Earliest Known Lantern Clock This clock by Robert Harvey represents the first truly English domestic clocks to be introduced to the domestic market. It is the earliest known surviving English brass lantern clock, and it also appears to be the earliest surviving domestic clock of English design.[1] It is probable that Harvey was the first to design and introduce this style of clock in England. He made this particular clock while working in London at Little Britain, Aldersgate. Harvey’s design Although Harvey’s design is reminiscent of European Gothic clocks[2] (see the anonymous blacksmith wrought-iron Gothic clock made around 1500), he has changed and improved upon the form in key ways. European Gothic clocks were difficult and expensive to manufacture as the production of their iron frames was time consuming and required exceptional blacksmithing skills. Harvey realised that he could cast the Gothic clocks’ wrought-iron frame and wheels in brass with far less effort and expense, because brass was far easier to work, even though it was more expensive than iron (the traditional metal for clocks). Harvey accomplished this by creating a simple wood pattern of his lantern clock’s frames and wheels. From this wood pattern a mould was then made, and brass castings were easily produced. Cast brass is comparatively soft and needs to be hardened by hammering. The slight compression of each blow makes the surfaces hard enough to withstand the wear and tear of turning gear teeth. By way of contrast, the shape of each iron part of the traditional Gothic clock frame and mechanism had to be hammered out – a much more laborious affair. Brass casts required only simple hand finishing and hardening, rather than precision blacksmithing, to ready them for the assemblage of the clock.[3] The cast-brass pieces for lantern clocks were often commissioned or bought from a brass foundry which sometimes supplied several clockmakers with identical pieces. Producing batches of cast-brass pieces was far less expensive than forging and hammering iron parts one by one. Another limitation of the Gothic clock design was that the friction of two pieces of wrought iron rubbing together encourages corrosion and wear. This problem was compounded by the fact that lubricant was available only as organic oil from plants or animals at the time, and this type of oil quickly oxidised or stiffened in cold weather (mineral oils had yet to be invented). Harvey recognised that the gear teeth of a cast-brass wheel running against the teeth of a wrought-iron pinion had considerably less wear and tear than the equivalent pair of wrought-iron gear teeth. His lantern clock design made use of this benefit: he had the large brass wheels running against iron pinions, which required much less maintenance. Thus, by using brass castings instead of iron, Harvey’s domestic clock design simplified construction, delivered a more durable mechanism, and reduced the cost of the production.[4] What exactly drove Harvey to innovate upon the Gothic clock design? Was it the goal of making a more accurate and durable clock? As clockmaking was how he earned his living, the main driver behind his design was surely the potential for maximised profit, and this potential was certainly underpinned by a creating a more durable and therefore more accurate clock. Simply put, his design enabled him to potentially make comparatively more money than makers who laboriously produced bespoke hammered-out iron clocks. Harvey’s brass-based design allowed him to produce more durable clocks for less money and sell them to a wider domestic market at more affordable prices. Harvey’s lantern clock This clock’s brass frame is composed of four turned pillars with ball feet and elegant finials. The pillars hold the top and the bottom plates in place with the movement plates mounted between them. The dial’s centre, which is brass and engraved with distinctive gadroon patterns, is surrounded by a silver chapter ring with Roman hours and fleur-de-lis half-hour markers. Harvey has engraved his signature in doggerel Latin, Robertus Harue London Feecit (sic), on the base of the dial. The clock’s movement is controlled by a vertical verge arbor escapement. The escapement is timed by a horizontal large-diameter inertial balance wheel located just above the top plate, inside the frets. The hour striking is controlled by an iron countwheel outside the backplate. The countwheel is driven by a four-pin pinion. The going train is located at the front of the mechanism, and the strike train is located to the rear. The clock is weight driven, and its weights enabled it to run for 12 hours. Adaptations over time While most of the clock's wheels, arbors, pinions (including the little four-pin pinion that drives the countwheel) are original, the clock has been adapted with numerous ‘improvements’ over its 400-year history. To make the clock more accurate, a verge pendulum was added, followed by an anchor pendulum. The adaptation to the pendulum increased the clock's accuracy, as well as its duration from 12 to 30 hours. Recently, the balance wheel was restored to use all the original screw holes. Before the clock became part of Dr John C. Taylor’s Clock Collection, it belonged to horologist Robert Loomes. Loomes added it to his collection after it came to light at auction in England in 2003, supposedly having been in Antwerp for many years.[5] Read more about the development of domestic clocks and the introduction of the lantern clock to the domestic market in the Clocktime article The first timekeepers: Telling time before the pendulum clock. End Notes [1] The earliest surviving English domestic clock appears to be the Porrvis clock mad in 1567 (Robey and Gillibrand. 2013, 503-518). Although this clock predates Harvey’s lantern clock, it is of ‘a Flemish Gothic clock design’. Thus, Harvey’s lantern clock maintains the distinction of being one of the oldest surviving domestic clocks of English design. For Harvey’s lantern clock see Garnier and Hollis 2018, 124-125; Robey 2017, 35-50. [2] Robey 2016, 511-521. [3] Loomes 2014, 247. [4] Jaggar 1983, 291; Loomes 2014, 248. [5] Loomes 2013. References Garnier, R. and L. Hollis. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Jaggar, C. 1983. Royal Clocks: The British monarchy and its timekeepers 1300 – 1900. London: Robert Hale. Loomes, B. 2013. ‘Collecting Antique Clocks: Robert Harvey, maker of the first lantern clocks in Britain.' https://www.brianloomes.com/collecting/harvey/ Loomes, B. 2014. Clockmakers of Britain: 1286-1700. Mayfield, Ashbourne: Mayfield Books. Robey, J. and L. Gillibrand. 2013. ‘The Porrvis clock of 1567: the earliest surviving domestic clock made in England’ in Antiquarian Horology 34(4). Robey, J. December 2016. ‘The origin of the English lantern clock. Part 1: comparison with European Gothic clocks’ in Antiquarian Horology 37(4). Robey, J. A. 2017. ‘The origin of the English lantern clock. Part 2: the earliest lantern clocks’ in Antiquarian Horology 38(1).
