Charles Frodsham Box Chronometer
date: label: date made
content: 1838-1843
label: date made
content: 1838 - 1843
name: label: maker
content: Charles Frodsham
notes: label: Description
content: This instrument is a specialized timekeeper designed for finding longitude at sea. Its form is that of the standardized 19th-century marine chronometer. It was transferred to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Navy’s Bureau of Ships. The chronometer’s finisher, the firm of Charles Frodsham, traded in high-quality chronometers, clocks and watches. Frodsham (1810-71), was the son of William James Frodsham, co-founder of Parkinson & Frodsham. The younger Frodsham’s firm underwent many name and address changes, but continued in business from roughly 1837 until it became a subsidiary of Devon Instruments in 1977.
label: Description
content: Mechanism details:
label: Description
content: Escapement: Earnshaw, spring detent
label: Description
content: Duration: 56-hour
label: Description
content: Power source: Spring drive with chain and fusee
label: Description
content: Balance spring: helical, blued steel
label: Description
content: Key missing
label: Description
content: Bowl details:
label: Description
content: Brass bowl, fitted with a sprung cylindrical inner bowl as a dust cover (original work)
label: Description
content: Brass fittings for gimbal, gimbal missing
label: Description
content: Bezel screwed and milled
label: Description
content: Crystal flat, small unpolished chamfer
label: Description
content: Dial details:
label: Description
content: Engraved and silvered brass
label: Description
content: Indicates hours, minutes, seconds, winding level up and down
label: Description
content: Hands: blued steel, fleur-de-lys
label: Description
content: Inscription: "CHARLES FRODSHAM / 7 Pavement Finsbury Squr, / London No.1909”
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: 1. Gould, Rupert T. <i>The Marine Chronometer.</i> London: Holland Press, 1960.
label: Description
content: 2. Mercer, Tony. <i>Chronometer Makers of the World.</i> Essex: NAG Press, 1991.
label: Description
content: 3. Mercer, R. Vaudry. <i>The Frodshams. The Story of a Family of Chronometer Makers.</i> London: Antiquarian Horological Society monograph 21, 1981.
label: Description
content: 4. Whitney, Marvin E. <i>The Ship's Chronometer.</i> Cincinnati: American Watchmakers Institute Press, 1985.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanisms
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content: Time and Navigation
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Department of the Navy. Bureau of Ships
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.314267
label: catalog number
content: 314267
label: accession number
content: 198140
objectType: label: Object Name
content: box chronometer, without case
label: Other Terms
content: box chronometer, without case; chronometer, marine; Mechanical, Spring-Driven
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: bezel - from catalog card: 4 3/16 in; 10.668 cm
label: Measurements
content: backplate - from catalog card: 2 3/16 in; 5.588 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 3/4 in x 4 1/4 in; 6.985 cm x 10.795 cm