CLOCKS.
Contrivances for the measurement of time are of such antiquity that
the first such implement is wrapped in the mysteries of a forgotten
past. Before any mechanical form had been invented by which the rate of
motion of a staff or pointer was made to indicate the lapse of time,
the shadow of the sun in his apparent daily progress was used to mark
the passing hours. A gnomon or pin erected so as to throw its traveling
shadow across a graduated arc constitutes a dial. This was the earliest
form.
The subject of sun-dials has been most exhaustively treated by Mrs.
Gatty in her "Book of Sun-Dials", and later in our own country by Mrs.
Earle. In England and Scotland many dials may still be found standing
in old-fashioned gardens where they have marked the flight of time for
hundreds of years. Many more dials, vertical ones, are to be found on
the walls of public buildings, sometimes on churches, and on country
houses as well. Not only stationary dials, but portable ones also, of
silver and gold, were made and were long in use. Some of these are to
be seen in various museums over the country, but most of them seem to
have disappeared. George Washington owned a portable dial, and had a
stationary one placed near his front door at Mt. Vernon.
In some of the famous old gardens of the South that still survive,
echoes of their former glory, the sun-dial yet holds its accustomed
place. In the very heart of New York city there is to-day a sun-dial;
not one person in a hundred that passes knows that it is there, nor
would scarcely one person in fifty know what it was. It stands on the
lawn of Grace Church rectory, on Broadway, near Tenth Street. This spot
of green in a wilderness of brick and stone refreshes the eye of many
a hurrying pedestrian, and the dial marks the flight of the hours as
sharply as if it stood in a country wilderness, amid birds and flowers.
The sun-dial was an important part of every great garden in early
times. One was set up at Whitehall, England, in the sixteenth century.
"In a garden joining to this palace there is a Jet d'eau, with a
sun-dial, which, while strangers looking at, a quantity of water
forced by a wheel, which the gardiner turns at a distance, through
a number of little pipes, plentifully sprinkles those that are
standing around."
William Lawson, writing in 1618 a book on "A New Orchard and Garden",
gives the directions about laying it out.
"And in some corner (or more) a true Dyall or clock, and some
Anticke works, and especially silver sounding Musique, mixt
instruments and voyces, gracing all the rest; How will you be rapt
with delight?"
In 1821 William Cobbett wrote his "Rural Rides". In one of them he
discourses of a visit to Moor Park, once the seat of Sir William
Temple, whose heart, enclosed in a silver box, was said to have been
buried in 1698 beneath his sun-dial. But Cobbett casts a doubt upon
this time-honored legend by declaring that it was beneath a garden seat
that the silver box was buried. Charles Lamb, in his essay "The Old
Benchers of the Inner Temple", discourses lovingly of the sun-dial. "It
spoke of moderate labours, of pleasures not protracted after sunset, of
temperance, and good hours." The dials made out of herbs and flowers
come in for a special share of his commendation. How much more the dial
induces meditation than the clock, but how very much lost we should be,
these bustling times, if we had to depend upon one of these delightful
but irresponsible "antiques" which say to you quite distinctly, "I mark
only sunny hours."
[Illustration: Figure 94. TALL-CASE CLOCKS. _English._
DANIEL QUARE, _maker_. 1690.
J. HARRISON, _maker_. 1715.]
In an inventory of the property of William Bennett, East Greenwich,
Rhode Island, who died in 1753, among other articles were mentioned
"warming-pan, pewter, sun-dial, book, debts, £10."
After the dial came the clepsydra, a sort of clock, which measured
time by the graduated flow of some liquid, like water, through a small
aperture. While the hour-glass was not known in England till 886, it
had been used in Rome long before; but inventions traveled slowly
in those days. The hour-glass remained long in use, even after the
invention of clocks, and while we know it chiefly as marking the period
of agony of some unwilling victim at the piano, it was used even later
than the noon mark on the window-ledge, which may be seen to-day on
some of the old houses still standing.
A writer in the "Gentlemen's Magazine" for 1746 says that he was
present on an occasion when a grave-digger was at work in Clerkenwell
Fields.
"He had dug pretty deep, and was come to a coffin which had lain
so long that it was quite rotten, and the plate so eaten with rust
that he could not read anything of the inscription. In clearing
away the old wood the grave-digger found an hour-glass close to
the left side of the skull, with sand still in it. Being a lover
of antiquity, I bought it of him, and have since learned from some
antiquarians that it was an ancient custom to put an hour-glass in
the coffin to show that the sands of life were run."
The origin of clockwork is involved in great obscurity, though there
are statements by many writers that clocks were in use as early as the
ninth century.
By 1288 a clock was placed in the Old Palace Yard, London, and remained
there till the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In 1292 a clock was placed
on Canterbury Cathedral, and in 1368 a striking clock was erected at
Westminster. By 1500, clocks were used in private houses, and watches
were introduced. In 1368 three Dutch clockmakers were invited to come
to England to teach the business to native workers, though "Dutch
clocks" and their makers were held in contempt some years later.
There was a clock put into the tower of Hampton Court Palace in 1540
by a maker whose initials were "N. O.", all that posterity knows of
him. It was the oldest clock in England that kept fairly good time. In
1575 George Gaver, "serjeant painter" as his title runs, had a sum of
money allowed him for "painting the great dial at Hampton Court Palace,
containing hours of day and night, and the course of sun and moon." In
1649 a striking part was added. By 1711 it was found that the clock had
not been running as correctly as it should, owing to the fact that some
careless or ignorant workman had removed some important parts of the
works. After this discovery it was left neglected for many years, and
finally lost its hands. It was in this condition in the first quarter
of the nineteenth century, when G. P. R. James wrote a poem entitled
"Old Clock Without Hands at Hampton Court."
In 1835 the old works were removed, and a set of works put in which
had been made in 1690 by Villiamy, for a clock in the Queen's Palace,
St. James' Park. As this clock was not powerful enough to drive the
astronomical works, these were put away. In 1880 this old clock was
also removed, sold for old brass, and a brand-new clock substituted.
It seems a pity that one of the earliest clocks known should have been
destroyed. It was not till 1639 that Galileo published his discovery of
the isochronous property of the pendulum, which was eight years after
the incorporation of the London Clockmakers Company. Not only did this
company train workers for clockmaking, but they also inspected clocks
brought into England, and rejected those which they deemed unworthy.
Richard Harris is said to have been the man who first connected the
pendulum with clockwork movement, about 1641, and Harris's method was
improved by Huyghens, so that by 1658 very trustworthy time-keepers
were in use. Mr. Lockwood in his book on "Colonial Furniture," says
that the first clock mentioned in the Massachusetts Colony was found
in Boston in 1638, but in Lechford's note-book it is said that Joseph
Stratton had of his brother in 1628 a clock and a watch. In 1640 Henry
Parks, of Hartford, left a clock by will to the church. The first clock
in New Haven belonged to John Davenport, who died in 1670.
E. Needham, of Lynn, Mass., died in 1677. She left an estate valued
at £1,117. The barn, land, out-houses and dwelling house were valued
at £400. This included a "range of ston wall fensing." Her silver
watch, spoons, and other plate were worth £5. She had a striking
clock, another watch, and a "larum that does not strike." These early
clocks were probably like the ones shown in Figure 95. They were
called "lantern," "chamber", or "birdcage" clocks. The lantern clock
shown is of the pattern known as the "dolphin fret," on account of
the ornamentation above the dial, which is made by two dolphins with
crossed tails. This clock was made by Thomas Tompion, of London, a
famous maker, who lived in the last half of the seventeenth century
and died in 1713. He was clockmaker to Charles II., and was held in
high esteem, as may be gathered from the fact that he was buried in
Westminster Abbey, where his tomb may still be seen.
Tompion was called the "Father of English Clockmaking", and has left
a more enduring fame than any of his contemporaries. He had been a
blacksmith, and before his time watches as well as clocks had been
of rude construction, and the watch of Charles I., which is still
preserved, has a catgut string instead of a chain. Indeed watches of
that construction were in use for a long time after the chain was
invented. Very curiously, through some of the strange chances which
govern inanimate as well as animate things, this very watch has found
at least a temporary home in this country.
[Illustration: _Lantern Clock._ 1600-1650]
[Illustration: _Portable Clocks._ 1700-1725]
[Illustration: _Willard or Banjo Clock._ 1800-1825]
[Illustration: Figure 95. THREE CENTURIES OF CLOCKS.]
When Oliver Cromwell obtained his great victory over Charles II., and
drove the enemy from hedge to hedge till they finally took refuge in
the city of Worcester, there were seven thousand prisoners and great
spoils, among the latter the royal carriage in which the king had been
carried. In the carriage was this watch, which was used by Charles II.
as it had been by his father Charles I. It had been made for the latter
in 1640, and after more than two centuries of vicissitudes still ticks
bravely on. It is of the earliest pattern of watches, made entirely
by hand and of great size, as it measures four and a half inches in
diameter, and is an inch and a half thick. The case is very handsome,
of pierced silver in a pattern of flowers and leaves, and has three
winding-holes on the back,--one for winding the works, one for the
alarm, and one for the striking attachment, which consists of a small
silver bell within the perforated case. It has but one hand to mark the
time and goes thirty-six hours. There is an outer case into which the
watch may be slipped, made of copper with a leather cover studded with
silver.
The watch was kept by Cromwell himself for many years, but after the
Restoration it fell into the hands of Joseph Kipling, of Overstone
House, North Hants, England, a relative of Rudyard Kipling. Joseph
Kipling was also an ancestor of Mr. Wilfred Powell, British consul at
the port of Philadelphia, and present owner of the watch.
Robert Hooker invented the double balance in 1658, and Tompion
completed it in 1675, and made a watch which he presented to Charles
II. Two others were made and sent to the Dauphin of France, where
Huyghens had obtained a patent for spiral-spring watches. This idea was
not original with him, but was obtained from a man named Oldenburg. It
is allowed, however, that it is Huyghens who first made those watches
which went without strings or chains. Barlow, in the reign of James II.
is said to have discovered the method of making striking watches, but,
Quare's being judged superior by the Privy Council, Barlow did not get
a patent.
Tompion's watches were in great demand for a long time, owing to their
being large and well made, the wheels being of well-hammered brass.
Three most eminent watchmakers of this time were Tompion, who died in
1713; Daniel Quare, who succeeded him and died in 1725; and George
Graham, who followed Quare and died in 1775. They all belonged to the
Society of Friends.
Watches cannot claim the antiquity of clocks, but they can be traced as
far back as the fourteenth century. In shape they were like an egg, and
Nuremburg claims their earliest manufacture. Although it is said that
they were introduced into England in 1577, yet it is certain that Henry
VIII. had a watch, and in 1572 the Earl of Leicester presented to Queen
Elizabeth--
--"one amlet or shakell of golde, all over fairly garnished with
small diamandes, and fower and one smaller pieces, fully garnished
with like diamandes and hanging thereat a round clocke fullie
garnished with diamandes and an appendant hanging thereat."
They were so unusual that they were worn ostentatiously round the neck
hanging to a chain.
In an old play called "A Mad World, My Masters!", one of the characters
says "Ah, by my troth, sir, besides a jewel and a jewel's fellow, a
good fair watch that hung about my neck." When Malvolio was telling
over the agreeable ways in which he would occupy himself after his
marriage with Olivia, he says, "I frown the while, and perchance wind
up my watch or play with some rich jewel." Watches called "strikers"
were known in Ben Jonson's time, for he says in his "Staple of News"
"'T strikes! One, two,
Three, four, five, six. Enough, enough, dear watch.
Thy pulse hath beat enough. Now stop and rest."
Watches were in use so rarely in the early times of James I. that it
was deemed a cause of suspicion when in 1605 one was found upon the
person of Guy Vaux. By 1638 they were more common, and in a comedy of
that year called "The Antipodes" it is complained that--
"--every clerk can carry
The time of day in his pocket."
The prices of these first time-keepers must have been high, but there
are no records of them left. In 1643 the sum of £4 was paid to redeem a
watch taken from a nobleman in battle. In 1661 there was advertised as
lost--
--"a round watch of reasonable size, showing the day of the month,
age of the moon, and tides, upon the upper plate. Thomas Alcock
fecit."
The redoubtable Pepys's curiosity extended to watches, and he writes in
his diary, December 22, 1665:
"I to my Lord Brouncker's, and there spent the evening by my
desire in seeing his Lordship open to pieces and make up again his
watch, thereby being taught what I never knew before; and it is a
thing very well worth my having seen, and am mightily pleased and
satisfied with it."
The English became such famous watchmakers that in 1698 an act was
passed to compel makers to place their names upon those they made, in
order that discreditable ones might not be passed for English. Among
the possessions of the English Crown is a watch which was found about
1770 in Bruce Castle, Scotland. On the dial plate is written "Robertus
B. Rex Scotorum", and over the face is a shield of convex horn instead
of glass. Robert Bruce began his reign in 1305 and died in 1328, long
before watches were supposed to be known in England. The case of this
watch is of silver in a raised pattern on a ground of blue enamel.
Striking watches were highly esteemed. When Sarah, Duchess of
Marlborough died in 1744 she left a will covering six skins of
parchment, and she designated the disposal of "manors, parsonages,
rectories, advowsons, messuages, lands, tenements, tithes, and
hereditaments", in half a dozen counties. She also specified many
of her jewels, and among them is her "striking watch which formerly
belonged to Lady Sutherland."
The lantern style of clock before mentioned was not original with
Tompion, but had been used in England from the beginning of the
seventeenth century. They ran by weights, and the clock had to be
affixed to a bracket or shelf in order to give room for the weights
to hang. In the clock in Figure 95 the cords and weights have been
removed. The faces of these clocks always stood out beyond the frame,
and were of beautifully engraved or etched brass, as may be seen in
the figure. The single hand showed only the fifths of the hour and the
hours. The small dial in the centre was to set the alarm, which struck
the bell, but in some of them the hours were struck also.
The portable or table clock came into use early in 1600, and one of
them shown in Figure 95 has the oval top to the dial which was not
in use till the last part of the seventeenth century. These were the
common house clocks of the period and were easily carried about. Some
found their way to America, and as they were well made, with brass
works, they are still able to give correct time. This style of clock
was made for many years, and was manufactured in substantially the same
way, late in the eighteenth century, by such famous makers as Isaac Fox
and Joseph Rose.
Samuel Pepys, who recorded everything that was going on in London, in
July 28th, 1660, has this entry.
"To Westminster, and there met Mr. Henson, who had formerly had
the brave clock that went with bullets, (which is now taken away
from him by the King, it being his goods)."
In the "Gentlemen's Magazine" for 1785 is the following comment on this
statement of Pepys.
"Some clocks are still made with a small ball, or bullet on an
inclined plane, which turns every minute."
The King's clocks probably dropped bullets. Gainsborough, the painter,
had a brother who was a dissenting minister at Henley-on-Thames and
possessed a strong genius for mechanics. He invented a clock of very
peculiar construction, which after his death was deposited in the
British Museum. It told the hour by a little bell, and was kept in
motion by a leaden bullet which dropped, from a spiral reservoir at the
top of the clock, into a little ivory bucket. This was so contrived
as to discharge it at the bottom, and by means of a counterweight was
carried up to the top of the clock, where it received another bullet,
which was discharged as the former. This seems to have been an attempt
at perpetual motion.
Catherine of Braganza was responsible for introducing many luxuries to
the English world. Pepys makes this mention of her clock in 1664.
"Mr. Pierce showed me the Queen's [the Portuguese Princess, wife
of Charles II] bed-chamber ... and her holy water at her head as
she sleeps, with a clock by her bedside, wherein a lamp burns that
tells her the time of the night at any time."
Pepys speaks again in 1667 of going to see--
--"a piece of clocke-worke made by an Englishman--indeed very
good, wherein all the several states of man's age to one hundred
years old, is shown very pretty and solemne."
Besides the dolphin fret shown on the Tompion clock in Figure 95 there
were other patterns, perhaps the earliest being what is called the
"heraldic fret", which was a coat-of-arms with scroll-work on either
side. This was not used after 1650, so any clocks bearing this pattern
belong to the first half of the seventeenth century. It was early seen
that to be accurate a clock must have some contrivance to keep it going
while it is being wound. In the old-fashioned house clocks which were
wound by merely pulling a string, and in which one such winding served
both for the going and striking parts, this was done by using what was
called the endless chain of Huyghens, which consists of a chain or
string with ends joined together, passing over two pulleys which are
placed on the arbors of the great wheels, and which have both spikes
and deep grooves in them to prevent the chain from slipping off.
To the best clocks in England it was usual to apply the gridiron
pendulum of Harrison or the mercurial pendulum of Graham. The length of
the pendulum of most clocks made before 1800 was 39 inches; that is,
after the long pendulum came into use at all. The earliest were called
"bob pendulums", which swung so far at the sides that it was often
necessary to cut slits in the sides of the case, if it was hung inside,
for it was as frequently hung outside. Many clocks which started with
bob pendulums were changed to those having long ones, which about 1680
came very much into fashion.
In Mr. Charles Britten's various books on clocks and clockmaking he has
gathered together all the minute particulars which are obtainable on
this subject, and which are of chief interest to collectors of clocks.
Most people are content with one clock, particularly if it be of the
"grandfather" variety.
The term "clock" was only applied to the bell upon which the hour was
rung till well into the fourteenth century, and as late as the time
of James I. clocks were known as horologes. Even at the present day
the old term has clung to the church-tower time-piece in some of the
least-traveled parts of England, and in the quaint and lovely little
town of Wells the Cathedral clock is called the "horologe."
There are long-case clocks made by Tompion to be found in this country;
for of course all the first clocks were of English make. The earliest
long-case clocks were made by William Clement about 1680, and within
the same year Tompion was making them too. The peculiarities of these
first clocks are quite marked and easily distinguished, for the dials
were square, and the top of the case lifted off to permit of winding.
An early and handsome specimen of such a clock is seen in Figure 94.
This clock was made in the latter part of the seventeenth century by
Daniel Quare, the successor of Thomas Tompion. It is a one-year clock
and is at Hampton Court Palace. The dial face is square, and the
top lifts off. The case is very handsomely carved and has some very
handsome figures on the top. The second clock shown in Figure 94 is in
a black and gold lacquered case, and was made by J. Harrison in 1715.
It is at the Guildhall Museum, London. This shows the carved top of the
dial face which became universally adopted. The most important part
of one of these clocks is the pendulum, for the long case was brought
into use solely for the pendulum, as mechanism had not been invented
to permit it to swing in a confined space. The first long-case clocks
were comparatively small in size, and during the reign of William
III., when everything Dutch was in fashion, the cases were ornamented
with marquetry in beautiful patterns and variously coloured woods.
Sometimes this was made even richer by inlay of mother-of-pearl, and
there were cases also of splendid lacquer-work, gold on black grounds,
like that in Figure 94, some of which found their way to America and
are either museum specimens or treasured in private collections. There
are many clocks with English works housed in Dutch cases, but this is
understandable from the fact that so many Dutch cabinet-makers were
settled in London.
Besides the square face to the dial of these early clocks there were
peculiarities of the case as well. On either side of the upper part
of the case there were carved spiral pillars, like those we find in
old chairs of the same period. These were occasionally finished off
by carved or gilt pilasters, and on some choice specimens, notably of
Tompion's clocks, there are pillars at the back also. This style of
pillar was used also in Queen Anne's time. The clocks might stand flat
on the floor or be raised an inch or two on a short foot. The long
doors had mouldings, corresponding to the period of their manufacture,
and many had a piece of glass or a bull's-eye let into the wood, so
that the motion of the pendulum could be seen.
Some of the most distinguishing marks on these clocks are the hour
circles. Before the minute hand came into use the double circles seen
in the mantle clocks were in use. Between them the hour is divided into
quarters, the half hour being shown by a longer stroke, or an ornament
like a fleur-de-lys. When the minute hand came into use, besides the
double circle containing the numerals denoting the hours, and the
smaller figures showing the minutes, there were on the outer edge marks
or divisions to denote the quarter hours, the device being a cross or
a dagger. The dial faces were beautifully embellished with engraving,
those of the William III. and Queen Anne periods being very rich. Not
only were the faces brass, but there were to be found silvered faces
also, ornamented with ormolu mounts of figures and scrolls in brass.
All the space on the dial was utilized; on the extreme edge a border
of leaves, or herring-bone pattern was placed, and the whole interior
of the hour-ring was engraved or etched with flowers, scrolls, or set
patterns, and even the winding-holes had their set of circles around
each.
Of the seventeenth-century clocks the earliest had their makers' names
put into Latin and engraved straight across the bottom of the dial,
and quite concealed when the wooden hood of the case was in place.
Later it was engraved on the lower half of the circle between the
figures seven and five. These two styles were only in use very early,
for about 1750 name-plates were first used, and then makers used their
own taste in the matter, sometimes omitting the name entirely and
substituting some motto like "Tempus Fugit" "Tempus edax rerum", and
even such lengthy mottoes as the following;
"Slow comes the hour; its passing speed how great;
Waiting to seize it,--vigilantly wait!"
Edward East was another well-known early English maker, and some clocks
in splendid cases came from his hand by 1690 and earlier.
Joseph Knibb and James Clowes were other popular makers about 1700.
James Lownes made handsome clocks by 1705 and usually inserted glass in
their doors. The corners of the dials bear devices which also point to
the age of the clock. On the dials which came from the best makers till
just before the close of the seventeenth century, the ornaments were
cherubs' heads. Then the patterns of the spandrels, as these ornaments
were called, altered, and a head set in more or less elaborate
scroll-work, generally of brass, handsomely chased and often gilded,
was used. After this, in the early eighteenth century, came two Cupids
holding up a crown with a surrounding of scroll-work. The clock on the
left in Figure 96 has this fret, two cherubs holding a crown, at the
four corners of the brass face. They do not show very plainly in the
illustration, which also does not do justice to the splendid marquetry
with which the mahogany case is inlaid. Across the dial face is
Monks, Prescot and the clock is in perfect order. The second clock is
quite as interesting. It has a fine mahogany inlaid case, the face is
painted on wood, the works are wooden also, and it is wound by pulling
up the weights by hand. The ornaments which originally decorated the
top are missing, but otherwise it is perfect and is in admirable
condition. Its period is about 1800. This clock belongs to Dr. George
W. Goler, of Rochester, N. Y., and the one previously described to Mr.
William M. Hoyt, also of Rochester.
[Illustration: _American Clock._ 1790-1800.]
[Illustration: _English Clock._ 1720-1740.]
[Illustration: Figure 96. TALL-CASE CLOCKS.]
A crown with crossed sceptres and foliage were also used in the
spandrels. Later in the century the passion for rococo ornament
seized the clockmakers too, and during the reign of George III. these
ornaments degenerated very greatly, and were cast brass, often not
even touched with a graver's tool. Christopher Gould was making clocks
in 1715, and by 1745 Richard Vick's works were put into so-called
Chippendale cases. There is such a clock now at Windsor Castle.
All clocks before the eighteenth century had straight tops. An arched
top was added, in which could be placed a register for the equation of
time. On some of the latest clocks by Tompion, dated about 1709, four
years before his death, such an arch is found. It is considered greatly
to improve the appearance of the face of the clock, and it was utilized
for decoration if not for a time register. Name-plates were put there,
and a handsome dolphin was engraved or mounted on the dial on either
side of the name-plate. A fine specimen of such a clock made by John
Carmichael, Greenock, Scotland, and put in a mahogany case, has been
owned by a family now living in Rochester, N. Y., for over one hundred
and fifty years. The clock is in good order, with the original brass
works, and has a small plate on the dial to indicate the day of the
month. The face is silvered and etched handsomely.
During the last half of the eighteenth century there was a great demand
for moving figures to be placed in this arched top. Ships in motion,
Father Time, etc., were always popular subjects, as well as painted
disks showing the moon in her various phases. The moving figures were
preferred by Dutch makers, who excelled at this species of work. The
English makers, however, used the painted moon-disks the most. The
French, with their taste for the ornamental and elegant, never liked
the square-faced clocks. They preferred the small clocks in ebony or
alabaster casings with ormolu mounts.
Julien Le Roy was a very famous French clockmaker, whose works were
mounted in florid style, sometimes in cases of kingwood, with inlay of
lighter woods, or in ebony. Lepante made clocks dating from about 1750,
and these were always in the best style and elegant taste. Few of such
clocks found their way to America on account of their great cost.
By the last quarter of the eighteenth century watches and clocks
were quite common in the colonies, where they were also made. In the
"Mercury" for May 2, 1774, not only were clocks offered for sale, but
"watches neat and plain, gold, silver, shagreen, and metal. Some
engraved and enamelled with devices new and elegant; also the
first in this country of the small new-fashioned watches the
circumference of a British shilling. John Sinnet removed to the
Main St. called the Fly, next house to the corner of Beekman's
slip, the sign of the dial against the wall."
In this same year Basil Francis offers;
"£1 reward for any information of a man who did in a fraudulent
manner obtain one pinchbeck watch with a single case, winds up in
the face, the hole where the key goes a little flowered."
There were even higher rewards offered at this time for the return
of lost watches, probably not "pinchbeck," for a "military gentleman
offers £5 for the return of his watch and no questions asked." The
English officers made the winter of 1778-9 very gay in New York,
quite rivaling Philadelphia, and set the fashion, which was esteemed
very polite, of wearing two watches. The Quaker City considered this
custom ridiculous. Eli Terry, of Windsor, Conn., was one of the first
clockmakers in the United States, though James Harrison began to
manufacture at Waterbury, Conn., as early as 1790. The first clock he
made was entered in his books, "January 1, 1791, at £3 12_s._ 8_d_".
Yet clocks were made even earlier than this, for in 1783 the Assembly
of Connecticut awarded a patent for fourteen years to Benjamin Hanks,
of Litchfield, Conn., for a self-winding clock. It was to wind itself
by the help of air.
In East Windsor, Conn., Daniel Burnap carried on the manufacture of
brass clocks. William Tenny was one of the earliest makers of brass
work clocks in the United States, and worked at Nine Corners, Dutchess
Co., N. Y. Eli Terry made wooden works for his clocks, although he had
been instructed in his business by Daniel Burnap, who used brass as
well as wooden works, and made tall-case clocks with long pendulums.
These clocks were by no means cheap, ranging from $18 to $48, the more
expensive ones having a brass dial, a dial for seconds, the moon's
phases, and a better case.
Terry's wooden-work clocks were well made and were good time keepers,
and were distributed all over New England by peddlers. In 1807 Terry
undertook to make five hundred clocks; this overstocked the market,
and he was forced to reduce the price from $25 to $15, and then to
$10. Before 1800 the best-known clockmakers in the United States
were Daniel Burnap, Silas Merriam, Thomas Harland, Timothy Peck, and
James Harrison, all of Connecticut. From 1806 to 1815 the number of
clockmakers largely increased, and Seth Thomas, Silas Hoadley, Herman
Clark, and Asa Hopkins were some of the best-known men engaged in the
making.
In 1814 Terry invented what was called the "short-shelf clock," in
which, by a change of arrangement and smaller weights, the pendulum
being brought forward and greatly shortened and the weights being
carried and run on each side, the whole was reduced to a more compact
form. Clock and case were sold for a moderate sum. These clocks,
like the tall-case ones, were made with wooden wheels, but after the
introduction of rolled brass, machinery was invented by which blank
wheels could be struck out with a die, the teeth afterward cut by
machinery, and the brass-wheel clocks made cheaper than the wooden.
This was about 1837.
The next improvement was substituting springs for weights. This
had been done in Europe for two hundred years, but only with the
most costly parlour clocks, and the springs were equal to the best
watch-springs. Many kinds of cheaper springs had been tried without
success, till a superior steel spring was invented in the United
States, and the springs thus produced have for many years been sold at
a price compatible with cheap clocks.
The wooden pendulum covered with gold leaf, which is one of the
characteristics of a regulator clock, was invented by Silas B. Terry,
a son of Eli. America has long taken a leading place in the making
of clocks, and that desire to have the biggest and best which is
characteristic of the youngest nation has influenced clockmaking.
For many years England prided herself on having the largest clock in
the world. It is on the Houses of Parliament, London, and is known
as the Westminster clock. Its dial faces measure 22 feet 6 inches in
diameter. A larger one, however, has been erected during the past few
years in Minneapolis, Minn., by an American clockmaker. These dial
faces measure 22 feet 8 inches in diameter, and the Westminster clock
has receded to second place.
Among extraordinary clocks which have from time to time been invented,
none is more curious than that made in 1767 by David Rittenhouse, of
Philadelphia. It has six dials; on the main one there are four hands
which indicate seconds, minutes, hours, and days, giving one day more
to February in leap year. Phases of the moon are also shown. The second
dial shows the movements of planets about the sun; the third, the moon
revolving about the earth; the fourth, the movements of Saturn; the
fifth whether sun time is fast or slow with meridian time; while the
sixth gives the combination of chimes which sound quarter hours, a
choice of any one of ten tunes being played by pressing a knob on the
dial.
It is not often in the United States that there is a record of any
piece of furniture staying in the same place for twenty-five, much less
one hundred years. Yet in Westernville, Oneida Co., N. Y., there is
an old "grandfather's" clock ticking away, which with the new year of
1903 is said to have stood in its present position a hundred years. The
home which holds this venerable time-piece was built by General William
Floyd, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the
old house has weathered the storms as well as the clock. Built in the
centre of a ten-thousand-acre tract of land acquired from the Indians
in 1788, the lands have gradually been sold, but four hundred acres
still remain surrounding the old homestead. The old mansion is well
preserved, and there have been no changes beyond necessary repairs. It
is of Colonial architecture, and its interior furnishings form a feast
for the lovers of the antique. There are some rare pieces of furniture
imported from England over a century ago. The house belongs to the
widow of Admiral Sicard, and was left her by her father, the grandson
of General Floyd.
Of the tall-case clocks there were many to be found all over the
South, in some instances case and all being brought from England,
while in others, as was often done, the case was made by the local
cabinet-maker. Many such clocks have, within recent years, found their
way into Newport, R. I., which is quite a paradise for the antiquarian.
The history of these old clocks is strange. During the Civil War the
negroes appropriated many articles from the manor houses which had been
deserted, or partially sacked or burned, and carried them to their
cabins. Among such loot were many clocks, but they were too tall to
get into the cabin doors or to stand upright afterward. So they were
cut down, generally at the base, for the ornamental tops, particularly
if there were brass ornaments on the top, appealed to their new owners.
A dealer from Newport heard of them, and went to Virginia, buying all
of these sawed off clocks he could find. He took them home, had the
cases restored, and sold them all for good prices.
[Illustration: Figure 97. MANTEL CLOCKS.]
One of the most famous names in the history of clockmaking in America
is that of Willard, and to a certain style of clock this name has been
applied. There were at least four clockmakers by this name, Simon,
Aaron, Benjamin, and Simon Jr. It is supposed to be the latter who
made the style of clock also known as "banjo," although Mr. Lockwood
considers there is great doubt on the subject. One of these clocks is
shown in Figure 95. They had no striking machinery, and often varied as
to the lower part, occasionally being furnished with a brass ornament.
This one has a view of Mt. Vernon, and belonged to the late Mr. Alfred
Hosmer, of Concord, Mass. These clocks were made during the first
twenty years of the nineteenth century. The works are of brass and
generally of excellent make.
In 1802 "Willard of Boston," who was, no doubt, Benjamin, who had
workshops at Roxbury and Grafton as well as in Boston, took out a
patent for his timepieces. At this same period Terry began business
on a larger scale and by water-power. In 1814 he introduced the shelf
or mantel-clock, which he patented in 1816. Three of this style of
clock are shown in Figure 97. All are in good condition and are still
running. They belong to Mr. William M. Hoyt, of Rochester, N. Y.
The central clock is a very handsome one of mahogany, with a carved
case. The ornament on the top is an eagle, and the posts are leaves
bound with a rope. The face of Washington painted on the glass is
much better than those portraits usually are, and loses much in the
reproduction. This clock was made by Ephraim Downs, of Bristol, Conn.
The clock on the left, made by Chauncey Ives, is also a Bristol one,
for Connecticut early obtained and has always retained an eminence in
the clock business. It has an ornamental case with handsomely carved
pineapples on top, and a swan-necked cornice. The one on the right,
with claw feet, has a very handsome decoration of painted patterns on
a black ground. On the inner part of the case is pasted a paper which
reads as follows:
"PATENT CLOCKS
PATENTED BY ELI TERRY
AND MADE AND SOLD BY SETH THOMAS
PLYMOUTH MASS. WARRANTED IF WELL USED."
The faces of all three are painted on tin, the two Bristol clocks
having ornamentation of gold in the corners. These clocks all date from
1815-20, but the one by Seth Thomas may be a trifle earlier.
A more modern clock than any of the foregoing, yet one of interest,
nevertheless, is one in the commandant's office in the Navy Yard,
Brooklyn. This old clock, which, although fifty-four years old, is not
only in good running order, but practically furnishes the official
time for the yard, occupies a prominent position in the outer office
of Rear-Admiral Barker's suite. Its dial is about the same size as
those seen in the clocks of to-day that keep the official time, but
it is operated by a spring instead of weights. Its mahogany case is
handsomely carved, and its brass hands shine in a way that shows the
care that it receives. The following inscription, revealing the age of
the clock, appears on the case:
PRESENTED TO THE
U. S. FRIGATE BRANDYWINE,
BY THE CREW, 1849.
No one in the yard knows how the old clock got there,--it probably
drifted there, as have so many other waifs and strays. At noon every
day it is set by official time received from the Naval Observatory in
Washington, and most of the other clocks in the yard depend upon this
reliable time-piece which has come down from the frigate "Brandywine."
The collecting of clocks is a fad which few people indulge in. Yet
there are those who own ten or a dozen timepieces, and who like to have
them in running order. The old Dutch clocks, while looking very well,
are notoriously ill-regulated time-keepers. A collector took a prize
lately acquired to an old German clock-repairer who seemed more learned
in the ways of ancient clocks than many a more pretentious maker. The
clock did not come home when it was promised, and the owner went to see
what was the matter. She found her old clockmaker diligently studying
a little German volume with a title which read something like this,
"Thirteen Hundred Reasons why a Clock in Perfect Order Won't Run."