Ansonia Brocot (pin pallet) Escapement

[willofiam]

Hello, am I going crazy or what. here we have a Ansonia movement with the Brocot pin pallet escapement in front of the dial. A fellow brought this in and it had been worked on by someone else. He said it never really ran well. while looking at it, it may have dawned on me that the escape wheel is on backwards. In the pictures the escape wheel turns clockwise under power. Every escapement I have seen like this the backside of the escape wheel teeth are dished out, yet while researching this a bit I thought I have read that the front of the teeth can be dished out. Am I going crazy or what????, did I read that wrong???? If I stand on my head will it look right and work better??? The pendulum swings approximately 1/2 inch total from one side to the other and the clock stops easily. I am thinking of flipping the escape wheel but thought I better get some input from yall first… Thank you, William

[arutha]

Unless someone here knows any different I would say that the escape wheel is on backwards, I can only imagine it worked itself loose and whoever put it back on got it the wrong way round. Have a good look at where it fits on William and see if there is any evidence of bodgery!
Paul.

[jim1228]

William,
That is on backwards.
Jim

[willofiam]

Thanks Paul and Jim, Paul, appeared to have been worked on before, the evidence of bodgery will come after I work on it 🙄 . Good to here from you Jim1228…..I did the old escape wheel flip flop. running much better, smoother and timing out proper. I would probably be going backwards without you guys, Have fun today, William

[arutha]

Well done for spotting it in the first place William
I am working on a french visible escapement at the moment and just had a lesson in how to adjust the pallet jewels into the correct position. Its amazing on these how much difference the smallest tweak can make! 😯

[willofiam]

Thanks Paul, a rather easy job to do, chuck it up in the lathe, cut the shoulder of the riveted areas off. flipit and repeen over a few areas, polish and whallaah 😯 ….. Paul, can you tell us how you made those adjustments and why? William

[arutha]

Quite often on the french visible escapements the jewels have been messed about with to try and get the clock to run. The jewels are held in place with shellac and so only need very light heating to make the shellac soft enough to allow adjustment of the jewels.
This is a deadbeat escapement and quite often when they come in you see some very slight recoil and then shortly after the clock will stop. This is usually due to someone, who doesn’t understand how this escapement works, moving the jewels and adjusting the small turntable that carries the pivot, if the movement has one, to try and get it to run. The turntable does not affect the drop, it is there just to adjust the inside and outside clearance of the jewels and escape wheel teeth.
The jewels are semicircular in shape and when you first start trying to adjust this escapement you imagine that the centre line of the jewel end (where it look like it has been cut in half) is a line that should point directly at the centre of the escape wheel pivot. the jewels usually have a bit of freedom in their holes so when you heat them to adjust them make sure you don’t allow them to sag in a downwards position, they should exit the brass carrier at 90 degrees. If they are very sloppy when heated this could indicate they have been changed in the past and slightly smaller jewels fitted and it could be worth bushing the carrier to give them a better fit. If you notice any fractures or chips in the jewels it is worth replacing them. New ruby jewels can be expensive so if you want to save a bit of money you can make new ones out of steel rod, it works as well but just doesn’t look as nice, you dont have to harden the steel but they will last much longer if you do. Once the jewels are in the correct position you can then adjust the pivot carrying turntable until you get a nice steady deadbeat action. If you find the clock is still stopping it could be down to bent escape wheel teeth, they are very fine and sometimes it is very difficult to spot a bent or deformed tooth. Use good magnification!
One last point worth mentioning is the crutch is usually quite loose, it surprised me how loose they should be as you give the pendulum a good swing and it will put itself in beat.
How was that William?

[willofiam]

Hey Paul, YOUR HIRED, actually I could not compete with what Bob pays you for being a mediator, oh well. it all sound exciting, I too noticed that a “looser” crutch seems to work better. I am assuming the teeth on your escape wheel are straight and pointed, is the locking at midpoint of the pin pallet, or is it deeper? I hope I am correct in that my escape wheel teeth are to have a bit of a round on the tips. also I need to go thru the teeth as I do get a uneven beat (along with a bushing on the inside pivot of the EW) William

[arutha]

You are correct in that the teeth reach the highest point of the pallet jewel i.e. the centre of the jewel but the teeth do have a very tiny flat to the tip although they look almost pointed to the naked eye.
If you have a damaged tooth or teeth would this not cause more of a “stutter” than an uneven beat? I would put my money on the escape wheel bush
Paul.
p.s. I don’t get paid for moderating and if I did it wouldn’t be as much as you pay your butler or gardener so if you do have a job going?

[willofiam]

Exactly what I need is a butler and a gardener so if you like, come on over. then when your done with the gardening and house cleaning I would let you work on some clocks free of charge. 😆
really Paul I think we would make a great team William

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