Antique Timepieces, American Manufacturing,

and Clock Dating Chart

America's manufacturing expertise found its humble beginnings in the clock shops of Eli Terry of Plymouth Connecticut during the turn of the nineteenth century. This was such a special time in American history. We were between wars with England . The country's leadership was passed from the founding fathers to their protégés and the two party system was born as a compromise of diverse ideologies. The country was entering a period of prosperity. American society started to become a population of specialists. Trade routes were opening to the western reserve territories as the river and canal systems developed. Eleven states had been added to the Union by 1822.

Eli Terry was born a fifth generation American, in 1772. He completed his apprenticeship in 1792 under master clockmaker Daniel Burnap and with influence from Thomas Harland. Terry quickly established himself as the new master for the coming century. Terry began developing clock designs that could be produced for the common family. In 1806 he took on a contact with major retailers, the Porter Brothers, for the unheard of quantity of 4,000 clockworks to be completed in three years. To accomplish this feat several manufacturing milestones were established such as interchangeable components, powered machine tools, and the assembly line method. The photo on the left shows clockworks number 3609 from the Porter contract series. Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley were workers on the project and eventually bought out Eli Terry's clock factory. But Terry envisioned a new kind of clock that would be suited to the newly emerging American market for consumer items. With the profits from the Porter contract, Terry was able to develop a compact shelf clock that could be produced efficiently using his mass production techniques. The result of his research was the pillar and scroll shelf clock. His  brother and sons were set-up with factories around the area to mass produce the design. An example is shown on the right. Eli Terry had correctly predicted the market and America's hunger for reliable and compact time keepers. Two more major milestones followed the Terrys' initial success. First was intellectual property enforcement and patent protection of manufactured items. Further, in the coming years, as his licensees used interchangeable components of his design, the purchased parts industry was created. Today we would call these tier two suppliers. In 1825 it was a cottage industry doing business largely by bartering.  Many of the great American clock makers emerged from Terry's shops as graduate apprentices armed with knowledge of advanced manufacturing. As America's taste in styles changed from Empire to Gothic to Victorian, the shelf clock also evolved. Brass plates replaced the wooden works, springs replaced weights, and eventually balance springs replaced pendulums. The vision of Eli Terry was fulfilled as he created the clock industry of Connecticut and thereby the roots of America's manufacturing industry.

One of the best ways to establish the manufactured date of an early antique clock is to determine the printer of the clock's printed paper label found on the inside backboard. At the bottom of the label there is often a "printer's line" or advertisement. The following table is a work in process of my research on many of these printers.

Eli Terry

1792-1852 

Porter Contract Clockworks 1807                  

____________ 

List of Firsts:

Assembly Line

Interchangeable Parts

Mass Production

Powered Tools

Intellectual Property

Supply Industry

Eli Terry & Son

1828-1832

Henry Terry

1832-1834

 Henry Terry & Co. 1834-1836

Eli Terry & Sons

 1823-1831 _

_Eli Terry Jun’r

1831-1835

Eli Terry Jr. & Co.

1835-1841

H. Welton & Co.

1841-1845                   

 Silas B. Terry

1831-1851

S. B. Terry  & Co.

1852

Terry Mfg. Co.

1853-1866

Terry Clock Co. Waterbury

1867-1875

Terry Clock Co. Pittsfield

1887

Russell& Jones

1888   

Eli & Samuel Terry

1824-1827

_”ST” Inscription Pillar and Scroll Samuel Terry

Plymouth 1827-1829

Bristol 1830-1834

R&JB Terry 1835-1836

Terry & Burnham

1835-1836

Terry & Andrews

1842-1850

Terry & Barnham

 1851-1852

Terry Downs & Burnwell 50-55

Terry and Barns

1854

Terry & Downs

1833-1856

THE APPRENTICES

Seth Thomas 1812-1867

Brass 1836

Springs 1850

Thomaston 1866

General Time 1949

 Silas Hoadley

1816-1840

Heman Clark

1807-1838

 Chauncey Jerome 

Jerome Darrow & Co

 1824-1826

 Jerome and Thomson 1826-1827

  Jeromes & Darrow

         1827-1833

 Jerome & Co.

1833-1834

        C&N Jerome

1834-1839

Jerome & Barns

1833-1837

Chauncey Jerome 1828-1843

 Jerome Mfg. NH             1845-1855 _

Steve Ham Plastics  537 Hickory Street  Highlands, NC 28741  USA 
phone:828-526-0598  steveham@dnet.net