Object
Today’s post is looking at the treatment of a Stockton English Drop Dial clock from Beamish Museum.The clock was worked on in 2014 by one of our students, Rebeca.
Mechanical clocks first appeared towards the end of the 13th century when town clocks would be housed in a town hall or in separate towers for public use. Possessing a clock would endow the town with great prestige, therefore churches and cathedrals began installing clocks for similar reasons. Some of these clocks did more than just tell time, they also notated the position of heavenly bodies and had calendars showing important days in the Church’s year. In such machines, timekeeping was of lesser importance; its main function was to be inspected by visitors who would have contributed financially toward the extremely high cost of the clock.
After clocks had become established as a feature in town halls and large churches, tha smaller churches, especially those in small towns and villages, would also desire a clock but wouldn’t have the means to pay for it. This created a demand for smaller, simpler clocks, which began to be satisfied by the 15th century. During this period, spring-driven clocks made timepieces more affordable and mobile, but they were erratic timekeepers. They also marked a break from tradition with a boxed mechanism, which also created a need for a case.
Until the middle of the 17th century clocks were incredibly inaccurate; they seldom had more than one hour hand, and their time was continually being checked against a sundial. The invention making all the difference to accuracy occurred in 1657; Christiaan Huygens patented the use of a pendulum to control a clock, an invention so far ahead of its time that it was thought to be Victorian until the early 20th century. In the late 17th century the eight day clock emerged from London (a clock that only needed winding once every eight days), characterised by a movement similar to the spring clock but intented to hang on the wall. The advent of the wall clock would eventually lead to the evolution of the English dial clock in the late 18th, early 19th century.
Condition
- Evidence of a thick layer of dust and dirt on the surface
- Unknown white substance on the surface of the clock
- Signs of warping and cracking on the wooden case
- Evidence of corrosion and tarnish on the metal fittings
- Paint on the dial face was severely cracked and there were a number of areas of loss.
Conservation
As the exterior of the clock was so heavily covered in dirt, it was determined that an initial surface clean was needed before any other treatment could be undertaken. It was also unclear as to what the extent of loss on the face was because much of the surface was obscured by dirt. The wooden case was treated using dry cleaning methods in order to remove the dirt on the surface; an eraser was found to be the most effective method as it removed the majority of the dirt without damaging the orignal material. Following this, the metal components attached to the case were removed where possible as it was decided that they would be easier to treat if they were separate.
As the metal components had signs of extensive corrosion on the surface, mechanical treatments needed to be tested in order to determine which method would be the most successful at removing the corrosion without damaging the metal underneath. A number of treatments were tested and in the end a combination of treatments were used in order to create the desired outcome. Those metal components that were unable to be removed from the case were treated in situ using the same treatments and methods, though more care was needed so as not to damage the surrounding wood of the case.
The face of the clock was initially cleaned using a soft brush and a vacuum in order to remove the loose dust and dirt from the surface; the vacuum nozzle had a layer of gauze covering the end which would prevent original information from being completely lost. Once the loose dirt had been removed the clock face was cleaned using a combination of mechanical and solvent cleaning. Cotton wool swabs with water were rolled over the surface to remove the more ingrained surface dirt, while a slight abrasive was used for those areas of discolouration that could not be removed using the swabs of water.
Once the clock face had been cleaned the extent of the damage to the dial could be seen and the decision was made to infill and colour match the areas of missing surface material. As Beamish Museum is a living museum, there was a desire to have the object looking as it would have when originally in use, it was unlikely that it would have been used if the face was damaged. Therefore the missing areas of surface material were infilled/colour matched using acrylic pigments; this allowed the missing areas to blend well with the original material, though the repairs were distinguishable from a close distance.
The metal components, which had been removed for cleaning were re-attached to the wooden case using an acrylic copolymer adhesive as this would provide a strong bond between the two materials. A number of detached wooden pieces that were found along with the clock were thought to belong to the clock and so their locations were determined and they were adhered back to the main body using an appropriate wood adhesive and clamped in place to create a strong bond. This same adhesive was also used to help stabilise any cracks in the wood in order to help prevent further deterioration.