Barr & Poole Poole Clock problems

[Lincolnhill]

Good evening all,

I just finished restoring a nice Poole gallery clock with a 10 1/2" dial. Hanging on the wall with no hands attached it runs beautifully with the gravity arm triggering about every 50 to 55 pendulum swings. It has been running nearly two days at this triggering intervals.

Now the problem...put on the hour hand and everything is great. Put on the minute hand and it stops each and every hour at 40 minutes past the hour. I imagine that it is the weight of the hour hand dragging the movement to a halt, but the hands are very light aluminum and my understanding of a Poole movement is that the weight of the pendulum drives the movement so a little extra weight would be a moot point.

Any ideas on how to adjust the movement or possibly the escapement? My limited knowledge of these movements is that 50 to 55 swings per triggering represents a very healthy movement. Maybe I am missing something simple

Thanks,

Michael

 

[H.Weiland]

Hello Michael,

I read your posting and the thought crossed my mind if your problems might be caused by a bent shaft for the minute hand at the front plate? My reasoning is that when no load is placed, the shaft can lift the hour hand pipe, but when the minute hand is attached, the looseness of the hour hand pipe is lost, thus the binding?

I have usually found when a clock stops always at a particular point, look for something bent first.

Only a guess! Please let us know what you ultimately find.

Henry Weiland

 

[Lincolnhill]

Interesting thought Henry.

I had not approached the problem from that angle, but did have the thought that there was possibly a counterbalance built into the minute hand gearing and/or shaft. With that in mind, I removed the minute hand and reinstalled at 180 degrees opposite. In other words, if it was pointing to the 12 when removed, I reinstalled at the 6.

Started movement back up and it ceased running at 40 minutes past the hour.

With that in mind I do not believe a bent shaft is the issue as it would have stopped somewhere near 10 minutes past.

Any other thoughts??

Thanks,

Michael

 

[Ray Brown]

Michael,

I have found some useful information on Poole clocks in a couple of Bulletin articles and also in Martin Swetsky's book, "A Guide to Electrical Horology," Trafford Prblishing, c. 2003. The two Bulletin articles are "The Poole Electric Clock, No. 255, pp 304-310, Aug. 1988 and "The Ingenious Poole Clock," No. 328, pp 611-616, Oct. 2000. Both articles discuss adjustment of the movement to optimize performance. Martin Swetsky's book is mainly focused on restoration and repair of many early electro-mechanical movements.
None seem to address your particular symptom but it may be that the drive of the pendulum is marginal in some way and a review of these sources will provide a clue to fix your problem.

Ray Brown

 

[glr1109]

50 to 55 beats is excellent! Although I've acheived that number...I normally only get around the mid 40's.

I've never come across this problem. There is no counterbalance. My belief is that you would have either something rubbing at that time or a bent centershaft. Have you tried the hands without the hand nut? Have you tried running it without the dial but with the hands attached?

Although I've never had to bush the center shaft arbor hole...is that intact? More often than not I've bushed the second hand arbor hole...but I can't imagine that being your problem as you explain it.

Do tell us what your doing and how your making out. I'll have to take another look at mine with this problem in mind.

Still thinking...
greg

 

[Lincolnhill]

Thank you for the ideas Greg,

The clock has been running perfectly with just the hour hand for some time now. I will try your assorted ideas over the next few days and report back on what happens.

Until then, I at least know roughly what time it is

 

[Lincolnhill]

Well I stripped the clock of its dial and the hour hand. It is not trying to run with just the minute hand attached. No luck, stops at 20 minutes to the hour.

At this point I think I am going to tear the movement down again and look closely at the escape wheel. Maybe I have a bent tooth or something. I know the teeth on these wheels are a bit odd in nature so should be interesting to see if I can tell if damage is present.

Any additional thoughts still are appreciated.

Michael

 

[glr1109]

How did you make out with this? Did you find the problem and if so...what was it?

greg

 

[Vinny di]

Please look at this thread if you have the opportunity, thanks;
Poole Hipp Toggle/Gravity Battery Clock