As some of you may have read, I like clocks. Old clocks, the older the better. I usually manage to collect mid to late 19th century wind up or weight driven clocks. There is something to be learned from the simpler way of life that prevailed when these keepers of time were shiny and new.
However, when I get them, they are generally in need of some light work. While I don’t (yet) consider myself an expert on clocks, I do feel I’m a “gifted amateur” and so far I’ve managed to only mangle 2 clock movements: one early 20th century Waterbury movement that probably needs a new escape wheel (part of the portion that makes a clock “tick-toc”) and bushings, and a New Haven that was bought specifically for me to torture, as it had a broken mainspring. I soaked it in water in my ultrasonic cleaner, all together. Not good, trust me.
Here’s today’s victim: A late 19th or early 20th century (that’d be 1880-1920 folks)
Antique E. Ingraham Co. Mantle Clock
E. Ingraham 8-day mantle clock. “8-day” is about how often one needs to wind it up again, and of course, it should sit on a mantle.
“I don’t HAVE a mantle, Jeff.”
Oh, ok then, neither do I, so use a shelf.
Now, I had started to tear down the clock before I remembered I wanted to do a post on tearing down and cleaning a clock, so you’ll note there’s no movement in the case in this pic. Gotta love that old paper dial, I’m not touching that.
God, it’s filthy. I got this clock in a lot of 3 off eBay about 2 weeks ago. There was a Seth Thomas shelf clock and an empty regulator case, and this one. The Seth needed nothing, it just had a loose glass in the door which I wedged up nicely.
View from the strike side
This one doesn’t run. Yet. Not shown is the bell. This movement has both a gong and a bell; the gong is driven by the strike side of the clock. The bell is driven by a small spring and a pall on the minute shaft of the clock.
The bell strikes on the half hour, and the gong strikes the hour, on the hour. More complicated clocks on my shelf are those with a Westminster chime movement, chiming every 15 minutes. I don’t consider myself “gifted” enough to tamper with those as yet.
Our object here is to tear down the movement, minding the mainsprings, and cleaning it in an ammonia-acetone-oleic acid based solvent in the ultrasonic cleaner, then reassembling. If the mainsprings need cleaning and oiling, we’ll do it while waiting on the US cleaner.
To any clock-repairing types out there: This blog is NOT repeat N-O-T the place to fight the Great Ammonia War. Thank you.
After cleaning, we rinse the parts in water (I use hot water) then pat down the plates. I put the gears into a cup and douse ‘em with denatured alcohol, as it is hygroscopic, or it absorbs water into itself. Works to get rid of water in your gas tank, too. Hit the gears with a blow-dryer to evaporate the alcohol, then come back and reassemble.
Yes, I actually DO know the meaning of hygroscopic. I’m not as stupid as I look, thanks 
So I have the movement removed:
Now to restrain and unload the mainspring. I already have the strike side done, as you can see.
I will probably start using the steel spring holders, as soon as I get a few liberated from my mainspring collection. For now I’m using zipties, shown below:
Letting down or unloading the mainspring involves releasing the “click” on the mainwheel, then winding slightly until the click disengages the ratchet, and controlling the unwinding of that mainspring with a tool. A tool I don’t have. I am using a key, but I also have king-kong hands. YOU will use a tool. It’s basically a broom-handle that’s cut down to fit over a winding key.
It’s hard to see the click spring in the pic thru the dirt, but the second picture shows it’s there.
After unloading the mainsprings, it’s time to tear down. There are 5 nuts on this movement that hold the plates together, shown here:
After these are removed, we can then remove the back plate:
Part 2: Putting it in the cleaner, then putting it back together.
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