beekeyknee
Well-known member
Yes, the timers are interchangeable. You have a 4499-3. Are you sure it "scritches"? The 4499-1's are usually the "scritchin" ones. A -1 is an early Mallory "scritchin" type (torsion spring) escapement (the spring unwinding causes the timer to make the sound), a -2 indicates a Kingston timer (rotating cam disc) and -3 indicates plastic gear driven escapement (late style Mallory timer). I have all three and my -3 doesn't "scritch". IMO any timer of that age should be cleaned and lubricated if one expects it to last.
When the timer turns hard it's more likely to fail. The -1 style has a complicated escapement that wears when not lubricated and cleaned, the -2 (Kingston) has a plastic motor pinion that will break easily and the -3 seems to be the most durable.
Others may feel differently, but this is what I've found to be true most of the time. That's more information than you asked for, but when I saw the -3 on your timer I was skeptical about it being a torsion spring type timer. Are you sure it doesn't just "click"? If I could see the bottom of the timer where the escapement is I could tell you by looking. Do a search for Mallory and/or Kingston (just the individual words) under Imperial. There's also the Westinghouse Automatic Timer Service Manual in Automatic Ephemera.
When the timer turns hard it's more likely to fail. The -1 style has a complicated escapement that wears when not lubricated and cleaned, the -2 (Kingston) has a plastic motor pinion that will break easily and the -3 seems to be the most durable.
Others may feel differently, but this is what I've found to be true most of the time. That's more information than you asked for, but when I saw the -3 on your timer I was skeptical about it being a torsion spring type timer. Are you sure it doesn't just "click"? If I could see the bottom of the timer where the escapement is I could tell you by looking. Do a search for Mallory and/or Kingston (just the individual words) under Imperial. There's also the Westinghouse Automatic Timer Service Manual in Automatic Ephemera.