Telechron Warren Telechron - Warren Clock Company - Master B

[Dick C]

I recently purchased this Telechron clock made by the Warren Clock Company. It has a few things that I would like to correct

1. The case was refinished...it may be varnished...would you restore the finish back to its original form? What would be the original finish?

2. When they refinished the case it appears that they oversprayed the dial around the edges. What is the dial made of? What might I use to remove the overspray? What would I use to clean the rest of the dial?

3. The pendulum is disconnected from the works; thus, I must remove the dial. I do need guidance on how the hands are removed? It appears that two of them have hand nuts. Is this so and is the other one a press fit? The large hand has two hand nuts, one above and one below the hands. There is a hole in each of the hands nuts...is this to provide leverage when removing the nut? Or is there a small set screw within the hole? Must the shaft be secured in order to remove the nuts?

4. Given that the pendulum is not secured, I assume that it is to be secured by one of the two methods that I have found...if I can get the dial off, then I can ascertain what might be done.

This clock appears to be in great shape otherwise..the previous owner indicated that their father had this on the wall and it was running when he passed away about a year ago. Has been sitting in a closet since then. It comes with what appears to be the original tweezers, two or three weights that could be used in the pan attached to the pendulum rod above the pendulum, and three original publications.

I would like to warn you...I am familiar with brass works and wood works clocks....this electric clock is a first...so depending upon the guidance I may decide to do the work or ...?

Thanks for any help.

Dick

 

[Ingulphus]

There is a hole in each of the hands nuts...is this to provide leverage when removing the nut? Or is there a small set screw within the hole? Must the shaft be secured in order to remove the nuts?

There should be a set screw in each hole; it may be that the surface of the shaft is flat where each set screw meets the shaft, so ensure that the screws are fully disengaged before attempting to remove the hands, lest you mar the flat area.

 

[mxfrank]

Interesting clock. I've never seen one of these, so I'm just speculating. The small clock face hands seem to be mounted with a conventional thumbscrew. Undo it and they should pry up. The five minute wheel seems to be a press fit. The main hand seems to be held on with two shaft collars, which seems pretty odd to me. They probably have set screws inside each hole.

Find an odd corner to test the finish...varnish will soften with mineral spirit, shellac will soften with alcohol. Most clocks of the pre WW2 era had shellac based finishes. I'd be a very careful about using any chemistry on the the face, the original paint was probably oil based enamel. You may be best off having it professionally restored. Either that, or live with the discoloration until a better plan comes along.

Any idea what the 1-10 face was used for? I'll be interested in seeing the movement.

 

[Dick C]

Interesting clock. I've never seen one of these, so I'm just speculating. The small clock face hands seem to be mounted with a conventional thumbscrew. Undo it and they should pry up. The five minute wheel seems to be a press fit. The main hand seems to be held on with two shaft collars, which seems pretty odd to me. They probably have set screws inside each hole.

Find an odd corner to test the finish...varnish will soften with mineral spirit, shellac will soften with alcohol. Most clocks of the pre WW2 era had shellac based finishes. I'd be a very careful about using any chemistry on the the face, the original paint was probably oil based enamel. You may be best off having it professionally restored. Either that, or live with the discoloration until a better plan comes along.

Any idea what the 1-10 face was used for? I'll be interested in seeing the movement.

You are correct with respect to the hands....they came off just as you indicated. I did have a long talk with an individual who has a tremendous amount of knowledge about electric clocks of this vintage.

I have not tested the finish as of yet; however, your pointers will be helpfu.

The dial appears to be silvered, layered on top of thin coating of copper as some of it is apparent on the upper right near the five minute wheel.

It appears that this clock was used in power generation stations to ensure that the output was correct. The 1-10 face was set to 0 and if it moved left or right during operation, the operator of the power station could adjust the electric output to ensure that it was correct....or at least my limited knowledge of this clock believes. If different I would love to know.

I do have the works exposed as the suspension spring was broken and is now being repaired so will attempt to get what photos I can without removing them from the case. If I decide to do something with the case, then I will remove the works.

 

[Dick C]

Interesting clock. I've never seen one of these, so I'm just speculating. The small clock face hands seem to be mounted with a conventional thumbscrew. Undo it and they should pry up. The five minute wheel seems to be a press fit. The main hand seems to be held on with two shaft collars, which seems pretty odd to me. They probably have set screws inside each hole.

Find an odd corner to test the finish...varnish will soften with mineral spirit, shellac will soften with alcohol. Most clocks of the pre WW2 era had shellac based finishes. I'd be a very careful about using any chemistry on the the face, the original paint was probably oil based enamel. You may be best off having it professionally restored. Either that, or live with the discoloration until a better plan comes along.

Any idea what the 1-10 face was used for? I'll be interested in seeing the movement.

Here are a few photos of the works:

 

[mxfrank]

I see. It's not an electric clock. Its a conventional clock. The electric motor must only drive the center hand, which is used to regulate the power plant. The motor is synchronous, which means that it's speed is determined by AC frequency. If the plant is working at 60 cycles per second, the hand will rotate around the face in one minute (I'm assuming one rotation a minute). They must have timed it for five minutes to check the plant. The mechanical clock is just a high grade mechanical clock, not electric at all. Is there a mechanism for zeroing and releasing the main dial? It must have some sort of stopwatch mechanism, unless they did it just by cutting power to the motor or by releasing and tightening the shaft collar. I really like this clock.

 

[mxfrank]

Well, I was mistaken. This clock is even more sophisticated than I thought. I found the instructions online:

http://www.clockguy.com/SiteRelated...rrenTelechron/Telechron.TypeB.MasterClock.pdf