Reverend Edward Barlow The Reverend Edward Barlow was a Lancashire-based priest, natural scientist and mechanician. Throughout the 20th century, it was widely believed that it was Barlow who in the late 1600s invented rack-and-snail striking for striking clocks – a mechanism like that used in the spring clock made by Daniel Quare, around 1710, with a Tompion movement (coming soon to Clocktime). It is likely that Barlow invented the snail that made repeated striking possible. However, the way in which a designer actually moved on from the snail to achieve the striking is less clear, and it is possible that rack -and-snail striking was a development that came out of ‘an amalgam of ideas by Barlow, Thomas Tompion, (Joseph) Knibb and (Robert) Hooke’ – who all knew one another professionally and followed each other’s work.[1] Whatever the scenario, innovations such as this are driven by cost, and any reduction in the number of parts is a saving. What is more, if an innovation proves to be more reliable, the maker will gain a better reputation. Documentary sources indicate that Barlow and Tompion were collaborators, but it appears that Barlow had a fractious relationship with Quare.[2] In 1687, Barlow and Quare disputed the patent rights to the repeating watch. King James II decided the question by having each maker submit a quarter-repeating watch for his examination. The King’s preference was given to Quare’s watch, as it repeats its latest quarter and the latest hour when one button is pushed, whereas the Tompion mechanism required two buttons to be pressed. End Notes [1] Robey 2005; 2011. [2] Taylor 2004. References Robey, J. A. 2005. ‘Who invented rack-and-snail striking? The early development of repeating and rack striking.’ in Antiquarian Horology. Robey, J. A. 2011. ‘The truth about Edward Barlow’ in Clocks Magazine February) Taylor, J. C. 2004. ‘Thomas Tompion’s spring clock innovations’ in Antiquarian Horology (June). Further Reading Derham FRS, W. 1714. The Artificial Clockmakers: A treatise of watch and clock work (third edition). London: James Knapton. Image Credit Diagram of rack striking mechanism from a striking clock. Otto Lueger, Lexikon der gesamten Technik (dictionary of technology),1904. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
