Two wierd clocks

[c.kelly]

Hi,
Okay I’m not crazy but we have a very strange clock. We were given an old Linden electronic chime clock years ago. It stopped yesterday and I replaced the D cell and it ran about 12 hours and stopped. I wasn’t sure if the battery was fresh so this morning I took it back down to see if I could find another battery and couldn’t so I just hung it back on the wall without one in it. Well my wife walked by and said it was running and I said the pendulum was just swinging where I put it back on but it couldn’t be running because there was no battery in it. An hour later and the thing is still going with no battery??? Cant see anywhere for another battery to go. Is it possible it has stored power somewhere? Any ideas?
The other clock is a Hermle 451 I’m working on. It was so gummy that the chimes and striker would not even work after being triggered. After I cleaned it twice the chimes will work fine but the clock won’t run for more than about ten minute. Have checked all the wheels and pivot points and all looks good. The tic and tock seems to be in the same point almost straight down- centering the middle weight. The swing keeps getting shorter until it just sort of vibrates a bit straight down for a bit then quits. There is no adjustment for verge depth and it does have the autobeat verge. Teeth on escapement wheel look good. If you take the verge off the rest of the wheels will spin freely with no binding. I saw another thread on this site about the same issue but can’t see if there was ever a resolution.
Thanks,
Charles K

[willofiam]

Not sure about the battery clock, is the time working or is it just the pendulum?

As for the Hermle how do the pivot surfaces look? do you notice any flaking of the plating? rough pallets? Sounds like a issue of power.

When testing a clock for binding or loss of power letting it spin freely will only tell you one of the stories, remember that the gear train is starting and stopping with torque throughout, many times I have found a problem by testing with a start stop test. What I mean is with the verge out and a few winds on the mainspring carefully touch the escape wheel with your finger to represent the starting and stopping that normally happens….and/or…..with the light touch of the end of a tweezers to the escape wheel arbor allowing torque to do its thing. This will give you a better understanding of potential issues like the meshing of wheels and pinions under power or with torque applied. Bent teeth, out of round wheels, loose pivot holes, bent pivots or arbors ect… that dont reveal themselves in a spin test will have no choice but to reveal their stubborn self’s when tested this way. Takes a bit of time to go thru and watch all of it while doing this but saves on hair loss.

It is also very important to smooth broach the pivot holes especially if it has been gummed up.

[c.kelly]

Hi William,
Thanks for the reply. I kept thinking about it being a loss of power and finally yesterday I noticed one pivot hole that looked funny, like it had a tiny micro-bushing in it. Took the smooth broach to it and so far so good. If I remember it was a pivot hole for the escapement wheel. It’s been running since last night in my home-made stand.
The other clock actually ran about ten hours with no battery before it quit. I put a new battery in it today and it started back up but it doesn’t always want to chime. It will make a noise like the chime motor starts but the hammers don’t move. Thinking maybe that is running the battery down.
Charles K

[clockmanbill]

as to checking on the clock stopping, I like to run it till it stops than put a black mark on each gear with a marker. start it up again and see where it stops. Which mark is in the same place gives you a point to start looking. This could be a bent pivot, bent pinion, worn leaf pinion, bent tooth, etc. just a way to find a place to start looking.

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