1928 on the movement. The case is 21 1/8 inches wide, 9 1/2 inches tall, and the dial is printed aluminum with a 4 7/8 inch time track. The movement is 8 day time and bin-bam strike on 2 chime rods.

The movement has removable mainwheel bushings, and the original mainsprings have open loops, allowing the mainsprings to be replaced without disassembling the movement. The original time mainspring was stronger than necessary, and I replaced it with a Timesavers no. 18790 3/4 x 0.0162 x 96 inch (the original time mainspring was 0.0177 inch thick. I retained the original strike mainspring in the clock (it is 0.0165 – 0.0168 inch thick).

I polished the pivots. Some of them, especially the mainwheel pivots, were very rough when the clock left the factory. I installed 17 bushings.

See more photos.

Repair job 5388.

Gilbert “Black” Kitchen Shelf Clock

Bill Stoddard — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:00:42 +0000

This clock was made in the mid to late 1880s or early 1890s. The movement bears patent dates of 1879 and 1884. This case originally had a black finish, and it appears to have been overpainted in black later. The clock’s dimensions are height 19 3/4 inches, width 13 7/16 inches, and the dial has a 5 inch diameter time track.

The movement has the unusual feature of a centrifugal strike speed governor instead of a fan fly. The governor was patented February 26, 1884.

The hands are the original Gilbert style Maltese. Note the wide part at the hub. The paper dial has been replaced.

The mainsprings are original “W. Barnes” mainsprings, and are fairly smooth. The time spring is 0.017 – 0.018 inches thick, and the strike spring is 0.018 inched thick. I kept the original springs in the clock, but if they needed replacing, 0.0165 inch thick springs should be used. There was no reason to replace these springs, as they had worked fine for over 100 years, showed no signs of damage, and were not causing excessive wear to the mainwheel teeth.

Repair work included replacing the wires on 4 pinions (T2, S4, T4, S2) and reversing the wires on T3 and S3. The click rivets were replaced, and the wear polished out of the pallet faces.

See more photos.

Repair job 5337.

Gilbert Tambour Mantel Clock with Bim-Bam Striking

Bill Stoddard — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:00:37 +0000

I just repaired this Gilbert tambour mantel clock that was made around the 1930s. It has bim-bam strike on the hour and half-hour. Height 9 1/2 inches, width 21 5/8 inches. Dial time track 5 3/8 inches. The aluminum dial is labeled:

Gilbert / 1807 / Made by Gilbert in Winsted, Conn., U.S.A.

The following movie shows the bim-bam striking:

The movement needed a lot of pivot polishing. The train pivots had moderate wear. The mainwheel pivots were very rough, and had probably left the factory this way!

The original 0.0175 inch thick strike spring was broken. The time mainspring was a previous replacement that was too strong: a Usibel France 0.00183 inch thick. I installed the following new mainsprings:

Time: R & M 83065 (same as their 77.308) 3/4 x 0.016 x 96 inches
Strike: R & M 77.308 3/4 x 0.0165 x 96 inches

The following movie shows the escapement motion when run down 8 1/2 days and when fully wound:

Repair job 5017.

Mainsprings for a Gilbert 1880s Parlor Clock

Bill Stoddard — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:06:15 +0000

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.

The video below shows the escapement action with clock fully wound and then run down 8 1/2 days, then shows the movement and then the entire clock.

Repair job 4957.

Gilbert “Navy No. 26″ Oak Kitchen Shelf Clock

Bill Stoddard — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:19:00 +0000

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).

Movie of escapement and movement in case:

Slide show of movement before and after repair:

Repair job 4772.

Gilbert Tambour Mantel Clock, 1919

Bill Stoddard — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:45:04 +0000

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.

Job 4728.

Ithaca Grandfather Clock with Gilbert Movement

Bill Stoddard — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:50:25 +0000

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.

Job 4795

Gilbert “Lion” Oak Kitchen Clock

Bill Stoddard — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:37:02 +0000

This great looking clock has the original time and strike mainsprings, and only a small amount of mainwheel tooth wear (about 5%).

T: 3/4 wide x .0172 inch thick

S: 3/4 wide x .0172 inch thick

Label on back of case

The 8 day time and strike movement

Back of movement

My job no. 4501