BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  02:50:44

I know this will sound like I have lost it, but...

We have strange things happen at our house occasionally. Things move or get displaced and no human in the house did it. We have a cat and a dog which which some people have told us that are the culprits, but one thing is not possible for them to do. When it happens, we blame it on Ursula, a name we made up for the "ghost". It has happened several times in the past, and it happened again this Saturday.

We have a Waltham 30 day Regulator wall clock. I can never remember to wind it, so usually it runs down and stops. It has a main spring for the running mechanism, and a main spring for the striking mechanism. Sometimes when I go to wind it, one side is already wound. This Saturday, we left at 7:15 am to go out of town and returned at 9:40 pm. When we walked in the clock had stopped at 7:50. We don't really know if it stopped at 7:50 pm the night before, 7:50 am Saturday morning, or 7:50 pm Saturday night. When I went to wind it, the running side was wound tight, wouldn't even click once! Our stepson was there that day, and swears that he hadn't touched it, and knowing him, I know that he's telling the truth. As I said earlier, this is not the first time that this has happened. So we figure Ursula has done it again!

We just wish that she would set the clock and restart the pendulum!!!!

figmo59 - Posted - 08/06/2013:  03:00:05

Id it posahbull.that tha spring whud wound...too..tight..n..bound up...ah bit..?


We had an old Navy ships clock whid ah wind up key..

That ya had ta be carefull...not ta ovah wind it..or it would..stop...

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  03:06:02

quote:

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Originally posted by figmo59



Id it posahbull.that tha spring whud wound...too..tight..n..bound up...ah bit..?





We had an old Navy ships clock whid ah wind up key..



That ya had ta be carefull...not ta ovah wind it..or it would..stop...

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Did it run 30+ days with a bound-up spring? Our clock does!

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  03:34:49

I'm off to work. I'll check back this evening for any explanations that will dispel Urusla! 

mike gregory - Posted - 08/06/2013:  04:39:03

Sounds like a job for a video camera.

John Allison - Posted - 08/06/2013:  04:46:46

I'll second the video camera.

BigMonFan - Posted - 08/06/2013:  05:43:08

 Please posts pics if you decide to go the video route. I'd like to see what Ursula looks like. Thanks.

fivebranch - Posted - 08/06/2013:  05:48:18

Twilight Zone

FRAILER57 - Posted - 08/06/2013:  06:13:51

Marvin,
If you hear plinky,banjo sounds coming from your music room and noone is in there, look for katydids. They seem to like playing too.

Mopick - Posted - 08/06/2013:  06:20:15

We used to have a Ouija Board when I was a kid.  My friend and I would play with it and I would accuse him of pushing it, while he said it was me.  It was fun at first but then it got to where it would spell out stuff like D I E.  We put it away and quit messing with it.  It was in a hallway closet and when the door would squeak and come open, only when we were in sight of it.  I got that thing and threw it in the trash.  The door quit coming open.

JEA13 - Posted - 08/06/2013:  06:29:04

Not to be funny and no disrespect intended, but do you or your spouse show any signs of short term memory loss? My mom had Alzheimer's disease. In early stages , before we knew what was going on she said stuff had gone missing , wondering if my sister had stolen them. They were things like my moms grade school report cards, old letters from friends, etc that had no monetary value. When I finally moved back in to care for her , I occasionally found the missing items in places they didn't belong scattered everywhere.

Mopick - Posted - 08/06/2013:  07:07:23

quote:

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Originally posted by JEA13

 

Not to be funny and no disrespect intended, but do you or your spouse show any signs of short term memory loss? My mom had Alzheimer's disease. In early stages , before we knew what was going on she said stuff had gone missing , wondering if my sister had stolen them. They were things like my moms grade school report cards, old letters from friends, etc that had no monetary value. When I finally moved back in to care for her , I occasionally found the missing items in places they didn't belong scattered everywhere.

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Yes.  Debbie's aunt was getting early Alzheimer's and she swore someone came in and changed the controls on her washer and dryer and she couldn't make it work.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 08/06/2013:  08:13:55

Sounds like one of you might be 'sleep winding'. I watched a show once where the family reported stuff moving around mysteriously...until they set up a hidden video. The wife was cleaning house in her sleep. She'd get up, dust/clean the living-room and then go back to bed...never remember a thing in the morning.

Been watching the new TV show "Your Bleeped-Up Brain" lately. Lots of crazy stuff goes on between our ears.

Then again, we don't know everything. Might be a parallel universe of clock-winders out there that intersects our universe at your clock.

Cornflake - Posted - 08/06/2013:  08:20:43

Ask Ursula to reset the clock and start the pendulum.

Corwyn - Posted - 08/06/2013:  15:32:41

Regulators can get a bit off, and stop even with fully wound springs.  Some possible problems:

1) Not level.

2) Escapement is worn or misadjusted.

3) Spring is binding.

4) Hands are interfering with each other.

5) Gears are jammed.

6) Any of a score of other problems.

banjoy - Posted - 08/06/2013:  16:01:13

Maybe Ursula can come clean my house.

She can wind my clock too

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  16:02:48

Well, let me address some of the suggestions. A video camera would not work too well. Ursula only winds the clock sometimes. It does not always happen every month. It has happened about four or five times in the past 3 years. Also, if it is Ursula doing the winding, will a "ghost" show up on video tape?

It's not always the running spring that I find wound up. Sometimes it's the striking spring that I find wound, and the clock has run and struck the chime for at least 30 days. If the spring(s) were sticking, it would stop running or striking before the month has passed, and it would not be wound up.

The clock is level, and the tick-tock is evenly timed. That is how I always know if a clock is level. The tick-tock sound is even. An unlevel clock will have an uneven tick to it. The clock is hanging over the fireplace on the exposed brick chimney. I have to stand on the hearth to reach the clock to wind it. So nobody bumps it.

IF my wife or myself are "sleep winding", we go a long ways to do it. The clock is in the den and our bedroom is on the opposite end of the house. The "sleep winder" would have to climb out of bed, walk out of the bedroom, walk through a hallway, the living room, then turn right, walk through the dining room, turn left, then through the kitchen, step down two steps into the den, turn left, step up on the hearth, open the clock door, wind the clock, closed the door, step down, and then repeat the pathway back to the bedroom. I guess it's possible, but....

The only viable explanation that has been given so far is that one or both of the two 58 year-olds that live in this house are loosing it!

But... then again... it could be Ursula!!!

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  16:06:16

quote:

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Originally posted by banjoy

 

Maybe Ursula can come clean my house.

She can wind my clock too

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If she starts cleaning my house, she ain't going nowhere!!!!

jwoods - Posted - 08/06/2013:  16:30:04

I wonder if this could be a contributing factor to the clock issue...

mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?92...ing-wrong

gshall - Posted - 08/06/2013:  16:38:30

I was working on my mother's car. It was overheating. No problem--take out the thermostat. After WALKING to the auto parts store about 6 times, I set an easy out on the air filter lid. My mother brought me a beer, and I set the church key on the air filter and noticed the easy out was gone. After looking all around inside the engine compartment and under the car, the easy out was back on the air filter lid, but the church key was gone. Never did find that church key. Fortunately, they soon went to pop-a-top cans.

Do I believe in ghosts? No. Do I have a non-ghost explanation? No.

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  16:51:43

qquote:

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Originally posted by jwoods

 

I wonder if this could be a contributing factor to the clock issue...

mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?92...ing-wrong

---

I know about pendulum clutches and how to adjust them. I have built several wall and mantel clocks in years past. I know how mechanical watch and clock movements work, and have done some minor repairs on them in years past. I don't think that there is a mechanical problem with the clock. It may run for several months without a hitch... just that I forget to wind it sometimes. That's when the phenomena happens, and then, not every time!

KE - Posted - 08/06/2013:  16:58:12

What is the history of your house/property?  How old?  Previous occupants?

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  16:59:34

qquote:

---

Originally posted by jwoods

 

I wonder if this could be a contributing factor to the clock issue...

mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?92...ing-wrong

---

I know about pendulum clutches and how to adjust them. I have built several wall and mantel clocks in years past. I know how mechanical watch and clock movements work, and have done some minor repairs on them in years past. I don't think that there is a mechanical problem with the clock. It may run for several months without a hitch... just that I forget to wind it sometimes. That's when the phenomena happens, and then, not every time!

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  17:00:01

qquote:

---

Originally posted by jwoods

 

I wonder if this could be a contributing factor to the clock issue...

mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?92...ing-wrong

---

I know about pendulum clutches and how to adjust them. I have built several wall and mantel clocks in years past. I know how mechanical watch and clock movements work, and have done some minor repairs on them in years past. I don't think that there is a mechanical problem with the clock. It may run for several months without a hitch... just that I forget to wind it sometimes. That's when the phenomena happens, and then, not every time!

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 08/06/2013:  18:01:21

quote:

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Originally posted by KE

 

What is the history of your house/property?  How old?  Previous occupants?

---

The house was built in the late forties/early fifties. I bought through a realtor. The previous owners had passed away and

was listed through the realtor by the surviving children. I think I remember hearing that the wife of the couple was a retired school

teacher. She passed before her husband, and he spent his last days in a nursing home. That's about all I know about the previous owners.

KE - Posted - 08/06/2013:  18:19:38

So, Ursula, or the wife, is stuck there wondering where her husband went and wondering when he'll get back home.  She's waiting patiently and marking time until he returns.

Or not.  Hard to prove wrong, though.

jwoods - Posted - 08/06/2013:  18:32:13

quote:

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Originally posted by BNJOMAKR

 

qquote:

---

Originally posted by jwoods



 

I wonder if this could be a contributing factor to the clock issue...

 

mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?92...ing-wrong

 

---

 

I know about pendulum clutches and how to adjust them. I have built several wall and mantel clocks in years past. I know how mechanical watch and clock movements work, and have done some minor repairs on them in years past. I don't think that there is a mechanical problem with the clock. It may run for several months without a hitch... just that I forget to wind it sometimes. That's when the phenomena happens, and then, not every time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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"Ursula" must have hit Post Reply 3 times for you also...LOL