FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN CHEAP TIME-KEEPERS.
--THE PROCESS OF CLOCK MAKING.--
It would be no doubt interesting to a great many to know what
improvements have been made in manufacturing clocks during the past
twenty years. I recollect I paid for work on the O.G. case one dollar
and seventy-five cents; for the same work in 1855, I paid twenty cents,
and many other things in the same proportion. The last thing that I
invented, which has proved to be of great usefulness, was the one day
timepiece that can be sold for seventy-five cents, and a fair profit at
that. I remember well when I was about to give up the job, of asking the
man who made the cases for the factory what he would make this case for.
He said he could not do it for less than eight cents, I told him I knew
he could make them for five cents, and do well, but he honestly thought
he could not. He was to make two thousand per month--twenty-four
thousand a year. After getting the work well systematized, I told him if
he could not make them at that price, I would make it up to him at the
end of the year. When the time was up, he told me that it was the best
part of his job, and that he would make them the next year for four
cents; it will be well understood that this was for the work alone, the
stock being furnished.
When I got up this new time-keeper, as usual all the clock-makers were
down on me again; Jerome was going to ruin the business, and this cheap
thing would take the place of larger ones. I told them there were ten
thousand places where this cheap time-piece would be useful, and where a
costly striking one would never be used. There is a variety of places
where they are as useful as if they struck the hour, and there are now
more of the striking clocks wanted than there were when I got up this
one day time-piece. When I first began to make clocks, thousands would
say that they could not afford to have a clock in their house and they
must get along without, or with a watch. This cheap timepiece is worth
as much as a watch that would cost a hundred dollars, for all practical
purposes, as far as the time of day or night is concerned. Since I began
to make clocks, the price has gradually been going down. Suppose the
cheap time-keeper had been invented thirty years ago, when folks felt as
though they could not have a clock because it cost so much, but must get
along with a watch which cost ten or fifteen dollars, what would the
good people have thought if they could have had a clock for one dollar,
or even less? This cheap clock is much better adapted to the many log
cabins and cheap dwellings in our country than a watch of any kind, and
it is not half so costly or difficult to keep in order. I can think of
nothing ever invented that has been so useful to so many. We do not
fully appreciate the value of such things. I have often thought, that if
all the time-pieces were taken out of the country at once, and every
factory stopped making them, the whole community would be brought to see
the incalculable value that this Yankee clock making is to them.
The little octagon marine case which is seen almost every where, was
originated and first made by me. I think it is the cheapest and best
looking thing of the kind in the market, and all the work on the case of
that clock costs but eight cents. All of the large hang-up octagons and
time-pieces were made at our factory two or three years before any other
parties made them at all. As usual, after finding that it was a good
thing and took well, many others began to make them. I will say here a
little more about human nature and what I have seen and experienced.
during the last forty-five years. Let an ingenious, thinking man invent
something that looks favorable for making money, and one after another
will be stealing into the same business, when they know their conduct is
very mean towards the originator who may be one of the best men in the
community; still, nine out of ten of those who are infringing on his
improvement will begin to hate and abuse him. I have seen this
disposition carried out all my life-time. Forty-five years ago, Mr. Eli
Terry was the great man in the wood clock business. As I have said
before, he got up the Patent Wood Shelf Clock and sold a right to make
it to Seth Thomas for one thousand dollars. After two or three years,
Mr. Terry made further improvements and got them patented. Mr. Thomas
then thought as he had paid a thousand dollars, he would use these
improvements; so he went on making the new patent. Mr. Terry sued him
and the case was in litigation for several years. The whole Thomas
family, the workmen and neighbors, felt envious towards Mr. Terry, and I
think they have never got entirely over it. There was a general
prejudice and hatred towards Mr. Terry amongst all the clock-makers at
that time, and for nothing only because they knew they were infringing
on his rights; and to act out human nature, they must slander and try to
put him down. This principle is carried out very extensively in this
world, so that if a man wants to live and have nothing said against him,
he must look out for, and help no one but himself. If he succeeds in
making money, it matters but little in what way he obtains it, whether
by gambling or any other unlawful means; while on the other hand, if he
has been doing good all his life, and by some mishap is reduced to
poverty in his old age, he is despised and treated with contempt by a
majority of the community.
It may not be uninteresting to a great many to know how the brass clocks
at the present day are made. It has been a wonder to the world for a
long time, how they could possibly be sold so cheap and yet answer so
good a purpose. And, indeed, they could not, if every part of their
manufacture was not systematized in the most perfect manner and
conducted on a large scale. I will describe the manner in which the O-G.
case is made, (the style has been made a long time, and in larger
numbers than any other,) which will give some idea with what facility
the whole thing is put through. Common merchantable pine lumber is used
for the body of the case. The first workman draws a board of the stuff
on a frame and by a movable circular saw cuts it in proper lengths for
the sides and top. The knotty portions of it are sawed in lengths
suitable for boxing the clocks when finished, and but little need be
wasted. The good pieces are then taken to another saw and split up in
proper widths, which are then passed through the planeing machine. Then
another workman puts them through the O-G. cutter which forms the shape
of the front of the case. The next process is the glueing on of the
veneers--the workman spreads the glue on one piece at a time and then
puts on the veneer of rosewood or mahogany. A dozen of these pieces are
placed together in hand-screws till the glue is properly hardened. The
O-G. shapes of these pieces fit into each other when they are screwed
together. When the glue is sufficiently dry, the next thing is to make
the veneer smooth and fit for varnishing. We have what is called a sand
paper wheel, made of pine plank, its edge formed in an O-G. shape, and
sand-paper glued to it. When this wheel is revolving rapidly, the pieces
are passed over it and in this way smoothed very fast. They are then
ready to varnish, and it usually takes about ten days to put on the
several coats of varnish, and polish them ready for mitering, which
completes the pieces ready for glueing in shape of the case. The sides
of the case are made much cheaper. I used to have the stuff for ten
thousand of these cases in the works at one time. With these great
facilities, the labor costs less than twenty cents apiece for this kind
of case, and with the stock, they cost less than fifty cents. A cabinet
maker could not make one for less than five dollars. This proves and
shows what can be done by system. The dials are cut out of large sheets
of zinc, the holes punched by machinery, and then put into the paint
room, where they are painted by a short and easy process. The letters
and figures are then printed on. I had a private room for this purpose,
and a man who could print twelve or fifteen hundred in a day. The whole
dial cost me less than five cents. The tablets were printed in the same
manner, the colors put on afterwards by girls, and the whole work on
these beautiful tablets cost less than one and a half cents: the cost of
glass and work was about four cents. Every body knows that all of these
parts must be made very cheap or an O-G. clock could not be sold for one
dollar and a half, or two dollars. The weights cost about thirteen cents
per clock, the cost of boxing them about ten cents, and the first cost
of the movements of a one-day brass clock is less than fifty cents. I
will here say a little about the process of making the wheels. It will
no doubt, astonish a great many to know how rapidly they can be made. I
will venture to say, that I can pick out three men who will take the
brass in the sheet, press out and level under the drop, there cut the
teeth, and make all of the wheels to five hundred clocks in one day;
there are from eight to ten of these wheels in every clock, and in an
eight-day clock more. This will look to some like a great story, but is
one of the wonders of the clock business. If some of the parts of a
clock were not made for almost nothing, they could not be sold so cheap
when finished.
The facilities which the Jerome Manufacturing Company had over every
other concern of the kind in the country, and their customers in this
and foreign countries, are worth to the present company more than one
hundred thousand dollars. Their method of making dials, tablets and
brass doors was a saving of more than ten thousand dollars per year over
any other company doing the same amount of business; and I know that the
present company would not give up the customers of the Jerome
Manufacturing Company for ten thousand dollars per year: they could not
afford to do it. The workmen who came with me from Bristol, were an
uncommonly energetic and ingenious set of men. Many years they had large
and profitable jobs in the different branches, which encouraged them to
invent and get up improvements for doing the work fast, and in a great
many things they far surpass the workmen in similar establishments--all
of which have resulted to the benefit of the present manufacturing
company of New Haven.
In the year 1850, I was induced by a proposition from the Benedict &
Burnham Co., of Waterbury, to enter into a joint-stock company at my
place in New Haven, under the name of the Jerome Manufacturing Co. They
were to put in thirty-five thousand dollars, and I was to furnish the
same amount of capital. We did so, and went on very prosperously for a
year or two, making a great many clocks, and selling about one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars worth per year in England, at a profit of
twenty thousand dollars. They were very thorough in looking into the
affairs of the company, which was all right of course, but did not suit
all of the interested parties. My son was Secretary and financial
manager of the company. He seemed to have a desire to keep things to
himself a little too much, which also did not suit many of the
interested parties. My son told me he thought we had better buy the
company out, and said that we could do so without difficulty, and he
thought it would be a great advantage to us. Some were willing to sell,
and others were not. Mr. Burnham made an offer what he would sell for,
which the secretary accepted, others of the stock-holders made similar
propositions and the bargain closed, we paying them the capital they had
advanced and twenty-one per cent. profits, and buying, in the mean time,
seventy-five thousand dollars worth of brass--the profits on which were
not less than twenty thousand dollars, which they had the cash for in
the course of the year. About this time a man by the name of Lyman
Squires bought stock in the company, and took a great interest in the
business. A wealthy brother of his bought, I think, ten thousand dollars
worth of stock. The stock was increased in this way to two hundred
thousand dollars. The financial affairs were managed by the Secretary,
Mr. Squires, and a man by the name of Bissell. They made a great many
additions to the factory which I thought quite unnecessary, enlarging
the buildings, putting in a new engine and a great deal of costly
machinery. They laughed at me because I found fault with these things
and called me an old fogy. I was not pleased with the management at all
times, and although I had retired from active busines [Transcriber's
note: sic], I felt a deep interest in the affairs of the company, and
owned a large amount of the stock. The Secretary thought I was always
looking on the dark side and prophesying evil, because I frequently
remonstrated with him on the many extravagancies which were constantly
being added to the establishment. I frequently told him that if the
company should fail, I should have to bear the whole blame, because my
name was known all over the world. He always told me in the strongest
terms that I need give myself no uneasiness about that, as the company
was worth a great deal of money. Things went on in this way till the
year 1855, and while I was absent from the State, P.T. Barnum was
admitted as a member of our company. Within six months from that time,
the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, the causes of which, and the
results, I have clearly and truthfully narrated in another part of this
book. The causes were not fully understood by me at that time. I have
found them out since, and deem it an act of justice to myself to make
them public. I was hopelessly ruined by this failure. The company had
used my name as endorser to a large amount, many times larger than I had
any idea of.