
Calendar remontoire and demonstration overdrive safety clutch - March 2015
In this segment
Buchanan begins the fabrication of a remontoire that will power the entire
calendar mechanism. Why do we need a remontoire to do this? Well one reason
should be obvious, I truly like these mechanisms as they are applied to
clockwork. So far this project employs two of the three
remontoire
commonly used in clocks. First is the
gravity driven train remontoire, of which there are many types. We use
Bernard-Henri Wagner’s design c.1840 in the time train. Next is Christiaan
Huygens endless chain remontoire, 1662
in the celestial train,
(also commonly known as the Robert
Robin remontoire who popularized this device as a way to compensate for
error in spring driven clocks in 1772). Used here is the third and possibly
earliest,
the spring
remontoire and was invented by Jost Bürgi, c. 1600 in his
second experimental clock designed for astronomical observations. It is
the spring remontoire that will power the calendar.
But aside from my
interest in these devices we need a remontoire to provide a periodic power
supply to the calendar mechanism. The calendar is tripped once daily and
needs a stored energy source to provide more power than can be delivered in
real time by the slow moving celestial train. The remontoire allows the
celestial train to wind up its spring over a twenty four hour period and
then releases this energy to turn the calendar train of wheels at once. In
conventional calendar clockwork the dials are tripped via a lever that
engages a set of pins on the rim of a star wheel and upon which is mounted
the dial hand. The star wheel is held steady by a spring, usually with a
roller attached that engages the star wheel teeth to keep it in position
until it is turned and then is held steady again by the spring into the next
space on the star wheel until pushed again by the wheel’s pin. In this way
the hands on the calendar ‘click over’ or jump in discrete increments. A
typical calendar is driven first by the indicator that turns most
frequently, normally the date of which there are between 28 to 31 positions
per month, and then this is carried through to those indicators that turn
more slowly, the day, the month and then maybe the season or even year.
Of course things get
quite a bit more complicated when one wants to correctly calculate the
proper trip of the date given the differing days of the month, the leap
years and the 400 year correction cycles. All of which is dealt with in the
months prior this one.

Here Buchanan has made
an innovative design for the clicks on the remontoire flies for the calendar
function. He wants to create a ratchet effect that does not employ the use
of a spring for drag. This will increase efficiency of the design. At this
small scale energy becomes an issue and efficiencies are needed to make sure
that there is enough power throughout the very complicated calendar
assembly as supplied by the finite energy provided by the spring remontoire.

The pawls have evolved from an organic shape to a more symmetrical design.
The wheels also have fewer teeth, seven verses twelve as shown above. There
is a pair of ratchets for each of the two reversing fly drive wheels in the
remontoire. The pair is needed since the fly fans as well as remontoire must be
able to work in both forward and reverse since the calendar must work
properly in both directions.


The ratchets are now
beginning to be set in place on the remontoire reversing wheels.

Buchanan had to add
another plate to hold the center bearing for the fly fan wheel pair, giving
the calendar remontoire a triple plate. This will be later fretted out to
just a small bridge.

Now Buchanan
experiments with various springs to give the proper torque to the
remontoire. A balanced pair must be chosen for the forward and reverse functions.

The barrels are made for the pair of remontoire springs.
Note the ‘C’ shaped slot on one of the barrel covers. This allows for the
half turn needed for the safety overdrive clutch first designed and
illustrated in the December 2014 installment.
Now begins the fabrication of the
overdrive safety clutch.


To understand how this
safety clutch works look at a
video of the working mockup of the safety
overdrive clutch which was was made in December of 2014. The first three
photos above show the fabrication of the inner cage that turns inside the outer
case which is shown in the next two photos. The last photo is the
two-start spiral mounted to the outer case that will direct the movement of
the safety mechanism. For those who have experience in machining, they will
recognize the difficulty of making this type of two-start spiral.

These photos show the armature
upon which a roller will be mounted on
each end. Notice the decorative
machining in the third photo as compared to the second on a part which will largely be buried
within the final mechanism
and would have worked perfectly as well unrefined.

The next two photos show the armature and the rollers
which will travel along the length of the inner rotating cage.

Here
we have one of the two spring barrels, each controlling forward and reverse,
next the pair are shown back to back. Note the detail of the barrel covers;
each is rounded with a decorative reveal.

The
safety over speed clutch is complete. As the inner rectangular cage turns in
relation to the cylindrical outer envelope, the silver armature within the
inner cage is driven
leftward
away from the wheels in the background through the
action of rollers running within the spiral ring mounted to the external
cylinder. The armature is driven in the same rearward direction whether the
inner cage is rotating clockwise or anticlockwise relative to the outer
cylindrical envelope. This withdraws the remontoire detent cam allowing the
detent to spin past the cam, avoiding damage
in the event the operator tries to crank the demonstration drive too quickly.
This and the photo below was taken prior to the decorative machining of the
spring barrels described above.


This photo shows the overrun safety clutch in place within the machine. It
has filled in nicely one of the very few remaining vacant pieces of space
between the main frames.

These
photos show the beautiful serpentine remontoire detent. This is milled from
one piece. The thin curved ends were not soldered or
otherwise attached
to the central hub. First
Buchanan
milled the part from a solid block to obtain the full depth for the hub.
Then he flipped the part over
and
secured it
with
auto body repair material like Bondo. Once
the adhesive set,
he milled the final thin width for the arms.

Here
is the calendar remontoire detent along with its four armed latching cam.
The detent is released
once daily, so the cam turns once every four days.

A component for the calendar output dial work to be
fabricated next month.
Begin work on decorative veneering for clock stand.

Here the first sets of flame mahogany veneer are assembled. Buchanan will be
doing this work as he proceeds with the rest of the clock. I think it will
be better to consolidate this work into a separate set of presentations
rather than intersperse it within the rest of the body of work on the clock.
In this way the case and stand can be presented as a separate and unified
project. I show this photo to let the viewer know this will be is proceeding
simultaneously with what is otherwise being presented and that it will be
detailed at a future date.