A fine Victorian month going wall regulator with Invar pendulum,
signed: Dent, London, no. 1127
52 in. [132 cm.] H
13 in. [33 cm] W
8 in. [20 cm] D
The clock’s substantial movement is typical of English 19th century regulators. It has massive plates, a high count train and dead beat escapement mounted on the backplate. The stability of the clock is provided by a cast iron mounting bracket to hold both the pendulum and movement. The mahogany case is little more than a protective dust cover that supports none of the weight of the clock.
The serial number of the movement suggests a date of manufacture circa 1850, but the general appearance of the clock and its pendulum places it in the 1890's. Dent’s regulator movements evolved very little during the last half of the 19th century, so it is not surprising to find a movement of an early date in use with a more modern pendulum.
The pendulum is made from an invar rod and with cast iron bob enclosing a brass compensation tube. Invar is a nickel-steel alloy (35.6% nickel) with an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion. It was invented in 1890 by the Swiss Charles-Edouard Guillaume (1861-1938) whilst working for the International Bureau of Weights and measures in Paris. Guillaume received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1920 for his work with nickel-steel alloys. |
