Mike Phelan
05-25-2009, 11:11 AM
The patient:
A Simplex time recorder, belonging to a local preserved railway. Numbers shown here. Not working, and door lock key missing. Of its construction and the type of case, it was suggested that it was carried around by employees to sign-in sand out on various locations, like locomotives.
The reason for obtaining it from the USA was probably that the two main TR suppliers, Gledhill & Brook, and National, used wall clocks and a pendulum. They tend to have two mainsprings and barrels, as well, to give more power.
This one has a huge open spring, which confirms its nationality.
As received:
All very dirty indeed, and the amount of soot inside confirms what was said above. Nothing apparently missing except door key, but the spring coupling connecting the clock to the stamping mechanism was twisted.
It was very difficult to turn the hands, even though this would need more friction than a usual sort of clock, as it needs to drive the calendar.
Both the stamping and calendar were completely devoid of lubrication, causing the clock to stop. The spring coupling will have been damaged by a user turning the hands backwards, as the calendar movement cannot rotate backwards.
Clock:
This just needed a complete strip and clean, so into the ultrasonic it went. I treated the platform escapement separately.
The mainspring was too big for my winder, and the square too big for any key, so its own key was used in my Myford lathe, and unwound from the homemade clamp.
It had the gum and soot from decades of use – took quite a bit of cleaning! Some clock grease smeared on, rewound and clamped it.
Pivots needed polishing, and some of the pinions were rusty, so a brass wire brush went into action.
Interesting, it needed three different grades for the rest of the clock; watch oil for the platform, turret clock oil for the larger pivots, clock oil for the rest. Half a turn gave it a healthy swing. The washers under the platform are slightly dished so it’s necessary not to screw them up tightly, or the fourth wheel will foul the platform.
Stamping mechanism:
A complete wash in white spirit needed, and I refaced the hard rubber hammer as it was slightly askew.
Calendar mechanism:
The three type wheels had years of dried-up ink, so needed a long soak in IPA and a stiff brush.
All back together and running – the spring coupling needed setting so the minutes stamp were correct; there is a 60-tooth wheel on the calendar so when you “clock-in” it locks this wheel with a lever to give an exact minute. That is one of the reasons for having a spring coupling.
The hour stamp, though it uses 00 to 12, rotates in 24 hours, so the day of the week can change at midnight, not noon, and there is a pin for the user to advance it an hour at a time.
The door key was missing, so I managed to get a blank from a local shop and make one. One of the tumblers in the lock had a broken spring, as well - not a problem to repair it,
A Simplex time recorder, belonging to a local preserved railway. Numbers shown here. Not working, and door lock key missing. Of its construction and the type of case, it was suggested that it was carried around by employees to sign-in sand out on various locations, like locomotives.
The reason for obtaining it from the USA was probably that the two main TR suppliers, Gledhill & Brook, and National, used wall clocks and a pendulum. They tend to have two mainsprings and barrels, as well, to give more power.
This one has a huge open spring, which confirms its nationality.
As received:
All very dirty indeed, and the amount of soot inside confirms what was said above. Nothing apparently missing except door key, but the spring coupling connecting the clock to the stamping mechanism was twisted.
It was very difficult to turn the hands, even though this would need more friction than a usual sort of clock, as it needs to drive the calendar.
Both the stamping and calendar were completely devoid of lubrication, causing the clock to stop. The spring coupling will have been damaged by a user turning the hands backwards, as the calendar movement cannot rotate backwards.
Clock:
This just needed a complete strip and clean, so into the ultrasonic it went. I treated the platform escapement separately.
The mainspring was too big for my winder, and the square too big for any key, so its own key was used in my Myford lathe, and unwound from the homemade clamp.
It had the gum and soot from decades of use – took quite a bit of cleaning! Some clock grease smeared on, rewound and clamped it.
Pivots needed polishing, and some of the pinions were rusty, so a brass wire brush went into action.
Interesting, it needed three different grades for the rest of the clock; watch oil for the platform, turret clock oil for the larger pivots, clock oil for the rest. Half a turn gave it a healthy swing. The washers under the platform are slightly dished so it’s necessary not to screw them up tightly, or the fourth wheel will foul the platform.
Stamping mechanism:
A complete wash in white spirit needed, and I refaced the hard rubber hammer as it was slightly askew.
Calendar mechanism:
The three type wheels had years of dried-up ink, so needed a long soak in IPA and a stiff brush.
All back together and running – the spring coupling needed setting so the minutes stamp were correct; there is a 60-tooth wheel on the calendar so when you “clock-in” it locks this wheel with a lever to give an exact minute. That is one of the reasons for having a spring coupling.
The hour stamp, though it uses 00 to 12, rotates in 24 hours, so the day of the week can change at midnight, not noon, and there is a pin for the user to advance it an hour at a time.
The door key was missing, so I managed to get a blank from a local shop and make one. One of the tumblers in the lock had a broken spring, as well - not a problem to repair it,