Tower Clock

[Robaroni]

Hi gang!
This is my latest project, it's a massive tower clock (the size of the one in the Wrigley Building in Chicago) in the village square of our small village of Delhi, NY in the Western Catskill Mountains.

I started repairing the escape wheel and it's anchor escapement. You can see the wear on the pinion wheel. That's from lubricating the wheels which collects dirt over the years and acts like an abrasive (you should only lubricate the bearings, not the wheels). The steel pinion wears and the large brass wheel is fine. You can see the pivots are worn too. They are Rockwell 45 hardness but they wore and the soft brass escape wheel didn't. I machined a new pinion and made new hardened pivots. As of Dec 31, 2014 the clock is running and the hour strike is also working. I need to do some more work on the worn pinions and change cabling down to the bell two floors below the movement. It's a kick but I found out the hard way you need ear protection when that bell goes off, even two floors below you!
There was some abuse, you can see the pivot has been bent and grabbed with a vise grip- ouch! I straightened it and the pendulum is now in balance.
The picture is of me working in 15 or 20 degree (Fahrenheit) temps, it's a labor of love and the clock hasn't worked in a very long time so the village is pretty excited too!
I worked all week to get the hour strike to go off at midnight New Years Eve.
There's still a lot to do, several wheels need to be machined and there are a couple of bent shafts, worn bearings and, as you can see from the picture, cleaning to do.

Rob