Historic Journal Reveals Rare Flip Clock

[Mackey]

I had read somewhere (who knows where ... someplace on the internet) that the Horological Journal, dated April 1966, contained an article covering the Copal Caslon 201 flip clock. But no further details regarding this article could be found. Not only this, while there are numerous places to obtain back issues of past issues of the Horological Journal, this particular journal always seemed unavailable.
I finally found this journal - and it revealed something amazing.
Please take the time to read the full article about my "historical" discovery of a rare flip clock.

Full Article

[Mackey]

It's almost too amazing to be true....

[davidm]

Finding that article and an actual very early Caslon 101 was great detective work.

What a find, amazing that it had 50/60Hz switching.

I looked at joining the British Horological Institute as an associate member so I could search their archives for that article, but decided the membership fee was too steep for a one time search.

Very interesting that both the hours and the minutes used 60 cards, I guess it simplified the mechanism by having both the hour and minute card drums fixed to the same shaft and rotating at the same speed.

What an awesome piece of history you have there, in both one of the first Caslon flip clocks and the documentation to go with it.

Better buy a lottery ticket, you know what numbers to use!

[Mackey]

I had literally been searching for an actual copy of that Journal volume for years. I would check online sources (eBay and other vendors but no luck). I thought about getting a membership to the BHI also, but really... I wanted a genuine copy of the article. I didn't know that it had a secret to tell. I honestly just thought he would be gushing about a Caslon 201. I also just had to have that volume because, I truly believe that they regret mentioning that clock. The article doesn't "gush" at all. In fact it's basically a detailed description. Boring ... But much appreciated, of course because I was able to identify my newly purchased clock.

Getting the clock was definitely blind luck. When working out a price with Mr Jaggers, I was fairly certain that it wouldn't be the actual clock. I didn't know until the day I had it. Even then I had to keep going back to look at it. ... But now I'm certain ... it's the clock.

[flipoclock]

Come to think of the fact that I had it up for sale for more than 2 years... The number of people interested in this history so much in depth is limited, but I love it and had no idea of the significance of this particular clock, probably won't find another at that

[Mackey]

This day in History - 4/11/1814. And how in the world does that relate to flip clocks?

[davidm]

This early flip clock with it's 50/60 Hz switch and provision for different leads and plugs, but no voltage switch makes me wonder.

What if a basic 100/120v flipclock motor without neon/bulbs/radio will run just as happily on 240v and vice versa.

I know you'd think it would burn the motor coil out, but would it? The motor's speed is controlled by the mains frequency.

Is it possible that the only difference between a basic 120v flip clock and a 240v flip clock is the neon resistor value!

If I had a nominal 120v copal 2 flip clock motor I would try it, is anyone game?

Maybe have a fire extinguisher handy

[mrsteve7]

The use of a variable transformer and a means to check motor coil temp is highly recommended

[davidm]

The use of a variable transformer and a means to check motor coil temp is highly recommended

Why? These motors are 10 a penny, there's no need to pussy foot around.

If it burns a motor out, so what, let's do it and find out.

That's how the light bulb was invented, Thomas Edison would be proud

[mrsteve7]

You may have a "light blulb" experience yourself - albeit a brief one

I suspect the different plugs and such you mention are wired to a different winding on the primary side of a power transformer to adapt output voltage if a transformer is even used at all (e.g. and instead power goes directly to the motor).

Has anyone confirmed this?

[flipoclock]

I have one 110v Copal motor here which was put on 220v for a couple of minutes until the owner smelled something funny and unplugged it. The casing around the gears was plastic and had 'somewhat' changed shape, let's put that way. Funnily enough it still works fine, but for how long and how long would it have run on 220v? Who knows, but I've seen enough

[davidm]

There's no transformer in that early model 101, you can see in the video and the pictures in the Horological Journal that the mains wires go directly from the clock's input socket to the motor.

There is nothing to stop any ac voltage from 100v to 240v from being plugged into it.

The Horological Journal article only talks about adapting the clock for frequency not voltage.

The Japanese label does not specify any particular voltage, only that the clock has provision for running on 50 or 60Hz

So it's possible that this clock's synchronous motor isn't fussy about the ac voltage and if that's the case the same thing may apply to other copal motors.

[Mackey]

davidm It’s an interesting question. In the case of the copal I was discussing, it is clear that it was set up for 220V. When plugging into 110V the bulb barely lit up. So it was wired (plugged) and a resistor set up for 220 V operation. But I have a 100v Japanese motor and it runs fine on 120 volts. But I’ve not left it running that way for more than a day. I guess I could just get an old mechanism and do it. I have a transformer to change to 220V/ 50 Hz (which is how I ran that HJ clock of course).

[Mackey]

The one thing we do know is that many people have burned up flip clock radios by plugging a 110-120 V clock into 220v. But it’s the transformer that burns up.

[davidm]

A non-destructive way to see if the motors in 120v and 240v flip clocks are the same or similar might be to measure the motor's winding resistance.

In a basic flipclock without a radio that can be done easily by simply unpluging it & putting a multimeter on ohms across the plug.

You would just need to make sure the alarm was off, otherwise that could change the reading.

I've measured a few 240v basic flip clocks, RPP-160, 229, 200 and a Seiko and they all give the same result.

Could someone with a few basic (non radio) 120v flip clocks do the same and tell me what reading they get in ohms?