Post Your Gustav Becker Clocks Here

Nelson, since we haven't seen a photo of the back of the movement in your clock I'm only guessing, but I suspect the chiming of your clock is regulated by a count wheel. If that is so, then what has happened is the chiming is out of sequence.

First move the minute hand until you have caused the clock to strike at the top of the hour. Now look on the right side of the dial at the front of the movement, there should be a lever there near the top. Pressing the lever down with your finger will release the strike and let it operate. Count the number of strikes, then repeat the process until the clock strikes the correct number for the hour at which the hour hand is pointing. After that, reset the clock to time, waiting for the strike after you pass each hour and half-hour

If you can't find a lever (look on the left side also, some countwheel clocks have it there), then do the following. Move the minute hand until the clock strikes at the top of the hour. On the back side of the movement, there is a locking lever that fits into the notches on the countwheel. You can reach behind the clock movement and lift and drop the lever, which will release the strike train and cause the clock to strike. Repeat this until the clock strikes the correct number of times for the hour indicated by the hour hand. Now reset the time as described above.

Hope this helps.

John Hubby
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Below are pictures of a Gustav Becker two weight wall clock that I am presently working on. It is made in the Braunau factory and the serial number is 551985.

The clock has an excellent porcelain dial but the case is not in great shape.

What I thought was somewhat unusual was the strike. The movement has four hammers and the gong four rods. The hammers strike the rods all together and it is a very pleasing sound. It's the first time I have seen this.

I have forwarded these photos to John Hubby for his database.

Best Regards,

Richard T.

Here's one additional photo of the mounting bracket and the gong. The case is dirty and has not been cleaned.

Best,

Richard T.

Here are a few more pictures of the GB 2wt Serial No. 551985 which John Hubby has dated to mid 1910.

Best,

Richard T.

Richard, thanks for posting the additional photos. As I mentioned to you by separate email, this is the first Braunau clock I've seen with this particular striking and gong arrangement. I recall perhaps having seen it on a Frieburg clock but so far can't find any entry in my database for that configuration.

I also note that this "Harfen-Gong" is with the four rods parallel to the back of the case, where all the other Harfen-Gong designs I've seen have them at right angles to the case, both for German patents (DRP) and Austrian patents (Oest). I don't know if this is a variant on the other patents or whether it has its own patent, so far I've not been able to locate the actual ones for the other designs, don't know for sure what year they were first used.

Very interesting clock!

John Hubby
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John,

The German DRP patent is shown on page 654 of the 1912 Gustav Becker main catalogue on CD.
The Austrian patent is listed in the Gustav Becker “Werke Katalog #250” as shown here. There is no official date on this document but the previous owner has scribbled 1910 on the cover of the catalogue.

Vic

Vic, thanks very much for the info. I had missed that one in the 1912 catalog, but what it says there is very significant.

In the German text on page 654 (this is also on page 277) it states that a German patent exists (D.R.P.) but that the Austrian Patent was pending (Oest. Patent Angemeldet, Austrian Patent Pending). In the other reference you posted, it says both patents existed (D.R.P.) (Oest. Patent). I would have to conclude that the second reference (Werke Katalog #250) was thus published after the GB 1912 catalog . . how long after is not known but definitely later. I think a reasonable guess would be within the next year (say 1913) since the Austrian patent office usually processed filings within 12 months based on the patents I have investigated so far.

Having that in view, I did a complete search of all clock-related German DRP listings from 1899 to 1914, and voilá!! I found the smoking gun. German Patent No. 238223 by VFU vorm. Gustav Becker, was granted on 26 September 1911, with protection back to the filing date of 31 January 1911. This patent (PDF attached) is the exact design of the one in Richard's clock.

As a spinoff of my search, I also found the patents for the Dom Gong shown on page 655 and the Harfen Gong shown on pages 656 and 657 (These are also shown on other pages in the Gong section of the catalog. The Dom Gong is DRP 161269 granted 9 June 1905 with protection back to the filing date of 12 July 1903; the Harfen Gong is DRP 192981 granted 12 December 1907 with protection back to the filing date of 16 April 1907. This same design of the Harfen Gong was also patented in Austria but so far I have no details about the number or when it was patented.

So, what does this mean? Firstly, Richard's clock would very likely not have been made prior to October 1911 instead of mid-1910. Now I'll have to shift my Braunau data by a little over 12 months at that point and adjust the correlation accordingly. It also means that the info in the GB 1912 catalog about the German DRP patent being issued and the Austrian patent still pending was accurate, being that the catalog was likely assembled in late 1911. Further, the Werke Katalog #250 was most likely published in late 1912, allowing for the Austrian patent to have been granted in the interim.

The VERY interesting thing about this is that we have a clock made in Braunau in perhaps late 1911, that uses the Harfen Gong patented in Germany.

Since this adds completely new info to my database, I searched the GB 1912 catalog thoroughly and looked for any evidence that showed they were advertising Braunau clocks in addition to Freiburg clocks. This Harfen Gong assembly is the ONLY item that we know for sure was made in Braunau; however there are several clocks in the Weight Regulator and Hall Clock sections that could have come from Braunau. We know for example that all 400-Day clocks were made in Freiburg, as well as all documented table clocks, Westminster chime clocks, alarm clocks, etc. This adds another page to the info developed to date that Braunau only made wall clocks and hall clocks, all being weight driven and using gut or cable to suspend the weights.

John Hubby
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Forgot the PDF for the Harfen Gong patent DRP 238223. It's attached here.

John Hubby

Trying again, that was only the first page. Here's the whole patent, look at the drawings to see that this is exactly what is found on Richard's clock.

John Hubby
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Oops -- falling behind here, sorry.

DRP 238223 wasn't granted on 26 September 1911. That's the date the specifications were issued. It was granted sometime between the "protected from" date and that "ausgegeben" date. John, am not sure how important this difference is in your research, but there is a diffference there.

The same would be true of course with the other Ausgegeben (for the specs) dates. They were issued sometime after the patents were granted.

In case it's also of interest, what could be the same "invention" was registed as DRGM 453523 in November 1910. It was possible and indeed not uncommon to have a DRGM and a DRP for the same whatever.

Best regards,
Zep