Old Mantle Clock, uneven tick, stops?

I have been dealing with a wood Regulator (1900's). The most direct means I found was to look for an angled wire from the escapement to a loop around the drop rod to the pendulum. This wire can be bent, carefully.. in the direction of the pendulum swing. The principle is to bend said wire left or right according to the uneven beat, to allow the escapement to tick at equal distances from pendulum vertical.
Keep trying. Grip the part above the bend with pliers to protect the escapement during the bend.
When the clock ticks but stops after a few moments, it means excess wear on the escapement wheel pivot. Test by putting a mark on the wheel, then restarting. Likely it will stop when the mark swings around to same position (1 revolution). Restart, then prod the front pivot with a toothpick- that will stop the works at a touch. Visual inspection with a 3X magnification will show a definite wobble in the bearing.
This is 'way north of an amateur fixup; there will be similar wear in the whole power train, that only a good clockmaker can fix.

Phil Cassel
August 2006

The unevenness is caused because the pendulum does not lift the escapement evenly in each direction so that as it swings in one direction it only just lifts the escapement towards the end of its swing, dropping it prematurely as it begins to swing in the opposite direction. Your solution of wedging the clock on one side had the effect of moving the escapement to a position more central to the pendulums swing. Some pendulums have an adjusting screw to the side of the linkage between themselves and the escapement which can be used to produce an even beat. Have a look to see if there is one on yours. However unless very extreme this would be unlikely to cause the clock to stop and you should still be able to get it to run by wedging so I suspect that, in addition to it's other problem, it requires cleaning - you do say it is old and an occasional service is certainly called for. Usually best to get a local clock or watchmaker to deal with this because simply oiling an already dirty mechanism can do more harm than good - the oil and dirt act like an abrasive and eat away at the clock as it runs. In any case ordinary oil is no good and proper clock makers oil is required.

Some pendulums have an adjusting screw high up near the suspension which can be turned to even up the tick. The unevenness is

Steve Coppard
January 2005