Howard Regulator
date: label: date made
content: 1874
label: associated date
content: 1874
name: label: associated institution
content: Allegheny Observatory
label: associated institution
content: Gold and Stock Telegraph Company
label: associated person
content: Bentley, Henry
label: manufacturer
content: E. Howard & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: location of prior holder
content: United States: New York
label: associated place
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
label: associated place
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanisms
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Western Union Corp.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.333468.01
label: catalog number
content: 333468.01
label: accession number
content: 294351
objectType: label: Object Name
content: regulator
label: Other Terms
content: regulator; Wall Regulator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (door material)
label: Physical Description
content: mahogany (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: walnut, burr (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: carved (case production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: carved (pedestal production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: reverse-painted (dial production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: silvered (beat scale production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: silvered (case production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: veneered (case production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: regulator clock case: 79 in x 36 in x 17 in; 200.66 cm x 91.44 cm x 43.18 cm
label: Measurements
content: weight #1: 10 in x 2 1/2 in; 25.4 cm x 6.35 cm
label: Measurements
content: weight #2: 10 in x 2 1/2 in; 25.4 cm x 6.35 cm
label: Measurements
content: 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
label: Measurements
content: 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
label: Measurements
content: case key: 2 in x 3/4 in x 3/16 in; 5.08 cm x 1.905 cm x .508 cm
label: Measurements
content: winding crank: 4 in x 2 13/16 in x 3/16 in; 10.16 cm x 7.112 cm x .508 cm
label: Measurements
content: case fragment: 1 13/32 in x 1 in x 13/16 in; 3.556 cm x 2.54 cm x 2.032 cm
label: Measurements
content: movement thumbscrews, 2: 2 1/4 in x 3/4 in; 5.715 cm x 1.905 cm
label: Measurements
content: part, jewel setting: 5/16 in x 3/16 in; .762 cm x .508 cm
label: Measurements
content: part, electrical wire and contact: 5 in x 2 in x 3/32 in; 12.7 cm x 5.08 cm x .254 cm
label: Measurements
content: beat scale and stand: 12 in x 8 in x 3 in; 30.48 cm x 20.32 cm x 7.62 cm
label: Measurements
content: beat scale screws, 2: 3/4 in x 5/16 in; 1.905 cm x .762 cm
label: Measurements
content: 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
label: Measurements
content: dial: 13/16 in x 17 1/2 in; 2.032 cm x 44.45 cm
label: Measurements
content: dial hand, minute: 7 1/4 in; 18.415 cm
label: Measurements
content: dial hand, hour: 2 1/2 in; 6.35 cm
label: Measurements
content: dial hand, seconds: 4 1/4 in; 10.795 cm
label: Measurements
content: dial screws, 4: 5/16 in x 3/16 in; .762 cm x .508 cm
label: Measurements
content: dial washers, 4: 1/2 in; 1.27 cm
label: Measurements
content: movement thumbscrews, 2: 2 1/4 in x 3/4 in; 5.715 cm x 1.905 cm