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Tic Talk Times XII XI I September 2011 II Newsletter of Orange County Chapter 69 of the X Vol

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Tic Talk Times XII XI I September 2011 II Newsletter of Orange County Chapter 69 of the X Vol T H E Tic Talk Times XII XI I September 2011 II Newsletter of Orange County Chapter 69 of the X Vol. 31, No. 2 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Meeting minutes, Aug 5, 2011 This month President’s Message Electric Indian Take a Picture 40th Anniversary Chief? One skill that’s not taught at the Celebration! School of Horology, but is very useful Our August meeting was called for a horologist, is photography. The This month we will celebrate th to order at 8:00 by President Ray many uses for photographs in horol- Chapter 69’s 40 Anniversary! Brown. He welcomed two guests: ogy is the topic of Doug Adams’ talk We have planned a luncheon at an Dee Mason and Kris Robinson. It’s this month. upscale restaurant, the Riviera at the always good to see fresh faces. Ray Doug has given several presenta- Fireside in Westminster from noon th also thanked Ken Lynn for the re- tions to NAWCC chapters that center until 3 PM on Saturday, Sept. 24 . freshments. His pizza was a hit! around photographs of his work. So We also will show pictures of years The minutes from the last Tic presenting is one use. Making a record gone by of earlier meetings and mem- Talk Times were approved as pub- of repairs, often in a before-and-after ber’s activities over the 40 years of our lished. There will be no board meet- fashion, is another. This can come in chapter. Finally, Dave Weisbart has ing in August; the next one will be handy when you’re working on some- offered to provide musical entertain- September 12 at Ray’s house. one else’s clock. Publications are an- ment as an added bonus! Under new business, Ray shared other area – whether for a book or a The meals at the Riviera are al- th with us the menu choices for our 40 periodical like the Bulletin, good pho- ways outstanding and will be served anniversary banquet. We’ll start with tos are essential. And when faced with in a private room. relish-tray appetizers, and then the a complex and unfamiliar movement, Our selections are: “Riviera Salad.” For the entrée we’ll taking a picture can be invaluable • Broiled Salmon with Béarnaise have a choice of salmon, chicken mar- when it’s time to reassemble it. Sauce sala, or pepper steak flambé, and we’ll Doug will also cover some basic • Chicken Marsala with Mush- finish with a peach melba dessert. photo editing, including using a room Sauce Sounds like we’ll all be well-fed! The photo-editing program to enhance • Pepper Steak with Mustard Riviera restaurant also has a full bar. contrast and size digital images for Cream Sauce Doug Lynn called for discussion their intended use. of the recent change to our publica- For our Beginner’s Corner, Dave tions, namely, moving the chapter Weisbart will talk about basic con- highlights from the Bulletin to the cepts and adjustments to clock escape- Mart. Several opinions were ex- ments. This will include strap pallets, pressed. One person noted that finan- both half-deadbeat and recoil, and an- cial considerations entered into this chor escapements that have some ad- decision – the newsprint of the Mart justment mechanism in their design. is less expensive than the coated paper Dave will cover the concepts of drop Included is a relish tray at the be- in the Bulletin. Others expressed con- and lock, which are essential to under- ginning, the Riviera Salad, Peach cern that the Mart was more ephem- standing how to work with escape- Melba for dessert and coffee or tea. eral and would be more likely to be ments. If you’ve ever been puzzled by No-host wine, beer and cocktails can discarded, meaning that the history of clocks that should run but won’t, this also be ordered and served with your our chapters would be lost. In the will be useful information. meal. The cost of the meals will be continued on page 2 Visit us at www.nawcc69.org continued on page 3 Meeting Minutes (from page 1) Ray told us that General Time purchased the Sangamo clock business in 1931, shortly after they came end, the consensus out with clocks driven by synchronous motors. seemed to be that there Bob Lanphier III is the grandson of one of the found- wasn’t a whole lot we ers of the Sangamo Electric Company. In his video, he could do about it any- went into more detail about the history of the company. way. He talked about the links between the Lanphiers and the Our program was a Bunns, who were among the founders of the Illinois video from the 2008 Watch Co. The Bunn family had many holdings, including Ward Francillon Sym- banks. posium. It was the af- Bob’s grandfather wrote a very forward-looking paper ter-dinner talk by in 1897 on energy distribution over long distances. Bob Robert Lanphier III talked about the development of watt-hour meters to mea- about the history of the sure the consumption of this new commodity. Sangamo Electric Com- He also talked about the philosophy of both Sangamo pany. Since his talk did and Illinois – the ethic of product quality and customer re- not cover much about lations. their short-lived clock Sangamo got involved in several other businesses, in- manufacturing (1929 – cluding radios and capacitors. They provided 90% of the 1931), President Ray Brown filled in that gap with a short shipboard sonar equipment used in WWII. They also built talk of his own regarding Sangamo clocks. equipment for Western Union and Western Electric. We learned that the company name was not Japanese Show & Tell as many assume, but came from the name of a Native American chief! Ray read from an article on Sangamo by Les Leovsky Les McAlister, telling us that the company started in the brought a Sangamo late 1890s making watt-hour meters. He brought several movement mounted examples of Sangamo clocks from his own collection. in Lucite, so we could These clocks used AC power to wind a spring which, in see every part. He said turn, powered a jeweled movement made by the Illinois the movements are Watch Co. He showed a mantel clock with the balance sought by watch guys wheel showing through the dial; it had an 11-jewel move- because the Illinois ment. He also showed a wall clock with a seven-jewel parts fit perfectly in a movement. Ray explained that these clocks could run on 16-size Bunn Special! virtually any AC power source, 50 or 60 cycle, even Doug Lynn “dirty,” intermittent power would keep the clock going. brought a selection of pyramid clocks, simi- lar to those covered in an article in the Au- gust Bulletin. Door prizes were won by Les Lesovsky, Doug Adams and Doug Lynn. Meeting was adjourned at 9:10. Respectfully submitted, Dave Weisbart, Secretary. A Sangamo I.D. Tag from sangamoclocks.com 2 ward the wheel. In a recoil escapement, the momentum of Anchor Escapements the pendulum continues to move the second pallet toward The anchor escapement is a type of escapement used in the wheel, pushing the escape wheel backwards for a dis- pendulum clocks. An escapement is the mechanism in a tance, until the pendulum reverses direction and the pallet mechanical clock that maintains the swing of the pendu- begins to move away from the wheel, with the tooth slid- lum and allows the clock’s wheels to advance a fixed ing along its surface, pushing it. Then the tooth slides off amount with each swing, moving the hands forward. The the end of the pallet, beginning the cycle again. anchor escapement was probably invented by British sci- The more modern deadbeat escapement doesn’t have entist Robert Hooke recoil. One way to determine whether an antique pendu- around 1657, although lum clock has an anchor or deadbeat escapement is to ob- some references credit serve the second hand. If it moves backward slightly after clockmaker William every tick, that shows it has a recoil. Clement who popular- Crutch and fork ized the anchor in his in- The shaft of the anchor, called the crutch ends in a fork vention of the longcase or which embraces the shaft of the pendulum, giving it trans- grandfather clock around verse impulses. The pendulum rod is hung from a short 1680, and disputed credit straight suspension spring attached to a sturdy support di- for the escapement with rectly behind the anchor. The pivot of the anchor is Hooke. Joseph Knibb aligned with the bending point of the spring. This arrange- probably built the first ment results in a more stable pendulum support than sim- working anchor clock at ply suspending the pendulum directly from the anchor. Wadham College, Ox- Excerpted from Wikipedia ford, around 1670. The anchor became the es- capement used in almost all pendulum clocks. A more accurate variation President’s Message (cont. from page 1) called the deadbeat es- capement was introduced $25 per person including tax and gratuities. This repre- by British clockmaker sents a $10 savings with the difference covered by the George Graham around Chapter 69. We need to get a commitment from atten- 1715. dees, as the Riviera will be bringing in special help to cover our event. How it works Let us know at our September meeting if you plan to The anchor escape- attend or if you can’t make that meeting please call or email ment consists of two me an RSVP! 714 290-4702 or [email protected].
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