Instructions for 1940 Hamburg Ubrenfabrik Antique Mantel Clock. History and Observations: This clock is pre 1940 made by the “Hamburg Ubrenfabrik" (HU) or Hamburg Watch Factory in Schramberg Germany. Its marked 156/40 and similar to a Hermle design. Its interesting in the fact that the hour chime and music chime run off the same hammers. The music chime is run by a cylinder cam and chains and sound 1/4 music at 3 hour, 1/2 music at 6 hour and full music at 9 hour. There is a lever that lifts 3 of the 5 hammers to sound the hour chime each hour. There is a silent setting but no 12 hour automatic night setting. The music and chimes are either on or off. When the hour chimes, the music cam first slides backward at 7 minutes to the hour to disengage it so the hour hammers can be sounded. Than the music chime cam slides back to the music sounding position. This clock thus has a design flaw issue, as the mainspring time circuit must run both cam/lever chime modes and pushing the music cam backward takes a lot of power and as the mainspring weakens with age it will stall the movement. It seems that a full wind give the clock about 2 weeks of run time. Operation and Precautions: This is a wind up pendulum timed clock. The right hole in the dial is the wind up mainspring to run the clock pendulum and the left hole is for the wind up spring for the chimes and music. The top small hole is for a fine adjustment for time. Its better to raise or lower the pendulum to set the time rate. To speed up the clock raise the pendulum by turning the small nut under it clockwise. To slow it down lower the pendulum. Using the time key in the top dial could result in jamming the clock if it is turned too much in one direction or the other. The chime rods, chime hammers and pendulum swing shaft are secured for transport with three pieces of cardboard. Once a level location for the clock is chosen remove the three cardboard pieces gently by following the directions on the cardboard. Keep them for future transport. The hammers are on chains, make sure all the hammers are down and are about at the same level and the chains are all straight down and not tangled. The hammers and chime rods can be easily bent, treat them with care. Place the pendulum on its shaft by hanging it on the two hook shaped fingers on the end of the swing shaft. Use the silver top wire tips to hang the pendulum. It should fit so the pins on the pendulum shaft fit deeply into the swinging shaft fingers/hooks and the small nut is at the bottom with the pendulum sitting on the nut. The R written on the lead weights should face the rear. Once the clock is wound, push the pendulum to the left or right to start is swinging. The mainspring power than keeps the pendulum swinging at constant rate maintaining time. The clock should have an even sounding tick tock sound. If the pendulum stops and its not due to any jamming issues as explained below, make sure the pendulum is not rubbing during its swing and make sure the clock is level both side to side and front to back. This clock will chime music at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 hour. It will chime the hour at the top 12 position. It does not chime music at this position, only the hour. Due to reasons beyond my expertise, the 6 position music may not complete missing one note. The note will usually sound about the 8 position. Than the 9 position music will be normal. This is somewhat common with chiming clocks. Chock this up to its antique character. It does not effect the clock in any other way. Example: at 15 past the hour you will hear 1/4 of the music tune, at 30 past you will hear half of the music tune, at 45 past your will hear the entire music tune. At the hour you will hear a three hammer gong, 2 o'clock will be two gongs and 3 will be 3 and so on. Winding the Clock: Wind the right clock time main spring using the #8 brass key. Hold the top of the clock so it does not move, and push the key in about 1/4 inch. Turn the key in the clockwise direction until resistance is felt. This clock should run about 20 days on one wind. After about 10 days rewind. Never store the clock in the fully wound condition. The left hole is for the chime spring. If you do not use the chimes, you must first park the chime cams by letting it play music and stop. Than you can park the chime cam by putting the lever on the front in silent mode. If you will not let the clock chime, let the chime spring unwind by repeatedly pressing the music lever down (see procedure below). Than put the silent chime lever in the silent position. This clock will work better if it is left to chime. If let to chime, wind the chime spring once a week to about the 3/4 full wind. On restart, move the front dial lever "silent - chime" to the chime position. To assure the cams are in the proper position, (inside the clock case) there is a small silver lever with a round loop on its tip, to the top right of the rear of the movement (deep inside). Push it down gently and release. The chime and or music will sound, when it is done, put the front chime silent lever in silent position. Now you can set the time by gently pushing the minute hand in the clockwise direction until the proper time is set. Put the chime lever in the chime position. It may take 2 hours for the chimes and music to sync to the time on the hands. This is normal, do not rush this process. This holds for all musical/chiming clocks. This clock does not have a night mode, it chimes all the time. The chime silent lever should move without any effort, if it feels stuck you must put it back to chime mode and force the clock to chime by pushing down the chime lever as explained above. Never force the cam or chimes by rotating the large cam assembly sticking out the rear of the movement above the hammer chains, this will break gear teeth. The left chime spring must be at least 1/4 wound to run the chimes. Never set the clock to silent mode until after it has finished playing a music or chimed the hour. Never advance the time using the minute hand unless the chime silent lever is in the silent mode first. The other option is to advance the minute hand to each 1/4 hour position and let it finish its music or chime before continuing. The reason for this is a 12 tooth lever, that raises to its reset position each time the music is played. If this process does not complete, the levers will not be high enough to clear the hour cams and will block the minute hand from moving, jamming the clock. If this happens, you must back the minute hand counter clockwise about 5 minutes and force the clock to chime using the inside chime lever by pressing it down and letting it play a set of music or two. Than the levers should clear the cams and work freely again allowing the front silent chime lever to be effortlessly put in the silent mode again and easily rotating the minute hand in the clockwise position again. The wood case has been cleaned and polished. The case is coated with an alcohol based shellac. The shellac is coated with a furniture wax. To clean it, take a clean cloth and wipe it rubbing the shine back. Min Wax paste wax can be used if the wax shine is no longer coming back with a simple wipe. The clock movement is oiled with synthetic and teflon based lubricants. It should be operable for up to 15 years before needing to be cleaned and oiled again. Like any machine, keep it dry and in a dust free environment. Never store it in a hot/cold attic or damp cellar. Mechanical devices do not like to be idle. If you run the clock regularly it will run better. Stopping it for long periods will make it harder to get it going again. Things will stick, will be oxidized, etc. This applies to all mechanical devices. This manual and clock repair was provided by Ralph DeMartino. If found this guide helpful, and you would like to donate to my clock repair and restoration fund you can paypal to ralphrides@yahoo.com. Thank you in advance. Care of 1940 Hamburg Ubrenfabrik Antique Chiming Clock