Pendulum Fell Off

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 5:10 pm     Post subject: Pendulum Fell Off

My mother was raising the weights on her Barwick weight driven movement grandfather clock (model 4887) when she hit the pendulum and it came off of the suspension spring. After checking to make sure the pendulum was not damaged, I reattached it and raised the weights, but there is no "tick-tock" when I swing the pendulum. I took the top of the clock off to make sure the suspension spring was not damaged. Everything appears to be OK. The strike and chime work perfectly and the chains are on the sprockets. The pendulum swings freely, and it hangs straight on the suspension spring. When started, the pendulum will continue swinging for probably ten of fifteen minutes before it finally stops, but there is no "tick-tock" and the time does not change while the pendulum is moving. Before this mishap, the clock was running great. Any suggestions before she spends money to have a professional look at it?

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:35 pm     Post subject: Pendulum fell off

Probably the movement was knocked out of beat (an even tick tock sound) when the weight(s) were being raised. Putting it back into beat depends on the type of movement in the clock. With some movements all that is necessary is to draw the pendulum as far to one side of the case as possible and let go. It should then go back into beat. In other clocks the pendulum crutch arm has to be manually adjusted from side to side through trial and error to bring it back into beat. (The crutch arm is a friction adjustment)
However, I would first suggest that you examine the pendulum suspension spring and hanger to ensure that the spring was not fractured when the pendulum was knocked off. (See the recent forum posting under the subject "grandfather clock runs fast". There is a photo included there that clearly shows a fractured suspension spring for comparison). If it is fractured then it will have to be replaced before the clock will run properly.