Sunday

Later C40A WT on eBay(UK)

 This is a rare item being sold from a private collection due to not being used and to allow another industrial clock collector to have the benefit of it. It is a GENTS OF LEICESTER PULSYNETIC ELECTRIC WAITING TRAIN for turret clock operation.

It operates on 24v DC supply and receives 30 sec pulses from the master clock.
It requires a stand to set it on for operation and display. It is complete with its pendulum and has rear mounted transmission set and first transmission joint was used for a 4 way turret clock motion work.

 Due to the size and weight I can not pack and post, it must be collected by the winning bidder This is a very rare item and please do not bid if you are unsure about completing the transaction, if you would like to view before bidding, this I would recommend, please contact me. I will only accept payment on collection, so please do not pay before you receive a invoice and do not bid unless you are prepared to follow this requirement. I will do all I can to assist in the collection.



A later C40A, No.609 which looks very complete with one small omission. There is no time setting handle. They do seem to fall off and get lost.

A box-protected crown and bevel wheel cluster is present. I think I can just see an engraved, time setting dial through the front aperture of the protective gear case.

With luck the movement should clean up nicely with no more than dilute washing up liquid and a cloth. Originality of finish being a mark of the age and history of any turret clock movement. Any attempt to dismantle the movement should recognise the fragility of the coil tails and the weight of the coils.

This later WT movement could probably date back to the 1950s. It has the sloping mainframe casting over the drive electromagnets and all small components are plated. The electromagnet coils are bandaged for protection and the contact steady bars are pressed. The uniform grey finish is also a sign of Gents' later work. Though it is not from the last phase where socket head screws replaced the earlier slot-head type. There is no "Pulsynetic" or "Electric" lettering added to the main casting end elevations.

I have done my best with the original auction images for posting on the blog. Increased size, sharpened and increased contrast. A fawn packaging cardboard background would have avoided confusing the camera with this very light background. 

The vendor is asking £2500 for a first bid. This seems rather ambitious even though WTs do not come up very often on eBay. Given the asking price one might have thought some effort would be made to have it cleaned professionally and to provide some form of delivery service. The vendor obviously assumes it is a seller's market. We shall see. 

Well, this WT did not sell. It may be unusual but the market knows the rough value of a later WT and this one was not a £2500 example. An earlier, but quite similar example, with an original oak clock bench did not sell for much less than the starting price of this one. I think that one stopped at under £1400 without reaching an unspoken reserve.  


Click on any image for an enlargement. 
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2 comments:

nickclock said...

FYI this is serial number 609.
It works fine and I will gently clean it shortly. As you noticed the setting handle's missing and I'm looking for a pattern to copy. Your (presumably Gents) drawings look as good as any. So many of the handle photos on the web look much older or later replacements.
Great blog by the way.

Chris.B said...

Hi nick

Thanks for your comment and kind words. Congratulations on obtaining your WT! Pictures of the cleaned WT movement would be much appreciated.

Re: Time setting handles: If you look at my earlier post you will find the majority have a simple plated steel(?) gently tapered crank with a white, glazed china handle. (Urls don't work in blog comments so just copy and paste into your browser)

http://waitingtrain.blogspot.dk/2008/10/different-wt-movements.html

The crank will need to be fitted with a friction tight bush to fit the end of the worm/ratchet wheel shaft.

My own (missing) wooden handle came from a charity shop, pepper mill. White china handles and plated steel cranks might be found on similar objects if you look hard enough. Reproduction lamp pull cords might be another source of white china handles.

Regards
Chris