Hammer strike describes the way a clock sounds the hours or quarters, by a small steel-headed hammer lifted by the striking train and released to fall against a bell, gong or coiled rod. The term is used both for the action itself and for the arrangement of hammers within the movement, which may range from a single hammer sounding the hours on one bell to a nest of hammers playing quarter chimes.
In English longcase and bracket clocks of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the hammer usually strikes a domed bell mounted above the movement, regulated first by a countwheel and later by rack striking. Coiled wire gongs became common on French and English clocks in the nineteenth century, giving a deeper, more resonant tone, while rod gongs were favoured for later chiming clocks. When examining a striking clock, a restorer will check that the hammer tail, spring and stop are original and correctly adjusted, that the hammer head meets the bell cleanly without buzzing, and that the hammer has not been bent or replaced. A crisp, well-regulated strike is a good sign of a movement that has been properly maintained.
