An Acorn Clock
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1849
label: date made
content: ca 1847-1848
name: label: manufacturer
content: Forestville Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description
content: The acorn clock, named for the whimsical, graceful shape of its case, is coveted by collectors for its rarity. Historically it is interesting as an example of mass-produced Connecticut clocks during their transition from weight- to spring-drive. The use of the spring-drive meant that manufacturers no longer had to build elongated cases to accommodate falling weights. This new freedom, along with the technique of laminating and bending wood, made possible the characteristic acorn shape of the case.
label: Description
content: Jonathon Clark Brown (1807-1872) was a prominent Bristol, Connecticut manufacturer, who operated a succession of clock factories. Last and best-known of these was the Forestville Manufacturing Company, which boasted an annual output of one hundred thousand clocks shortly before its bankruptcy in 1856. A cabinetmaker by trade, Brown offered an unusually diverse and imaginative range of case styles. The Forestville Manufacturing Company made acorn clocks like this one from 1847 to 1850.
label: Description
content: Acorn clocks were among the first to use the locally made coiled-steel springs that had recently become available. These springs were not installed as integral parts of the movement. Instead they were attached to a conventional weight-driven movement in a notably rough-and-ready manner. Mounted at the bottom of the case, the springs exerted the same pulling force upon the clock as the falling weights had. The two springs, one for the going train and another for the hour-striking train, were each combined with a fusee, a cone-shaped pulley designed to equalize the changing force of the unwinding spring. Before long, Connecticut clockmakers dispensed with the fusees and incorporated the springs directly into the movements.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Connecticut, Bristol
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanisms
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Albert Adsit Clemons, through George H. Paltridge
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.311601
label: catalog number
content: 311601
label: accession number
content: 148588
objectType: label: Object Name
content: acorn shelf clock
label: Object Name
content: clock, acorn shelf
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24 1/2 in x 15 in x 5 1/4 in; 62.23 cm x 38.1 cm x 13.335 cm