Hickory Dickory Dock Help

[wow]

Got this one in for repair with no pendulum. Never worked on one before. Does it have a short pendulum or one that extends down? Any photos would be appreciated. Thanks.
Will

 

[KurtinSA]

Some info here:

Hickory Dickory Dock clock

I purchased one a few years ago and never could get it to work. It used to work but then the string broke and I replaced it with something close It does wind the mouse to the top but once there it stops. I think I have the wrong string or it is too long. Do not know how to fix that. Any...

mb.nawcc.org

Searching for "Hickory Dickory" found lots of past posts.

Kurt

 

[wow]

Thanks, Kurt. Looks like an Ansonia pendulum.

 

[lpbp]

This is the remake by Horolover with a German movement. It's actually called Dickory Dickory Dock, probably to not enhance on Copyright.

 

[wow]

Thanks, I thought so. It looks too new to be an original. Who made the originals?

 

[R. Croswell]

Thanks, I thought so. It looks too new to be an original. Who made the originals?

The originals were made by Dungan & Klump, however the movements for the model 1, & 2 were manufactured by New Haven. The model 3 was only a prototype. The model 4 & 5 had movements made by Sessions. It is quite an interesting story and can be found in A Supplement to the BULLETIN of the Nationmal Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc.. 4 1966 Summer 1966. The article is by Charles Terwillinger and is titled, Elmer Ellsworth Dungan and the Dickory Dickory Dock Clock. I expect it is available in the NAWCC library.

Dungan was not a clock maker but made the first Dickory Dickory Dock Clock for his little daughter. His house at Fort Washington, PA became the home of Zake's Cakes, now Zake's Cafe. Dungan had also built a large clock in the cable end of his house. The house can be seen here and it still has a clock, but probably not the same one Elmer built.

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RC

 

[wow]

Thank you, RC. Great info.

 

[shutterbug]

Mine doesn't have a pendulum (balance wheel), but the basic operation is that the string operating the mouse turns one turn per hour, raising the mouse one number. At 1:00 there's a method to allow the mouse to fall. In mine, the driving wheel has a notch where the teeth are disengaged and the mouse falls to the lower 1:00 setting. When it falls, a bell rings and it starts over again.

 

[R. Croswell]

Mine doesn't have a pendulum (balance wheel), but the basic operation is that the string operating the mouse turns one turn per hour, raising the mouse one number. At 1:00 there's a method to allow the mouse to fall. In mine, the driving wheel has a notch where the teeth are disengaged and the mouse falls to the lower 1:00 setting. When it falls, a bell rings and it starts over again.

There have been a number of "mouse clocks" produced. The original Dungan & Klump, models 1 & 2 had a balance wheel movement that lived in the bottom of the case and used a chain to lift the mouse. They struck the hour each hour on a small bell. At "1", when the clock struck, a gizmo at the top of the clock released the mouse to drop. The models 1 & 2 never worked very well. The model 3 prototype supposedly fixed the problems but was never produced. Dungan had a falling out with New Haven and the model 4 had a Sessions movement with a pendulum at the top. The model 5 is almost never seen and was a table or shelf clock, smaller in size with a conventional round clock dial above a slot where the mouse just went up and down didn't do anything else.

I believe there are some Asian knock offs of the model 2 and 4.

The Horolover models that I have seen were smaller than the original Dungan & Klump models and had a small balance wheel movement in the top with a spool and string to raise the mouse and a driving wheel has a notch where the teeth are disengaged and the mouse falls, like you described. This is probably the one you have.

If WOW's clock has a German movement, perhaps it is a Horolover reproduction that I'm not familiar with. Whoever made it, I'm sure it was designed to look like the original Dungan & Klump model 4

RC

 

[wow]

No name on it. Looks like the Horolover repro to me. String broke so I replaced it with monofilament fishing line. Mouse is now happily climbing as it runs. I set it at 1:00 today. We’ll see where the little varment is tomorrow morning.

 

[R. Croswell]

No name on it. Looks like the Horolover repro to me. String broke so I replaced it with monofilament fishing line. Mouse is now happily climbing as it runs. I set it at 1:00 today. We’ll see where the little varment is tomorrow morning.

The diameter of the string is critical. Too large and the mouse gets to "1" early, too small and the mouse gets to "1" late. It won't keep time unless you have the correct string. I believe Horolover has the correct replacement string, if it is a Horolover.

Here are some pictures of the Horolover "mouse clock". It is only 24" tall and should have the Horolover name on the movement. By comparison, the black and white image is an original Dungan & Klump, model 4 as shown in the Bulletin (see post # 6). Yours does not look like the Horolover models that I have seen, and while it is similar to the D & K model 4, it isn't exactly a match. If yours has no markings, I would suspect that it may be one of the Asian copies of the D & K model 4. If it should turn out to be a genuine D & K model 4 (they were known to make changes during their production runs) it could be worth some serious money.

RC



Here is a side by side image of the movements.

 

[wow]

Thank you, RC. Great photos.