Horological Meandering

ThomasM
[PuristS]
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A repeater (minute/quarter/5 minute/etc) must be activated

for every "strike" session.

It also has it's "power" charged with every activation, so it does not need its own separate "power train."

Thus, when a slide is slid, or plunger pushed, it "charges" the repeater spring and the time is "chimed" out.

Typically a repeater can be a minute repeater (strikes hours first, then quarters, then the minutes since the last quarter.

A repeater can also be a quarter repeater (hours, last quarters only)

There are also variations like 5 minute repeaters and half quarter repeaters (7 1/2 minutes)

 Sonnerie en Passant - sonnerie is a generic french term, which roughly translates to "(making or striking a) sound" and en passant=in passing

so "sounding (or striking) in passing"

A Sonnerie en Passant differs from a repeater in that it will strike the quarters and hours automatically, if set to do so. Like a grandfather clock. IT requires no user intervention, so long as it is set to do so, and the sonnerie spring is charged up.

Sonneries en passant usually comes in two flavours/modes - grande, which means it strikes the hours and the quarters, on every quarter and on the hour; and petite, which has a few variations, but classically meant it would either

1. strike only the hour on the hour, no quarters

or

2. strike only the quarters on the quarters (no hours) and only the hours on the hour

depending on the design and maker.

It can, in most versions, also strike out the time on demand, like a simple repeater. This is usually done via a simple push piece, which does not charge the spring, since the sonnerie spring is long enough to hold a "power reserve" and must, to allow the sonnerie to have power to strike automatically.

This is an example of a modern sonnerie -

The "ear" sets the mode to grande, petite, or silent.

The "plunger" on the other side is the pusher for the repeater "on demand"

Here's an example of a simple repeater -

the "slide" is on the left side of the case. It is "slid" upward to charge the repeater spring and activate the repeater train.

The slide can more clearly be seen here -

And how a repeater sounds can be heard here - click below

http://www.ThePuristS.com/repeaters/ThePuristS8.wmv

Cheers,

TM

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