|
TING-TANG
OR BIM-BAM?
The
Differences between Ting-Tangs and Double striking movements.
The
main characteristics of the so called Ting-Tang are that the clock
strikes on the quarters, striking one double strike on the first
quarter, two double strikes on the half past and three on the quarter
to. They generally then strike just single strikes on the hour to the
amount of that hour. They are more correctly called Quarter Chiming
clocks but so are Westminster type clocks and this is why Ting-Tangs
have their own name.
This
fine German ting-tang is in my own collection.
Bim
bam clocks are somewhat different, usually only striking on the half
and the hour. The half hour with a single double strike and then double
strikes corresponding to the hour. More significantly, Bim-Bam clocks
have lesser quality movements than Ting-tangs but there are exceptions
to this.
There are many styles in both types so there should be a clock to suit
everyone but you should remember that as quarter chimers are more
popular and usually better quality they are more expensive to buy. On
the other hand, don't be tempted by the very poor quality, modern
versions of the Bim Bam as they wear out very quickly. Some of the best
value Bim Bam clocks are the large Smiths mantel type which are a
substantial movement in very pleasing wooden cases.
As for Ting Tang clocks, there are many excellent examples, mostly of
German origin and in my experience they all tend to be of good quality
and a pleasure to own.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSIDE
OUT (part one)
THE
MYSTERIOUS CLOCK REPAIRERS ART REVEALED
For
those of us that have no idea of how a clock works the sight of a clock
movement can look like a random collection of gears and wheels, a
morass of brass and iron jumbled together in no particular order. Many
clocks that have been 'opened up' by Uncle Fred in an attempt to put it
right probably ended up with the clock still in bits and some pieces
missing. Even if uncle Fred put the clock back together it probably
wouldn't run well or even run at all. This kind of story has done much
to create a myth that the clock repairer cast some magic in his
workshop, some arcane spell before he begins work. Or maybe he has a
golden box in the corner where he keeps several tiny clock repairing
elves that come out and throw magic dust and the clock starts running
once again. It is not magic.
If patience and careful working practices are considered magical then
magic it is, but it is mainly down to experience - lots of it! Though
the principals of how clocks and watches work remain the same there are
many types of clock movements and thousands of different configurations
of hardware between the plates. To the unwary or the inexperienced
putting a clock back together can be like trying to finish the
unfathomable puzzle. This article certainly will not help you to become
an expert on clock movements, it would have to run for many years to do
that but it should give to an insight into what goes wrong and how it
effects the clock.
Is
it a clock or a box of bits?
Being
a clock maker and repairer is a little like being a doctor, in
fact that is what the repairer is - a clock doctor. The first time he
sees the patient he asked what the symptoms are. Once the symptoms are
known the 'doctor' has already formed some opinion of what the trouble
may be but more probing has to be done. This is achieved by taking out
the movement and assessing the mechanism using previous knowledge,
experience and an open mind. If the clock doctor is to estimate a cost
to the customer he has to be somewhere near, so he has to keep an open
mind to what the problem may be. If every time a slow running clock
came in and it was considered dirt was the problem, it may transpire
that the culprit was actually a worn mainspring and no repairer wishes
to strip a movement twice just because got it wrong the first
time.
No
mystery - just experience, patience and good working
practices.
As
stated, there is no substitution for experience and the clock repairer
needs plenty
of this if he or she is to have any success but they also require a
tried and tested 'modus operandi'.
The first job is to completely strip the clock, this is essential if
every potential problem is to be found, then all the parts need to be
cleaned so that they can be inspected with a magnifying lens. Not all
damage and wear can be readily seen by the naked eye. Record keeping
also plays its part, every stage has to be logged for future reference
as some work can take a considerable time.
Once the culprit or culprits have been identified, the clock then has
to be prepared for work. It is not necessary to have 'operating
theatre' conditions but it is obvious that cleanliness is paramount.
There is no sense in cleaning the parts to have them become dirty again
as you work and as dirt causes wear it is important to keep it out at
all times.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INSIDE
OUT (part two)
THE
MYSTERIOUS INTERNALS OF CLOCKS REVEALED
Here
we delve into the mystic art of the clock repair in an effort to see
what exactly goes wrong with our clocks. Here we concentrate on the old
enemy, Wear.
"My clock stopped running about a week ago, it's funny 'cos it's been
running for 10 years without any trouble. Can you fix it?" This is how
many clocks come to our workshop. We say 'yes we can fix it and it will
cost this much'. The work is duly carried out, the clock is paid for
and collected and everyone is happy. The customer gets home, reads the
details of the work on the receipt and has no idea what it means. With
words such as 'click spring', 'suspension', 'bushed holes' and 'fusee'
it seems like the whole magical art has it's own arcane language. The
truth is that there is no 'magic' and every industry has it's own
terminology, it is what make them different. I used to work in the
entertainment industry where there seems to be an inordinate amount of
phrases, I was once told to 'look behind the treads'. A couple of hours
later after a frustrating time looking for 'the treads' I was told that
'treads' is theatre for 'steps'.
In an effort to help in this matter this article should help you
understand what goes wrong with your clock and what the terminology
means.
As mentioned elsewhere on this site, the most common cause of a clock
stopping after years of faithful service is wear. Second to that is
dirt or old oil, which causes wear in the long term. So what is wear
when applied to clocks?
This
enlarged image shows a badly worn hole
Every
moving part (and there are lots of them) in a clock is subject to wear
but the most likely cause of a clock slowing or stopping is worn pivot
holes. What are pivot holes? I hear you say. Pivots are the extreme ends
of the many shafts in a clock that carry wheels (gears or cogs) and
pinions. (Pinions are smaller gears that usually mesh into the wheels.)
Pivot holes are holes in the movement plates which the pivots are
located into and allow the shafts to turn with a minimum of friction.
As friction is the arch enemy of free movement then if wear occurs in
these holes then the clock will slow down. What happens is that the
pivot, which is hardened steel cuts into the soft brass of the clock
plate causing a keyhole or slot shape, this cutting action creates tiny
particles of worn brass which collects around the pivot hole and
creates a 'cutting paste' causing even more wear. Of course this action
is alleviated by using the correct oil but even the correct oil will go
'off' after prolonged use and cause it's own set of problems.
Consider
your car, if you run it with the same oil in the engine for 30
years it would certainly fail. If you ran it with no oil in it at all,
the consequences would be drastic within a few minutes. It is the same
with a clock but because of the relatively slow operation of the
movement it just takes a little longer to fail.
You are now probably wondering why the clock plates are made of soft
brass. The simple reason is that if the clock plates were as hard as
the pivots, the pivots would wear and repair or replacement of pivots
is always expensive. It is much easier and cheaper to drill out
the pivot and fit a bush made from bronze or the correct specification
of brass. The shafts can then run in new pivot holes as they did when
the clock was new. In severe cases the pivots themselves can be worn,
this is normally due to the clock being run long after it needed repair
or the diabolical practice of 'punching' the holes to make them
smaller. Worn pivots, as stated earlier are expensive to fix which is
why regular servicing is advisable.
A
magnified image of a pivot. Notice the wear - the shaft should be
parallel.
Another
problem area in which wear can cause poor running or a stopped clock is
the escapement. Once again we have a hardened steel anchor (this is the
device which interrupts the turning of the clock to create the 'tick',
and the power to move the pendulum or balance wheel) meshing into a
soft brass wheel. The strange thing here is that it is the hardened
steel which usually wears first rather than the brass wheel. When the
escape anchor wears out it's pallets (the hard working faces of the
anchor) it leaves valleys or ruts making the action of the escape much
exaggerated which causes the 'beat' of the clock to go out. This can
cause bad or erratic time keeping and eventually stop the clock. A worn
escapement is never easy or cheap to fix but is worth doing to prevent
the escape wheel from damaging itself on the rough edges of the worn
pallets. If the escape wheel becomes worn the cost can be prohibitive
for the cheaper clock. Escapes do not wear out as quickly as pivots but
they should be checked and oiled every five or six years to keep them
running well and prevent damage from excessive wear.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My
Grandfathers Clock - Advice on keeping a Longcase.
The
Longcase clock is quite often incorrectly called a Grandfather clock,
this name originates in the Victorian period due to a song at the time
called "My Grandfathers Clock" which told the story of a longcase. The
words of the song state that it was 'My Grandfathers Clock' not that it
was called a grandfather clock but over the years the inaccuracy grew
until a whole family evolved which includes so called 'Grandmother' and
'Granddaughter' types.
The
longcase is probably the largest clock you will ever own. It is more
than just a clock, it is a piece of furniture - an aesthetically
pleasing object which tells the time as a by-product, not by necessity.
If we wanted to know the correct time we could keep a much smaller
clock that would state the time with more accuracy and with less noise
and would not require taking up half a room. So why do we have
longcase clocks? They are the epitome of tradition and all we expect
from an ancient timepiece. They look good, they sound lovely and in
many cases have been in the same family for generations, so are there
any drawbacks?
There
are many reasons for not having a longcase clock but if you already own
one the chances are that anything I say on a negative side will have no
effect on your love of the clock. That is to be commended but this tale
is a cautionary one, full of horrors and pitfalls. If you already own
an old longcase it will fit into one of two categories. Either you
acquired it through your family or you bought it because you liked it.
If you are of the former it is likely that the clock has passed through
various members of the family without any of them being too concerned
about the clock as long as it kept running. If it had some repair in
the past, particularly in the Victorian era it is likely that the
repairs were of poor standard. It may have had liberal 'doses' of oil
ranging from cooking oil to wd40 and may not have been cleaned since
God was a boy. The one saving grace is you may have some history of the
clock and it is more than likely that the clock is original.
If you are of the latter group then you may have a whole lot more
troubles.
If
you are the conscientious clock collector that knows his or her clocks
(or you know someone who does) then you may have bought a clock that
you know is good and complete and you probably had it checked and
serviced. If this is you - rest easy. if this is not you prepare to be
shocked.
Of all the longcase clocks that we have through our workshops, 80% of
them have critical wear, which is to say that the wear is so great that
many parts have to be replaced. Of the other 20% half of them are
little more than scrap.
Only
a small amount of movements that come through require a normal service
and a few repairs to get them running well once more. With that said
this does not mean that the clock you have is a pile of scrap, far from
it. This figure is taken from just the clocks that come through the
workshops which means they had stopped or were not running well. If
your clock is running well then it is probably fine, but if you know it
has not had a service for many years it may well be time to let someone
have a look at it. Just in case.
You may say that a clock repairer will say that, after all we are in
the business to make a living, but think of it this way. A service will
cost a fraction of replacing gears and shafts and you will also have
the piece of mind of knowing the clock is fine. On the other side of
the coin, as the 'clock doctor' I do not look forward to telling the
owner that the patient is about to expire. It is much easier to tell
them that the patient has been unwell but after a short course of
treatment will be back to it's former self.
A
good example of this is a clock brought in due to the fact that it
stopped some years ago and the owners were tired of seeing the clock
stood, looking good but not running. It was brought to us and we had
some very bad news for them. Firstly, the movement wasn't the original
to the dial and had been altered to fit but in doing so had caused the
clock to run with a shaft rubbing against part of the bracket. This had
caused damage. There were also some horrible repairs that had been
undertaken, called 'punching'. Punching is a diabolical practice
sometimes perpetrated by amateur repairers and unfortunately by a few
poor 'professionals'. This 'punching' is a 'quick fix' which if not
attended to very shortly can wear out the shafts, a very expensive job
to put right. It is a very common sight on longcase clocks, very few do
not have a least one hole which has been punched. There was also a
great deal of wear on the pinions (gears) of this clock which
all-in-all brought me to the conclusion that there were no options for
the clock. The cost of repair outweighed the worth of the clock. If the
movement had been the original it may have been worth repair but as it
was an ordinary 30 hr, we advised the customer to scrap the movement.
It is rare that I advise this but in some cases repair is pointless.
The movement was scrapped and a replacement movement was found which at
least will keep the clock as a working piece, but consider if the
movement had been the original? Replacement would have seriously
effected the worth of the clock.
This
greatly enlarged image shows the horrible practice of
'punching'.
I
think overall the problem revolves around the way the clock is
acquired. If you went out and spent £5000 on a 1780 longcase you would
want to know that the clock was in good order. Few people would dream
of handing over that much cash without knowing the clock was in tip-top
shape. On the other hand, if you acquired the clock through inheritance
you may not be so choosy about how well the clock works or how dirty
the movement is simply because it either cost little or was free. Yet
to have a longcase overhauled may cost a great deal of money
irrespective of how you acquired it.
In conclusion, don't be put off by these problems. A longcase clock can
give a vast amount of pleasure and can be an investment.
If
you are looking to buy one make sure you ask someone who really knows
to check the clock over and don't assume the cheap example in the
auction room is a good buy, if it's only attracting low bids there is
probably a reason. Generally, auction rooms know virtually nothing
about clocks, the best ones to go for are those auction rooms which
specialise in clocks but they tend to sell the better and more
expensive examples. Look for a clock that is original, has a well kept
case without worm and is complete and working. If it doesn't work don't
buy it. When you are sure you have the right clock then have the
movement serviced and then find out the correct way to set the clock
up.
This
done the
clock should cost you very little over the years.
If you have a longcase that you know has not been serviced for some
years, think about having it done before the 'rot' sets in. Most of
all, enjoy your clock - and don't have nightmares.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
RIGHT TIME TWICE EACH DAY!
A Closer Look at Why Clocks Stop
When
the clock repairer tells you that your clock has stopped because it
needs a service, he may not be telling you much of the details but he
could be sparing you a lot of 'odd' terminology and several hours with
a clock glossary. Here we try to explain in detail why clocks stop and
what has to be done to get them going.
The most common cause is dirt, closely followed by wear. If we deal
with dirt first, it is true to say that dirt effects the pivots (the
ends of the shafts in the movement) more dramatically due to the fact
that the friction at this point stops the clock so easily due to the
gearing of the clock. Dirt in this area is caused by several things,
old oil that has not been changed for some years compounded by dust and
fragments of worn brass from the pivot running in the hole. This mud
solidifies and stops the clock. Dirt can also cause problems on the
escapement in the same way. Though dirt on other parts of the clock are
not so dramatic and are unlikely to stop the clock, a build up of dirt
can cause wear to the gears over long periods. At one time people used
to put a small tray of oil soaked cotton wool in the clock case to
'attract' the dust but whether this actually helped remains debatable.
The only true way to prevent problems from dirt is to service the clock
regularly.
A
fusee movement ready for strip down - The dirt can clearly be seen.
The
clock repairer looks at the clock movement as any other engineer would
look at a machine. To clean it properly it has to be stripped down, and
certainly this is the only way to check for wear. Once the clock is
completely stripped, all the parts and the clock plates are cleaned
thoroughly and then examined under a powerful lens for damage or wear
as well as total cleanliness. When all repairs have been finished then
the clock plates are polished and the movement rebuilt ready for bench
testing.
A
small French movement being stripped prior to cleaning.
A
clock that stops through wear can be somewhat more complicated and
costly. If the pivot holes are worn this is a simple job of bushing the
hole and cleaning up the pivot, a worn escape can be a whole lot more
complex. The heart of the clock is the escapement, a rocking
anchor-shaped interrupter that meshes into an escape wheel. If this
mechanism has a problem then it is likely that the clock will not run,
or at least be erratic. New anchors can be made as can new escape
wheels but then the two have to be 'married' together so that the clock
works at optimum levels. This you might say is where the fine tuning of
a clock is done. A well set up spring driven clock can be made to run
as well as a weight driven or fusee clock that is not set up so
well.
One
area
which can be very problematic when wear occurs is the main spring. Main
springs gradually work harden with age and become brittle, also the end
of the spring can tear off their arbours. If for any reason the spring
fails at full or even half wind, it can be catastrophic for the clock,
stripping teeth from gears and leaves from pinions - even shearing off
pivots. It is best to have your springs changed every time the clock is
serviced, they are becoming very expensive these days but a set of new wheels will be far more expensive.
Clock wheels (gears) last for a great many years without trouble but
eventually everything wears out. Wheels can be quite expensive
to replace as are spring barrels which also carry teeth so regular
maintenance with help preserve their condition. The wrong thing to do
is to oil the gears in the hope they will last longer. The oil attracts
dirt and the dirt wears them out quicker than ever.
There
are other things that can stop your clock such as bent shafts or broken
suspension springs but a broken suspension spring is obvious to see as
the pendulum will usually drop from the clock and bent shafts usually occur
from broken mainsprings. With non pendulum clocks the balance springs
can give trouble when dirty and platform escapements need to be kept
scrupulously clean if they are to last more than a few years.
An
1860's longcase movement cleaned and polished, ready for
reassembly.
In
conclusion, most problems of wear and dirt come from lack of
maintenance or using the wrong or dirty oil. A clock is a robust
instrument, not as delicate or sensitive as people think but it does
need a little love and attention. Think of it this way - you will miss
it when it's gone.
|
