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  English Longcase Care Guide

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Introduction
It is difficult to grasp the importance of the development of clocks, when we can buy a watch for a few pounds that will keep perfect time. But through the ages clockmaking has been at the forefront of political and socio-economic agendas and at the edge of engineering design. When we see an antique clock today it belies the endeavor, the ingenuity and the effect it has had on peoples lives through generations.

1. A Brief History of Time keeping in Britain
By the 16th century clocks had entered wealthy homes. The domestic clocks of 16th century Britain were iron framed wall clocks driven by weights and it is believed that these were imported from the south of Germany where clockmaking had developed into a distinct craft.

The second half of the 17th century saw the clockmakers craft in London elevated to the finest in the world as the British broke away from the European tradition. The Clockmakers Company was incorporated in 1631 and the Royal Society formed in 1660. The introduction of the pendulum in 1650 and other innovations enabled clockmakers to achieve a new height of timekeeping and reliability. The Longcase and Bracket clock styles were developed at around this time.

The Longitude act of 1714 helped push the art of clockmaking to its greatest heights in the 18th century. John Harrison eventually solved this problem with a series of ingenious and exquisitely executed timepieces. He was not the only clockmaker. The 18th century was the time of great horologists and the height of the London makers spurred on clockmaking in the rest of Britain. The close of the 18th century saw a huge change in British society. With the industrial revolution came the growth of population centers and a new class of people to buy clocks outside London. Some provincial makers developed their craft to a fine art, while others made less sophisticated but perfectly good clocks at a lower price.

2. Setting up
A note for our clients: Dragon Antiques likes to set up longcase clocks for our clients whenever this is possible. However if this is not possible or you want to move the clock here are some notes on the procedure. It is relatively easy, but if you have any questions or problems please phone or email - we will always help you.

There are a few differences between setting up a 30 hour clock and an 8-day and these will be highlighted at appropriate places in the text.

Position The Clock.
Place the clock on a level, firm floor. If possible screw the case to the wall using a batten of wood behind the ‘back board’. You will see that there is almost always an old hole in the ‘back board’ where a previous owner has screwed the clock to a wall. Use slithers of wood under the feet at the front of the case to make the clock lean firmly against the wall.

Place the Movement
Place the movement with the dial on to the ‘seatboard’, feeding the chain, rope or gut line through the slots on their correct sides, i.e. make sure it is not knotted or twisted. The movement should sit so that the dial is just clear of the front of the seat board. (see picture) It is important to have a second person hold the movement steady while you find the pendulum.

 
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 Fit the Pendulum
Feed the pendulum feather (see picture) through the crutch and hook on to the post, the feather fits into the narrow slot front to back in the post. (take care not to bend the feather too much, as it is delicate).

Check that the pendulum rod is free to move within the square of the crutch. It should be a snug fit with no sticking or binding when you gently flex the crutch backward and forward.

The crutch may get bent during transporting, if so gently straighten it until it is straight relative to the square of the pendulum and there is no binding.

8-day weight and pulley
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8-day line drum
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Lowering the weight

 Fit the weight or weights.
A 30 hour clock has one weight and an eight day has two.

8-day
There are two loops of gut line. The right hand drives the striking and the left drives the going. The weight hangs on the line by means of a pulley as shown in the picture. Make sure the pulley is free to turn on the loop.

Arrange the gut line so that it passes around the groove of the pulley with the loop pointing downward. Hold it with you right hand so that the line is held in place on the pulley. Hook the weight on with your left hand and carefully lower the weight into the case, letting the line slip through your fingers and keeping the line taught so that the line does not slip of the pulley. Repeat this for the second weight.

Winding for the first time
Dragon Antiques always supplies 8-day clocks with the line fully wound out therefore now all you have to do is wind the clock with the cranked winder through the winding holes in the dial. The line should follow the grooves in the drum as in the picture. When winding for the first time during setting up; watch the drum carefully while winding if the line starts to cross over its self, stop and carefully push the line back into the groove. Wind slowly as the line may have kinked or set into shape during shipping.

 
30 hour with chain drive
weight and pulley


 30 hour:
30hr clocks have either a chain or rope to drive the movement. Chain works fine, but rope is more delicate especially around the sewn join. Please wind gently.

One (leader) has a pulley and the other is the ‘tail’. (sometimes the tail has a small lead "donut" counter-weight). Arrange the chain of the leader so that it runs over the pulley and that the weight loop is downward as in the picture. Keep hold of the pulley and chain with one hand and with the other hand hook on the weight. Keeping tight hold of the chain so that it does not fall off the pulley lower the weight into the case letting the chain slip through your fingers until the chain above is taught and you can let go. If your clock has chain drive, check that the chain is running over both sprockets in the movement correctly, i.e. the chain is engaged in the teeth of the sprockets and is not riding up the side.

Replace the hood to check the position of the movement. Remove the hood and carefully move the movement until the dial lines up with the ‘mask’ of the hood, i.e. the frame on the inside of the door.

Setting the ‘beat’
Carefully set the pendulum swinging by pushing it to one side and releasing. Listen to the beat of the clock, it should be an even ‘tick tock’ if not the crutch needs to be adjusted. To adjust the crutch (Fig 2) Listen carefully to the beat and in particular listen to which way is long, i.e. the pendulum spends more time over that side than it should. Take hold of the vertical part of the crutch called the leader and carefully with your other hand bend the leader (Fig 2) towards the long direction. (don’t worry it is soft steel and designed to be bent). You will only need to do this a fraction of an inch. Check that the crutch is still square to the pendulum and listen to the beat. When the beat is even you have set the clock up.

3. Setting the time.
Turn the minute hand clockwise until the clock shows the correct time. Always wait for the clock to strike the hours. Never turn the hands backwards. Never manually move the hour hand.

4. Setting the Date.
This is a simple ratchet mechanism which is clicked on every 12 hours. While not 100% reliable, it is easy to adjust - simply push the calendar ring or date hand around to the left with your finger. It will move easily when not engaged. When the calendar ring feels tight and will not move easily, the mechanism is engaged - just wait a few hours and try again.

5. Winding up.
8-day clock:
Insert the winding crank into one of the winding holes. Make sure it is firmly engaged and turn clockwise using a careful but powerful wrist action. With the door open you can watch the weights going up in side the case, stop when the bottom of the weight is level with the top of the door opening. Both sides of the movement need to be wound once a week.

30hr Clock:
The clock is wound by pulling down on the chain loop that that has'nt’t got the weight on it. Carefully pull down on the chain until the weight goes just above the top of the door. It is quite heavy and makes a grating sound. The clock needs to be wound once a day.

6. Striking.
Two type of striking system were used. In general, 30hr clocks have Countwheel strike and 8-day clocks have the superior Rack strike. However there are exceptions, Dragon antiques will tell you which you have.

Rack Striking system
The only minor problem with this method happens when the clock fails to strike for some reason. At about 12:40, if the clock has not struck the previous 12 o'clock the clock will stop. This usually only happens if the clock has not been wound but can happen at random. Gently turn the hand 10 minutes backwards towards the half hour (Never turn the hands backward past the hour). If the clock strikes the problem is fixed. If the clock does not strike; check that the left weight is wound up. Wind it up if necessary. If it is wound, gently turn the winder a little to "tease" the movement into striking.
Rack strike clocks should not strike out of sequence.

Countwheel striking system, this method allows the striking to go out of sequence (i.e. to strike the wrong number). This usually only happens when the clock has wound down but can happen at random every now and again - if it happens frequently the movement needs adjusting. When turning the hand to set the time, turn the hand slowly as you approach the hour this is to give the movement time to set up its striking procedure.

Correcting the striking sequence:
The ‘countwheel’ will be found at the back of the movement, just before the pendulum ‘leader’. It is literally a brass wheel with pegs set at intervals around it or a wheel with slots cut. The distance between the pegs or slots determines how many times the clock will strike. Just above the ‘countwheel’ is the ‘strike lever’, flick this upwards and the clock will strike the next number of hours. Do not do this between ten minutes to and the hour.

7. Regulation.
Accuracy: The accuracy of mechanical clocks is affected by a number of factors. Although this movement is of good quality and in good condition we can not expect it to be as accurate as a modern quartz clock. Dragon Antiques restorers ‘time up’ the clocks as accurately as possible, but the process of moving the clock and setting up upsets the accuracy of the clock. After moving the clock, a period of ‘settling down’ is needed with small adjustments made to make the clock run more accurately. After a few months, an accuracy of +/- a minute a day can be achieved, with patience.

Ways to adjust:
The length of the pendulum controls the speed of the clock. In general raising the pendulum bob makes the clock run faster and lowering it slows the clock down. The pendulum sits on a thumb screw. To adjust the pendulum height, turn the screw to the left to lower the bob and slow the clock down, turn to the right to raise the bob and speed it up. (about 1 turn for 5 minutes lost or gained in a day).

8.  Caring for your Clock:
The Movement in your clock has been cleaned and once set up and running should not require attention for many years. It is important NOT to oil the movement as this attracts dirt which will cause wear and eventually stop the clock.

9.  Caring for your Clock Case:
The patina on old wood, built up over years of beeswax polishing and dusting, is part of the joy and beauty of antique furniture. To protect and add to the luster for future generations use a good quality wax polish 3 or 4 times a year, more often if the clock is sited close to a source of heat like a radiator. Regular dusting and a good rub is all that is necessary in between. Spray or aerosol polish is not a good idea as they wet the wood and tend to strip the old polish from the surface.

Enjoy your clock, he will become an old friend!

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