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.    

A Globe Clock made in the 1880's?

A man by the name of Louis P. Juvet came up with the idea of a clockwork-driven globe and this was back in 1867. The clockwork within the globe, rotates the globe once in 24 hours. The movement is riding on an axis down the center and is wound by turning the tail feathers on the arrow. With one of Juvet's patents he included a clock face and hands placed at the north pole of the globe. Juvet also had hour markings on the stationary equator ring and with all this, one was able to determine the local time at any point on the globe. Juvet had his globes made to withstand heavy use as he envisioned them to be used in schools and libraries as educational tools. The globes also had lines showing ocean currents, telegraph cables and the sun's angle up or down from the equator to name a few things. The globe itself gave geographical details, towns and political boundaries in great detail but of a world during the 1800's. At that time much of the western U.S. were still territories and the rest of the world also looked different than it does today.
Unfortunately Juvet's plans for the globes went up in smoke when his plant burned in 1886. This makes them very valuable as their production was  limited. The picture I have included is of a floor model that sold recently for $13,225. Also made was a table top version which is more rare and it sold for $24,150. So if anyone out there has one it would be quite valuable. It would be a thrill for me to see one in person after reading about them, to me a very interesting part of our history. Too bad the production of them had to end so early. 

M. Schwalbach-Tower Clock Maker

Matthias Schwalbach from Milwaukee installed 55 tower clocks in the U.S. in his lifetime from 1875-1915. I think the tower clocks were his biggest achievements but he was also a dealer in accordions, clocks, sewing machine fixtures and clock escapements.

Most of the tower clocks Schwalbach built were installed in churches. He had 19 clocks around Milwaukee and 15 more in Wisconsin. He had tower clocks installed in 2 churches in the Chicago area, 1 in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, New York, Ohio and Oregon. He had 2 church clocks in Kentucky and Michigan and 8 clocks in Minnesota. One of his clock's in Minnesota was replaced due to a church fire.

What was amazing that all were built in his small factory in Milwaukee. Schwalbach's clocks were excellent timekeepers and were free of mechanical trouble. I found that there is only one Schwalbach clock operating today as it was originally designed. It is at the Church of St Joseph in Minnesota. They decided to have it restored to its original condition and the restoration was done in 2008. The other clocks he built, most have been electrified and the original movements are only partially used or not at all.

 

M. Schwalbach was also a part of a team who invented the first typewriter. I also repaired typewriters from 1984 to 1987 until they were phased out. That is how I got interested in clock repair. I had repaired typewriters and loved it until computers put me out of  business. I began searching for another mechanical device that I could use my repairing skills and found a clock school on the internet.

Matthias Schwalbach was a very busy man with all he was doing and fathered 24 children and outlived 3 wives. He was a major contributor in our early American clock history. 

 

Simon Willard-U.S. Clockmaker

Simon Willard was a celebrated U.S. clockmaker. Simon Willard clocks were famous in America but were expensive for common people. Simon built most clocks by hand and they were very precise. In 1718 the Willards lived on a farm in North Grafton, MA which is outside of Boston.  The oldest of the boys learned horology and it is presumed that the other boys were also taught. That is how Simon got his start in clockmaking.

Simon Willard was commissioned to make a clock for the Old South Meeting House in Boston, the site of the planning for the Boston Tea Party. He built a carved and gilded gallery clock with a spread eagle on the top. The clock was delivered in 1805 and hung there until 1872 when it was moved to Old South Church in Boston's Back Bay.

                                                                       

For 50 years Simon Willard was responsible for maintenance of all clocks at Harvard College in Cambridge, MA. Simon also presented two clocks to Harvard.

Thomas Jefferson requested that Mr. Willard build a clock for the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. The clock was installed in 1827 but was destroyed by fire in 1895.

Simon Willard has one clock and one clock mechanism in the U.S. Capitol that are still operating. Mr. Willard patents were signed by many famous people at the time, namely John Hancock, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Levi Lincoln.

Simon Willard clocks are American masterpieces and have sold for $50,000-$250,000.

Howard Miller & Ridgeway Clock Service

Howard Miller began as a clockmaker, taught by his father, in the Black Forest region of Germany. When he founded his company he started out manufacturing chiming wall and mantel clocks. Later the company turned to manufacturing grandfather clocks.

Howard Miller is in Michigan and also owns Ridgeway and offers hundreds of items ranging from home furnishings, wall and mantel clocks, and grandfather clocks. Their prices range from $5 to $15,000.

I have serviced many Howard Miller and Ridgeway grandfather clocks. Depending on the movement in the clock, they can be overhuled or need replacement when they stop running.  Your mechanical clock should be oiled every two years and thoroughly cleaned every five to ten years. If you move I also offer set up service.

Prague's 600 Year Old Astronomical Clock

The Prague clock had its 600th anniversay in 2010. Prague's Astronomical Clock has windows at the top showing the apostles. It also has an Astronomical Dial, which is the oldest part, and the Calendar Dial underneath with various sculptures around.

 There is a presentation of statues of the Apostles at the doorways above the clock, with all twelve presented every hour. There are four figures flanking the clock that are set in motion at the hour, these represent four things that were despised at the time of the clock's making. There is Vanity, represented by a figure admiring himself in a mirror. Next, the miser holding a bag of gold represents greed. Across the clock stands Death, a skeleton that strikes the time upon the hour. Finally, the Turk tells pleasure and entertainment.. The other statues, that don´t move, are an Astronomer, a Chronicler, a Philosopher and an Angel. When the apostles finish their journey, the golden cockerel at the top crows and quivers its wings, the bell rings and the clock chimes the hour.

The Astronomical Dial shows the medieval perception of the Universe with the Earth as the center. The blue part of the dial represents the sky above the horizon, the brown part the sky below it. There are Latin words rpresenting east and west written above the horizon, and dawn and twilight below. There is a Zodiac ring. The two clock hands have the signs of the Sun and the Moon.
There are three circles on the dial, showing different times: the outer circle with Schwabacher numerals shows the Old Czech Time, the circle with Roman numbers shows the Central European Time and the inner circle with Arabic numerals shows the “Babylonian Time”. The length of an hour differs there according to the season – it is longer in the summer, shorter in the winter. The Prague Astronomical Clock is the only one in the world able to measure it.






The newest part of the clock is the Calendar Dial. There is the Prague Old Town symbol in the centre. The rotary outer circle describes every single day of the year, and the current date is indicated at the top. There are also medallions with zodiac signs and with pictures depicting every month.

Prague's clock is a popular tourist attraction, so if you find your way there, you should visit it at the Old Town City Hall.