Siemens Selfwinding Clock/Timeswitch?

[Peter BellParticipant @peterbell11509]

Hello,

 

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but here goes

 

I have recently bought what appears to be a Siemens timeswitch (it says Siemens on the dial) but with a pendulum! The switching part of the clock has been removed by a previous owner and the clock used purely as a time keeper. It is wound by a disc type ac motor, eddy current?. It is very well made with deadbeat escapement and works nicley after cleaning. The case has been regulary painted where ever it lived and at present it is bright yellow but looks like may it may have started off black..

 

The coil is marked with 13000w, 3440ohms and with what looks like a date of 13-2-28, or is that too early for 50 hz ac mains?

 

Searching web I cannot find any trace of it and I wondered if anyone had seen anything like it in industry or where could I find any info about it?

 

Thanks Peter

 

 

[Peter BellParticipant @peterbell11509]

[Charlie,Participant @charlie18171]

Hi Peter

I recently bought somthing very similar to the item shown in your pics,

Only mine was bout the same width but twice as long and the circular

hole had a peice of glass in it, I though it might have been some kind

of electric meter, But on opening it it was plain to see it was a very old

time switch of sorts, And it would have needed to be mounted on a

perfectly vertical surface as it had a lead pendulum hanging length

wise inside the case,I only paid a quid for it at a car boot so i took it

apart for bits n peices,

[Peter BellParticipant @peterbell11509]

Hi Charlie,

 

Thanks for confirming that it is a timeswitch—Do you have any bits that you could take a pic of?

 

Thanks Peter

 

Thanks Peter

[Charlie,Participant @charlie18171]

Hi Peter

Yes i beleive i do have parts of it that are not totaly disassembled will

have a look tomorrow and and if posible i will take some pics,

 

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

At one time I had half a dozen or so of them, got them at the local rubbish dump (you can’t do that here any more, there ain’t no dump). Also had power meters, and all sorts of bits, samples of each went to a local museum. Ian S C

[Peter BellParticipant @peterbell11509]

Hi Ian,

 

When you got them from the local rubbish dump did you manage to figure out what the date of the time switched and meters was?

 

Thanks Peter

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Seem to remember they were 1940 / 1950s. Not a clock type, but they had a balance wheel, no penulum. If I get a chance I’ll see what else is at the museum, I think theres one there that dates back to the 1920s. Ian S C

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

This may not be of any relevance, but it does remind me of a mechanical off-peak timeswitch which was installed in my previous house, although the device was only from the early ’70’s.

 

As I recall, “my” device had two sets of contacts which switched the off-peak supply. Two sets because it could have two on/off periods in any 24 hours. The device was normally driven by the mains but did have a spring driven clockwork backup to cover for power cuts. I believe the spring back-up was for 8 hours.

 

During the 24 years we lived in that house, the actual time as shown on the dial gradually slipped such that a nominal 2300-0700 actually became something like 0300-1100. Now of course, I had no means of altering it, meter readers (then) came every quarter, and no-one noticed the slippage, and somehow, I kept forgetting to mention it!

 

This is probably why my present house, still using off-peak, is controlled by a radio teleswitch.

Regards,

 

Peter G. Shaw

 

[Peter BellParticipant @peterbell11509]

Interesting replies!

 

I have seen a lot of time clocks of all shapes and sizes over the years but never one with a pendulum!

 

From the debris inside it looks there was certainly a set of contacts carrying a fair amount of current. The dials inside are for minutes and seconds, was it for a dedicated process?

 

Stripped the layers of paint off the case and it looks like it was re-painted every time the room it was in was redecorated and originally black. Cleaned the clock and it is running well. It takes the rewind motor almost 24 hrs to fully wind it up and then the motor stalls and “trickle” winds the clock up so it is always fully wound.

 

I’m very pleased with it up to now!

 

Peter

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