Novelty Clock, "Winker," about 1865
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1865
name: label: maker
content: Bradley & Hubbard
notes: label: Description
content: Once Yankee technology had perfected the process for mass-producing spring-driven brass clock movements, the small mechanisms could be made and sold so cheaply that virtually everyone could afford a domestic clock. Case styles proliferated as the industry rushed to satisfy the broad range of American tastes. Decorative novelties flooded the market. Fanciful figures with blinking eyes were among the many popular styles.
label: Description
content: The "winkers," painted cast-iron figures with clock movements in their bellies, enjoyed great favor in the 1860s and 1870s. Made by several firms in nearly a dozen styles, they featured eyes that moved up and down through a wire linkage to the escapement. The first figures are credited to Pietro Cinquinni of Meriden, Connecticut. In 1857 he patented two figure-clock case designs: a man dressed in eighteenth century garb, who came to be called Toby or the Continental, and Santa Claus. Production began the same year at the Meriden firm of Bradley and Hubbard, manufacturers of cast-metal household ornaments. Movements were supplied by the Seth Thomas Clock Company and the Waterbury Clock Company. Figure-clock castings by J. Buchner and Company of New York and movements attributed to Chauncey Jerome also survive. The line soon expanded to include the Organ Grinder, Gambrinus, Topsy, Sambo, the Sitting Dog, the Reclining Dog, the Owl, and the Lion. The Smithsonian's Toby has an unmarked spring-driven movement with a balance wheel, the so-called "marine lever" movement.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanisms
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.317038
label: catalog number
content: 317038
label: accession number
content: 233061
label: accession number
content: 233061
objectType: label: Object Name
content: clock
label: Other Terms
content: clock; Mechanical, Spring-Driven; Shelf Clock
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: "brass" (movement material)
label: Physical Description
content: iron (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (case material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 1/2 in x 10 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in; 41.91 cm x 26.67 cm x 19.05 cm
label: Measurements
content: clock: 4 in; 10.16 cm
label: Measurements
content: base: 2 in; 5.08 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 1/2 in x 10 1/2 in x 7 1/4 in; 41.91 cm x 26.67 cm x 18.415 cm