New here. Clock rescued from the dumpster.

[Dandy Dave]

I rescued this Sessions Mantle clock from landing in a dumpster. It looked to good to me to see it tossed out by the folks cleaning out the house it came from so I brought it home. I pulled the works out, cleaned them up and oiled them. It has been running and chiming well. I was wondering if someone could date it? I could not find any photos on the web that looked like this one. Oh, I'm new here. It has been years since I have tinkered with an old clock and I have once again found it rewarding to save and revive an old time piece.

 

[Jim Hartog]

Hello Dave,

Your rescue looks to be the "London" which was in a Sessions catalogue in 1910. Found on page 171 of Tran Duy Ly's Sessions Clocks.

Jim

 

[Willie X]

Dave,
Be very careful winding your clock. It would be a good idea to wind it only partially, until you can disassemble it and closely examine the winding ratchet parts. Many of these clocks are discarded after hammering the owners fingers due to a bad click. Many are damaged in a way that allows you to get to a full wind then, Ka-Bloooey.
Willie X

 

[Kevin W.]

For terminology. Just to help you. You have a time and strike clock. Nice find. A chime clock is one that plays a tune, like westminster.

 

[claussclocks]

Willie is correct. The Sessions clicks are their Achilles heel. More than once I have repaired a Sessions and had the click fail post repair with no apparent sign of failure. They are not difficult to replace but their failure rate is notable.
On the flip side, Nice Save! I hate to see any salvageable clock trashed

DPC

 

[Dandy Dave]

Thank all of you for the replies. And thanks for the info on the date, the clicks, and the correct terminology. Always room to learn. As a young fellow I had a few old clocks that were in rough shape that I made run again. I had no one at the time to show me so I just studdied them and figgured them out by trial and error. I did not know the correct name for many of the parts either. Now with the internet it is truly the information age.

 

[abe]

Why would anyone throw out something like that!

Thanks for saving it!

 

[steamer471]

Thank all of you for the replies. And thanks for the info on the date, the clicks, and the correct terminology. Always room to learn. As a young fellow I had a few old clocks that were in rough shape that I made run again. I had no one at the time to show me so I just studdied them and figgured them out by trial and error. I did not know the correct name for many of the parts either. Now with the internet it is truly the information age.

Same with me. Found this site and I can now do more things with clocks and other related parts (case restoration etc) than I thought I could ever do. Glad you saved that clock from it's early demise.

 

[Betzel]

Agreed. Nice save!

Reading along, I always inspect clicks and ratchets during repairs, but have yet to be disciplined for doing this poorly.

If it's hard to feel / casually notice, but can fail catastrophically, what does an astute repairer look for in a bad click? Hidden wear on the back? TIA!

 

[Dandy Dave]

Not sure why they would toss it other than ignorance and they just don't care. The property where the clock came from will be on the market soon as the owner passed. The heirs just want the big bucks for the property and don't care about neat old thing like this. They just want the place clean out. I bet this happens more often than we would like to realize. A throw away society mentality. Dave.

 

[Les harland]

There is an old saying:-
"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder"
Not everyone likes mechanical clocks which need winding regularly, changing a battery once a year is easier

 

[Dandy Dave]

Yeah. A cheesy battery powerd plastic clock from Walmart that can be tossed when it no longer runs is what drives this throw away age today. An older windup clock you would think someone would buy whether sold by a tag sale or auction as it has some value. How many on here would pay $25 or $50 dollars even for a nice old wind up clock that will run 100 + years with some care. Think of the batteries that will be kept out of the land fills alone. As more younger folks become aware of the implications of trashing the environment I think, at least for some, old clocks will be collected and cherished for years to come. So I think the hobbie is safe. But there will always those that do not care and do not understand the historical value. Dave.

 

[John R Oliphant]

Very nice dumpster save Dave!!