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Saturday 9 June 2012

Wall Clocks Information

There are many different kinds of wall clocks to choose from. Some of them are as follows: digital wall clocks, led wall clocks, lighted wall clocks that glow in the dark, 24-hour wall clock, and whatever wall clocks.

Oh, but how about the novelty wall clocks? Well, to be classified as “novelty wall clocks”, they must have a unique sound or telling of time, and a special arrangement of parts. On October 9, 1882, New Haven Clock Co. patented the “Flying Pendulum” or Ignatz clock. This was a one-day, time-only, clock. It had a pendulum, a ball on a string, which swung from side to side, and wound and unwound on the outer posts.

These novelty wall clocks that featured eye movements, produced in 1874 and 1912, were “Topy” and “Continental”. When the pendulum swung, the eyes moved up and down. Other clocks with moving eyes were a dog, lion, organ grinder, and Santa Claus. Some of these clocks are valued at more than 1,000.00. The cases for animals like horses, dogs, birds, squirrels, and cats are predominantly metal.

Many expensive models were developed by the Ansonia Clock Co., such as a doll swinging on the pendulum. Another Ansonia clock named “Juniper #3? is a 30-hour, time-only clock with a four inch dial, without a stand, and measures fifteen feet high. Be careful when purchasing any of these pendulum swingers for they have been reproduced.

Two wall clocks were developed in 1870 by F. Kroeber, in which he used the swinging function display. Both clocks showed a child swinging to and fro on the pendulum rod. One of the clocks is bronzed, while the other is of pot metal and walnut. Electric novelty clocks often showing children swinging on pendulums wee produced by Mastercrafts.

In 1860, Seth Thomas, Plymouth Hollow, and G.K. Proctor & Co. got together and patented a burglar and fire-detection alarm clock. The lamp would light up when the alarm sounded. The clock’s rosewood case was eleven and a quarter inches high.

Seth Thomas, Waterbury, and the Chelsea Clock Co. made ship’s bell clocks. It has a metal case with a bell beneath and struck ship’s bells rather than the hours. The Yale Clock Co. manufactured two rectangular tilted clocks on a shared base to help chess players time their moves.

In the 1900's a slot machine clock with an attractive black wooden case was produced for those who like to play the slot machines.

A Hickory-Dickory-Dock clock shows a white mouse running up the clock. New Haven Clock Co. produced five models of the mouse clock. Two ferris wheel clocks were souvenirs of the 1900 Paris Exposition. As the clock runs, the ferris wheel turns.

Manufacturers kept cost to a minimum. They used synthetic marble and compressed molded wood. These novelty wall clocks ranged from .00 to ,000.00.

A novelty wall clock can make a nice decor in any room of the house, as well as being a good conversational piece.

First lets look at how clocks came to be. The first clocks had been Shadow clocks made first by the Egyptians and Sundials made by the Greeks as well as many others. They used this to mark the hours of the day. Simply by using the shadow the sun cast on the clock would indicate the proximate time. This of course only worked to the nearest hour. Another big flaw in these types of sun powered clocks is in it self, just that. They do not work at night!

The next clock to be invented was the Clepsydra, also known as a water clock. Using a very large bucket and filling it with water, a tiny hole was cut in the bottom the let water pass out. Every hour was marked with a line as it passed. Once this was done, the clock could be set and the time could be kept. Over time, a flaw was found in this clock as well. Water flows at different speeds depending on the temperature. It would freeze in the cold, as well as evaporate when it was hot. Then there was a solution, the Hourglass, or Sand clock was created.

Mechanical clocks came into play using a weight that would fall slowly, turning the hands of the clocks. These of course could only be built in tall towers, since the weights needed to fall great distances in order to keep time for long periods. These clocks usually only lost 2 hours a day, that was really good for the time they had been used in. Some of those clocks are still working today, due to how well they had been made. Two examples would be in England, the oldest clock built in 1386 as well as in France, a clock built in 1389.

The next big jump in clocks would be the pendulum in 1581 by Galileo. He discovered that even though the clock would eventually run out of energy, the clock would keep accurate time up to that point, and if the pendulum was reset before then, the clock would stay accurate till the pendulum was not reset. Lots of people love this kind of clock and still use it today.

A problem arose keeping time out at sea, traveling North and South sailors could use the north star to tell where they where they are, but going East to West was a different story. In 1707 this problem became more apparent when four ships crashed killing thousands. The British  government offered twenty thousand pounds to the one who could build a clock that could keep time accurately at sea so no more lives would be lost.

A man by the name of John Harrison found out about the contest in 1728 and started working on a clock. After thirty-three years and building three enormous clocks later, his fourth tiny clock was tested. The crew tested the clock on a trip to Jamaica. They arrived 161 days later, the clock was only five seconds off. John received his reward and was seventy-nine years old.

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