I joined the NAWCC and forum just to post this question for advice from very talented and experienced folks here: Is there any way that I can fix or replace this particular gear on my cuckoo clock that's supposed to allow the minute hand to be manually set by slipping its engagement with the train?
I can set the minute hand now by removing the outer nut and pulling the minute hand cannon out just enough to disengage the gear, but that is a lot more complicated for making time adjustments than it should be.
As I hope you can see from the attached photos, the gear in my clock's movement has been repaired with a soldered or brazed curved piece of metal with a square hole to interface with a square base on the pivot. Unfortunately, it doesn't ever slip on the square connection, or if it does because it's not pressed in far enough, it simply doesn't connect at all. Also, the pivot isn't long enough to have a way to clip the gear in place to provide pressure against the movement frame like most photos of other similar movements I've seen (not to mention that, as described above, there's no spring or other clutch mechanism that I can ascertain).
The retrofitted gear that came with the clock and is pictured here also has some odd grooves cut into the back. I'm thinking they may have been detents for an earlier tension spring. BTW, when I first removed the clutch gear, it had a very small tubular section that fit on the shaft between the brass gear and soldered metal piece with the square hole. I thought it was brass until it basically disintegrated like paste or 90-year old plastic. I don't know what it's purpose would have been except perhaps to hold the gear tight on the pivot shaft.
Also, if you look carefully, you can see that there was a desiccated large spider and web on the backside of that gear from sometime after WWII.
This clock was from my mother's family, made in 1905, and it has two repair dates of 1927 and 1946 penciled inside the case. As far as I can tell from my research, it's a George Kuehl clock with the G.K. movement. It was in rather sad shape, but I carved new bone hands, temporarily patched the bellows, and otherwise restored it to condition in the attached photo. Except for the clutch problem, it works very well, keeping pretty good time. I've yet to see a picture or a description of how the back of that specific G.K. wheel is supposed to look and work with the square base of the pivot.
Photos I've seen of some Regula movements look like the clutch gear "could" be interchangeable with the G.K. part. However, I haven't seen that particular gear for sale, and I don't know about the gear size matchup. (Sorry that I'm not sure of the proper name for that gear. I believe I've seen it in one book referred to as a reverse minute wheel.)
As I mentioned, I've done a lot of research on the Internet, and the majority of my best search hits come back to this forum. So I'm hoping some of you have some good answers. Thanks for reading, and thanks for your assistance!
Mick


I can set the minute hand now by removing the outer nut and pulling the minute hand cannon out just enough to disengage the gear, but that is a lot more complicated for making time adjustments than it should be.
As I hope you can see from the attached photos, the gear in my clock's movement has been repaired with a soldered or brazed curved piece of metal with a square hole to interface with a square base on the pivot. Unfortunately, it doesn't ever slip on the square connection, or if it does because it's not pressed in far enough, it simply doesn't connect at all. Also, the pivot isn't long enough to have a way to clip the gear in place to provide pressure against the movement frame like most photos of other similar movements I've seen (not to mention that, as described above, there's no spring or other clutch mechanism that I can ascertain).


The retrofitted gear that came with the clock and is pictured here also has some odd grooves cut into the back. I'm thinking they may have been detents for an earlier tension spring. BTW, when I first removed the clutch gear, it had a very small tubular section that fit on the shaft between the brass gear and soldered metal piece with the square hole. I thought it was brass until it basically disintegrated like paste or 90-year old plastic. I don't know what it's purpose would have been except perhaps to hold the gear tight on the pivot shaft.
Also, if you look carefully, you can see that there was a desiccated large spider and web on the backside of that gear from sometime after WWII.

This clock was from my mother's family, made in 1905, and it has two repair dates of 1927 and 1946 penciled inside the case. As far as I can tell from my research, it's a George Kuehl clock with the G.K. movement. It was in rather sad shape, but I carved new bone hands, temporarily patched the bellows, and otherwise restored it to condition in the attached photo. Except for the clutch problem, it works very well, keeping pretty good time. I've yet to see a picture or a description of how the back of that specific G.K. wheel is supposed to look and work with the square base of the pivot.


Photos I've seen of some Regula movements look like the clutch gear "could" be interchangeable with the G.K. part. However, I haven't seen that particular gear for sale, and I don't know about the gear size matchup. (Sorry that I'm not sure of the proper name for that gear. I believe I've seen it in one book referred to as a reverse minute wheel.)
As I mentioned, I've done a lot of research on the Internet, and the majority of my best search hits come back to this forum. So I'm hoping some of you have some good answers. Thanks for reading, and thanks for your assistance!
Mick
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