This typical drop trunk octagon School House Clock was acquired as a "basket case" in 2013. The case is 14" wide by 21.5" tall and the upper glass is 10". the trademark "S" logo of the dial appears to be that of Nimaru-S of Japan. As received this dial had two other generic paper dials over pasted on it. I believe the dial pictured is likely the original as it was the bottom layer and firmly attached to what appears to be a zinc dial pan. The gong stand appears to be original and contains the wording "YASHISEIZO AICHIKENHA". (Aichi-ken) is located in the Chubu Region. (Yashiseizo) is likely the name of the company that made the gong stand and not the maker of the clock. There is part of a paper label inside the case but any lettering has completely disappeared. The lower door glass is an obvious recent replacement; it is not know what lettering may have been on the original glass. The movement is stamped with numbers and a couple of unrecognized symbols. I am told that the numbers likely indicate the time of the period of an Emperor starting with Meiji. 28 would indicate 1895, which may be a date code and seems reasonable for this type of clock.
The brass movement is similar (not identical) to movements made by E. Ingraham around this period. It is a time and strike 8-day movement that strikes the hour only. The strike is controlled by a pallet advanced count wheel. There are five pillars fastened with nuts. One pillar nut is on the back and the other four are on the front. The movement originally had a stop-work device half of which is now missing. It is unusual to find this on Japanese or American movements used in "ordinary" clocks of this period. The movement had a lot of wear and required 21 bushings and both springs were replaced. One winding arbor is twisted apparently by someone winding it too tight. The movement is from the correct period and is likely original to this clock but one cannot be positive.
The case was sound but the original finish was badly damaged and was replaced with shellac over wood stain. The missing upper glass was replaced. The over-pasted dials were removed and the original paper dial cleaned and touched up a bit. The brass trim ring was reattached to the dial pan. There are numerous holes and dings in this trim ring but was cleaned and retained, assuming it to be original to the clock. The brass upper door hinge was resoldered. The hand were rusted and believed to possibly be original. These were cleaned up an cold-blued. The minute hand was fitted with a center bushing. This clock has had a long and hard life but it now looks decent and seems to be running well.
This clock will be for sale after a test period (testing begun April 2016)
The information on this page is believed to the writer to be correct at the date
of posting but is presented with no guarantee expressed or implied. Pictures were
a true representation of this clock at the time of posting but may not be
current. Please contact me if you believe that any of the above information is
incorrect, or if you wish to share additional information, or discuss this
clock.
