Speaker Safari

[SEAWOLF97]

.
but dragged home this.

from google searching, looks to be approx 110 years old , but cannot
find another with the tiger striping.

Aichi was founded in 1892 or 1898 at Nagoya, Japan. A description of the 1903 National Industrial exhibition held at Osaka noted that Aichi Clock Company employed some 300 workers, and that there were twelve companies in the Aichi Clock Manufacturers' Guild.

Aichi produced Western-style clocks for export. The production numbers for 1918-19 show that China was their largest export market, followed by India, the Philippines, Great Britain, Peru, and elsewhere. The United States was presumably lumped into the category of "Other countries," to which they shipped a total of 673 clocks in that year. Meanwhile, the U.S. was shipping steel springs and other supplies to Aichi.

During the early 1900s, Aichi manufactured precision equipment for the Japanese military. They became an aircraft manufacturer during the 1920s and were the fourth-largest aircraft supplier for the Japanese military during World War II. Later, after the war, they produced gears for motorcycles.

[opimax]

is the time mechanism intact and working? Most likely each clock is unique and parts are not interchangeable if it is that old

[SEAWOLF97]

is the time mechanism intact and working? Most likely each clock is unique and parts are not interchangeable if it is that old

yes, it runs and chimes ... 110 years is not so old for clocks.
these were mass produced, but there are handmade elements there too,
especially in the cabinetry.

[SEAWOLF97]

.
ran all night on it's own power

(no, that's not the original pendulum bob , gotta find my stash )

found a compatible key , need to clean up cabinet , polish brass (one of my Navy taught skills),
re-secure dial glass , straighten lock , mineral oil lube the arbors...etc.

It's got a very mellow strike sound , but curiously only does the hour,
NOT the half past ..as most clocks do ?

about 99% of what I drag home gets the same reply from HER ...
"sell it !!!" ... so I beat her to the punchline.

"think I'll sell it when done" ... new story from little boss ... "keep it"

this will be the 5th windup/escapement clock in the house.

[grumpy]

Keep it up and every hour your house will sound like something from DSOM.

[SEAWOLF97]

Keep it up and every hour your house will sound like something from DSOM.

Money ?

was working on the cab face ...the connecting strips between the 8 buttons ... I thought were wood.
They are brass as are the buttons. Pried all brass off and polishing (my old Navy skills , again) ..the
strips are secured with tacks so small that I can barely see them .. gonna be fun re-assembling.

cleaned decades (century ?) of accumulation off the cab face and shined with STP - SOG and it shines
like a diamond in a HAR's a$$. Afraid to touch clock face , it's relatively clean.

Case was obviously hand assembled and fitted ..pretty labor intensive. Got time semi regulated to within
+- 1 minute/hour. A little more fine tuning to do. It already has a spot reserved for it in the LR

Little Boss loves it's look & sounds.

[macaroonie]

A man is blessed indeed when he has a stash of pendulum bobs

[SEAWOLF97]

A man is blessed indeed when he has a stash of pendulum bobs

I don't understand ??

Doesn't everybody have a stash of pendulum bobs ? Just can't find them right now.

Think they are near the stash of Presta valve caps ? Or the stash of high DAC DVD players ?
Or maybe the stash of bike helmets ? Maybe near the stash of JBL binding posts ?
Could be close to the stash of LiOn AA batteries ? Or , possibly near the stash of .....

The I Chicken (Aichiken) clock is done and going into service. Somehow I deregulated the accuracy when working on the cab.
Did not want to do a perfect restore , where it looks like new ... left some aging to preserve it's vintage.
Normally on antiques , they don't want you to clean at all ..but this is not super valuable and is going into daily use.

while the cab is somewhat crude in areas (shows it was group assembled .. varying quality on different components) ,
it does have an interesting "time setting cheat" that I've not seen elsewhere. There is a stiff wire hanging down almost to the pendulum , that when pushed UP ... advances the hour strike. It makes things much easier to align the hands with the number of strikes.

[SEAWOLF97]

.
a great pair of Fostex TP40 RP mk2 cans ..enjoyed them last evening

but I also grabbed this Tripp Lite stabilizer/conditioner. Our line voltage is
usually +- 3v all day long, sometimes +-5. Plugged the old meter into one of the outlets and
it's as if the needle is glued to 120v. (pardon the parallax).
It will handle 600w , so I think that one outlet
will go to the PC and the other to the bedroom HT system.

Will be happy that it got setup come Winter.

[SEAWOLF97]

.
I always wanted one .... motor runs , hand advances for 2 minutes..then snaps back 1 minute .. a puzzle ?
(thought about this overnite and may have a solution)

maybe that's why they call it a "mystery clock" ??

LATER: Did some reading ..this is called a Haddon Mystery Clock ..modestly priced when new, but collectable now. Worth much more used in 2015. Built in the mid 1950's

none other than Roger Russll (of Xerox'ed magazine reviews fame) seems to be a big collector.

http://www.roger-russell.com/haddon/hadviset.htm

[Mr. Widget]

I have the one in the Microsoft ad. I paid $150 from a store in SF that restores them. I thought it was a very fair price. I've had mine for about 10 years and it has been running and keeping perfect time since I bought it.

I bet you can find a clock repair shop in Portland that can get yours running again.


Widget

[SEAWOLF97]

I have the one in the Microsoft ad. I paid $150 from a store in SF that restores them. I thought it was a very fair price. I've had mine for about 10 years and it has been running and keeping perfect time since I bought it.

I bet you can find a clock repair shop in Portland that can get yours running again.


Widget

when I said modestly priced ...the were $17.95 from Wards. I've never taken any of my clocks to a shop , if I can't fix them ...then they get stored.


In 1956-57 Montgomery Wards sold this clock. The ad in their catalog read as follows: "Golden Visionette" "See Thru" crystal dial--hands have no visible source of power. Mysterious operation makes fascinating conversation piece. Novelty and accuracy will make it a treasured timepiece. Gold-colored metal base, frame, hands and numerals. Classic simplicity of design appropriate anywhere--in the office as well as the home. Electric movement. 7-1/2 X 6-1/4 inches. 45 A 7255L--Ship. wt. 2 Lbs.........$17.95"

[Mr. Widget]

Is $156 modestly priced today? Not provoking, I just don't know what most people would consider modestly priced is these days for a clock... But considering inflation alone, that is what 1956's $17.95 would give us today.


Widget

[JeffW]

My Mystery Clock ran, but was also erratic. There is a toothed gear ring around the outer perimeter of the glass dial, the glue holding it on had hardened and let go. This made it run poorly, but an easy fix.

[SEAWOLF97]

My Mystery Clock ran, but was also erratic. There is a toothed gear ring around the outer perimeter of the glass dial, the glue holding it on had hardened and let go. This made it run poorly, but an easy fix.

Since earlier posts , I disassembled it ..EZ...4 screws. That gear ring and also the drive gear in the base look good.
Seemed to be a burr in the race that the toothed gear ring sits in. There was no sign of ever having glue.

I scraped it down smooth, lubed it and the hands gear mechanism and re-assembled. Ran for 1.5 hours before I declared it operable again. Pulled apart again to work on that badly stained base with brasso & copper wool. The chroming is thick enough to handle the buffing.

Another day or so and it will be a working LR conversation piece.