Clocks, Watches/Escape mechanism

Advertisement

Expert: - 10/15/2009


Question
I recently purchased a Sessions regulator, advertised as a no. 1. It is 39 inches tall and 12 inches wide approximately. It has one spring. Problem  is that when the pendulum swings the wheel the escape touches skips. Question is that the wire from the escape to the pendulum, does this control the escape swing and what do I do to stop the skipping? I hope you understand the question. I used All Experts before and it was great. Hope you can help.

Answer
James, I do understand the question.  The wire you describe is the crutch and it does not have anything to do with skipping teeth.  It interfaces with the suspension rod/pendulum assembly.  When you hang the clock level and it is out of beat, like tick..tock......tick..tock, the crutch can be carefully formed one way or the other to obtain the proper beat, like tick....tock....tick....tock.  

But back to your problem.  There can be a few causes for the skipping beat.  Damaged, shortened, or bent escape wheel teeth could be one cause, bent or worn pallets another.  Pallets are the  2 formed ends of the verge that contact the escape wheel teeth.  If all of the above are in good condition, the verge could be too far away from the escape wheel.  The verge arbor (shaft) pivots on 2 arms that are riveted to the movement plates and are adjustable with a good pair of pliers.  As the adjustment would probably be very small, usually one will do it.  Of course you want the verge arbor to be perpendicular to the escape wheel.  This adjustment is critical as you want the pallets to enter and exit the escape wheel teeth without excessive clearance but not hitting the ends of the teeth.  This will quickly damage them.  There is a little more detail to this adjustment, but I wanted to give you an idea of what might be happening.

John Newman
THE VILLAGE CLOCKSMITH
Old Prattvillage
Prattville, Alabama

Clocks, Watches

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

John Newman

Expertise

As much as I would like to offer values of clocks, I am not a certified appraiser and will not venture into giving an unresearched guess. There is very little published information on what I consider to be the value of "modern production clocks". Considerations are what the clock originally sold for, the condition of the case and movement, and particularly the area in which you live, the demand and the economy. ALSO, WATCHES ARE NOT MY FIELD. However, I can advise the clock owner on proper maintenance of a clock to keep it running, small corrections and adjustments and how to move a clock without damaging it. I can also advise on obtaining parts for clocks. It helps if you can send any information on the clock movement which is usually found on the back plate of the movement. I have been a clockmaker for about 35 years and was plant engineer in the mid 90's and later operations and engineering consultant at Emperor Clock Company in Fairhope, Alabama. I now have my own clock shop.

Experience

One of my greatest accomplishments was traveling to China to assist a clock factory in building clocks to the standards which we required. With the proper specifications and quality control, some beautiful clock cases were built. The factory people from the wood carvers to the plant manager were very congenial, friendly and I left a lot of wonderful friends when I returned from my trips.

Organizations
Chamber of Commerce Small Business Committee

Publications
Horological Times, a publication of the American Watch and Clockmakers Instute. Collaberated column author, with Photos and ideas for clock movement conversion article.

Education/Credentials
Associate of Science Mechanical Engineering Technology Emperor Introductory Clock Repair (Eventually taught a portion of the class after becoming employee)

Awards and Honors
Small Business of the Quarter (Prattville, Alabama) Leadership Class of 2009 (Autauga County, Alabama)

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.