&Quaker Clockmakers Interaction

Transcription

1 A Rare 8-Day Posted-Frame Movement in an American Tallcase Clock &Quaker Clockmakers Interaction between England and the New World Introduction The tallcase clock pictured in Figure 1 has been in the same New Jersey family since before the Revolutionary War. So says the family member now residing in Florida, who contacted me to set up the clock after it was given to him. This resulted in its subsequent restoration. It is noteworthy that in its 250-plus-year history, the rarity and significance of this clock remained unrecognized and undocumented. The rarity is twofold. First and foremost is the 8-day duration of the posted-frame movement. Second is the heretofore unknown verse engraved in the four corners of the dial. The clock s significance is related to the interaction between Quaker clockmakers of the Old and the New World in the early eighteenth century.these rarities and the Quaker connections are discussed in detail. At first this clock was an enigma. It is unsigned, the movement is unconventional, and the dial is unique. Soon, however, there was one answer: the primary wood of the case is American black walnut an American-made case. Horology scholars and authorities in the United States and in England cooperated to shed light on the probable and interesting course of events that resulted in this rare, primarily American clock. The Movement The most outstanding feature of the posted-frame (sometimes called birdcage) movement is its 8-day duration (Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5). Only three other 8-day posted-frame movements are currently known, and they are English. One by Peter Recourt, FNAWCC (FL) Figure 1, left. Full frontal view of the American tallcase clock. Figure 2, right. Front view of the 8-day movement, showing the second seat board. 304 May/June 2014 NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin

2 Figure 3. Rearview of the movement, which measures 7-7/8 inches from top plate to bottom plate. The plates are 5-7/8 inches wide. Figure 4. Right side of the movement, showing the strike detent arbor. Figure 5. Left side of the movement, showing the hammer arbor and hammer spring. is dated 1676 and two are lantern clocks, ca. 1680s. These seventeenthcentury clocks, which are driven by a single weight on the Huygens continuous-rope principle, are thought to be too early and too different to have any connection with this 2-weight, 8-day American movement. 1 British authorities are quite sure that this movement was conceived and made in America, because it shows little similarity with the typical 30-hour, posted-frame movements from England and from the Continent. 2 Other unique features of this American movement are the square click springs (Figure 6) and the halfhour strike. Half-hour striking is rarely found on eighteenth-century English and American clocks, and it has never been found on pin-count wheel striking, 3 the system used in this movement. In England the system was known in 1710 and popularized by John Whitehurst of Derby in 1738 in a turret clock and after 1750 in his longcase clocks. 4 It became widely used in the Midlands and to a lesser extent in northern England, primarily on 30- hour, plated movements and, rarely, on 30-hour posted-frame movements. A detailed description of this striking system can be found in John Robey s The Longcase Clock Reference Figure 6, above. Time-and-strike sprocket pulleys with square click springs. Figure 7, below. Strike train great wheel and second wheel and the original rope pulleys. Book, 2nd Edition, Vol. 1, pp In America the pin-count wheel striking system was used in Pennsylvania by Benjamin Chandlee ( ) as early as Seven documented 8-day clocks 5 from his Nottingham period use that system. His earlier (since 1714, undocumented) clocks may have used it as well. An 8-day, striking train great wheel, because of its slow rotation, can be used as the count wheel. Twelve pins were placed on that wheel, at the same interval as count wheel slots, to provide 1 through 12 strokes (Figure 7). Because of the heretofore unknown half-hour strike, ingeniously devised and incorporated in the system, I have included the sequence in Figures 8A, 8B, and 8C. The train is stopped by a pin on the third wheel that also serves as the warning pin. A one-piece strike detent and the lifting piece are mounted on the same arbor (Figure 8). That arbor is held between the two posts on the right side of the movement. When lifted by the reverse minute wheel NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin May/June

3 Figure 8. Strike detent arbor with altered lifting piece prior to restoration. Figures 8A- 8C, below. by one of its two pins, the detent clears both a count wheel pin and the stop pin during the warning. The dual projections at the end of the detent are of uneven length. The shortest one is at the end and catches the pin to stop the train (Figure 8A, not to scale). When it clears that pin during the lift, the second, longer, projection catches the same pin on the warning (Figure 8B). At the half hour the detent falls to allow the train to run one revolution of the third wheel (one stroke) because the count wheel pin starts to lift the slanted detent point right away and slides under its flat bottom. Its upper part engages the pin on the third wheel to stop the train (Figure 8C). At the hour the detent falls behind the count wheel pin and the train runs until the next count wheel pin lifts the detent and stops the train. The second wheel has 10 strike pins that engage the hammer tail (Figure 7). The hammer arbor is positioned on the left side of the movement. The hammer, on a flat wire riser (Figure 9), strikes the original bell, which is mounted on a well- shaped, one-piece iron bell stand that is screwed to the top plate (Figures 3 and 10). The bell, which is 4 inches in diameter and 1-1/2 inches deep, appears to have a more yellowish color than the typical white bell metal and has its own Figure 9, left. Hammer and hammer arbor. Figure 10, below. Top plate. unusual shape. A long and broad hammer spring is riveted to the top plate. The rivet is barely visible to the right of the screwed-on hook that supports the top of the dial (Figure 10). The hammer spring reaches down, inside, and past the hammer arbor, where it ends in an attractively shaped point (Figure 5). The four posts that form the birdcage are riveted to the top and the bottom plates and therefore dictate that the strike detent arbor and the hammer arbor can have only one pivot. A hole was drilled where the rear pivot would have been. A screw with a pivot on the end screws into the threaded rear post and its pivot into the drilled arbor (Figure 3). The strike detent arbor has a correcting lever attached, the looped end of which lines up with a hole in the seat board for a pull cord inside the case. Like all weight-driven, striking, 8-day plated movements, this posted-frame movement is driven by two weights. The difference is that there are no winding drums and winding arbors and that the weights were suspended from compounded ropes. That became clear because the sprocket pulleys (at first encounter with later chains) are obviously rope pulleys because of their long and sharp spikes. Four original holes in the seat board confirmed this. Fortunately, the person who substituted the ropes with chains left the two original compound rope pulleys in the bottom of the case (Figure 7). The two necessary counterweights, however, were missing. The seat board holes, two on either side of the movement, provided a clue to the rope configuration. It is as follows. Apparently, the rope for each train had its two ends knotted above the seat board (Figure 3). From the right-front knot (time train) down around the weight pulley, up and clockwise, over and down the sprocket pulley to and through the (newly made) hefty counterweight, from there up through the seat board on the same side of the movement toward the rear. In this way at least half the sprocket spikes are engaged. The same arrangement is applied to the strike train on the left of the movement. Because the two sprockets are in reversed position, they both turn clockwise during winding. The ropes had to be long enough for a weight to bottom out and have the counterweight with- Figure 11. The two weights with their individual rope arrangement. 306 May/June 2014 NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin

4 Figure 14, right. The recoil anchor, pallet arbor, and crutch. Figure 12. The three, brass bushed, iron movement bars. Figure 13. The strike-and-time train wheels and fly. in reach to grab the rope and pull the weight up (Figure 11). It is sometimes assumed that 30-hour posted-frame movements exhibit less-refined craftsmanship than plated movements. That certainly does not apply to this 8-day posted-frame movement. All the movement parts are finished to a degree of excellence. The iron movement bars with their brass bushings (Figure 12) and the four-spoke wheels with their cut pinions are executed with pride and skill. The teeth are of medium length and are hand-finished with a file (Figure 13). The following table shows the tooth count of the timeand-trike trains: Time Teeth Pinion Strike Teeth Pinion leaves leaves Great wheel 80 Great wheel 72 Center wheel nd wheel rd wheel rd wheel 60 6 Escape wheel th wheel 48 6 Cannon pinion 40 fl y 6 Reverse minute 40 6 wheel Hour wheel 72 The recoil anchor is fitted to the squared end of the pallet arbor and held against a congruous hub with a tapered pin. The crutch wire of the anchor escapement is flat and one piece with the right-angled, closed-loop crutch (Figure 14). The rear pivot rests in a brass bushing in the vertical part of the right-angled, iron pendulum support that is mounted on the top plate with one screw. (There are five handmade screws in the movement.) The pendulum cock is a slotted, two-notch, brass piece that is riveted to the vertical of the support (Figure 4). The pendulum consists of a one-piece rod of 5/16-inch diameter. The top eight inches are reduced to fit the slot in the crutch, with the top 1-1/2 inches of that, further reduced and peened into a suspension spring, with a brass top block. Five inches at the bottom of the rod are flattened to fit the brass faced, lead pendulum bob, with a threaded piece below for the rating nut. The Dial The 11-inch dial (Figure 15), with a verse in the four corners, at first glance was not unfamiliar to me. I once owned a hooded wall clock by Thomas Carter from Bishop Auckland that was similar, although one handed. The verse engraved in its corners read: Behold this hand. Observe the motions tip. Man s pretious (sic) hours.away like this do slip. Our subject dial, however, has two (later) hands and a minute ring, but the more important difference is the unique verse: Time glides away.we scarce know how.our now is gone.whilst we say now. A similar (Quaker?) admonishment not to squander our allotted time. I know of no other American clock with a verse in the dial corners. The thick brass dial plate, however, raised questions. Several American brass dials with separate chapter rings of the mid-eighteenth century that I previously encountered had dial plates of very thin, hammered brass in an apparent effort to save brass. Was this perhaps not an American-made dial? Was it time to in- NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin May/June

5 Figure 15. The Quaker dial with corner verse (later hands). volve other knowledgeable horologists? Three British authorities, contacted by my initial consultant Tom Spittler, without much reservation attributed the dial to Isaac Hadwen. However, these Isaac Hadwen scholars have never seen the new verse. 6 Isaac Hadwen ( ), a Quaker from western Yorkshire, was probably apprenticed from about 1701 to 1708 to John Ogden ( ), also a Quaker. It was Ogden who first used verses instead of spandrels in the dial corners as early as The Behold this hand verse was a favorite of both Ogden and Hadwen. The lozenge or diamond-shaped half-hour marks apparently also originated with John Ogden and were used by Hadwen as well. Besides being an excellent clockmaker, Hadwen was an ardent traveler. He often left his family to travel with Friends to visit other Friends (as Quakers call each other). That included a trip to America in 1718 to visit Friends. Two of those Friends may have been family; his uncle (mother s brother) Steven Sands and a possible uncle or cousin, James Hadwin. Both lived in Pennsylvania after joining the Quaker exodus from England, in search of freedom for their nonconformist pursuit of religious views and principles. More details about this interesting Quaker, Hadwen clockmaking family may be found in three articles by Brian Loomes in Clocks Magazine. They are listed in the bibliography and are available at the NAWCC Library. Now that the probable origin of the dial has been established, the question arises: how and when did the dial come to America? Hadwen scholars think that Hadwen could have brought it himself. He made a second trip to America in 1737 from which he, unfortunately, did not return. He died unexpectedly, from a high fever on August 29, 1737, in Delaware. (Hadwen s last letter to his wife was written in Chester, PA.) There seems to be a consensus that the completed clock is more likely to be mid-eighteenth century than first quarter, primarily based on the case features. This could place the dial as part of Hadwen s second voyage to America. If Hadwen did not do his own engraving, he probably used a highquality engraver (whose name is not known), from Kendal, Westmoreland. 7 If this new verse was engraved in England, it likely would have been repeated and be known in England today. One possibility why that is not so could be that Hadwen brought the dial with blank corners and an American (Quaker?) artisan engraved the new verse in America. If the verse was Hadwen s creation, his untimely death kept it in America. A comparative study of English Hadwen dials and this dial showed little similarity in engraving style. There are no multi-curly, doubleended swirls on this dial. In particular, the creative sharing of a common swirl by two letters, as the l and d in the word glides in this highly skilled but more subdued engraving, was not found on English dials (Figure 16). The small double-lobed ornament at the hour and the five-minute marks in the minute ring (Figure 16) also is not found on the Kendal dials or any other documented English engraved dial in my library. On the other hand, the first Brian Loomes arti- Figure 16. Engraving detail of the verse and chapter ring. 308 May/June 2014 NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin

6 cle in Clocks shows two other known verses that contain the words hours glide away and minutes glide o er. Were these an inspiration for the new verse? The minute ring tells us that the dial was intended for a two-handed clock. Did the maker of this postedframe movement place an order with Hadwen, or did Hadwen just bring some basic dial plates as merchandise to be either engraved or applied with spandrels? Did he bring one-handed and two-handed chapter rings? Did he bring spandrels as well? This dial plate has only four casting gaps (Figure 17). This small number of gaps is found more often on Irish dials, whereas English dial plates most commonly have eight gaps, with some variations. 8 The dial is supported by the movement in a most peculiar way. The previously mentioned hook on the top plate fits between the dial plate and the chapter ring at about the 11 o clock position. It should be noted that the execution of the hook is not up to par with the overall craftsmanship, although it appears to be contemporary in age and the screwhead matches that of the bell stand (Figure 10). The tabs at the lower dial (Figure 18) fit into two small slots between the seat board and a second small board under the movement (Figure 2). A screw or peg went up the underside of the seat board through the hole in the tab to secure the bottom of the dial. This unusual dial mounting may be interpreted as a later assembly. However, the dial fits perfectly in the dial surround of the hood, including the extra height provided by the second seat board! The Case The first reliable clue about the origin of this clock was the American solid black walnut case. The backboard is made of a single board of poplar. That feature also supports its American origin. The dimensions of the case are as follows: Overall height 79¾ inches Crown width 19¼ inches Base width 18¼ inches Door length 35¾ inches (Clocks made from about 1714 to 1730 by Benjamin Chandlee were in walnut cases less than 7 feet tall, so that they could stand under low ceilings.) 9 The three-quarter columns are attached to the hood door. Quarter columns fill the corners between the hood sides and slanted vertical stiles that form the back corners of the hood. It is that last feature (Figure 19) that nearly pinpoints the origin of the case. The slanted stiles identify it as Quaker-made, north of Philadelphia, along the Delaware River. 10 The trunk framing, cut at 45 angles Figure 19. The hood with threequarter and one-quarter columns and slanted stiles. Figure 17. Reverse of the dial showing four casting gaps. Figure 18. Reverse of the dial showing a mounting tab. NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin May/June

7 around the door (Figures 1 and 11), also is an indicator of Quaker origin from about the same area, but including Philadelphia (ca ). 11 It is assumed that the hood used to have a full sarcophagus top; only the bottom part remains. The straight base may have replaced straight bracket feet. It is a well-known fact that most early American clockmakers were Quakers: Samuel Bispham (?), Abel Cottey, Benjamin Chandlee, Peter Stretch, Isaac Pearson, etc. We may safely assume that other craftsmen, including joiners and cabinetmakers associated with them were Quakers as well. The above described location could well include Burlington County and Mount Holly, NJ, the root of the current owner s family. Although oral tradition and provenance are just that oral the emerging facts about the clock appear to add some weight to that information. Notes on the Current Condition The clock suffered some previous alterations. The strike, sprocket pulley, and click spring were broken. Only the riveted part remained (Figure 20C). The time click spring was copied in reverse, and it was installed on the strike sprocket pulley. For unknown reasons the time sprocket circumference was reduced in a poorly executed manner (Figure 20A) (perhaps to deal with the missing click spring when chains were installed). The remaining hub was restored to the same circumference as the strike sprocket. New spikes were made and installed (Figures 20 and 20B). The lifting piece of the strike detent was cut in two and the two pieces were crudely riveted to a thin piece of brass in an apparent attempt to allow the minute hand to be moved counterclockwise. The required slant on the detent point, however, was overlooked and not provided (Figure 8). The lifting piece was restored to its original form and the rivet holes plugged (Figure 2). The cannon pinion was altered to a poorly executed Continental friction type (Figure 21). The left tab on the reverse dial plate was missing. The right tab was copied and installed. The original hands are missing and were replaced with nineteenth-century Connecticut hands. The spring to aid the striking detent return was added later and is nonaltering (Figure 4). The Quest for the Movement Maker Makers of interest who fit some of the criteria mentioned above are as follows: Benjamin Chandlee ( ) Irish-born, Quaker, Nottingham Township, PA. For: Use of pin count wheel striking on 8-day clocks. Active period. Square dials. Against: All known movements are plated. Use of cast spandrels. Source: Chandlee (see Bibliography). Isaac Pearson ( ) Quaker, Burlington, NJ. For: Quaker case similarity; square brass dial; location and period; known to be a silversmith and possibly an Figure 20. The restored time sprocket and new click spring. Figure 20A. Reduced time sprocket (left) before restoration. Figure 20B. Time sprocket original hub during restoration. Figure 20C. Remainder of broken click spring (left). Figure 21. Motion work with altered cannon pinion. 310 May/June 2014 NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin

8 engraver as well. He also owned an iron works. Against: Only plated movements are known; use of cast spandrels on a Quaker case. Source: Drost. John Willis (?-1748) probably Quaker (Willis or Wills was a known Quaker name). John Willis, Clock Maker Intestate , of the City of Burlington. Administrators: Joseph Rose, Attorney, and Charles Willis, Black Smith of the same place. No known clock. Other listings say that he made tall clocks. Source: Drost. Joseph Wills ( ) possibly Quaker, Philadelphia after He is a candidate because some of his 30-hour clocks were of an English-style posted-frame movement, not normally used in America. However, in contrast, his (quite rare) three-train quarter-chiming clock with sweep seconds, strike silent, and moon phase from about 1758 shows the highest level of early craftsmanship. 12 The American Clock, by Battison and Kane, shows a much less prominent tall clock with a small square dial and posted-frame movement. Large pictures of the dial show an engraved nameplate: Jos Wills Philadelphia, a calendar aperture, cast spandrels, and no inner quarter division. The 30-hour movement is also shown in detail, and it resembles very much a typical English 30-hour posted-frame movement. He was 25 years old when he moved to Philadelphia. If he served a standard apprenticeship with an unknown master, he would have turned out at age 21 and could have worked independently for four years prior to his move to Philadelphia. No information was found about his work prior to his Philadelphia period other than that he lived in Willistown, PA, which had no clockmakers contemporary with John Wills. Crafts and Craftsmen of New Jersey lists the following clockmakers in Mount Holly: several Hollingsheads, preand post revolution; David Shoemaker, ca. 1760s; Richard Dickinson, Daniel Fling, and Peter Hill, no dates; and William and Edward Hudson, last quarter of the eighteenth century. The pioneer(?) clockmaker Samuel Shourds of Bordentown was in the town sometime in the 1740s. No examples of their clocks were available for comparison, but this list is apparently based on signed clocks. Some were signed Pearson & Hollingshead, a partnership. Conclusion The unnamed clockmaker who made this movement was a highly skilled, knowledgeable, and inventive clockmaker who understood the pin count wheel striking system. Adding the half-hour strike (other than a passing strike) cannot be an afterthought. It requires a different configuration of the striking train. One practical reason for making an 8-day posted-frame movement would be the shortage and/or expense of brass. A plated 8-day time-and-strike movement requires a great deal more brass; plates, pillars, winding drums, etc., as well as more time and tools. (Benjamin Chandlee Sr., in order to use less metal used the pin count wheel system.) 13 Reducing the cost of an 8-day movement was probably the objective of the maker. The absence of any documentation that could help to identify this clockmaker is disappointing but not unexpected. Even with all the known facts about the Hadwen clockmaking family and the Quaker connections across the Atlantic, we are left with a unique dial about which we can only speculate to the best of our knowledge. That same kind of speculation would apply to the sequence in the creation of this clock; that the movement was made first, as early as 1720, that after Hadwen s voyages in 1718, or 1737, the dial was acquired, finished, and attached to the movement. After that, the case was made for the completed movement and dial. There could have been periods of unknown length between these three events. Even an interlude as a hooded wall clock is possible. (Benjamin Chandlee Sr. owned a personal, not for sale, 8-day, pin count wheel striking, hooded wall clock since about 1725.) 14 Hopefully, future findings and information will transform some of this speculation into facts. Until then I will take pleasure in telling the New Jersey family that their clock is indeed pre-revolution, practically all American, most likely Quaker-made and unique. Acknowledgments The following people, by sharing their knowledge, were instrumental in confirming the authenticity of the movement and redirecting the search for the origin of this rare clock. Their contributions are much appreciated. Edward F. LaFond, Brian Loomes, John A. Robey, Ph.D., Thomas J. Spittler, and anonymous. I also thank Diana DeLucca for her continued support of this project. Notes 1. Communication from John Robey. 2. Communication from John Robey. 3. Communication from John Robey. 4. Robey, Vol. 1, Chandlee, Communications from Brian Loomes and another Hadwen scholar via John Robey. 7. Robey, Vol. 2, Robey, Vol. 2, Chandlee, Communication from Edward F. LaFond via Tom Spittler. 11. Communication from Anonymous via Tom Spittler. 12. Whisker and Petrucelli, Chandlee, Chandlee, NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin May/June

9 Bibliography Bailey, Chris. Two Hundred Years of American Clocks and Watches. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., Battison, Edwin and Patricia Kane. The American Clock. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1973: Chandlee, Edward E. Six Quaker Clockmakers. Philadelphia, PA: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Drost, William E. Clocks and Watches of New Jersey. USA, Engineering Publishers, Division of the AC Book Company Inc., Eckhardt, George H. Pennsylvania Clocks and Clockmakers. New York: Bonanza Books, Gibbs, James W. Quaker Clockmakers, Parts I, II, and III. NAWCC Bulletin, No. 198 (February 1979); No. 199 (April 1979); and No. 200 (June 1979). Hamilton Van Hoesen, Walter. Crafts and Craftsmen of New Jersey. Hackensack, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1973: Loomes, Brian. Grandfather Clocks and Their Cases. London England / New York: David & Charles / Arco, Loomes, Brian. Clockmakers of Northern England. Mayfield, England: Mayfield Books, Loomes, Brian. Isaac Hadwen of Kendal and Sedbergh. Clocks Magazine (March 1984): 29-30; The Hadwen Family Continued. Clocks Magazine (April 1986): 37-40; Isaac Hadwen Revisited. Clocks Magazine (February 2013): Robey, John A. The Longcase Clock Reference Book, Vols. 1 and 2, 2nd ed. Mayfield, England: Mayfield Books, Spittler, Thomas J. and Sonja L. and Chris H. Bailey. Clockmakers and Watchmakers of America by Name and Place, 2nd ed. Columbia, PA: NAWCC, Inc., About the Author Peter Recourt was born in the Netherlands and is proud to share his hometown, The Hague, with Christiaan Huygens, who in 1656 first applied the pendulum to a mechanical clock. After coming to the United States and becoming a citizen in 1968, Peter joined the NAWCC. He studied the art of clock restoration in all its aspects and was apprenticed to the late Frank Alexander. He served as secretary, vice-president, and multi-term president of Jean Ribault Chapter 68, where he lectures regularly. He previously has contributed to the Watch & Clock Bulletin and was made a Fellow of the NAWCC in Wake Up and Write! is an exhibit of postcards from the collection of Robert Hensley on display at the Library and Research Center. 312 May/June 2014 NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin