Friction, Lubrication and the Lubricants in HorologyLewis, W. T. (William T.)
Science
Friction, Lubrication and the Lubricants in Horology
Lewis, W. T. (William T.)
Clock and watch making; Friction; Lubrication and lubricants
Where there is a brass bearing for the lower pivot, in watches having a
solid center arbor on which the cannon pinion revolves in setting, the
length of the bearing may be profitably increased by making a boss on
the outer side of the lower plate, provision for which is then made in
the cannon pinion by a suitable recess. In either case the laws
previously given should be complied with.
A source of mischief in many watches is the manner in which the minute
wheel is made; the construction being such that its teeth touch the
plate so near the bearing of the center arbor that capillary attraction
(19, 22) is produced, which causes all the oil to leave the lower
bearing of the center arbor. This can be avoided by cutting off the
lower parts of the teeth of the minute wheel; or, by turning a groove
in the plate which will be concentric with the minute wheel post, and
which will pass under the teeth of the wheel, but not near enough to the
bearing of the center arbor to injure the latter.
The oil from the stem wind mechanism, also, sometimes flows under the
minute wheel, and from there into the center arbor bearing; and, when
the oil is used up in the former place, it is drawn up again out of the
latter place leaving it dry. A means of preventing this will be
discussed (59) later.
Another and _very_ frequent cause of the lower center pivot cutting,
particularly in new watches, is the neglect to remove the polishing
material from the cannon pinion where the center arbor is solid.
A small portion of oil should be applied to the bearings of the minute
wheel, (where its pinion, or the pivot on which it revolves, is steel),
hour wheel, and cannon pinion where the center arbor is solid, and to
the set hands arbor where the center arbor is hollow. The safety pinion
should always be oiled, as it may not otherwise be of much service.
~50. The Third Pinion Pivots~ are sometimes the source of mischief. When
the center wheel is placed above or below the barrel, the upper or lower
pivot of the third pinion receives such great stress that the oil is
forced out in many cases. By increasing the length of the pivot this
could be obviated. The minute wheel is sometimes so close to the lower
bearing of this pinion as to absorb the oil. This can be remedied by
cutting a recess in the lower side of the minute wheel. Where it is
possible to do so the wheels should be so placed on their pinions and
arbors, and at such a distance from the bearing surfaces of the latter,
that the stress on each pivot--the combined result of the weight of the
wheel and the forces acting on it--will be equal.
~51. The Fourth Pinion Pivots~ should follow the same general laws as that
given for the rest of the train; but it should be borne in mind that
fluid friction acts as a retarding force much more perceptibly in the
lighter parts of the train; consequently if no second-hand is to be
carried, very small bearing surfaces should be the rule in this case.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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