The middle weight regulates the time, the left weight (as your looking at the clock) regulates the strike and the right weight (as your looking at the clock) regulates the chimes. Generally, mechanical weight-driven clocks that feature a melody will have three weights, unless otherwise noted of course. An easy way to visually determine if a mechanical weight-driven clock produces melodies or just simply strikes is by the number of weights. Moreover, if rods or tubes are not desired, there are also some weight-driven clocks that feature coils or glass and metal bells. If chiming melodies are not desired, there are some weight-driven clocks that just feature a "bim-bam" tone or an hourly strike. Grandfather clocks with 16 hammers will generally feature the triple chime of Westminster, Shubert's "Ave Maria" and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony "Ode to Joy.Ĭhimes are selected by simply moving a lever on the dial face to the appropriate position.
Grandfather clocks with 12 hammers and rods will generally produce either the single Westminster melody or the selected triple chime cathedral melody of Westminster, Whittington or St. These hammers and rods, struck in various orders, will produce the selected chime. The chime rods, or in some cases steel tuned tubes, are cut at various lengths to produce different notes. Mechanical wall and mantel clocks may only have 8 hammers in their triple chime movements and may also only have 5 hammers for their Westminster only movements. Still further, a very select few models have 5-9 hammers with steel tuned tubes. Yet a few select models have 16 hammers and rods. Most chiming, weight-driven, mechanical grandfather clocks have 12 hammers and rods. The point of the star gear lifts a pin that triggers the turning of the music roll (just as you would find in a music box).Īs the music roll turns, it pulls back a chime hammer, which then falls back to its original position and strikes a chime rod, or in some cases a steel tuned tube. As the hand advances, the minute hand trips a star gear located on the center stem of the dial face.
The patriarch of clocks, the grandfather, are mostly weight-driven, mechanical clocks which are encased in a tall, wooden cabinet that acts as an echo chamber for a cathedral chime melody or other classic clock chimes. The example of a grandfather clock below illustrates this type of weight-driven movement with chimes. Most weight-driven clocks will also produce a chime. The weights hang on either cables or chains and are pulled up by either winding the cables up with a crank that gets inserted into the holes on the front of the dial or by manually pulling up the chains. The gravitational pull generally lasts for up to seven days, at which time the weights need to be pulled back up. Weight-driven clocks are mechanical timepieces that are powered by the gravitational pull of heavy weights slowly falling down.
Weight-driven, spring-driven and atmospheric clocks have mechanical movements and will be discussed first. Clocks are generally powered in one of six ways: weight-driven, spring-driven, atmospheric, battery-operated or electric.
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