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Do you own a ticking bomb ?

wls1971

By wls1971
in All Things Clocks

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wls1971 Distinguished Member

wls1971

Posted
Posted

Whilst doing a bit of research on anniversary clocks I came across a few intresting articles on a Haller clock that through a combination of bad design and wrong use of plastics can literally self destruct on your mantle piece and can cause injury, they where eventually withdrawn from the market, if you have one call bomb disposal:biggrin:

The danger comes from the fact that the mainspring for this 400 day clock is wound onto nylon spools that over time become brittle and can fail at any time releasing all the energy from a reverse wound spring this as earned them the nick name "The german time Bomb"

http://erkelzaar.tsudao.com/models/ultra/german-tb.htm

http://www.anniversaryclockidentification.com/pages/sh-gbt.pdf

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  • 1 year later...
Lenj WRT Addict

Lenj

Posted
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Hi All,

I just came across this thread, did not see this one.....I am ashamed to say that this was ME, this was my first and LAST Haller clock!!

I got this from an auction and when I got it home, I could not wait to try it out to see if it worked.. At the time I was only into the restoration of French slate clocks, so this was a new one for me.

I set it up and tried to wind, but it was fully wound, so started the balls going and it worked. I wanted to see that it worked OK before stripping down to clean it, as it was a tad grubby and I like to tinker... After about twenty minutes it stopped, perhaps it needs a drop of oil I thought,..BIG MISTAKE!!! I started to undo the 4 nuts on the backplate, un-be known to me this also held the mainspring in place. what a stupid setup, no warning not to remove.

Well this is how I gave it the name of The German Time Bomb, because it went BOOOM it exploded very loud, and the plastic mainspring wheel after it shot out and broken into lots of pieces, it embedded in my chest, I also got a nasty cut on my hand, I was very lucky, if that had hit me in the eye, I dread to think what would have happened. The photo doesn't show all the bits of the mainspring, there were lots!!...Lessons were learnt that day.. Strange I read there was another that exploded on someone's mantlepiece about a week later, this was just sitting there and suddenly went, there was glass everywhere from the dome...My clock went in the dustbin never to be seen again.. I remember later I put the dome off mine on ebay and got more for that than I paid for the clock!!

As I said lesson learned!!!!!! 

I will stick to my French and carriage clocks, a little safer!!

Len

 

 

 

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clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

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I have serviced/repaired Haller's in the past but not that particular calibre.However the absolute rule with clocks is ALWAYS remove the power before stripping a clock. The springs on clocks are powerful and if let loose uncontrollably they can not only destroy a movement but cause serious damage to yourself. 

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Lenj WRT Addict

Lenj

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3 hours ago, clockboy said:

I have serviced/repaired Haller's in the past but not that particular calibre.However the absolute rule with clocks is ALWAYS remove the power before stripping a clock. The springs on clocks are powerful and if let loose uncontrollably they can not only destroy a movement but cause serious damage to yourself. 

Great advice to the newbie..Too late for some..Like myself...lol

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