Striking levers

After a morning at the Bridge cafe, I returned home for a quick lunch, part assembled this striking carriage clock and then went to French conversation. Most striking clocks have a simpler striking system which involves the serrated, toothed rack (visible in the photo) falling at five minutes to the hour with a little clunk before it is gathered up on the hour. On a repeating carriage clock, this system will not work as a push on a button on the top of the clock will depress the top lever and then the clock will strike the previous hour even at 59 minutes past. This striking system then requires a more elaborate system of sprung leavers that activate exactly on the hour and allow the rack to drop and be gathered back up immediately, thus striking the next hour. If this sounds complicated, it is probably because it is!