| ANSWERS TO A FEW QUESTIONS OF GENERAL INTEREST ABOUT CLOCKS |
WHAT DOES THE "RA" ON VIENNA REGULATOR PENDULUMS AND SOME OTHER CLOCK DIALS MEAN?
"RA" stands for the French ''Retard/Avance", loosely translated "Slow/Fast". It refers to turning the regulating
nut on the bottom of the pendulum to the left to go slower and to the right to go faster.
"RA" stands for the French ''Retard/Avance", loosely translated "Slow/Fast". It refers to turning the regulating
nut on the bottom of the pendulum to the left to go slower and to the right to go faster.
WHAT IS A "FUSEE"?
A fusee is a tapered drum onto which a cable from the mainspring winds. (You can see one on the Home Page-
side view of bracket clock). The theory was that this would equalize (by leverage) the force of the mainspring,
which is greater when fully wound and less when nearly unwound, thus solving the problem of mainspring clocks
running faster when fully wound and gradually slowing down. This mechanism was not particularly successful,
and eventually was no longer used.
A fusee is a tapered drum onto which a cable from the mainspring winds. (You can see one on the Home Page-
side view of bracket clock). The theory was that this would equalize (by leverage) the force of the mainspring,
which is greater when fully wound and less when nearly unwound, thus solving the problem of mainspring clocks
running faster when fully wound and gradually slowing down. This mechanism was not particularly successful,
and eventually was no longer used.
WHAT IS AN "ANCHOR" OR "RECOIL" MOVEMENT?
The recoil escapement, invented about 1671, was the first invention that made accurate timekeeping possible. It
had a verge, shaped liked and anchor with points on each end. The pendulum moved the verge back and forth,
releasing one tooth of an escape wheel at each swing. As the tooth was released, the "overswing" of the
pendulum caused the anchor to move backwards very slightly. Still used today in many clocks, if the clock has a
seconds hand you can look closely and see the second hand move slightly backwards after each tick forward.
The recoil escapement, invented about 1671, was the first invention that made accurate timekeeping possible. It
had a verge, shaped liked and anchor with points on each end. The pendulum moved the verge back and forth,
releasing one tooth of an escape wheel at each swing. As the tooth was released, the "overswing" of the
pendulum caused the anchor to move backwards very slightly. Still used today in many clocks, if the clock has a
seconds hand you can look closely and see the second hand move slightly backwards after each tick forward.
WHAT IS A "DEADBEAT" CLOCK MOVEMENT?
Invented by George Graham in 1715 (and still called the "graham escapement") the deadbeat escapement
used a simple but brilliant change in the geometry of the verge (formerly anchor) to eliminate the recoil that was
present in the anchor escapement. This change allowed the pendulum to swing in a very small arc of 2 to 3
degrees which, without going into a lot of technical detail, made the clock much more accurate by decreasing the
"circular error" of the pendulum swing. The deadbeat escapement is used in many finer clocks, especially
"jeweler's regulators," and in some high quality grandfather clocks today.
Invented by George Graham in 1715 (and still called the "graham escapement") the deadbeat escapement
used a simple but brilliant change in the geometry of the verge (formerly anchor) to eliminate the recoil that was
present in the anchor escapement. This change allowed the pendulum to swing in a very small arc of 2 to 3
degrees which, without going into a lot of technical detail, made the clock much more accurate by decreasing the
"circular error" of the pendulum swing. The deadbeat escapement is used in many finer clocks, especially
"jeweler's regulators," and in some high quality grandfather clocks today.
MY CLOCK DOESN'T RUN. COULD IT BE OVERWOUND?
The term "overwound" is the Clockmaster's curse. There is no such thing! A clock being wound fully, or the
weights wound up fully, is never the cause of its stopping. Unless the clock is wound with such force that the
mainspring breaks (usually impossible unless you're Arnold), or the weights are pulled up so hard that they jam
into the seatboard, winding can cause no problems.
The biggest single reason why people have problems with clocks that are in good condition, is that they are
afraid to WIND THE CLOCK FULLY, and instead give it a couple turns every day, instead of a full wind weekly (on
an 8-Day clock). Thus the clock is always running on almost no power, and neither runs nor chimes properly.
The term "overwound" is the Clockmaster's curse. There is no such thing! A clock being wound fully, or the
weights wound up fully, is never the cause of its stopping. Unless the clock is wound with such force that the
mainspring breaks (usually impossible unless you're Arnold), or the weights are pulled up so hard that they jam
into the seatboard, winding can cause no problems.
The biggest single reason why people have problems with clocks that are in good condition, is that they are
afraid to WIND THE CLOCK FULLY, and instead give it a couple turns every day, instead of a full wind weekly (on
an 8-Day clock). Thus the clock is always running on almost no power, and neither runs nor chimes properly.
SHOULD MY CLOCK BE CLEANED PERIODICALLY?
Probably the other greatest clockmaster's curse. A clock should be oiled occasionally, somewhere between
every 2 and every 5 years (clockmasters never agree on this). But an oiling is NOT a cleaning. A clock can only
be properly cleaned by fully disassembling it in the shop and cleaning it part by part. This is a fairly expensive
operation because much labor time is involved. That is why I call it a "Cleaning & Overhaul" or "Complete Repair".
Some disreputable clock butchers clean the entire movement without disassembling it. They claim that their
ultrasonic cleaners penetrate everywhere, even into the tiny spaces between the gear shaft pivots and the pivot
holes. Not only is this not true, but there are always other repairs to do that DO require full disassembly, such as
rebushing and pivot polishing.
If money was no object, it would decrease wear on the clock to do this every couple years. But that would be
like having your car's engine completely taken apart and overhauled every couple years. In the real world, the
time for a Cleaning and Overhaul is when the clock is malfunctioning, or there is visible wear and "gunk" in the
clock.
Probably the other greatest clockmaster's curse. A clock should be oiled occasionally, somewhere between
every 2 and every 5 years (clockmasters never agree on this). But an oiling is NOT a cleaning. A clock can only
be properly cleaned by fully disassembling it in the shop and cleaning it part by part. This is a fairly expensive
operation because much labor time is involved. That is why I call it a "Cleaning & Overhaul" or "Complete Repair".
Some disreputable clock butchers clean the entire movement without disassembling it. They claim that their
ultrasonic cleaners penetrate everywhere, even into the tiny spaces between the gear shaft pivots and the pivot
holes. Not only is this not true, but there are always other repairs to do that DO require full disassembly, such as
rebushing and pivot polishing.
If money was no object, it would decrease wear on the clock to do this every couple years. But that would be
like having your car's engine completely taken apart and overhauled every couple years. In the real world, the
time for a Cleaning and Overhaul is when the clock is malfunctioning, or there is visible wear and "gunk" in the
clock.
CLOCKS GO "TICK-TOCK".
Bet you're surprised at this one. No they don't! Not properly adjusted clocks, anyway. If your clock goes
tick-tock it is "out of beat." The beat is the adjustment to the pendulum that makes it go exactly the same distance
from dead center to the left as it does from dead center to the right. A clock that is out of beat will lose a little
power on every pendulum swing until stops, usually between a few minutes and an hour.
A clock that is properly in beat goes tick-tick-tick-tick. One even steady sound, like a metronome. On some
clocks it is easy to set the beat, and on others it is very difficult. But the first thing is to learn to recognize the
tick-tock out of beat sound.
Bet you're surprised at this one. No they don't! Not properly adjusted clocks, anyway. If your clock goes
tick-tock it is "out of beat." The beat is the adjustment to the pendulum that makes it go exactly the same distance
from dead center to the left as it does from dead center to the right. A clock that is out of beat will lose a little
power on every pendulum swing until stops, usually between a few minutes and an hour.
A clock that is properly in beat goes tick-tick-tick-tick. One even steady sound, like a metronome. On some
clocks it is easy to set the beat, and on others it is very difficult. But the first thing is to learn to recognize the
tick-tock out of beat sound.
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