Antique 19th Century Clocks
19th Century Clocks
The 19th century saw many changes in the craft of clockmaking. The demand was growing for a cheaper priced clock for the masses instead of costly possessions for the &lite. The French in the preceeding century had realized that sub-division of labour and specialization could achieve a greater output without necessarily destroying the quality of the product. It was, however, the Americans who took this concept a stage further. Many of the 18th century settlers had been or became skilled clockmakers. They had one major problem – a lack of metal from which to manufacture their earrings gold diamonds stram02 movements. By laborious methods some of them managed to overcome this problem and some fine long case clocks were made in and around Philadelphia. In their attempts to overcome the difficulty, the clockmakers of the New England area slowly developed a characteristic style of their own.
Simon Williard of Grafton, Massachusetts was an outstanding maker of this period. His eight-day brass timepiece, which became known as the ‘banjo’ clock was patented in 1802 with a further nine improved patents following. The salvini diamond ring 047 ct basic shape of the bracelet silver with gold moon clock almost never changed, unlike the finish. Early examples have simple banded inlay work with an acorn finial and the decorative glasswork was usually done in geometric patterns with ‘S. Willard’s Patent’ in gilt on the lower door glass. It is believed that these glasses were made for Willard by John R. Penniman from 1806-28 and by Charles Bullard.
In 1819, Willard patented an alarm clock b31 dolphin ankle bracelet for, which, so the patent states, when let off, it strikes on the top of the case of the clock, and makes a noise like someone rapping at the door, and it will wake you much quicker than to strike on a bell in the usual way’. The cases of these clocks are similar to a lighthouse with the clock face under a glass dome on top of a circular case.
The Connecticut makers with their abundant supply of local wood decided to produce wooden movements. Eli Terry stands out as an important pioneer in this stage in the history of American clockmaking. After emerald ring in 18 carat
accepting an order to make 4,000 movements he had through necessity to devise some labour saving and time saving conveniences. Part of his solution was the standardization of parts and in 1816 he patented details of a weight-driven wooden or brass movement for a shelf clock.
The spring-driven clock was not generally in use in America until the 1840s. The first man to produce them in any quantity was probably Joseph Ives using his lever spring. Although coiled springs had been imported in the 18th century they were too expensive to be used in cheap clocks. Eli Terry’s son Silas was the first to devise a method of tempering coiled springs allowing them to be made cheaply. He took out a patent for this idea in 1830.
During the 1840s brass springs were used extensively after Joseph S. Ives patented a method for making them in 1836. At this time brass springs were still cheaper than imported steel ones. By 1850, spring-driven
clocks were being made in larger quantities than weight-driven ones and, since steel was now cheaper, few clocks after this date are found with brass springs.
In 1842 Chauncy Jerome shaped history by sending a shipment of his cheap mass-produced spring-driven shelf clocks to England. They had cases of cheap veneered wood, painted zinc dials, glazed doors with either
straightforward movements or with the additional feature of American clock made by Seth Thomas.
an alarm or striking on the hour. These clocks flooded the market and sounded the death knell for the more conservative English clockmakers.
Calendar clocks were popular in America, for over 50 years from 1855. The clocks were of two basic designs, one with only the days of the month around the dial, and the other with two dials, the calendar one being
worked by the clock. Some were even more elaborate than this and had the day of the week, the phases of the moon and the tides. Most of them self-corrected for a leap year.
The first calendar clock with a separate mechanism was patented by John H. Hawes of Ithaca, New York in 1853, but it was never put into production. In 1854, William H. Akins and Joseph C. Burritt patented another
mechanism a perfected version of which was sold to the Seth Thomas Clock Company, which manufactured the clock until 1876. They continued producing calendar clocks. Other well-known designers of brilliant white gold ring with calendar clock mechanisms in this period include Henry B. Horton, whose design was used by the Ithaca Calendar Clock Company until 1917, and Benjamin B. Lewis of Bristol, Connecticut, whose mechanism was used by several companies including Burwell & Carter and the E. Ingraham Company.
One clock mechanism popular with collectors because of its complexity was patented in 1877 by Daniel Jackson Gale and manufactured by Welch, Spring & Company.
In Germany, clockmakers were quick to realize that, if they were to survive, their cottage industry must adopt new methods. One family, the Junghans, were particularly progressive, and in the mid-1860s the business skills of one brother and the knowledge gleaned of ‘the American Way’ by other members of the family while working in America resulted in the opening of a factory making mass-produced clocks with American machinery. Some of their designs followed those of the Americans so closely that it is in many instances difficult to tell them apart. However, they also continued with their traditional virgo zodiac earrings 18 kt cuckoo clocks, postman alarms, and so on.
The French clockmakers, who had long realized the potential of mass production, continued, notably in factories run by the Japy Freres, to produce movements to a standard pattern for the ‘makers’ to case as they
wished. These roulants appear in every conceivable style of French clock: four glass clocks, the typical Victorian black marble clock, and many elaborate cases and garnitures (the designs of which were copied from earlier styles) and also the carriage clock. The carriage clock was tremendously popular. Possibly its attraction lay in its compactness, wide diversity of quality and style of case decoration, together with the many variations of simple or complicated strike and chime that were available.
Both longcase and bracket clocks underwent some changes in the first two decades of the century, English longcases becoming simpler and more refined in style and the break-arch top of bracket clock cases becoming more curved and the break sometimes disappearing altogether. The ‘lancet’ bracket clock, so-called because it is shaped like the lancet window, appeared in the first decade of the century. The balloon clock, which was first ring vintage fan l gold designed about 1760, reached the height of its fashion just after the turn of the century. The inspiration for this clock is variously attributed to the hot-air balloons of the Montgolfier brothers and to typical Louis XV bracket clocks. The latter seems the more likely since the first balloon flights did not take place until 1784. These clocks with their waisted sides are quite plain and usually have a panel of inlay below the dial.
A novel type of clock which was made until 1830 is the tavern or Act of Parliament clock. In 1797, because of a tax placed on all watches and clocks by William Pitt, innkeepers were forced to use cheaper clocks.
Although the tax was repealed a year later, innkeepers carried on using this type of clock for some years. They were made of a large wooden, painted dial and a 18 kt yellow gold earrings drop case for the pendulum and weight so that they
could be hung on the wall. Only a few of the surviving examples are highly decorated.
The English clock industry dwindled, however, as the century progressed. While other countries accepted the new ideas, the English makers insisted on continuing their now out-dated methods which could not meet
either the demand or price range of their new customers. A few small factories opened in the mid-18005, one being the British United Clock Company, but they failed to realize how completely competitive
they needed to be. Although struggling at the lower end of the market, Some of the hands used on French clocks the Victorian clockmakers did produce some magnificent pieces of 1850-75. quality workmanship for those who could afford them. In particular, the beautiful multi diamond ring measure brass skeleton clock under its glass shade with its varying escapements, frame designs and strike enjoyed a quite remarkable popularity.
In 1851 Lord Grimthorpe and Edward John Dent devised the Great Clock of Westminster, which came to be known after its installation as Big Ben – the most famous public clock in the world. The gravity escapement of Big Ben was a new type perfected by Lord Grimthorpe. The early types of gravity escapement, first invented in 1770 by Thomas Mudge, were unstable, so Lord Grimthorpe devised what is called the ’single three-leg’ escapement in 1850 and the ‘double three-leg’ which he used in Big Ben.
The building of the clock was an event that no doubt was a contributory factor to the numerous orders received by the turret clock manufacturers of that day from many foreign parts. The order books of Potts of Leeds, Smith of Derby and Gillet and Johnston of Croydon make fascinating reading. No doubt this also influenced the making of the huge longcase and bracket clocks made about the turn of the century with their multiple choice of chimes on bells, tubes or gongs.
It would appear that the age of the mechanical clock is nearing its red card laces gift end and will be entirely replaced by those utilizing the quartz oscillator. This has been a natural evolution from the first successful application of
electricity to clocks by the Scotsman, Alexander Bain, in 1842. From that date we have seen the progress of many systems of master clocks controlling slave dials (that of Synchronome first patented 1895, and Lowne
patented 1901) and the domestic battery clocks (the Eureka first patented 1906 and the Bulle of 1921), followed by the synchronous mains clocks of the 1920s and 1930s. And now, in fact, the antique clocks are common.
Tags: alarm clock, banjo clock, case clocks, clock, clock face, dial, England, English, Germany, mechanism, style