Elliott clock

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

I have an Elliott mantel clock that I aqquired a few months back that I want to give a look at. Problem is getting the movement out. It would appear that it is bolted to the dial. When i remove the the screws on the dial, the movement is attached via brass studs. I could not get a photo because of the awkwardness. But I did get a picture of what I believe is one of the connection points. It's kinda chewed up looking, leaving me to believe I'm correct in my assumption. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Royce]

I could obviously be wrong but I believe you can remove the movement by removing the hands first. Then there should be 4 brackets coming off the the front movement plate that are screwed to the clock case. Remove those screws and the movement should simply pull out the back door.

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

Royce,
Thx for the input. But it's not the case. When I remove the dial, the movement is still attached. Gimmie a couple minutes and I'll post a pic.

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

Royce,
This is the best I can do. There are no connection points in the case for this movement. It "hangs" on the dial.

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

The heic zip was an accident.......

 

[Isaac]

Looks like you’ll need something thin and small to grab those pillars and rotate them to unscrew them from the front plate.

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

Agreed. I (in my limited exp) haven't seen this before.

 

[zedric]

No one would have designed it to work this way, so either something has warped, or this case and movement didn’t start life together, or there is some other way of separation

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

Zedric,
Apparently the 6 screws in the dial are supporting the dial and the movement. Do not know the history of the clock. I know. It's weird. I have another Elliot clock. A caddy top I think they call it and it has bolts that go through a steel plate to secure the movement. Quite a bit of hardware on that clock. Weighs a ton.

 

[Tim Orr]

Good evening, Emperor!

That hex end on that post you show – are there a bunch of those? Looks like someone had a needlenose on it in the past. Have you a wrench that would fit it? What happens if you loosen it a bit? The dial attaches to the case, but maybe these things attach the dial to the works?

Best regards!

Tim Orr

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

Howdy Mr Orr,
I'll find out tomorrow. I have some metric open end wrenches that are pretty small. I'm curious to see how it's held together. Must be flare fitting.

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

Good morning y'all,
Well. It was a royal PITA! Notice the holes at 10, 2 and 6 o'clock on the movement. I doubt I'll be able to get it back in the case. Those English guys must have some sort of gizmo to aid in removing this thing. I'll no doubt need another chime block as I bent 2 of the rods. The block would not come out before the movement. Lemme rephrase that. I need a new chime rod set. One broke. I'm (expletive) mad. The clock ran fine. Kept good time. But it would cease chiming from time to time.
I've thought about fashioning some brackets to screw to the case. They'd have to be mighty thin. Then again, there's no room for 'em. To get them properly placed, I'd need the dial attached. .... double expetive.

 

[jmclaugh]

Shame about the chime rod. The movement was a new design introduced in 1949 and was produced until about 1954. It is shown in one of my reference books and while no mention is made of how it is mounted a picture of the front plate shows what appear to be three threaded inserts to take the dial feet aka the ones on the dial in your second photo above. I could PM you a photo of if you think it would help.

The only thing that comes to mind is perhaps the three dial posts screw into those inserts on the front plate from the front of the dial with chapter ring removed.

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

Good Morning Mac,
Thx for the input. I'm only into clocks for a little over 3 months now. I don't know what you're referring to when you say chapter ring. Perhaps the photo you speak of would be of help. To Zedric's point. I can't see why this was made this way. It'll take anothe pair of hand to get this back in.

 

[jmclaugh]

The chapter ring is the silver outer part of the dial with the numbers on. Cases for mantle clocks at this sort of period were fairly small hence underslung chime rods were used and not straps to attach the movement to the case so other methods were used, this one being a rather odd looking example. The case is original imo so it must fit somehow.

A picture of the front plate is below which I hope helps.

 

[TheEmperorCodsaculus]

Thx for the pic. It seems to me if this movement had those (inserts for lack of another word) in place, it would shift where the hammers strike. It would however give you a fraction of an inch more room to work with. By the way. There is no marking whatsoever on this movement. Other than: "Detach arbors by removing ratchet cover". Stamped above the arch on the lower left side. It appears to be on the photo you sent as well.
Funny thing. Since I put the thing on the test stand, it has not failed to chime once. I guess it just wanted to see outside for awhile. (feeble attemt at humor). Lemme ask you about the chime rods/block. Are they of a standard size? Mounting hole location wise?