[time-nuts] The pendulum problem...

[paul swed]

Brian your clock will be running. I can assure none of our CS, RBs or me
will be.
Not sure how I will break, but those pesky things called capacitors,
resistors and semiconductors will.
Almost every piece of test gear I have picked up as broken was due to one
form or another of some cap. being bad. Don't get me wrong I love bad caps.
Makes for a fine test bench.
Best regards. Please send a pix.
Paul
WB8TSL


On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 2:50 PM, Brian, WA1ZMS <wa1zms at att.net> wrote:

> Thanks for all the ideas and replies.  Let me see if I can address all
> points in just
> one e-mail.
>
> 1) The clock(s) in question are very costly and to modify them in any way
> would
> instantly kill the value. These are part of history collection in 100%
> original condition.
>
> 2) These clocks wind with a crank handle and winding rolls the cable back
> onto the
> main-wheel drum.  (Chain drive clocks were a ~100 year later design in
> America)
>
> 3) The pendulum is 1 meter long and takes a full second to travel from one
> end to the
> other. So 1PPS or 0.5PPS synching is easy to do with a magnet, etc...
>
> 4) The escapement is of the anchor type, and as such when you wind the
> running weight
> you are driving the main wheel backwards. Such an escapement will run
> backwards during
> the winding and so I lose about 20 seconds or so during the winding.  The
> speed of the wind
> also can allow for a typical forward second to happen between the clicks on
> the drum.
> Sometimes I get a loss of 15 seconds, sometimes 20, etc...
>
> 5) The pendulum is still swinging during the wind. It's a 1kg weight on a
> 1m
> rod. Takes
> lots of energy to stop it.
>
> 6) The escapement shaft comes through the front dial to a small second hand
> and so you
> can see the second hand either pause, run forward, run backwards during a
> wind.
>
> I am concluding that without a fancy way to wind such a clock, it will only
> be locked to
> an external source during a typical 7-day run.  I'm asking for a solution
> to
> a problem that
> exists only as a want, not a need. Nevertheless, it is still very
> satisfying
> to hear the tick
> of such an old clock as the trigger LEDs on a 5370B blink at the same rate.
> It was TVB that
> pointed out to me the idea of just how many of our Rb's, Cs's, and OCXOs
> will still be
> running 200 years from now.  That thought still gives me pause.
>
>
> -Brian, WA1ZMS
>
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