•v tjvt:*rntemmi 1 ;•••.•• •- •.= iW'.v I.v <• wm’mv frjTj> (-yj Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/b24854414 THE OLD CLOCK BOOK ( Et.i Tehhy's Fiust Ci.ock. Buii.t 1702 Owned by bis descendants and in soinjr order Frontispiece THE OLD CLOCK BOOK BY N. HUDSON MOORE AUTHOR OF “The Old China Book,” “The Old Furniture Book,” “Old Pewter, Brass, Copper and Sheffield Plate,” “The Old Lace Book,” Etc. WITH ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS “ Time was, time is; time is past" LONDON WILLIAM HEINE MANN 1913 ; VI PREFACE Esq., of The Steam Turbine Works, Hartford, Conn. to Marshall G. Hill, Esq., Afton, N. Y. ; to Francis H. Bigelow, Esq., of Cambridge, Mass.; to Francis G. Atwater, Esq., of Meriden, Conn.; and to Maynard A. Dominick, Esq., through whose efforts permission was granted to copy the records of the London Clock- makers’ Company, to each and all I record my grateful thanks. Rochester, N. Y., July, 1911, 1 CONTENTS ENGLISH CLOCKS Early Timekeepers 3 Clock Collectors 9 Domestic Clocks 1 The Clockmakers’ Company—Pendulums—Frets 13 Bracket Clocks 19 Table Clocks and Early Watches 23 Early Watches 25 Watch Papers 34 Long-case Clocks 39 Tompian and Graham 45 Edward Barlow 49 John Harrison and Others 53 Scottish Makers 56 Curious Clocks and Watches 61 The Largest Clock in the World 76 AMERICAN CLOCKS American Clocks and Clockmakers 91 New England Clockmakers 100 The Terry Family 105 vii 1 1 * Viu CONTENTS AMERICAN CLOCKS—Continued Other Connecticut Clockmakers 122 Seth Thomas 122 Silas Hoadley . 124 Samuel and Luther Hoadley 125 Chauncey Jerome 126 Hiram Camp 134 Hiram and Heman Welton 135 Elias Ingraham 135 E. & G. Bartholomew 138 Olcott Cheney and Others 138 Massachusetts Clockmakers 139 The Willards 139 The Mullikens 144 The Balch Family and Others 145 Boston Clockmakers 147 The Bagnall Family 149 The Pope Family 150 The Munroe Family and Others 151 Rhode Island Clockmakers 152 Pennsylvania Clockmakers 154 DIRECTIONS FOR KEEPING CLOCKS RUN- NING 160 LIST OF ENGLISH CLOCKMAKERS 163 LIST OF AMERICAN CLOCKMAKERS 295 ILLUSTRATIONS Eli Terry’s First Clock Frontispiece Fio. Facing page 1. Roger Williams’ Dial 4 2. Portable Dial 5 3. Ring Dial 5 4. Shepherd’s or Pillar Dial 5 5. Water Clock 8 6. Clock at Rouen 9 7. Anne Boleyn’s Clock 10 8. Clock by Lepine 10 9. Clock by Lepaute ix 10. Lantern Clock, by Clarke 11 11. Bird Cage or Lantern Clock 18 12. Lantern Clock, with Dolphin Fret 18 13. Bracket Clock 18 14. Chiming Clock, by Antram 18 15. Balloon Clock, by Lozans 19 1 6. Bracket Clock, by Evill Brothers of Bath, Eng 19 17. Bracket Clock, owned in White Plains, N. Y 20 18. Brass Table Clock 21 19. Hexagonal Table Clock 21 20. Clock Watch 26 21. Watch with Tortoise Shell Case 26 22. Watch with Chatelaine, by Gregson , 27 23. Enameled Watches 28 24. Shagreen Case 29 25. Gold and Enameled Watches v 32 26. Watches with Metal and Shagreen Eas’es 33 27. Ornamental Cases 34 IX ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. Facing pace 28. French and English Watches 35 29. Long-Case Clock, by Fromanteel 42 30. Long-Case Clock, by Tomlinson 42 31. Long-Case Clock, by Smallwood 43 32. Restored Clock 43 33. Long-Case Clock, by Tompion 50 34. Long-Case Clock, by Quare 50 35. Oriental Lacquer Case, by Vincen 51 36. Lacquer on Oak 51 37. Green Lacquer Long-Case Clock 52 38. Oriental Lacquer Case, by Storr 52 39. Long-Case Clock, by Harrison 53 40. Long-Case Clock, by Stock 53 41. Italian Tall Clock 55 42. Act of Parliament Clock 54 43. Long-Case Clock, by Cowan 55 44. Long-Case Clock, by Leadbetter 58 45. Long-Case Clock, by Robb 58 46. Long-Case Clock, by Mitchell 59 47. Wag-on-the-Wall .- • 59 48. “The Spirit of the Staircase” 74 49. St. Paul’s Chapel, N. Y 75 50. Metropolitan Life Building Clock, N. Y 76 51. Clock from Bensburg, Prussia 77 52. Clock in Guilford, N. Y 77 53. Clock by Dubuc, 84 54. Collection of Clocks 85 55. Swiss Clock 86 56. Thomas Harland Clock 102 57. Wag-on-the-Wall 102 58. American Wag-on-the-Wall 104 59. Works of Wood Clock 105 60. Thirty-hour Long-Case Wood Clock 104 61. Terry Clock, Brass Works 105 62. Terry Clock, without Dial 112 63. Terry Shelf Clock, Wood Works 112 64. Group of early Shelf Clocks 112 65. Pillar and Scroll Top Clock 113 66. Works of Terry Tower Clock 118 ILLUSTRATIONS xi Fio, Pacing page 67. Church at Terry ville, Conn 118 68. Eli Terry H 9 69. Seth Thomas i J 9 70. Seth Thomas Clock H 9 71. Seth Thomas Clock H 9 72. Chauncey Jerome I26 73. Jerome’s-Darrow Clock 126 74. Bronze Looking-glass Clock 126 75. Hiram Camp 126 76. Ingraham Clock 127 77. E. and G. Bartholomew Clock 138 78. Olcott Cheney Clock 138 79. Platt Clock 138 80. Willard Advertisement 139 81. Long-Case Willard Clock 142 82. Willard Shelf Clock 142 83. Banjo Timepiece 143 84. Banjo Clock 143 85. S. Mulliken Clock 143 86. Daniel Balch Clock 146 87. David Wood Clock 146 88. Clock in the Old North Church, Boston, Mass 147 89. Long^Case Bagnall Clock 150 90. Sawin and Dyer Clock 150 91. Daniel Munroe Clock 151 92. Samuel Whiting Clock 151 93. Munroe and Whiting Clock 151 94. Miniature Clock 152 95. Rittenhouse Clock 152 96. Souers Clock 153 97. John Child Clock 153 98. Timothy Chandler Clock 158 99. Luther Smith Clock 158 100. “Owen” 159 101. “Maker Unknown” 159 102. Miniature Clock 160 103. Acorn Clock 160 104. Group of Shelf Clocks 161 I / ENGLISH CLOCKS ; If it be but rightly considered, The clock is a machine most comely and of good repute Pleasant also, and profitable. For day and night it sheweth us the hours, Its subtilty being in no wise diminished In the absence even of the sun, On which account it should be held in more esteem Than those lesser instruments which do not so, However cunningly they be made. Therefore I hold him to be a wise and valiant man That did first find the use Of a device so gracious and serviceable. Froissart (1337-1410). EARLY TIMEKEEPERS Instruments for marking time have grown from the simple sun-dial of Ahaz, mentioned in the second book of Kings, to complicated recorders made of cost- ly metals. Simple as the sun-dial is, till well into the nineteenth century, it, or a variation of it, was used to tell time in many country neighbourhoods, where the “noon-mark” on the window-sill told the dinner- hour. Though romantic, the sun-dial is a fair-weather re- corder only, and such mottoes as “Not without light,” “The shadow teaches,” “I wait for no one,” “Every hour shortens life,” and “Come light, visit me,” are the kind which were popularly chosen for it. In Egypt, Greece, Italy, Arabia, and China traces of ancient sun-dials are abundant. In Mohammedan countries, the sun-dial and sand-glass are still fav- oured. The faithful pray five times in twenty-four hours. Dials cut on the walls of churches still are to be found in England, dating from Anglo-Saxon times, and, on many parts of the continent, quaint dials on 3 4 THE OLD CLOCK BOOK churches mark the sunny hours, while more modern clocks in the steeple tell the time on shadowed days and through the night. In the seventeenth century, portable dials came into use. The horizontal pattern, in which the gnomon was hinged to lie flat when not in use, was one style, and with it was a compass to set the gnomon true north and south. Such a one is shown in Figure i. This dial has unusual interest, since it belonged to Roger Williams, the zealous founder of Rhode Island, who came to America in 1631, and presumably brought the dial with him. When not in use, the dial and compass fit together. Another form of dial is shown in Figure 2. It is of the eighteenth century, French, and was made by Jacques Lucas. One of the ordinary forms of ring dials is shown in in Figure is called a pillar or Figure 3 ; and 4 what shepherd’s dial, a simple form still in use among the European peasantry. The gnomon is pushed in when the dial is not in use. The last three specimens are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. The earliest mechanical contrivance for keeping time was the water-clock, first used among the Eastern na- tions, and introduced into Greece by Plato. One of these water-clocks, now in the National Museum at Washington, D. C., is shown in Figure 5. This form was used in the seventeenth century and consists of a wooden frame with the hours marked on the sides. Two cords are attached to the top of the frame, the other ends being wound around the metal axis which passes through the drum. 1031 in Island Rhode of Dial founder the Williams’ by America Roger 1. to Fig. brought been have to Supposed Pig. 2. Portable Dial Used to carry about instead of a watch Metropolitan Museum of Art, N. Y. Pig. 4. Shepherd’s or Pillar Dial Still in use in some parts of Europe Metropolitan Museum of Art, N. Y. Pig. 3. Ring Dial A nother form of portable dial Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.