shprentz@bdmrrr.bdm.com (Joel Shprentz) (11/12/90)
Following the good advice from you and Jim Rees, I got my Western
Union clock running this weekend.
F cells are a little hard to come by, so I bought two alkaline D cells
with a holder and wired them to the motor solenoid and lamp circuits.
The original battery wiring was not connected, so I'm not sure I got
the polarity right. It works.
The clockworks were in good shape. I wound and unwound the spring
several times to spin off the dust (there wasn't much). The minute
hand's final gear was off by one notch; I adjusted it to reset to :00
instead of :03.
The clock case was covered with years of grime. A little cleaner and
elbow grease made it presentable again. The glass rattled in the case
because the clips inside were loose. I replaced each clip's dried
rubber with foam weatherstripping.
The clock has been running well since Sunday afternoon. It seems to
keep good time -- I'll measure its accuracy during the next few days.
The spring rewind motor runs for about 13 seconds each hour.
Jim is sending me his circuit to generate hourly pulses from a cheap
digital clock. The Naval Observatory is a local call, so I'm hoping
to use my computer to synchronize the clock to its original time
standard.
Joel Shprentz Phone: (703) 848-7305
BDM International, Inc. Uucp: {rutgers,vrdxhq,rlgvax}!bdmrrr!shprentz
7915 Jones Branch Drive Internet: shprentz@bdmrrr.bdm.com
McLean, Virginia 22102
[Moderator's Note: Your batteries won't last very long, unfortunately.
Why don't you instead find a little AC/DC transformer which puts out
about 3 volts at say, 500 m.a. Plug the transformer in the wall and
run thin wire up behind the clock, and use it to power the motor which
winds the spring. Also, rewire the contact which makes the little red
lightbulb light (normally when the setting circuit is powered) so that
it lights for the 13 seconds or so when the clock winds once an hour.
Finally, by removing the cotter pin you'll find in the 'finger' which
the setting circuit uses to jerk the minute hand into place, you'll
change the grace period for setting from two minutes on either side of
the hour to about 29 minutes on either side of the hour! (It still has
trouble if the hand is right on the six.) Good luck, and enjoy it! PAT]