Presidents Message,

We will continue to need some help setting up and taking down.  So arrive at 9:00 and help setup and stay after the educational talk to help return the room in the condition we found it in.  Thank you for your help in this.

Opens at 9:00 for setup and mart.
Robert Olney will be demonstrating glass cutting beginning at 10:00 during the mart.
Educational talk at 11:00.
Cleanup at 12:00.

We need a new secretary.  The main job is just to put this newsletter together.  Please offer to help so no one is overburdened, only takes around an hour per meeting.

We have some demonstrations planned for upcoming meetings as follows:

• Mar – Glass cutting (Robert Olney)
• May – Re-pivoting clock and watch arbors (Dempsey)
• Sep– Balance staff and hairspring replacement (Dempsey)
• Nov – Winding clock & watch mainsprings (Osterud/Dempsey)
• Jan – Resilver dials (White)

We had to presentations at our February mart. Harry Schultz gave a talk on Making a Calendar Wheel to replace a damaged wheel from an English Tall Case Clock.  He created a “simple” dividing plate and used it to layout his part.  He then cut the teeth with a splitting saw and jewelers saw.  After the part was cut Harry then filed it to shape and fitted it to the clock. Thanks Harry for this informative talk.

Michael Figueira discussed letting down the spring on a 1986 vintage Elgin 400-day clock.  This clock is known as a German time bomb.  It received this nickname from its less than obvious way to let down the tension in the mainspring. Letting the spring down incorrectly can cause the clock to rapidly disintegrate. Mike has successfully let down the spring, rebuilt the movement and currently keeps the clock in his wife’s sewing room for some reason. It is kept away from where his wife sits!

Thanks to Harry and Michael for these informative talks.

“A group of timepiece enthusiasts is gathering weekly in Mukwonago on Thursday evenings through April 11. The group consists mainly of former students of the defunct WCTC community extracurricular education program, and is seeking to expand its attendance with anyone who has an interest in learning about timepieces OR SHARING THEIR KNOWLEDGE. Currently, the meetings are BYOC (bring your own clock). As the attendees work on their timepieces, they share advice and opinions, troubleshoot and converse. If interested in attending, contact Kevin Schultz at usmc2nbpd@yahoo.com.”

Future educational talks planned:

• March 10 – Danno will make a Presentation on Renaissance and other Clocks at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
• May 19 – Craig White will make a presentation “Restoring a Scottish Musical Tall Case Clock”
• Sept 22 – Amelia Osterud will give a talk entitled “Chauncey Jerome vs PT Barnum: The Great Bankruptcy of 1856”
• Nov 17 – ?

We still need a volunteers for talks for 2024 & 2025.  Please contact Harry Schulz or myself with ideas or suggestions.  

Free tables!!  A free silent auction table will also be available.  We had some more clocks donated which the chapter will be selling at the silent auction table.

Hope to see you all there.
Thanks,
Craig

Presidents Message,
Next meeting is November 12, 2023

We had our location temporarily moved to the larger hall just behind and to the south of our normal location and it seemed to work out well.  This is likely a one time move due to some conflicts with the normal location from the American Legion perspective.
We will continue to need some help setting up and taking down.  So arrive at 9:00 and help setup and stay after the educational talk to help return the room in the condition we found it in. 
Opens at 9:00 for setup and mart. Mike Dempsey and I will be presenting a Seminar on Tool Sharpening with Focus on Jewelers’ Lathe beginning at 10:00 during the mart.  Educational talk by Tony Zimmer on “Finding the Right Screwdriver” at 11:00. Cleanup at 12:00.

We also need a new secretary.  The main job is just to put this newsletter together.  Please offer to help so no one is overburdened, only takes around an hour per meeting.

We have had some requests to add some hands-on teaching in basic clock repair.  We are starting with Tool Sharpening in November during the mart.    At the close of this first one we will discuss future subjects. Please email me any ideas you have for future seminars. 

Congreve Clocks
Craig White gave a talk on the history of the Congreve rolling ball clock. Mike Demsey and Mike Figueira brought some of their Congreve rolling ball clocks to show as examples.  Both Mikes talked about their clocks.  Mike Figueira’s clock was even working during the Mart and Talk.  Thanks for bringing your examples.

The rolling ball clocks are mesmerizing to watch the ball going back and forth in its zig-zag pattern until the ball triggers the table to tilt in the other direction.  Then the ball moves in the opposite direction.  The clocks are not good time keepers but are fun to watch.

Sir William Congreve was able to obtain a patent for his clock design in 1808 but he was not a clockmaker.  Rather, Congreve fancied himself as an inventor and his designs included counterfeit-proof paper, pneumatic canal locks, and even a perpetual motion machine. He is probably most famous for his development of the Congreve rocket, a weapon which was successfully used at the battle of Leipzig (Germany) in the Napoleonic wars and less successfully at the siege of Baltimore during the war of 1812.  These were the rockets alluded to in the American National Anthem.

Why are they poor time keepers?  The answer lies partly in the way they operate.  The clocks are intriguing to watch as a small ball rolls down a zig-zag path on the pivoted table.  When the ball reaches the end of the path, the table tilts and the ball rolls back the other way.  The tilting of the table is the oscillation that the clock depends on.

The single largest timekeeping problem of these clocks is that the oscillator has no natural period of vibration.  The clock is completely dependent on the time taken between the two trigger levers being moved by the ball. This is, of course, dependent on the time taken for the ball to move down the zig-zag slope.  Any perturbation of the movement of the ball will result in an inaccuracy in timekeeping. It is necessary that the surface of the ball and the groove in the table be kept free of dirt, particularly oil or grease which would increase the friction between the surfaces and slow the ball’s descent.  This is not the only cause of error. To be truly accurate, the ball must take an equal time to complete its movement in both directions on each and every cycle.  Reproducibility is paramount.  A major problem exists in that as the table is lifted the ball begins its descent.  If there is a lack of uniform motion in the gear train of the movement through friction or other means, then the acceleration given to the ball will not be uniform and its rate of travel will be different on each pass.  Congreve was unaware of the importance of this dependency of his clock as opposed to a clock with a pendulum or balance wheel that is oscillating with a natural frequency.

Congreve was also unaware that when the detent wheel is abruptly stopped by the pin hitting the end of the detent lever there is kinetic energy which must be converted.  In John Wilding’s clock design, he places a fly on the detent wheel arbor in an attempt to absorb some of this energy.  Nonetheless, on close examination of the table’s movement in slow motion, the energy in the table as it comes to rest in its new position causes the table as it to “flutter”.  This fluttering will significantly affect the movement of the ball as it starts its downward journey.

Mike Dempsey and Craig White will each be making a Congreve Rolling Ball Clock to John Wildings design.  Further talks at the chapter meets will be given showing our progress.

Future educational talks planned:
November 12 – Tony Zimmer will give a talk and demonstration entitled “Finding the Right Screwdriver”
February 4 – Harry Schultz will be giving a talk on Making a Calendar Wheel
March 10 – Danno will make a Presentation on Renaissance Clocks

We still need volunteers for talks and/or demonstration for 2024.  Please contact Harry Schulz or myself with ideas or suggestions.  
Free tables!!  A free silent auction table will also be available.  We had some more clocks donated which the chapter will be selling at the silent auction table.

Hope to see you all there. 
Thanks,
Craig