David

Mearto specialist

Hello Freddie: That you sending in this most interesting clock for appraisal. It is not one often seen on the market.... TITLE: Oak, eight day time and quarter hour chiming, Electrical, Master Clock, made by McClintock-Loomis Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, circa 1915-1920. DESCRIPTION: This oak case holds an electrical Master clock. The white painted copper dial has Arabic hours, dotted minutes and Spade hands with a large central aperture for viewing the main movement. The case has a metal plaque on the base with the name/location of the manufacturer of the clock. Inside there is a pasted paper instruction label or regulation of the speed of the clock. At the heart of this type of bank master clock are the movements. The case holds the three separate movements: (1) - the master movement at the top of the case, (2) - the strike train in the center and (3) - the chimes motor at the bottom. All of the action centers on the uppermost movement. The basic model for that movement is the Seth Thomas model 85E, an 8 day, spring driven, pendulum, time and strike movement running at 80 beats per minute with a dead beat esapment. The front of the movement (not shown in your photos) should have two glass rings, each containing liquid mercury (the mercury serves to complete an electrical circuit when it reaches a certain position). The upper ring rocks once each minute and closes an electricl circuit with one or more of the slave (outside) clocks which then move forward by a single minute. The chimes motor, located in the base of the oak case (shown in your photos), is tripped by mercury in the lower ring closing a circuit. This trip occurs every quarter hour and the spider on the chimes motor advances to cause the chimes to ring four times for each quarter additively, and it stops automatically until it is tripped in the next quarter hour. After the chimes have struck 16 times on the hour, the strike train is tripped to strike the number of the hours. The lowest movement is a double spring powered brass plate movement, the Seth Thomas model No. 75. It has 6 wheels and is used as a motor to turn a flywheel or turntable, and specifially in this master clock is used to turn the "commutator" in the centrally placed chime (striking) motor. (It has two arbors for winding at the very bottom.) The rectilinear chiming motor or strike train has damascened brass plates and is connected via electiral circuits to each of the outside clocks and provides the impulse to strike the outside clock tubular bell chimes. To the left of the strike train is a button for setting the outside (slave) clocks and just below it is the lever for cutting off the chimes or playing the chimes. The switches to the right of the strike train control the chiming of the outside clocks. Originally the power source was a number of dry cell batteriees producing 14 volts. Later the power source was 110 volt, 60 cycle city current. The condition of the case is fairly good, and the unit seems complete, although I cannot be certain if all of the switches are in place since I cannot see the entirety of the three movements. The pricing is related to the sale of similar items on various auction websites. If you have questions or comments feel free to contact me. David