| John (2) was baptized at Arthuret Parish Church (Longtown) on 29th May 1774 as John Blacklock. He died at Carlisle in March 1821 aged 46. William (1) was baptized at Arthuret Parish Church (Longtown) on 27th February 1777 as William Blacklock. He died, (probably at Carlisle), on 11th January 1832 aged 51. Both are buried in Arthuret churchyard. The two brothers inherited the business from their father John (1) in 1803 and continued to work in Longtown until circa 1817 when the business was moved to Carlisle. William (1) was the father of John (3) who became the greatest of the Blaylock Clockmakers.
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Eight Day Movement of Painted Dial Longcase Clock by John & William Blaylock of Longtown LC5
The clock movements made by the partnership of John (2) and William (1) follow the same design as those of their father with both rack hook and lifting piece pivoted on the right hand side. In this arrangement both lock and warn positions of the strike train are accomplished by flags intercepting the rotation of the warn wheel. We now see the appearance of two tapped holes of approximately 4BA in the midway position on either side of the plates. It is my belief that these holes were used to hold a template which provided the location of the holes for the arbors of the centre wheel, escape wheel and barrel winding squares, which required precise alignment with the holes in the painted dial. The tapped holes also appear on 30 hour movements with painted dials. A nice touch to this movement is the rack spring which is made of a strip of spring steel mounted in a small brass casting. The casting is screwed to the plate close to the top of the hour bridge and the spring exerts pressure on the front edge of the rack stem. This is a far superior arrangement to the conventional rack spring made of brass wire and prone to breakage. or return to 05 March, 2003 |
