Seth Thomas Model 849 Wall Flip Clock

[Mackey]

I recently acquired a fairly large Seth Thomas Wall Clock from eBay that was supposedly not working. It' measures just over 8 X 11 inches (20 X 28 cm). Apparently the clocks gears simply hadn't moved in a while. I really did nothing much at all to get this clock going and 24 hours now ... it's going strong. It really is a loud ticker. The clock is a combination of old-fashioned clock works with a balance wheel spinning back and forth, and an electric motor to advance the digits. This clock was advertised in 1972 as a good clock for an office. It definitely wouldn't be for your bedroom because it would for sure keep you up.

Of interest to me was the way the electric motor received current to run. The clock works eventually moves a bar with a magnet toward a glass tube. This little tube has two pieces of ferrous material inside that are separted just a little. Once the bar moves the magnet close enough, the metal inside the tube touches running the motor. The clock works moves the bar away at a specific interval to stop the running of the little electric motor. I figured right what was going on, but a visitor to my YouTube Channel had to inform me that the tube is called a "reed switch." They've been around for a long, long time (the 1930s!).

Even though it makes quite a bit of noise, I'm going to keep this big boy running in "FlipClockFans Studios" for now.

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The Mechanism

The reed switch

Seth Thomas 1972 catalog

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Video of the disassembly and inner workings of the clock