Howard Regulator

Object Details

associated institution

Allegheny Observatory

Gold and Stock Telegraph Company

associated person

Bentley, Henry

manufacturer

E. Howard & Co.

Description

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.

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.

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.

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.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Western Union Corp.

1874

associated date

1874

ID Number

ME.333468.01

catalog number

333468

accession number

294351

Object Name

regulator

Other Terms

regulator; Wall Regulator

Physical Description

glass (case material)

glass (door material)

mahogany (case material)

walnut, burr (case material)

carved (case production method/technique)

carved (pedestal production method/technique)

reverse-painted (dial production method/technique)

silvered (beat scale production method/technique)

silvered (case production method/technique)

veneered (case production method/technique)

Measurements

regulator: 79 in x 36 in x 17 in; 200.66 cm x 91.44 cm x 43.18 cm

location of prior holder

United States: New York

associated place

United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

United States: Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh

See more items in

Work and Industry: Mechanisms

Measuring & Mapping

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_856687

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-a417-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa