Synchronome No4 Turret slave stopped!

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After a series of snowfalls and sub zero temperatures overnight I noticed the hands on the 30" dial on the shed gable end had stopped.

This is the first occasion such an event had occurred. It had run for years safely protected from the elements. So I am presuming the minute shaft had frozen a little creeping moisture inside the hour pipe. The No4 is a heavy duty slave movement with twin electromagnets and double locking on the impulse mechanism to stop the hands from slipping under wind or ice loads.

Rattling the armature of the slave made no difference. The hands still refused to move. So I climbed a ladder and gave the hand boss area a spray with bicycle chain lubricant. This is a light mixture of penetrating oil and a lubricant. This did not have an immediate affect but later I noticed the clock was gaining on its foolishly early morning time which had shown earlier.

Once the sun had fallen on the dial there were no further problems that day. I advanced the hands to time on the slave movement and then left it to run. Depressing the armature overcomes the double locking impulse mechanism. Allowing the impulse wheel to be turned forwards by hand. Turning the clock backwards is not possible.

I shall have to monitor the dial to see whether yet more frost will bring it to another standstill.

Turret slave dials used to have a poor reputation for reliability. This may simply have been caused by moisture running down the hands to freeze in the hour pipe. There is no reserve of energy to move the hands beyond the normal return spring. This offers a degree of safety since no energy is consumed trying to work against a blockage in the mechanism.

The hands stopped again overnight but restarted on their own. Leaving the hands at completely the wrong time! So I ran some light 'cycle' oil into the hour pipe this time. Just to see if that helps and then reset it to time. A clock dial showing the wrong time is far worse than one set to 12 o'clock and deliberately stopped. Mains synchronous clocks used to to be non-self starting in case they fooled the owner after a stoppage. Better to see the hands have stopped to prove the wrong time is being shown.

The clock stopped a couple of times more after snow and overnight frost. Reinforcing the theory of ice being trapped between the minute arbor and the hour pipe. I applied yet more oil and slave worked again despite -7C overnight frosts. Even more oddly, the dial gained the 20 minutes it had lost and continues to show the correct time after two days. Well, that saved me getting the ladder out again but makes absolutely no sense.  

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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Appeal for a larger [C40C] waiting train movement.

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While image browsing for Pulsynetic I came across an appeal for a C40C by Chris Jobson at Cumbria Clocks. I have no idea of the date of the appeal from the website.

It seems a "historically important" tower with four 8' dials is badly in need of a replacement after the original 'WT' was "lost."

Does anyone have a C40C they'd like to donate? Perhaps they'd like to contact Chris Dobson at Cumbria Clocks.

Welcome to the Cumbria Clock Company - The Cumbria Clock Company

The appeal image shows a gorgeous, pre-WW2, C40B [from ClockDoc's archive gallery] with matching "shoulders" to the upper mainframe. Its greater overall size and heftier construction [than the more typical C40A] should be obvious. A C40A movement was excluded from the appeal as being inadequate to the task.

The Cumbria Clock Co. Ltd is trusted with the service and repair of "horological household names" in nationally important tower clocks and countless others, less well known.

Image of The Royal Liver Building WT movement borrowed for educational purposes from the "Echo" news website.

The Cumbria Clock Co's Facebook page is a mouthwatering collection of unique images and videos for anyone who likes turret clocks. Including several WTs if you keep scrolling down. Though the faint hearted should not look down where dial restoration is concerned. The dial workers must have a real head for heights!

Facebook:  Cumbria Clock Company Ltd - Home

By coincidence the Cumbria Clock Co is working on the Royal Liver Building's south facing dial. The hands had been set to 12 o'clock for quite a while. So they had to come off for the bearings to be checked. Probably the first time in over 100 years that the hands have been removed. The "Echo" published some images and video of the clock room and other videos have appeared on YouTube of the external dial work. The fully listed building has been bought by a property development company. Which automatically precluded any ratepayer or taxpayer's funding being used for the clock or dial repairs.

The original chimes had also been silent for four years before an amplified recording of the original system was recently installed. There was no room for a full set of bells during the original 19th century clock installation. So a system of hammers and chimes, amplified through a very original design of horn loudspeaker system had been added much later.

 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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Grey WT on eBay UK.

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Turret Clock | eBay 

Another C40A WT, No.330, has come up on eBay and is attracting strong bidding. This one is remarkably complete and seems to be in good overall condition. Though with some open questions as to its electrical functionality. [See note below:]

The vendor is to be complimented on his photography. Though the purist will always prefer a blank and neutral background. Cardboard packaging is easily obtainable in suitable sizes to hide any background distraction. It will also also make the most of the item without over or under exposure. No attempt has been made to conceal anything.

NOTE: The seller has now confirmed the coils are in working order. Well worth knowing IMHO. I speak as one palmed off at a Midlands Clock Fair with an expensive master clock with dead coils by a well known dealer of the time.

The mainframe is of the early, organically curved design. It appears to have been repainted grey some time ago. I cannot be sure whether the original dark turquoise (aquamarine?) of the upper pendulum rod is the correct colour for all of this particular mainframe. This same aquamarine colour is seen overall on my own WT and appears thicker and more uniform than this grey.

Later WTs were all painted grey but matching the earlier aquamarine would be possible today with computerized paint mixing readily available. The curved mainframe is definitely early and would probably not have been painted grey at the factory. Later mainframes were painted grey but have a straight, diagonal bar above the pendulum drive electromagnets to confirm their [relative] youth.

The brass/bronze parts are all beautifully gold lacquered in keeping with the period and well shown here. Later examples would have plated details with a matt, silvery appearance.

The coils of the drive electromagnets are bandaged. Suggesting a slightly later date than my own, waxed coils on a very similar WT which was ascribed to just pre-WW2. So perhaps this one dates from the 1940s?

My original concern was the appearance of stray, coil and contact [wire] tails. It seems the main wiring loom [a simple black, twin, coiled wire] running along the base of the main frame has been removed. If the delicate tails are still sound and provide the correct resistance reading on connection to a DMM, then fine.

If not, then major rewinding of at least one of the huge coils may be required. This is almost bound to spoil the original appearance and is very undesirable in a collector's item of this rarity and likely winning auction bid.

Thankfully the seller has now confirmed the coils are still functional. The buyer should carefully avoid any strain on these fine wires during restoration.

The original time setting dial and pointer are present as are the vital worm and worm wheel. The small, hand crank, for rapidly setting the time is absent, but easily replaced. The setting dial itself is easily cleaned and re-silvered with 'old style' 18th century, white, silver salts. NOT modern silvering salts! [See previous blog post for more details.]

http://waitingtrain.blogspot.dk/2017/11/silvering-brass-dials.html

Early, adjustable base, cast brass, contact steady bars are correct for the period and seem to have been fitted with nice, new contacts. The Hipp toggle and V-block are both here.

As is the sloping toggle damper rod. The end would be furnished with rubber hose originally. This was to stop the Hipp toggle rattling unduly and to greatly reduce the chance of a rebound on the return swing of the pendulum. I find clear silicone, model fuel hose ideal as it is soft and does not offend the eye.

A nice compliment of bevel wheels are shown in the rear views of this WT movement. Only one more bevel wheel and several, universal [expansion] joints are missing if it was really desired to run four dials on a proper clock tower. At present this WT movement will drive the hands of only one dial [off to the right when viewed from the front] without adding more [very simple] drive couplings.

These beautiful bevel wheels are always good to have for their rarity and are all but irreplaceable today. Their golden sheen from the deep, original lacquer is always a  delight to see and well shown here in these excellent images.

There is, of course, no need to drive a dial at all. The WT makes an excellent and rather hypnotic, active display item. The usual loud clonks are easily tamed [if desired] to achieve domestic acceptability.

The pendulum bob and lower rod should [arguably] be repainted to match the aquamarine mainframe just to achieve an original, uniform look. Though some WT bobs were indeed painted to make them more noticeable and less dangerous in a dark, confined space like a cramped, clock room. The bob is really quite heavy and, when swinging normally, will punish clumsy or curious extremities. This is a powerful clock and was always intended to be!

Accurate too, in conjunction with the usual, Gents' Pulsynetic master clock. The seller also has an early Pulsynetic master clock for sale. The once-every-half-minute, brief, timekeeping pulse is vital. Or the WT will simply gain and gain. It is also nice to see the fascinating, Waiting Train mechanism in action and this also requires the brief, timekeeping pulse to operate.

Based on the photographs, this WT looks to be easily restoreable with [mostly] cosmetic decisions to be made. The finish is, of course, entirely a matter of personal taste for the new owner. There appears to be no vital, mechanical components missing for normal functionality. The obvious exception to completeness is the missing wiring.

I repeat for clarity: The seller has now confirmed the coils are indeed in working order.

Link to eBay[UK] auction: [Collection only in Northern England.]

Turret Clock | eBay

CORRECTION: The winning losing bid was £1,382.97 RESERVE NOT MET. 
A disappointing result. Sorry I had earlier suggested there had been a winning bid.

I have cropped and sharpened some of the original auction images shown here for educational purposes only.
My endless, blog scribbling is entirely voluntary and I make no financial gain whatsoever. 

Click on any image for an enlargement. 

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Silvering brass dials: Holtby's silvering salts.

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I became a little carried away with my lecture on silvering WT time setting dials in my post on the "Grey WT" auction. I shall now copy this diatribe on silvering over to this post and date it earlier to avoid hiding the auction post.

Modern dial salts are very mean with the sliver and leave a stainless steel, or burnished aluminium [sunburst] look. Which is completely and utterly wrong on an old, antique dial! So avoid eBay or Meadows and Passmore's "finest" "Horrorsilv" silvering salts if you are not to be sorely disappointed! Or want to be instantly recognized as a clock botcher [never bodger] by any self-respecting clock restorer!

I have silvered dozens of antique, brass, clock dials myself so know the difference. The proper white salts are still obtainable and are head and shoulders above the modern stuff. I have both kinds in in my cupboard and enough self-respect to know which is which. I recommend Holtby's silvering salts as a highly satisfied user with no commercial interests.

Note that a matt white dial drastically improves legibility of the digits, clock hands and any engraving on a brass dial. They literally jump out at you compared with modern, shiny and silvery finishes. The latter greatly reduce legibility. Even by adequate, modern, artificial light the time on a polished dial is hard to read because it reflects what is in front of it. Try reading such a dial with a torch or candle from a distance!

Avoid the nasty, modern silver salts like the plague as they do produce a horrible shine which is highly undesirable. There should be no shine at all on a properly silvered dial! This is quite deliberate.

Matt white looks instantly and magically gorgeous during the silvering process. Which was perfected centuries ago when light, after dark, was usually in very poor supply. The only clock in the house usually had to be legible with just a distant and sputtering candle, or taper, from the far end of the hall. Or the cows would not get milked. Nor the household fires lit. Nor the horses harnessed. These were vitally important matters at the time. An hour, in the pitch dark, is a very long time to wait, turning restlessly, between the regular, hourly strikes of a clock's bell.

Silvering is a simple enough task with the required salts and only involves wet rubbing of the brass with fine [wet and dry] emery paper to clean back to bright brass. This is known as graining and coarse abrasives must be avoided at all costs or the dial markings will soon disappear completely!

Try selling your Tompion without a signature or its exquisite dial markings! I have even seen early 18th century clock dials in historical period TV programmes with shiny dials. It is so out of period and character that they might as well have put a baseball cap on the heroine! 😲  Even stately homes and museums have had their valuable clock dials brightly silvered by a Meadows & Passmore wielding vandal! If it's not flat white it's not real! It's as simple as that.

Graining is often accomplished with a manual, rotary action involving a cork sanding block [for the 400 grade emery paper. With a couple of drawing pins for security] on a simple arm with central pivot. The dial is usually supported on a heavily drilled board to allow the dial feet to sink. Allowing the dial to lie flat and stable as the block is rotated back and forth.

The block, or pivot radius must be adjusted to match the dial, or chapter ring size. I had a series of holes in the radius arm and just moved the cross-pin along as required. The emery papered block must be lifted clear when finished with the graining. Or smudging of the circular grain will easily occur. Vertically graining, a one piece, regulator dial requires lots and lots of patience! Don't try to circularly grain a one piece dial or it will look like it came in on the last boat from China.

Graining is immediately followed by rinsing well under the cold tap and then cleaned off with bare, wet fingers but not dried.


This is quickly followed by damp rubbing with the correct [white] silver salts using one's bare [and perfectly clean] finger tips. Small cuts may sting but I have never been poisoned by the silvering process. Some people like to use a rag for rubbing the silver onto the clean brass.

The silver should soon appear as a [sometimes] rather dirty but solid white. It should only be rinsed off when satisfied that a good and even coat of silver is in place. If not, just add more silver salts and rub some more with clean, wet and bare finger tips.

Note that each stage ensures the fingers/hands never dry off so they never have a chance to get greasy or oily. Silver will only adhere to perfectly clean metal. So finger prints will show up if allowed to spoil the clean, wet brass. They may even show up much later. Long after you have delivered the clock to a valued customer 100s of miles away!

The silvering stage is finally neutralized and whitened further with ordinary, household, Cream of Tartar powder rubbed on damp over the fresh silver coating. Followed by plenty of rinsing. I found some finishing powders shine far too much when I was re-silvering antique clock dials. Modern and unnecessarily expensive finishing powders will easily spoil even the correct white silver salts! So buy Cream of Tartar powder cheaply from the supermarket instead.

Clear lacquering is normal for dials which are regularly handled for resetting to time. That means most longcase clocks and those which need a winding key to be guided through a small hole.The main problem is the wax filling in the engraving can become dissolved by the clear lacquer's own solvents. So that they later bleed dark marks into the surrounding silver.

If you can keep your fingers well clear of a bare silver dial it should last quite a while before re-silvering. Though this is not acceptable for a customer's clock. You never know who will be asked to wind it or will try to reset it to time.

Re-waxing the engravings of a brass dial or chapter ring is quite another matter and should not concern the WT owner needing a simple, time-setting dial 're-freshening' of the silver.

BTW: Avoid heating any antique brass dial unduly. They tend to off-gas which used to be highly toxic when I still worked on lots of clocks. Overheating caused me instant asthma. Though I do not normally suffer from asthma, at all. Interestingly WD40 has very similar toxic effects on me but many swear by the product and use it for everything. WD40 puts me in bed to recover if I so much as get a whiff of the stuff! The same with old dials while warming them to re-wax the engravings.

There is a tradition that antique brass dials are not chemically cleaned on the back. As if it added some 'hazy' authenticity to the countless "marriages" purveyed by many in the [antique dealer] criminal classes.

I did plenty  of work for a major, rural, clock specialist. He would regularly play mix'n'match [i.e. mismatch] with longcase weights and pendulums entirely at his personal whim. Anything to make a few pounds more on a smarter clock. I was expected to make them fit somehow until I grew tired of his corruption, greed and idiocy.

I called a complete halt when he demanded dials were swapped with movements purely for profit. A so-called marriage. Easily done, but it requires new holes are formed for the dial feet and the old ones disguised with brass disks hammered in to disguise their presence. This was a common ploy with nice, 30-hour cases needing a [usually much younger] 8-day movement to sell for umpteen extra thousands to uncaring philistines just looking for a furnishing piece. There is no way back from a bad marriage. Of any kind!

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Rusty, partial WT on ebay UK

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Gents Of Leicester Waiting Train Turret Clock | eBay 

Another C40A WT has turned up on eBay[UK]. In decidedly "weathered" condition it is missing a number of essential parts. 

I would not recommend anybody lacking mechanical skills to attempt a restoration. That said, you do get many original parts if you do have mechanical and basic electrical experience. 

A good soak in a proper penetrating fluid will help. If you automatically thought that meant a bath in WD40 then this project is obviously not meant for you! The coils do not want to be immersed.

An early example of this smaller WT. Its age most easily identified by the curved section of the main frame just above the large, drive electromagnets. The 'bare' silk covered solenoid wiring is also early. Brass and bronze components nicely match the time frame of pre-WW2. I'm guessing here, but it all looks about right for the period.

It is difficult to say whether it has been lying outside for half a century or that a clock room roof has been open to the sky for at least as long. The difficulty of removing all those rusted fasteners and bearings should not be underestimated! It's not just a case of removing things to clean them up. Most of the bearings will be rusted solid! Only a rank amateur would try to move or remove anything with force.  

The worm and gathering wheel are absent but the vital wormwheel is present. No doubt the steel worm would have rusted away to uselessness anyway given the state of the rest of the movement.

[Almost] the entire pendulum drive contact system is also missing. Though this can be silver soldered up from yellow brass sections. Just as I did when I obtained my own, very similar WT. The oval, fixed contact assembly base is present. Another clear sign of an early movement.

The terminal block is [almost] damaged beyond repair and will need restoration or rebuilding from scratch. The insulated block is much simpler than my own detailed moulding. Another early sign? The original screw terminals have thankfully been saved by being attached to their wiring.

As already mentioned, you do get most of the other important parts. Even a crown/bevel wheel cluster, with original, time setting dial, for those who long to replace their own missing examples. Though they may not swap easily to another, seemingly identical movement. Because they [WTs] were largely made by hand, to order, sometimes in small batches. Don't forget to silver the dial with the correct, white silver salts. The modern stuff will make it look like the bottom of a brand new stainless steel saucepan and you certainly don't want that.


The main frame is rust resistant cast iron and can be cleaned up and repainted once all the rusted parts are safely removed. There may still be flakes of the original paint colour hidden under rusty components. There is the slightest hint of a lighter colour overlying the rust in places. Though it may have been repainted by an amateur at some point. The early details suggest the original had a low shine, black paint job, just like the pendulum bob. With gorgeous, contrasting, deep gold lacquer on all the polished brass and bronze components. Most of which you will have to admire at your leisure as you wait for the penetrating oil to soak in over weeks, or months, or years.

Removing the rusty components will be a very long and painstaking process! But at least you get the original pendulum bob. Though the badly dilapidated  electromagnet coil bobbins will need extremely careful restoration preferably without unwinding. Something the British museum might practice on their Egyptian mummies? More seriously, they will never look the same again if the coils are unwound. Originality of appearance is highly desirable with an unusual movement rapidly approaching 100 years of age! Using modern, enameled copper wire to rewire the coils would be a horological obscenity unworthy of further discussion!

No doubt an expert turret clock restorer could make a nice job of this early movement but it will not be remotely cheap nor quick. The worm is not the most difficult item to reproduce. Though the original may have been matt, hard chromed. There are clock [gear] wheel cutters who will, no doubt, happily make a replica gathering wheel to order, for a price. Just remember to tell them about the absolutely vital, high tooth and the timing of the essential D-pin. Multiple images of all these items can be found here, buried deep in my endlessly rambling blog.

Good luck with your bidding! And with your infinitely careful restoration, of course.

The eBay[UK] auction bidding ended on £889 British pounds. Somebody obviously wanted it badly. I just hope they can still afford some penetrating oil. 😉

The few WTs which turn up on eBay seem to be "highly collectible" as they say on the TV antiques programmes. They are certainly a unique decoration for the living room and even have their own built-in "electric winding." 24V DC from a "wall wart" will do. They can even be rather quiet in operation with a little care. As I discovered only recently after years of listening to the loud clonking. All quite unnecessary.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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Domesticating the WT:

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My own WT has been running for years. Its loud "clonk" from the rapid movement of the drive electromagnets' armature is very familiar.

I was working nearby today when I realised that my earlier attempts at domestication had worn away. This had resulted in unnecessary noise due to the large clearance between the impulse roller and the impulse ramp jutting from the pendulum rod. 

I stopped the movement and examined the rubber tap washer which I had fitted between the armature stop screw head and the main frame some years back. A few seconds work with a screwdriver and I had removed the front armature bearing and pulled the armature forward and clear of the rear bearing. After cleaning the area and armature I stuck a self-adhesive, ornament furniture protector pad to the main frame just under the domed, clearance adjustment, screw head.

Loosening the 1/4" BSW [Whitworth] nut allowed me to easily adjust the stop screw with my fingers to set the roller clearance from the dead face of the pallet. It is essential that the roller does not run continuously on the underside of the pallet. A thin spacer between the lowered roller and the curved pallet may help where there is doubt regarding screw adjustment. The lock nut can then then pinched lightly to lock the adjustment screw in place.

Restarting the WT proved it to be very much quieter when the drive impulse occurred.  There was still a hard metallic "clonk" where the armature hits the poles of the drive electromagnets. So I simply added a strip of electrical tape to the face of the armature and all was suddenly silent! If the tape should wear though and noise increase, the tape is very easily replaced.

No doubt a suitable strip of thin card, dropped on edge into the magnetic gap would do just as well in place of sticky tape. It might even save some wear on the original screws holding the front armature bearing in place.

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Partial C40A on eBay

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A middle period example of the most commonplace, smaller, C40A, Gents Pulsynetic Waiting Train is up for auction on eBay. It is numbered 567.

 GENTS PULSYNETIC WAITING TRAIN FOR ELECTRIC MASTER CLOCK TURRET | eBay

It is hoped that the lucky winner will not be too disappointed to discover the lack of the vital 120 tooth, drive wormwheel and its shaft.

Without it no clock dial, hand drive is possible. Though this will not affect the ability of the heavy pendulum to swing under power, is is very likely the ratchet wheel will spin around uselessly during part of the cycle. 

This occurs when the weight of the time setting hand crank and its ceramic knob reaches the top of its arc. Without some friction [from the missing wormwheel] there is nothing to restrain its sudden fall onwards to 6 o'clock. 

The seller has mentioned the lack of a drive so has covered himself from that point of view. An optimistic buyer might hope for more and bid in ignorance of the facts. 

The auction images are acceptable, with my usual advice that overcast daylight and a neutral background are much to be preferred for such technical subjects. Sunshine and flash photography against a  light [or dark] background are not ideal. I have tried to adjust the auction images for educational value for posting here on the blog.

 Other than the lack of the vital wormwheel drive system, this later example of the C40A seems almost complete. The sloping section of the main casting above the drive electromagnets is indicative that this is not an early example. As does turquoise paint and electroplated details. The very earliest WTs would be painted black with golden lacquered brass details. Later examples, than this one, were painted industrial, light grey. Again with plated details.

An optimistic idealist might also have hoped for a bevel wheel cluster and crown wheel but there would be little point without a wormwheel to drive them. Since no known spares are available for these old movements it falls to the new owner to arrange the manufacture of a wormwheel and shaft. A second, cast support bracket, for the worm shaft  is also missing and would need to be reproduced. Forked expansion [universal] joints for the lead off work would be desirable if a hand drive is needed for a clock dial. These are more readily made from channel section. Or can sometimes be found on eBay since they are almost universal in turret clock lead-off work to the dials.

There is a way to manufacture a wormwheel in aluminium by "hobbing" with a screw thread cutting tap in a lathe. Whether there is a screw thread which exactly matches the W's worm in all respects I really cannot say. Interestingly, the aluminium would not look too out of place. Bare, lightly brushed aluminium is not too dissimilar to the WT's original, matt plated components.

The original wormwheel would be a spoked casting in bronze. Perhaps a machining enthusiast can be found who would make a new wormwheel out of brass using a dividing head and hand-made, fly cutter. This would be much more difficult and require more equipment and skill than hobbing softer aluminium with a matching screw tap. [If one was available!] There is just a chance that Gents chose a standard thread for their WT worm so that it could be easily cut on a normal, screw-cutting lathe. So using a non-standard screw thread seems less likely. Gents were mechanical, turret clock makers so would have no problem producing wormwheels.

The original time setting crank is present on this WT. As is the Hipp toggle damper with dangling rubber hose. This has the effect of stopping the Hipp toggle from vibrating so wildly that it might seat in the Hipp V-block on the return swing. This would result in power being sent to the pendulum drive in opposition to its swing. Resulting in a stalled pendulum with the power running continuously through the contacts and drive electromagnets!

This is an unlikely, but not impossible, occurrence and rather depends on the lateral and vertical adjustment of the pendulum drive contacts. The simple toggle damper provides a high level of insurance against this happening. I ran my own similar WT without a damper for years without any problem during normal running. Only during manual contact adjustment was there ever a problem with the toggle rocking back and forth deep in the V-block.

The lower pendulum rod and heavy bob are present in matching colours to the main frame. No length adjustment is required with a WT movement since timekeeping is tightly controlled by the associated master clock.

The movement number was discovered and an image added to the auction details. This looks to be stamped into the main frame. My own WT has its number visible stamped on the relay electromagnet front support plate.

A view of the rear of the movement where the cast bracket for the bevel wheel cluster would have been mounted on the blank spot on the main casting. The toggle damper points down at the impulse pallet with nearby impulse roller on the tip of the drive electromagnets armature just visible.

 The WT section looks complete. The gathering pawl, masking pawl, ratchet wheel with D-shaped pin and relay electromagnet are all present and correct.

The original, ceramic knob on the time setting crank is a nice detail. For some reason these hand cranks often go missing. This crank allows the time on the [missing] time setting dial to be quickly corrected for Summer and Winter time setting of the driven clock dial. Or the hands to be quickly set to time after a pause for maintenance. The time setting dial would be mounted on one of the bevel wheels and fitted with a small pointer This was standard turret clock practice though njhand cranks would serve no purpose .

The massive, pendulum drive electromagnets are present. As is the armature with impulse roller. The bandaged coils are a slightly later iteration of a series of protective measures for the copper wire turns adopted by Gents. 

The drive impulse is not achieved by catching under the hooked section, as would seem likely at first sight. It is the rising of the roller against the sharply curved underside of the impulse pallet which provides a smooth but powerful push to the pendulum. The more gentle curve is actually the dead face of the impulse pallet.

This drive system can be most easily recognized as an inverted roller and pallet common to the gravity arm impulse of popular British master clocks like the Gents' Pulsynetic. The drive action can be repeated on demand from the Hipp amplitude switch up to 30 times normal during bad weather. Or when ice, birds or wind impede the hand movement on the exposed clock dial[s].

The pendulum support bearing was a complete break with centuries of tradition in the use of sturdy ball bearings. These were sealed from dirt in a closed case and replaced the fragile flat suspension spring found on countless clocks of all types.

To avoid asymmetric wear on the hidden ball races a knob was provided on the pendulum support shaft. The advice was given to turn the knob at random intervals and angles to avoid wear. The text varied over time. "REV" refers to revolutions rather than an abbreviation for the minister of the church housing the clock. The pendulum support bearings will likely need to be cleaned and repacked with grease.

The smart, Gents' cast nameplate of the WT's manufacturer. With the base of the damper screwed into the WT's mainframe to its right.

The lucky winner of the auction should take great care if it is intended to dismantle this WT movement for cleaning. The massive electromagnets are joined by rather fragile wires. The combination of great weight and thin wires could lead to a "tail" being broke off close to or inside the coils spool.

The only way to repair such a disaster could be to to unwind the entire coil to reach the broken wire. It goes without saying that such an event would destroy all originality in appearance of the affected coil. My own advice would be to leave the electromagnets in situ and wrap the coils with cling film[?] to protect them from gentle cleansing of the metalwork. I used odour free lamp oil to clean my own WT as a gentle solvent.  [GB paraffin. US Kerosene?] A "factory gate finish" is highly undesirable IMPO. The patina of age on the movement is part of its history. It should be respected as much as possible.

This image shows the missing wormwheel, its shaft, bushes and bearing components all held in place with tapered pins. The worm shaft components lie in the background but are normally above and at right angles to the wormwheel.

The pitch of the worm and its diameter do not seem typical of imperial threads. Though worms do often use an ACME thread form. The worm is 5/8 [0.625"ø]  and has 13 threads in 7/8" [22mm] Converting to the full inch makes 14.8 TPI. Perhaps it is a Metric thread? 1.69mm pitch?


The bevel wheel shown on the right is not always a standard feature on all WTs. The hands of a single dial may be driven straight off the wormwheel shaft via a universal, lead-off, expansion joint. Which is the plated forked device seen on the far end of the shaft.

Two dials in line on opposite ends of the WT movement may be driven by having another universal joint on the other end of the wormwheel shaft. Bevel gears are only necessary where there is a change of height or direction between the movement and dials. Or where three or four dials are driven from one movement. Or where two or more dials are at right angle to each other on a tower or building. WTs are incredibly powerful for their size and even this smaller C40A can drive the hands of four 6' dials.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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Partial C40B WT on eBay.

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An interesting WT came up on eBay[UK] but unfortunately it lacked some important parts. Fortunately the parts which are most difficult to reproduce are still there.

All of these images have been copied from the eBay[UK] auction of early April 2017 for educational purposes.

1] General view of the WT movement including pendulum bob.

The large, drive electromagnets are missing in the open space at bottom right.

As is the ratchet, gathering wheel on its arbor with the vitally important drive worm.

2] General view. The rectangular frame of the gathering pallet is present but no ratchet wheel to drive. The ratchet wheel must have a longer tooth and a D-pin to lift the masking pawl clear.

 3] General view with upper pendulum rod and gathering pallet in the foreground.

The upper pendulum rod with its support bearings are present.

The masking pawl is absent. As are the Hipp toggle and V-block which control the contacts.

Two pale patches can be seen on the pendulum rod where once a cranked plate was fixed to support the Hipp toggle.

4] End view, including bob,pendulum rod and relay armature.

I believe the loose piece arranged in the middle is the relay magnet armature.

5] Rear view showing large wormwheel.

The bevel wheel is but one of four missing wheels.

These would each drive a pair of hands on the dials mounted on the sides of a clock tower or perhaps a church.

 6] Rear view with close-up of relay solenoid.

The relay electromagnet restarts the drive to the clock hands at each half minute by releasing the locking lever and masking pawl. This would allow an accurate master clock to maintain the WT to a similarly high, timekeeping standard. 

7] Front view showing rocking drive armature at bottom right. A roller attached to the top of the armature rises and impulses the projecting pendulum ramp, on demand, from the Hipp toggle & V-block switch.

The complete contact mechanism is also absent.

8]  The backstop pawl is present but not the ratchet wheel which it should rest against.

The L-shaped locking lever is also missing.
This would be lifted into the locking position by the D-shaped pin on the ratchet wheel.

The bearing plate to support the end of the ratchet wheel and worm arbor is present.

9] A closer view of the wormwheel and relay [timekeeping] electromagnet.

A small plate should rise up from the casting to provide a bearing for the relay electromagnet.

10] The large gap in the movement's main casting where the twin drive electromagnets would sit. When ever the pendulum swing reduced below optimum the electromagnets would be briefly switched on by the Hipp toggle catching in in its V-block.

11] General rear view. One wonders what carelessness led to all the missing parts?

A substantial, historical presence is spoilt by the missing pieces. It will be quite a daunting task to return it to its former glory. 

I have appended an image of a complete movement of matching type below for comparison.

A similar, almost complete  movement which was also auctioned on eBay[UK].

The apparent simplicity masks a work of genius which completely revolutionised turret clock design.The moment the WT movement was conceived all new weight driven clocks became obsolete.

The WT went on to set many records for the sheer size of the clock dials they could manage with a high degree of accuracy and reliability. Not to mention a lack of weekly winding nor constant and expensive maintenance.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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