Anyone seen those long case clock gongs with just 4 rods?

[NEW65]

Today I was out doing a repair job on a floor clock with an Hermle 1151 movement. It was striking 23 at 12 o clock! Anyway I did manage to fix that problem.
However, the gong that was positioned between the chime and strike hammers only had 4 rods. I have not seen this before - the rods shared for the chime and strike. Has anyone else seen this set up, before? I have had too many floor clocks than I care to remember but this is the first I have seen with this particular gong.
Thanks

 

[J. A. Olson]

Older grandmother clocks from the 1930's sometimes used just 4 rods for chime and strike together. Plays Westminster on 4 rods, strike hours on a chord of 3 rods. Virtually identical to many small mantle clocks of the period.

You also find the setup in a lot of knockoff 'MOATHE' clocks produced more recently.
Those used what appear to be Hermle or Kieninger movements.

 

[John P]

Colonial Clock Co. used that set with the Winterhalder GF movement.

 

[NEW65]

Thanks chaps. If this more basic arrangement is a good substitute then it makes me wonder why the manufacturer uses a gong with 4 x 4 rods. The 4 rod arrangement (shared) gong would save money surely? Just a bit confused now.

 

[J. A. Olson]

Junghans, VFU/Gustav Becker and MB Peerless regularly used 4 or 5 rod gong units in the wall clocks. Their premium offerings would use 4 x 4 rods instead. You also saw 5 rod gong unit on Vedette's budget clocks of the 1940's when costs were tighter.



Using 4 x 4 rods provided the hour strike chord with a deeper, more distinct sound compared to the chime and was still economic when the clock industry was at its greatest.

 

[NEW65]

Thanks for your messages.
The only negative I found with the 1 x 4 gong is that the strike and chime hammers have to be set very precisely on either side to prevent the chime rods (when clouted from one side), hitting the hammer heads on the other side! Of course the answer is obviously to increase the gaps but too wide a gap between hammer heads and rods lead to poor sound quality. To be honest I much prefer the 2 x 4 gongs.