Grandfather Clocks Are Designed So They Can Be Add More Mass to Weight

A alpine, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock

eight-twenty-four hour period longcase clock. This example dates back to 1700 and the case to late 19th – early on 20th century CE. The original dial of this clock was replaced by a brass dial with Tamil numerals, perhaps around the same fourth dimension as the example. The original long-example was too replaced by a mandapa-shaped wooden carved case done in S Indian fashion. The front and the side panels are done in metal repoussé work with floral meanders. The lower office of the example depicts mythological scenes and the case was manufactured at the Madras School of Arts. This clock is on display in The Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai and was donated past Dorab Tata.

A grandad clock (also a longcase clock, alpine-case clock, gramps'southward clock, or flooring clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the example. Clocks of this mode are commonly 1.8–two.four metres (6–8 feet) tall with an enclosed pendulum and weights suspended by either cables or chains which have to be calibrated occasionally to keep the proper fourth dimension. The case often features elaborately carved ornamentation on the hood (or bonnet), which surrounds and frames the dial, or clock face. The English clockmaker William Clement is credited with the development of this form in 1670. Until the early on 20th century, pendulum clocks were the world'southward nigh authentic timekeeping engineering science, and longcase clocks, due to their superior accuracy, served as time standards for households and businesses. Today they are kept mainly for their decorative and antique value, having been widely replaced past both analog and digital timekeeping.

Origin [edit]

Lateral view of a longcase clock movement without striking mechanism, mid-1800s.

The advent of the longcase clock is due to the invention of the anchor escapement machinery by Robert Hooke around 1658. Prior to the adoption of the anchor mechanism, pendulum clock movements used an older verge escapement mechanism, which required very wide pendulum swings of about 80–100°.^[1] Long pendulums with such wide swings could not be fitted within a case, so near freestanding clocks had curt pendulums.

Lateral view of a Timothy Stonemason longcase clock movement with hit mechanism, circa 1730

The anchor mechanism reduced the pendulum'southward swing to around 4° to half dozen°,^[ane] allowing clockmakers to use longer pendulums, which had slower "beats". These consumed less power assuasive clocks to run longer between windings, acquired less friction and wear in the motion, and were more accurate.^[1] Most all longcase clocks use a seconds pendulum (likewise called a "Imperial" pendulum^[2]) meaning that each swing (or half-period) takes i second. These are about a metre (39 inches) long (to the centre of the bob), requiring a long narrow case. The long narrow case actually predated the anchor clock by a few decades, appearing in clocks in 1660 to allow a long drop for the powering weights. Nonetheless, once the seconds pendulum began to exist used, this long weight case proved perfect to house information technology as well.^{[3] [four]}

British clockmaker William Clement, who disputed credit for the ballast escapement with Robert Hooke, fabricated the first longcase clocks by 1680.^[5] Afterward the same year, Thomas Tompion, the nearly prominent British clockmaker, was making them as well.^[5] Longcase clocks spread apace from England to other European countries and Asia.

The start longcase clocks, like all clocks prior to the anchor escapement, had only one hand; an hour hand. The increased accuracy made possible by the anchor motivated the addition of the minute hand to clock faces in the side by side few decades.

Betwixt 1680 and 1800, the boilerplate price of a granddaddy clock in England remained steady at £1 10s. In 1680, this was the amount paid by an average working family unit for a yr's hire, so the purchase of clocks was confined to the relatively well-off. Just by 1800 wages had increased enough so that many lower heart class households owned grandfather clocks.^[six]

Modern longcase clocks utilize a more accurate variation of the anchor escapement called the deadbeat escapement.

Description [edit]

Most of a longcase clock's pinnacle is used to concur the long pendulum and weights. The two chains attached to the weights and the lack of winding holes in the punch show this to exist a 30-hour clock.

Traditionally, longcase clocks were fabricated with 2 types of movement: eight-mean solar day and one-mean solar day (30-hour) movements. A clock with an eight-solar day movement required winding only in one case a week, while generally less expensive 30-hr clocks had to exist wound every day. 8-day clocks are often driven by two weights – one driving the pendulum and the other the striking mechanism, which usually consisted of a bell or chimes. Such movements usually have two keyholes, one on each side of the punch to air current each i. By dissimilarity, 30-60 minutes clocks often had a unmarried weight to drive both the timekeeping and striking mechanisms. Some 30-hour clocks were made with imitation keyholes, for customers who wished that guests to their domicile would think that the household was able to afford the more than expensive 8-day clock. All modern hit longcase clocks have eight-24-hour interval mechanical quarter chiming and full hour striking movements. Most longcase clocks are cable-driven, meaning that the weights are suspended by cables. If the cablevision were attached direct to the weight, the load would cause rotation and untwist the cable strands, and then the cablevision wraps around a pulley mounted to the top of each weight. The mechanical advantage of this arrangement also doubles the running fourth dimension immune by a given weight drop.

Cable clocks are wound by inserting a special crank (called a "cardinal") into holes in the clock's face and turning information technology. Others, however, are chain-driven, meaning that the weights are suspended by bondage that wrap around gears in the clock's mechanism, with the other end of the chain hanging down next to the weight. To wind a chain-driven longcase clock, one pulls on the finish of each concatenation, lifting the weights until the weights come up to just nether the clock's face.

Elaborate hitting sequences [edit]

In the early 20th century, quarter-60 minutes chinkle sequences were added to longcase clocks. At the elevation of each hr, the total chime sequence sounds, immediately followed by the hr strike. At 15 minutes subsequently each hour, 1/iv of the chime sequence plays, at the bottom of each hr, 1/ii of the chime sequence plays, and at xv minutes before each hr, 3/4 of the chime sequence plays. The chime tune used in almost all longcase clocks is Westminster Quarters. Many also offer the option of Whittington chimes or St. Michael'southward chimes, selectable by a switch mounted on the right side of the punch, which as well allows one to silence the chimes if desired. Every bit a result of adding chime sequences, all modern mechanical longcase clocks have three weights instead of only 2. The left weight provides power for the hr strike, the middle weight provides power for the clock's pendulum and general timekeeping functions, while the right weight provides power for the quarter-hour chinkle sequences.

Naming [edit]

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the popular 1876 song My Gramps's Clock is responsible for the common name "grandad clock" being applied to the longcase clock.^[vii]

The song was equanimous by an American songwriter by the proper noun of Henry Clay Work who discovered a longcase clock in The George Hotel in Piercebridge, in County Durham in England. When he asked about the clock, he was informed that information technology had 2 owners. Afterward the first owner died the clock became inaccurate and when the 2d possessor died, the clock stopped working altogether. The story inspired Henry to create the song.

Grandfather clocks are of a certain meridian, usually at least 1.9 metres (half-dozen feet - 3 inches). In that location are besides "grandmother" and "granddaughter" clocks, which are slightly shorter in meridian.^{[eight] [ix]}

Clock-face up signature of Tim Mason

Types [edit]

Comtoise [edit]

Comtoise clocks, also known as Morbier clocks or Morez clocks, are a style of longcase clock made in the French region Franche-Comté (hence their name). Features distinguishing this style are a curving "potbellied" case and a greater use of curved lines. Often a heavy, elongated, highly ornamented pendulum bob extends upward the case (encounter photo).

Production of these clocks began in 1680 and connected for a menses of nigh 230 years. During the summit production years (1850–1890) over 60,000 clocks were made each yr. These clocks were very pop across the generations; they kept the time on farms throughout France. Many Comtoise clocks can exist institute in France but they are also frequently constitute in Espana, Germany, and other parts of Europe, less in the U.s.a.. Many Comtoise clocks were also exported to other countries in Europe and fifty-fifty further, to the Ottoman Empire and equally far every bit Thailand. The metallic mechanism was ordinarily protected by a wooden sheath.

Bornholm and Mora [edit]

Bornholm clock made by Edvart Sonne, from Rønne, Bornholm in the late 1700s

Bornholm clocks are Danish longcase clocks and were made on Bornholm from 1745 to 1900. In Sweden a special variety of longcase clocks was fabricated in Mora, called Mora clocks.

Bornholm clock-making began in the 1740s when an English language ship, which had longcase clocks in its concord, was stranded. They were sent for repair to a turner named Poul Ottesen Arboe in Rønne and as a result of his repair of them he learned plenty nearly clocks to begin to make his ain.

Historical manufacturers [edit]

Longcase clock from well-nigh 1750 in the District Museum in Tarnów in Poland, mounted with apply of imported components marked Wiliam Jourdain London and adorned with chinoiserie motifs.

British

• John Alker or Alker of Wigan, Lancashire
• Allam & Clements
• Samuel Ashton, Ashbourne
• William Barrow, London
• Bilbie family, Somerset
• Thomas Birchall Nantwich, Cheshire
• Joseph Bowles, Winbourne (i.e.: Wimbourne), Dorset. Agile 1791
• Samuel Bowles, Wimbourne, Dorset
• Robert Bryson, Edinburgh
• William Bucknall, Burslem (Stoke-on-Trent)
• Thomas Bullock, Bath, Somerset
• Samuel Buxton, Diss, Norfolk
• John Calver, Woodbridge, Suffolk
• Thomas Cartwright
• John Clement & Son (Tring, Hertfordshire)
• Thomas Dobbie, Gorbals, Glasgow
• Richard Donisthorp (fl. 1797), of Loughborough
• Matthew & Thomas Dutton
• Peter Fearnley, Wigan
• John Fernhill, Wrexham
• Thomas Hackney, London, c. 1700–1750
• Edward Harrison, Warrington
• John Harrison, Wakefield/Barrow upon Humber/London
• Nathaniel Hedge, Colchester, Essex
• Holmes
• James Howden, Edinburgh
• Thomas Husband, Hull
• Thomas Johnson
• John Knibb, Oxford and London
• Joseph Knibb, Oxford and London
• William Lassell (1758–1790), Toxteth Park, Liverpool
• Timothy Bricklayer Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
• Alexander Miller, Montrose
• Peddie Stirling, Scotland
• Daniel Quare
• Thomas Ross, Hull
• John Snelling, Alton
• John Trubshaw, London
• Warry, Bristol
• James Woolley Codnor
• Thomas Worswick, Lancaster
• Thomas Wright
• Henry Young, Swaffham, Norfolk
• John Wyld, Nottingham
• Stephen Harris, Tonbridge

Irish

• Due west Egan & Sons, Cork
• Ezekiel Bullock, Lurgan
• Alexander Gordon, Dublin

Finnish

• Masters of Könni Könnin mestarit (1757–1865), Ilmajoki
• Finnish Museum of Horology is primary of Jaakko Könni manufactured table clocks and pocket watches
• Ilmajoki Museum is Masters of Könni manufactured equus caballus vehicles, clocks, looms, locks, tools, machine of gear "keervärkki"

Americans

• Ansonia Clock Visitor (1851-2006), Ansonia, Connecticut and Brooklyn, New York
• Benjamin Bagnall (1689-1773), Boston^[10]
• Aaron Brokaw (1768–1853), Span Town, New Jersey
• Isaac Brokaw (1746–1826), Bridge Boondocks, New Jersey
• Silas Merriman (1733–1805), New Haven, Connecticut
• Aaron Miller ( –1778), Elizabeth Township, New Jersey
• Luman Watson (1790–1834), Cincinnati
• Simon Willard (1753–1848), Roxbury, Massachusetts
• Zachariah Gramps Clocks (1975–1987), Chicago, Illinois

Australian casemaker

• Harry Williams – Oxford Cabinet Company Pty Ltd (1946–1961), Granville, New South Wales, Australia

Electric current manufacturers [edit]

• Hermle Clocks – Amherst VA
• Howard Miller Clock Company – Zeeland MI
• Ridgeway Clocks (Owned now by Howard Miller Clock Co.)
• Novellon Clocks – India

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c} Headrick, Michael (2002). "Origin and Evolution of the Anchor Clock Escapement". Control Systems magazine. Vol. 22, no. 2. Inst. of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Archived from the original on Oct 25, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2007.
2. ^ Nelthropp, H. Leonard (1873). A Treatise on Picket-Work, Past and Present. London: E.& F.N. Spon. p. 84.
3. ^ Barnett, Jo Ellen (1999). Fourth dimension'southward Pendulum: From Sundials to Atomic Clocks, the Fascinating History of Timekeeping and how Our Discoveries Changed the Globe . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 91–92. ISBN0-xv-600649-9.
4. ^ Chappell, Jessica (2000). "The Long Case Clock: The science and engineering science that goes into a gramps clock". Illumin. Viterbi Schoolhouse of Technology, USC. 1: four. Retrieved June 19, 2008.
5. ^ ^{a b} Moore, N. Hudson Moore (1903). The Old Furniture Book. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. p. 205. william clement clock.
6. ^ The Origins of the Consumer Revolution. Joanne Sear. 17 Jan 2020. ISBN9781000765700 . Retrieved four February 2020.
7. ^ "Oxford English language Dictionary" (available online to subscribers, likewise in print) . Retrieved April xix, 2009. Grandfather's clock [suggested by a song which was popular near 1880], a piece of furniture-dealer's proper noun for the kind of weight-and-pendulum viii-day clock in a tall case, formerly in common use; also grandad clock (at present the usual name): [1876 H. C. WORK Granddaddy'due south Clock, My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf, Then it stood ninety years on the floor.]
8. ^ Sisk, Annie. "Difference Between a Grandfather & Grandmother Clock". hunker . Retrieved September 17, 2019.
9. ^ "Grandfather Clock History and what you need to know". grandfather-clock-info.com . Retrieved September 17, 2019.
10. ^ (1) Safford, Frances Gruber; Heckscher, Morrison H.; Rogers, Mary-Alice; Metropolitan Museum of Art (1985). 187. Tall Clock: Boston, 1725-1740: Motion past Benjamin Bagnall (1689-1773). American article of furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: ane, Late Colonial Period: The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Fine art and Random House. pp. 290–291. ISBN9780300116472. OCLC 11971332 – via Google Books.
    (two) "Tall Instance Clock". Collections. Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art. Retrieved 2019-01-02 . Maker: Benjamin Bagnall Sr. (British, active in Boston, Massachusetts, America, 1689-1773). Date: 1730–1745

External links [edit]

• Media related to Longcase clocks at Wikimedia Commons

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clock

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