Paul Pouvillon’s Astronomical Clock - Horology

Paul Pouvillon’s Astronomical Clock A Brief History and Description of the Clock’s Restoration By Mark Frank Copyright 2013 Paul Pouvillon’s Astronomical Clock A Brief History and a Description of the Clock’s Restoration Table of Contents Chapter 1. A Brief History of Paul Pouvillon and his Astronomical Skeleton Clock Chapter 2. A hypothesis on the Time Line of the Clock's Construction Chapter 3. The Restoration Process for the Pouvillon Clock, Overview 1. Repair broken pendulum rod 2. Repair weight pulley system 3. Secure time train click spring 4. Replace broken glass drive tube in ‘mystery dial’ and retouch dial 5. Restore the annual cam pack 6. Restore tellurian and orrery planets and attachment wires 7. Restore sunrise/sunset dial spiral bias springs; replace missing hand 8. Restore sunrise/sunset shutter bias springs 9. Repairs to the Easter calculator A. Restore calculator’s automatic annual trip linkage, calculator to cam pack B. Restore the trip mechanism within the calculator C. Restoring the calculator’s perpetual function D. Replace missing calculator drive chain and weight 10. Restore the tellurian/orrery demonstration crank 11. Restore zodiac precession complication 12. Restore annual year indication 13. Create planetary signs to fill unused orrery collet mounts 1-10 11-17 18-19 20-21 21-22 22 23-24 25-29 30-31 32-33 33 33-36 36-37 37-39 40 40 41-44 44-45 46-49 Chapter 4. The Restoration of the Wood Pedestal Base for the Pouvillon Clock 50-59 Chapter 5. Discussion of Restoration Philosophy and Conclusion 60-64 Appendix A. Explanation of Easter calculator dials 65-66 Appendix B. Schematics for the Pouvillon Clock 67-77 Appendix C. Contemporary French articles written about the clock restoration 78-80 1 Chapter 1. A Brief History of Paul Pouvillon and his Astronomical Skeleton Clock Some of the following historical information on Pouvillon is based on an article by Bernard Miclet. 1 Paul Pouvillon was born in the small town of Nogent-sur-Oise, France about 20 miles (30km) north of Paris on January 24, 1878, (Figure 1). His father was a mechanic and his mother a seamstress and they ran their business from the store front beneath their apartment. At twelve years of age Pouvillon was apprenticed to a clockmaker to learn the trade. He excelled at this apprenticeship to such a degree that the master had waived his second year fee of 400 Francs. Soon afterward he went to work for several clockmakers and received high praise from each. In 1896, at a Besançon exhibition he obtained a bronze medal for his watch working. Two years later, he passed his professional examinations for "Ouvrier d'Art", Master of the Art. In recognition of his outstanding abilities the French government waived the normal three years of mandatory military service to one. He served this from 1899 to 1900. But instead of continuing his journeyman’s training as was the custom, in 1902 he settled back in his home town and began his own practice at the age of twenty four. According to his business letterhead, (Figure 2), he was awarded another medal 1906 in Paris. The details of this award are unknown at this time. From 1929 through 1930 he undertook with another clockmaker from nearby Beauvais the repair of a complicated astronomical cathedral clock built by Auguste-Lucien Vérité from 1865 to 1868. During this job he began to formulate the idea of building his own astronomical clock. By the time of its completion, his astronomical clock brought Pouvillon accolades: first at Beauvais, where it was shown in 1939, and then in Paris, where it was awarded a silver medal. He was also awarded for this outstanding piece of work the coveted title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, Finest W