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Long Case Clocks

I am not an expert or a clock worker of any kind, and I make no guarantees on any of the information here. Take all information and advice at your own risk. If you have corrections, please let me know!
I noticed there was not a lot of readily available information on the web about long case clocks (Grandfather clocks or Grandmother clocks), and pendulum clocks also, so I put this web page together from many sources.
If you want to learn about pendulum's and setting the accuracy of a pendulum clock, click here.
Also see my page all about Mauthe Clocks.

A Bit of History
Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642) is actually credited with inventing the pendulum-clock concept, and he studied the motion of the pendulum as early as 1582. He even sketched out a design for a pendulum clock, but never actually constructed one. In 1656, Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch scientist, made the first pendulum clock, regulated by a mechanism with a "natural" period of oscillation. See this NIST Link for more information.

Long Case Clocks
Long Case clocks, or Tall Case Clocks, are floor standing, upright clocks. The term Grandfather Clock came from an old 1800's song, called "Grandfather's Clock", where the first line is, "my Grandfather's clock...". That somehow sounded like "Grandfather clock" (not plural) and the name stuck, and soon people defined a Grandfather clock as a Long Case clock over 6 feet tall, and a Grandmother clock as the same but less than 6 feet tall.

Kinds of Movements
There are 4 common kinds of movement, in terms of length:
30 hour movement - older clocks
8 day movement - late 1700's to modern day
40 day movement - modern day movements
400 day movement - Anniversary clocks.
The 8 day type of clock gets its name by the duration of its winding: eight days. Eight days to grant absentminded people one more day to wind it before the clock stops definitely. The same reasoning is applied to all the classical winding times: in the 30 hours clocks, 6 hours were left to wind the clock after a day, the 40 days clocks allowed ten days of delay after a month, and finally the 400 days clocks granted 35 days before stopping.

Mechanical Workings
Inside the case is the machinery of the clock. The components are usually brass and steel. Pendulum clocks are usually run by gravity feeds - weights hung on chains that pull on tensioned pulleys and gears. The weights are usually lead or sand and decoratively encased, often in brass.
As you look directly at the clock, there are usually three weights in a chiming clock. The right weight is the heaviest weight because it drives the clappers for the chimes. The center weight drives the clock timing movement (clock hands). The left weight drives the clappers for the hourly chimes.
The pendulum regulates the time.

Maintenance and Adjustment
All major adjustments and repairs should be done by a qualified, reputable clock service. Doing the work yourself has risk and you could damage your fine clock - be warned! That said, the clock workings (shafts and bearings) need to be oiled about every 3-5 years. Use a very lightweight oil, and don't oil the tooths of the gears, oil the axles they rotate about. You should oil from the back of the clock, never at the face where the hands attach. If you remove the clock mechanism from the case be very very very careful because there are usually exposed clock parts that can snap and break! Be sure to remove the weights from the chains (don't try to remove the chains) and remove the pendulum. The clock mechanism usually rests on a "seatboard" which slides out levelly from the clock case; there may be screws holding the seatboard in place. The chimes are usually bolted to the back of the case and don't come out with the clock mechanism.
Chimes - with the clock mechanism in place, look into the case of the clock, you should be able to see the strikers and chimes behind the face of the clock. If a chime sounds bad, look at the striker as it is chiming. You can usually see any problems like alignment, missing striker or hammer surface, loose chime attachment. Stikers sometimes get out of alignment and you can carefully reach in and carefully bend the hammer arm to align it with the chime. You can usually do it by hand, not with pliers. Remember - if you're mechanically challenged: get a qualified repairman, don't break your clock!!

Links:

Here is a great link, all about Floor Clocks, from HowardMiller.com: http://www.howardmiller.com/Manuals/instbk2s.pdf
Here is a cool Kid's build it yourself clock: http://store.yahoo.com/brandsonsale-store/myfirstclock.html

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