Herschede Grandfather Clock Pendulum Stopping

Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:04 am     Post subject: Herschede Grandfather Clock Pendulum Stopping

I have a Herschede Sheffield 230 Model grandfather clock that I just set-up. I moved it properly from across town and it was working fine prior to the move. The pendulum now stops between 40 and 130 minutes of running. How sensitive is this mechanism or pendulum with respect to stopping due to slight deviations in whether or not the clock is sitting perfectly level? It still does all the chimes properly, but just randomly "runs out of steam" and stops between the aforementioned time interval. Any simple ideas that I can check besides using a tube level in all directions to make slight leveling corrections before having a certified technician come over for a house call? Thanks for your suggestions.

Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:22 pm     Post subject: Herschede clock

There can be a number of reasons besides leveling that could cause a clock to stop. It could be anything from lack of lubrication, a cable overwrapped on a cable drum, movement in need of cleaning or even movement wear and requiring service.
Do you know the history of this clock prior to purchasing it? Was it maintained regularly? Bear in mind that Herschede has been out of business for 24 years and the clock could have been manufactured any time prior to then. At the very least it may be in need of lubrication.

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:10 am     Post subject:

I watched it more closely and noticed a distincitve forward/backward penduluim wobble that would disturb the normal left/right swinging movement. Eventually, that wobble caused the pendulum to lose its momentum and stop swinging. I examined the suspension spring and noticed that it had been bent/warped/twisted and was no longer straight. I tried to straighten it out, but the twist had weakend the metal and the wobble continued to come. I order a new suspension spring and will see how that impacts the situation.