The Town in Ohio Named After a Clock

There is an Ansonia, Ohio which was named for an Ansonia clock that hung on the wall in the post office.

Back in the 1800's there were two villages in Ohio that were called Dallas. This created a lot of problems for the postal service. So the postmaster of Dallas in Darke County was trying to come up with another name of the village. As he wound the clock in the post office he noticed "Ansonia" printed on the dial. He suggested Dallas be changed to Ansonia, ending the postmaster's problem. The clock still hangs on the wall.

Ansonia, Ohio's clock also had a bullet hole in it. The story goes that one day a dog wandered in the p.o. and fell asleep under a table. When the p.o closed, the dog was not noticed. Several hours later the postmaster returned and heard noises inside. The postmaster got armed help and upon opening the door, shouted "Don't move or I'll shoot". The dog started moving around and after 3 bullets were fired, they found one went through the face of the clock. The incident happened on April Fool's Day and the local newspaper ran a poem the next day entitled "He shot the clock when its hands was up!" The poem was published every April Fool's Day for many years after. http://www.ansoniaohio.us/

Clocks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I have been to New York City many times and love the city. I love the hustle bustle of the city and its true, "the city never sleeps". There is so much to see and do. I always get to a Broadway show and do a lot of walking. On all my trips I just never had enough time to see the museums. On my last visit a couple years ago I did finally make it to the Guggenheim Museum. The building appears to be artwork itself and is an architectural marvel to me. I saw works of art by Lautrec, Monet, Picasso and Chazan.

I have always wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I came across some information that back in 1954(the year I was born) the museum opened a gallery devoted to Horology. It was the largest concentrated group of watches and clocks at that time for any major American Museum. Based on the museum's website it does not sound like they still have the collection in one central place. It appears the clocks are now placed throughout the museum.


This will be a must see on my next trip to New York City.
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/206322 

Clock Museum in Opelika, AL

I got the chance to visit the Old Timers & Chimers Clock Museum, LLC in Opelika, Alabama. Its just a short drive from Atlanta.

John Hendricks, propreiter and fellow clockmaker has it all. We made an appointment on a Saturday for a tour. John was a gracious host and made us feel right at home. He started telling us about the history of the house. It is from 1865 and is on the National Register as one of the only "Gingerbread" houses left in the country. He purchased the home in 2007 in disrepair and had pictures showing its condition when he bought it. It had been empty for many years and was in very rough shape and his family thought he was crazy for buying it. But John could see the potential and could imagine it restored back to its original glory.

As you come into the entrance way there are the original double doors made of pine and the wood grain is just beautiful in them. Inside it has a spiral staircase that goes up to the second floor. The staircase is supported by one pine log that is stronger than steel. There are rooms dedicated to different types of antique clocks. John has German clocks, American clocks, and English clocks. He has one grandfather clock he bought at auction that was once owned by Ronnie Milsap. John is more than happy to talk about the clocks and show you the inside workings. Part of the tour, you walk through a long room full of customer's clocks waiting to be repaired, (which used to be the kitchen in the house) to the repair shop. There you can see clocks in all stages of dismantling. You are also surrounded by clocks hanging on the walls being tested with their pendulums swinging. He has two clockmaker's benches filled with the tools needed to restore the clocks.

There was only two of us on the tour on Saturday and we spent about 3 and half hours there. I enjoyed it thoroughly and was able to talk '"shop" with John too.Where else can you go and get a historical house, antique clocks, repair shop and clockmaker. I was in heaven!

Floral Clocks

In 1970, when I was 16 years old my parents took me to Niagara Falls, Ontario. There we saw a large floral clock. This picture I took in 1970 got me to thinking about this clock and others. This clock's face is made up of plants and flowers and is changed by the Parks Department. The mechanism is kept up by Ontario Hydro who originally built the clock. The tower at the back of the clock houses the Westminster chimes that sound on every quarter. If the door to the tower is open, visitors can see the clock mechanism and see photos that show the face design going back to 1950.

I found that there are two floral clocks close to Atlanta. There is one in Birmingham, Alabama at the Botanical Gardens and one in Frankfort, Kentucky behind the state capital.

The oldest floral clock is believed to be in Edinburgh, Scotland from 1903 and is still in operation. The Edinburgh clock started out with only an hour hand but in 1904 an minute hand was added. In 1905 they also added a cuckoo sound which went off every 15 minutes. Until 1972 Edinburgh's floral clock was mechanically operated. It needed to be wound daily. Now it is run by electricity.

So if you ever get the chance to see one in person, I think you will be delighted.   

Wooden Clock Movements

Most clock movements are made of brass. But during 1800 and 1840 in the U.S. clock movements were made of wood. The plates were made of oak, the wheels of cherry and the arbors and pinions of laurel. At the time brass was scarce and very expensive and the wooden movements made the clocks affordable.  There is metal in the wooden movements where wearing would occur and on levers, springs, bells, gongs and escapement, among other things.

These movements are weight-driven and some have the escapement found in the front of the clock and some have the escapement between the plates. They can run 30 hours between winding or 8 days(in tall case clocks). They strike the hour and use a count wheel.

Cleaning of wooden movements involve brushing the wheels, arbors, and plates with a mixture of boiled linseed oil and turpentine.

A common problem with wooden movements is the breakage of teeth and pinions as the wood ages it dries out. These items can be repaired. When replacing wheel teeth you should use cherry wood. You want to cut out a piece in the wheel where the new tooth will go and glue in a new piece of wood and then using a jewelers coping saw cut the tooth out from the pattern you have made to match the other teeth.

Today the wooden clocks manufactured by the early clock makers number in the millions. Time and wear has reduced the numbers but they are another link to our past.