Bushings -- When to bush a clock (or not!)

This article was published in the December 2006 NAWCC Bulletin on page 698 To Bush or Not to Bush - A Very Important Question Indeed! This is an article that proceeds from the first picture through the last.

<i>This is a photo of the Month-duration Vienna Regulator</i>

Depending on who they talk to, a new clock collector may come to believe that about every clock they buy will either need a bushing or two (or more), or will have already been bushed. And, I suspect many of us started out looking for a bushing machine right after we bought an ultrasonic cleaner and maybe a spring winder.

Let me take this opportunity to introduce Joe and Clem, a couple of “newbie” clockies. Clem’s first clock was a rather rough Seth Thomas kitchen clock. First thing Clem did was take the mechanism and his truck to the local car wash (see, Clem had been out mudding and boy did his truck need a bath - he figured it would be good to clean up the mechanism a bit at the same time). Well, when he got it home and dried it off, Clem studied the mechanical wonder in his hands to see if he could elucidate how it worked. After studying it for a while with his grandmothers magnifying glass that she found at a flea market, he noticed that several of the holes with the little things that rotated in them looked like they (he later learned to use the term “pivots”) had done their darndest to find a way to get away. The holes weren’t so much egg-shaped - heck, they were an eight of an inch long. Clem done figured it was made special so the gears would have room to move - like Sally May in her new britches now that she was in a family way.

Now that you have met Clem, let me also introduce Joe. Joe’s grammy had this clock with four balls that rotated under a glass dome. It quit working years ago when Skat (grannies overweight calico cat) plowed into the clock while running from a mouse - see, Skat wasn’t what you would call a brave cat, in fact, there are those who called Scat a scardy cat - even to her face, but that’s a different story...

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This is a photo of the Month-duration Vienna Regulator Depending on who they talk to, a new clock collector may come to believe that about every clock they buy will either need a bushing or two (or more), or will have already been bushed. And, I suspect many of us started out looking for a bushing machine right after we bought an ultrasonic cleaner and maybe a spring winder. Let me take this opportunity to introduce Joe and Clem, a couple of “newbie” clockies. Clem’s first clock was a rather rough Seth Thomas kitchen clock. First thing Clem did was take the mechanism and his truck to the local car wash (see, Clem had been out mudding and boy did his truck need a bath - he figured it would be good to clean up the mechanism a bit at the same time). Well, when he got it home and dried it off, Clem studied the mechanical wonder in his hands to see if he could elucidate how it worked. After studying it for a while with his grandmothers magnifying glass that she found at a flea market, he noticed that several of the holes with the little things that rotated in them looked like they (he later learned to use the term “pivots”) had done their darndest to find a way to get away. The holes weren’t so much egg-shaped - heck, they were an eight of an inch long. Clem done figured it was made special so the gears would have room to move - like Sally May in her new britches now that she was in a family way. Now that you have met Clem, let me also introduce Joe. Joe’s grammy had this clock with four balls that rotated under a glass dome. It quit working years ago when Skat (grannies overweight calico cat) plowed into the clock while running from a mouse - see, Skat wasn’t what you would call a brave cat, in fact, there are those who called Scat a scardy cat - even to her face, but that’s a different story...

b1clock