Bizzzy Bee

A busy little garden maid

no bigger than my thumb.

Glides on wings of cellophane

with an incessant hum. 

My garden's on her route.

she works here half a day.

grooming ruffled stamens--

packing pollen away.

An acrobatic aeronaut

her bearing set to a flower pot,

or a buttercup at another stop;

Perhaps an iris--perhaps not.

Harried is her work;

her presence always fleeting.

There is no need to stop for lunch

when your job is gleaning.

Winterhaller Fly Assembly

This is the way it was when I brought it to the shop.

That little post I believe is for a coil spring for the maintaining pawl.

This is how it was when I brought it to the shop. No spring.

This clock came to me as a basket case. I had bought a pair of them about 15 years ago but never had the time to tinker with them. The first one was complete and only needed a normal overhaul. But this one was imcomplete and pretty rough. One of the mainspring arbors had an unusual amount of end-shake and it appeared as though he (yes, ladies, only a guy could have come up this this one) :) was trying to move the gear over to avoid the bent pinion wire. Come to find out they were also arbors from a different clock. The center arbor had been hand-hewn to include the pivot. The gear to the hour pipe was original but soldered onto the pipe in such a way that it would not mesh properly.

I decided to make new mainspring arbors because they were damaged by someone using a pair of pliers to wind the clock. Then when that wouldn't work they filed the square down to make two flats in order to get a better grip. The original wheels were 86 count but I used 84 count wheels and they worked just fine after relocating the pivot holes for the 2nd wheels.

I remade the center arbor and fabricated a collet for the hour pipe and gear, then soldered the collet to the hour pipe then staked the gear onto the collet as it is normally done.

I also had to make a bushing for the center pipe because of the damage done by using a punch to close the hole. Every hole had been punched front and back with a pointed tool. Although it may have taken up side-shake it also left enough space between the pivot and the hole so that it could not possibly hold any lubricant in place.