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Here’s an example of the Ingraham “Doric” shelf clock. Ingraham made this model for years, around the 1860s to 1880s. There is a patent date on the dial pan in which is lightly stamped and unreadable. The lower glass originally had a reverse painting.

The movement is 8-day and strikes the hours on a coil gong. The gong isn’t original, but is an old one I installed (the clock had a small cuckoo clock gong when it came in for repair).

The case is 15 15/16 inches tall and 9 inches wide. The paper dial’s minute track is 4 1/8 inches diameter, and the minute hand is 2 7/32 inches long. Someone has painted the brass dial pan with gold paint.

See more photos.

Repair job 5685. New strike ratchet gear installed. New click rivets installed. New mainsprings, Colonial Clock Shop 280-19-003 (3/4 by 120 inches, time spring 0.0155 inch thick, strike spring 0.0159 inch thick). Polished the pivots, installed 10 bushings, re-faced the verge, installed new pins in 3 pinions.

Related posts:

1. Ingraham Oak Shelf Clock
2. Ingraham Tambour with Quick Release Dial
3. Waterbury One-Day Walnut Cased Shelf Clock, ca. 1885.
4. Seth Thomas Octagon Top Shelf Clock, 1860s.
5. Ansonia Oak Kitchen or Shelf Clock

This Ansonia oak cased shelf clock is called the “Bedford” according to the label on the back. The 8-day movement strikes the hour and half-hour on a heavy wire or Cathedral gong. The case is 22 1/2 inches tall and 14 7/16 inches wide. The dial has a 4 7/8 inch minute track (outside diameter). The minute hand is just over 2 3/8 inches long from center to tip.

I first repaired this clock in 2004. The time mainspring recently broke, so my customer brought the clock back to me. I disassembled and cleaned the movement, and replaced both mainsprings (the strike spring was not broken but had a rough action that could indicate breakage in the near future). These Ansonia clock movements use thin mainsprings, so don’t let your clock repairer install the typical strong mainspring (this could cause undue wear).

Dimensions of the original mainsprings: Both are 3/4 inch wide and 0.015 inch thick.

Replacement mainsprings:

• Time: 3/4  by 0.0138 by 120 inches (Empire 280-19-009)
• Strike: 3/4 by 0.0147 by 120 inches (Empire 280-19-009)

Note: Empire is out of business and I have only a few of these springs left. I need to find another spring suitable for these Ansonia movements.

See more photos.

Repair job 5535.

Related posts:

1. Ansonia Walnut Kitchen (Shelf) Clock
2. Ansonia Walnut and Oak Shelf (Kitchen) Clocks
3. Seth Thomas Oak Kitchen (Shelf) Clock
4. Ansonia “Cabinet No. 56″ Mantel Clock
5. Sessions Oak Kitchen (Shelf) Clock, 1920s – 1930s

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”

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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.

Related posts:

1. Birge, Peck & Co. 8 Day Cornice and Column Shelf Clock.
2. Birge & Fuller 8 Day Standard Cornice & Column Shelf Clock
3. Noah Pomeroy Semi-Deadbeat Escapement
4. Terry Clock Co., One-Day Walnut Shelf Clock
5. How Much Weight Does a 30 Hour O.G. Clock Need?

This clock with a nice oak case came in for minor adjustments. I think it is a great looking clock! The label inside the back door identifies the model as “Seneca”. It was made around 1894. Tran Duy Ly’s book “Ansonia Clocks and Watches” illustrates a whole series of these cabinet clocks.

The case is  15 1/2 inches tall and 11 3/4 inches wide. The minute hand is  2 3/32 inches long center to tip. The paper dial has 4 1/4 inch time track (outside diameter). Movement has number 5 1/2.

See more photos.

Related posts:

1. Ansonia “Cabinet No. 56″ Mantel Clock
2. Ansonia “Sharon” Cabinet Clock
3. Ansonia “Queen Elizabeth” Wall Clock in Oak Case
4. Ansonia Walnut and Oak Shelf (Kitchen) Clocks
5. Waterbury Oak Shelf Clock with Steel Plate Movement

Sessions Small Shelf Clock with dark stained pine case. Height 15 3/8 inches, width 10 3/4 inches. The dial is paper on a metal plate, and the time track outside diameter is 4 3/8 inches.  8 day time and strike movement.

This is a cute little clock. It appears to be a later design, judging from the use of pine instead of oak, and the simplified case style with no embossed designs on the flat pieces.  Perhaps it is one of the last of the shelf clock style in regular production, and may have been made in the 1930s.

Repair job 5500. This clock just received minor servicing including rinsing the bearings and lubricating.

Related posts:

1. Sessions Oak Kitchen (Shelf) Clock, 1920s – 1930s
2. Sessions “Stratford” Tambour Mantel Clock
3. Waterbury One-Day Walnut Cased Shelf Clock, ca. 1885.
4. E. N. Welch Walnut Cased “Kitchen” or Shelf Clock
5. Ansonia Walnut Kitchen (Shelf) Clock

I recently repaired this walnut cased shelf clock, made in the 1880s – 1890s by E. N. Welch Manufacturing Co., Forestville, Connecticut. The movement is 8-day time and strike. The case is 23 3/8 inches tall and 14 5/16 inches wide. The original painted dial has a 4 7/8 inch time track. The hands are new replacements.

These old Welch movements are very solidly built, and this one is nice in having the extra feature of stopworks to limit the mainspring travel.

I polished the pivots and installed 16 bushings. The original mainsprings are 3/4 inch wide with loop ends. The time mainspring is about 0.0176 inch thick, and the strike mainspring measures from 0.017 to 0.0176 inch thick. These springs are good and were retained in the clock.

Repair job 5493.

Related posts:

1. Ansonia Walnut Kitchen (Shelf) Clock
2. Waterbury One-Day Walnut Cased Shelf Clock, ca. 1885.
3. New Haven Walnut Kitchen Clock
4. Sessions Oak Kitchen (Shelf) Clock, 1920s – 1930s
5. Ansonia Walnut and Oak Shelf (Kitchen) Clocks

This Waterbury oak cased shelf (kitchen) clock was made around 1903 and is called “Amherst”. It is 21 3/4 inches tall (a small piece is is missing at the top, it should be 22 inches tall) and 15 inches wide. The hands are original Waterbury blackened brass Maltese style. The minute hand is 2 9/16 inches long from center to tip. The paper dial of this clock is original but worn.

The movement plates are 5 inches tall and 3 7/16 inches wide, and marked 5 3/8 (referring to the length of the pendulum). This movement is designed to use thin loop end mainsprings 3/4 inch wide. When the clock came into the shop, it had a strike mainspring 0.0142 inch thick, and a time mainspring 0 .0172 inch thick. The thicker time mainspring has caused significant wear to the time mainwheel teeth (the teeth on the time mainwheel are 20 % worn, which the strike mainwheel teeth are only 5% worn). The springs were slightly rusty, and I replaced them with Merritt’s Antiques part number P-1496 in the red and yellow package. I selected a spring 0.0156 inch thick for the striking, and 0.0158 inch thick for the time. The pendulum motion is excellent and the striking speed could actually be slower and still be reliable.

This was one of the most badly worn clock movements I have seen! It was very dirty when received. All of the pinion wires needed replacing. The pinion wires of the fan fly were over half way worn through! The movement must have been sprayed with something to keep it going without being cleaned for many years, and the dust adhering to the gear teeth acted as an abrasive, causing the wear to the pinions). All of the pivots needed polishing, and I installed 12 bushings. The pallets had deep wear grooves which I polished out.

The movement plates are steel (with brass plating for decoration), and brass bushings (they were made like this instead of solid brass for a few years – Gilbert also made some like this, so did Ingraham but  without the brass bushings!).

See more photos.

Repair job 5487.

Related posts:

1. Sessions Oak Kitchen (Shelf) Clock, 1920s – 1930s
2. Waterbury One Day Walnut Shelf Clock
3. Waterbury “Crane” store regulator in oak case
4. Waterbury One-Day Walnut Cased Shelf Clock, ca. 1885.
5. Seth Thomas Oak Kitchen (Shelf) Clock

Cottage clocks (small simple spring driven shelf clocks) were popular starting around the 1850s. This is a much newer one, using the Seth Thomas no. 89A movement, and was probably made around the 1920s. The 89A movement is a variation on the basic no. 89 used in many Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clocks. This clock has a veneered case that is 13 inches tall, 9 1/4 inches wide at the base, with a 5 1/2 inch dial (the dial is a replacement paper dial). It is interesting that they veneered the rear of the case as well! The pendulum bob is 2 13/16 inches in diameter.

This movement has the feature of stopworks (2 extra gears on the left and right of the front plate to limit the range of operation of the mainsprings).

This movement has about 35% wear on the time and strike mainwheel teeth, even though the mainsprings are not outrageously strong. The mainsprings are original, the time spring being around 0.0165 – 0.0172 inch thick, and the strike spring about 0.0172 inch thick. The movement needed many bushings, and most of the pivots needed polishing.

See more photos.

Repair job 5470.

Related posts:

1. Seth Thomas Cottage Clock with 8-Day Lyre Movement
2. Date Codes on Late 1940s Seth Thomas Electric Clocks
3. Seth Thomas Mahogany Adamantine Mantel Clock
4. Seth Thomas Octagon Top Shelf Clock, 1860s.
5. Seth Thomas Red & Black Adamantine Mantel Clock