Credit: Lumen Photography
The Silver Swan Internship
In November 2023, I was fortunate to be able to join the team at the Cumbria Clock Company on the Silver Swan project, restoring the automata at the Bowes Museum to safe working condition. The project involved, amongst other things, bushing, a fusee chain repair, repairs to the silverwork and head mechanism (carried out by Seth Kennedy) and subtle modifications to the main cam's track.
​The main cam and pin barrel fitted into the main frame to test endshakes. Because of flex in certain structural components, fitting sub-assemblies such as the musical movement altered the endshake on the main cam and some other components.
The main cam assembly, with the track for the neck's lateral movement and cams for vertical movements and head functions. This sub-assembly and its relation to other components caused some sticking points. The track had been heavily modified and gave the neck jerky movements and unnecessary friction which had to be rectified.
A split plate on one of the three larger fusee chains (left) and the replacement fitted. A failure of one of the larger chains could have serious consequences as they lift the neck and a sudden loss of tension could see it drop, possibly as far as the glass rods causing further damage.
The neck with the outer rings and top, inner rings removed. The three large chains are fitted but the two small chains have been removed. The watch bracelet-like 'belt' gives side-to-side stability while allowing motion up and down. A clock mainspring sized steel strip sits underneath this and supports a lot of the neck's weight to take the bulk of load off the chains and movement.
The swan's body, formed with chasing and repoussé and engraved with feather detail. The neck is made up of individual rings to give the flexibility needed.
One of the earlier full assemblies, showing the main frame and movements with the neck fitted.