Object Details
- associated institution
- Allegheny Observatory
- Gold and Stock Telegraph Company
- associated person
- Bentley, Henry
- manufacturer
- E. Howard & Co.
- Description
- Most nineteenth century American clocks were cheaply made for the mass market and domestic use. But a few firms made finely finished precision clocks for applications where accuracy was vital: determining the time of scientific observations, for example, or regulating other clocks and watches. One such firm was E. Howard and Company of Boston, specialists in quality clocks, watches and scales since 1842.
- This high-quality clock, made by the firm in 1874, distributed Philadelphia time for the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company in that city. Subscribers to the firm’s service of telegraphed gold prices and stock quotations could also receive a time service to set their clocks. Fitted to the mechanical movement of this Howard timepiece are assemblies that interrupt an electric telegraph circuit to indicate every half minute, full minute, five minutes and the hour.
- Before 1883, towns across the nation set their own times by observing the position of the sun, so there were hundreds of local times. Instead of Eastern Standard Time, for example, there was Philadelphia Standard Time or Charleston Standard Time. Beginning in the 1850s, railroads operated on regional times, each set to an agreed-upon, arbitrary standard time. By the 1880s, there were about fifty such regional railroad times.
- In November 1883, most North American railroads voluntarily agreed to adopt a standardized railway time based on zones, a system from which the time zones in use today originated.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Western Union Corp.
- 1874
- associated date
- 1874
- ID Number
- ME.333468.01
- catalog number
- 333468.01
- accession number
- 294351
- Object Name
- regulator
- Other Terms
- regulator; Wall Regulator
- Physical Description
- glass (case material)
- glass (door material)
- mahogany (case material)
- walnut, burr (case material)
- carved (case production method/technique)
- carved (pedestal production method/technique)
- reverse-painted (dial production method/technique)
- silvered (beat scale production method/technique)
- silvered (case production method/technique)
- veneered (case production method/technique)
- Measurements
- regulator clock case: 79 in x 36 in x 17 in; 200.66 cm x 91.44 cm x 43.18 cm
- weight #1: 10 in x 2 1/2 in; 25.4 cm x 6.35 cm
- weight #2: 10 in x 2 1/2 in; 25.4 cm x 6.35 cm
- weight pulleys, #1, #2: 3 13/16 in x 2 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in; 9.652 cm x 6.35 cm x 3.175 cm
- weight pulleys, #3, #4: 1 1/2 in x 1 1/2 in x 1/2 in; 3.81 cm x 3.81 cm x 1.27 cm
- case key: 2 in x 3/4 in x 3/16 in; 5.08 cm x 1.905 cm x .508 cm
- winding crank: 4 in x 2 13/16 in x 3/16 in; 10.16 cm x 7.112 cm x .508 cm
- case fragment: 1 13/32 in x 1 in x 13/16 in; 3.556 cm x 2.54 cm x 2.032 cm
- movement thumbscrews, 2: 2 1/4 in x 3/4 in; 5.715 cm x 1.905 cm
- part, jewel setting: 5/16 in x 3/16 in; .762 cm x .508 cm
- part, electrical wire and contact: 5 in x 2 in x 3/32 in; 12.7 cm x 5.08 cm x .254 cm
- beat scale and stand: 12 in x 8 in x 3 in; 30.48 cm x 20.32 cm x 7.62 cm
- beat scale screws, 2: 3/4 in x 5/16 in; 1.905 cm x .762 cm
- movement: 15 1/2 in x 11 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in; 39.37 cm x 29.21 cm x 13.97 cm
- dial: 13/16 in x 17 1/2 in; 2.032 cm x 44.45 cm
- dial hand, minute: 7 1/4 in; 18.415 cm
- dial hand, hour: 2 1/2 in; 6.35 cm
- dial hand, seconds: 4 1/4 in; 10.795 cm
- dial screws, 4: 5/16 in x 3/16 in; .762 cm x .508 cm
- dial washers, 4: 1/2 in; 1.27 cm
- movement thumbscrews, 2: 2 1/4 in x 3/4 in; 5.715 cm x 1.905 cm
- location of prior holder
- United States: New York
- associated place
- United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
- United States: Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Mechanisms
- Measuring & Mapping
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_856687
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-a417-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
