Period Clocks

I had and original North & Cheney that was converted to percussion when I was in high school. I wish I had that one today! They are one good looking pistol! I like yours.:thumbsup:

I was just now looking at your new M.1836 Johnson in another thread; of course that was the model my hammer was designed for, but it had only a router or "pilot" hole in it. A friend who was good at all sorts of repairs mounted it on my Charleville; it's a little weak, but works and of course most importantly, looks "right". A number of years ago I sold my collection of French pistols, which helped pay for my house, but I just couldn't bring myself to part with this one because of all the various associations, so now it's the only one left!
 
It's another very, very nice thread. LOVE the clocks, yes, my husband is crazy about the tick-tock, have to say it's immensely comforting to listen to in the middle of the night.

We have a steeple clock, which I'll try to get off the memory card today, and one of the clocks which looks to me like the casing was home-made, but the face and glass were bought, there's gilt design there- butterlies, etc. Also a large-faced Rail Road station clock, the genesis of which is a little confusing. Legend has it, it was a peace offering following a huge marital squabble between my grgrandparents. He was brakeman at the time for the RR, I've always been a little concerned his bosses may have arrived at work one morning to find a bare wall where the depot clock should have been.

The face is exactly like this but it has a chime casing underneath, can't actually find an example of one like it on-line. All the clocks with casings underneath are hexangonal in shape.

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Ted, if you get into repairing your clocks this is a great resource for parts, supplies, tools, etc., everything you need. The online catalog is very comprehensive and they will also send you a hard copy.
http://timesavers.com/

Thanks .Robert, I bookmarked the site. Right now I just have the one old regulator to keep up with and after the lube job it is working as well as the day we got it and that was so long ago we can't remember when that was. I thought when you got older you remembered things from long ago and forgot what you did the day before. Anyway I don't know why a pair of gloves came with my clock oil but Im sure there was a reason. If I run into an old clock for a good price I may get it to play with and see if I can salvage it. The wife mentioned a grandfather clock when she thought the old regulator was going south. After I fixed it she was happy to still have the old freind back. I have a place in the dining room for an old mantle clock if I run into one. Will be on the look out.
 
Was hoping for more pics from members, which is extremely lazy of me considering an entire weekend has passed without me getting to the camera's memory card. Love these old things, too. Like Donna, would also collect everything only large item, she tends to collect things easily stored, how wise! Fortunatately also have a vey nice husband who nicely reminds me we have no desire to be featured on Hoarders.

Nothing like expecting other folks to do one's work for you, will get to it later, I hope. :smile:
 
Was hoping for more pics from members, which is extremely lazy of me considering an entire weekend has passed without me getting to the camera's memory card. Love these old things, too. Like Donna, would also collect everything only large item, she tends to collect things easily stored, how wise! Fortunatately also have a vey nice husband who nicely reminds me we have no desire to be featured on Hoarders.

Nothing like expecting other folks to do one's work for you, will get to it later, I hope. :smile:

Here is a picture of my old Camer regulator. It is not expensive or Civil War period but it is old and I was very happy to have taken it apart and oiled it and it now works as well as the day we got it. I also like aneroid barometers. Invented by a French scientist Lucien Vidi in 1843. I have a couple modern ones but on the look out for a CW period instrument if I run accross one.

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I just recently got this one going in my house. My dad rescued it from my great grandpa's attic when I was a kid and it became the heartbeat of our house for the rest of my childhood. Can't describe what it's like, after all these years, to hear it in my home. It chases my kids out the door for school now. They're the sixth generation of my family to hear it chime.
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Oh yeah, I just realized, that's a minie ball sitting on the shelf next to it. My few CW relics are the only things in my house older than the clock, which is from around 1890.
 
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Here is a picture of my old Camer regulator. It is not expensive or Civil War period but it is old and I was very happy to have taken it apart and oiled it and it now works as well as the day we got it. I also like aneroid barometers. Invented by a French scientist Lucien Vidi in 1843. I have a couple modern ones but on the look out for a CW period instrument if I run accross one.

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That clock is a beauty. I see that is does have a wooden pendulum shaft so temp. variation shouldn't cause the speed up. Maybe it is the humidity like you suspected.
 
I just recently got this one going in my house. My dad rescued it from my great grandpa's attic when I was a kid and it became the heartbeat of our house for the rest of my childhood. Can't describe what it's like, after all these years, to hear it in my home. It chases my kids out the door for school now. They're the sixth generation of my family to hear it chime. View attachment 22853

Oh yeah, I just realized, that's a minie ball sitting on the shelf next to it. My few CW relics are the only things in my house older than the clock, which is from around 1890.
Very nice! Those are called "Kitchen Clocks". I have one not that good and I can't get the "click" to work properly so every once in a while the spring will kick back when winding. OUCH! Good way to lose a thumbnail when the key hits it. All of you be careful, the "click" is similar to a "sear" in gunsmithing. It locks in the teeth of the spring wheel, allowing it to only move in one direction. When badly worn or loose it will slip and spring will unwind violently.
 
Very nice! Those are called "Kitchen Clocks". I have one not that good and I can't get the "click" to work properly so every once in a while the spring will kick back when winding .

Yikes. Yes, winding it always makes me a little tense. You can feel how much tension is on that spring. I know my dad had the spring just break on him once a couple of decades ago but I don't think we've ever had trouble with the catch on it. Yet. Thanks for the warning. If mine ever jumps on me I'll probably be a little more ready for it.

My dad always had this on the mantle but I decided to put our kitchen clock in the kitchen. That's probably where my g-g-g-grandma and grandpa had it when they set up house in the '90's.
 
Yikes indeed. These old things scare the stuffing out of me, wish it wasn't so much responsibility, taking care of them. It feels like it, no breakage so far all these years, do not wish to be the idjit who over-winds one.

Two of these are from Mom's side of things, the taller mantle is from my husband's family, looks like someone made it themselves.

Darn it, left out the RR clock again, didn't load. Have to re-do that, what a pain. :smile:
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Ah Ha! Finally put a photo of our old RR clock on this computer- it deserves an airing, has tick-tocked us to sleep too many nights to remember.

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All beautiful clocks, I like the butterflies on the steeple clock. I don't know anything about the RR clock and it's very interesting. Only one key hole, which is unsual to me. Do they not strike?
 
Thank you! Sheer luck, or blessings, having had nice people who passed these things down through generations, gives me the willies sometimes, a responsibility making sure they survive for the next generation.

The RR clock strikes, lovely to listen to in the middle of the night. It loses 10 minutes a day, so we don't really pay a lot of attention to it as a time piece, just like thinking of all the minutes that have ticked by, and where, since the first time it was wound. It has an hysterical story attached, my grgrandfather working for the RR, my grgrandmother being a tartar and a pip. Dad said there was a huge fight, the result of grgrandfather coming home er- three sheets to the wind one night. In order to be allowed in the house the next day, he came home with this clock as a peace offering. NO idea where the truth is in this, but she really was a pip, so might be true. Also have wondered about the empty spot on the wall at the depot- wondered who on earth was blamed! He was fairly respectable ( or my grgrandmother insisted he be ), might have used that to say ' OHHHH not I, sir. '

The mantle clock with the butterfly is from my husband's family- the construction doesn't seem to match the elegance of the gilt and the face, so we think perhaps an original clock was destroyed or damaged, a similar one crafted? He has some hand-crafted pieces of furniture from that side of the family, so it's likely. I'm not sure I understand the heavy application of boiled ants/shellack on the surface- unless it was The Thing at the time, and someone thought it the Bee's Knees, ( or the Ant's Knees ), used it heavily.
 
After seeing all these great clocks, I thought I would share two of mine:

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This clock hung for years in the bank where my dad worked. When he retired after 35 years, the clock was given to him as a retirement present. It was made by the New Haven Clock Company, New Haven, Connecticut.


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This clock also belonged to my dad - I'm not sure where he picked it up, but it was in our house from the time I was little - it was made by the Waterbury Clock Company
 
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