Grandfather Clocks

“Grandfather Clock” refers to a floor clock or longcase clock. It is pendulum driven clock in a tall wooden case that stands on the floor and is six to eight feet tall. Grandfather clocks come in many styles, from traditional to Mission and Shaker designs. Flat-topped clocks with low-sheen, distressed woods are designed to fit into casual, contemporary settings. Some people even customize their clocks to create personalized heirlooms for future generations.

History of Grandfather Clock

Throughout the ages humankind has always searched for ways to keep track of time and has tried to improve on techniques for accurately marking its passing. A long time ago the astronomers are needed more accurate clocks to perform better calculations about the movements of the heavens, so the idea for the first pendulum clock came into being in the 1500s.

In 1582 Galileo Galilei discovered that could use a pendulum to keep time, but it wasn’t until 1656 that Galileo’s pendulum principle was put to use by Dutch scientist Christian Huygens who was the first who developed a pendulum based clock. Some years later in 1670 the English clockmaker William Clement noticed that a longer pendulum kept better time, so he lengthened the pendulum to over three feet. This of course required a longer case for the clockworks, and so the longcase clock was born – that was the beginning of the Grandfather Clock. From then on the clocks were variously called longcase clocks, floor clocks, and even coffin clocks because they resembled the shape and size of the simple wooden coffins of that time.

Huygens’s invention however allowed clocks to run accurately to the point of three minutes loss or gain per day. In 1721 George Graham noticed that temperature changes in the pendulum of a grandfather clock would make it run slowly or fast. Graham improved the grandfather clock by compensating for the temperature changes in the pendulums. His changes lead to grandfather clocks that were accurate to 1 second a day.

Grandfather clocks were first made for royal families and nobles, but in time their production cost were cut down and it was prohibitive to anyone who wasn't very wealthy. Around 1685, long case clocks were imported into American colonies for the first time and roughly 10 years later their construction in the New World began. New York, New England, Pennsylvania and Virginia became long case clock making centers, however, until the 19th century American introduction of inexpensive brass movements, English clockmakers reined supreme. Due to costs of craftsmanship and parts, in America too, they were only affordable for the well off families and became a symbol of socio-economic status and wealth.

Many more improvements occurred over time and refined them into the modern grandfather clocks you see today. They still all tend to have similar characteristics and styles - tall, wooden, usually with ornate carvings and one of about a half dozen songs.

How the Grandfather Clocks Got Their Name

The term grandfather clock for long case or floor clocks became widespread in England and America by the 1880s thanks to a song composed by the American songwriter Henry Clay Work, namely "My Grandfather's Clock".

In 1875 he was on a trip when he stopped at the George Hotel in Piercebridge, North Yorkshire, England, and the hotel had a floor clock that didn’t work. The American was told that the hotel used to be managed by two brothers named Jenkins and during this time the floor clock kept time very well. When one of the two brothers died, the clock started to lose time. Repair attempts were made, but they all failed. When the other brother died at the age of 90, the clocked stopped running altogether, and was never repaired in remembrance of the brothers. The new manager left the clock the way it was, with the hands pointing to the time when the last Jenkins died.

Henry Work decided to commemorate the clock story by writing a song he titled “My Grandfather’s Clock,” changing the two brothers into Work’s grandfather. The song shared this story became very popular. Shortly after that, the long case or floor clocks, which were referred to by a variety of other names as well, came to be known as the grandfather clocks.

Grandfather, Grandmother or Granddaughter Clocks

As you understand the Grandfather clock stands about six to eight feet tall. A grandfather clock is the common name used for a long case clock that stands in this height range. But how we will call a longcase clock that is five feet tall? There is a classification of the longcase clocks that classes them depending of their height, and that is why you can meet clocks named Grandmother or Granddaughter clocks.

The standard Grandmother clocks tend to have been made in the 1920’s and 30’s and vary between 5’4” and 5’9” in height. This is the height that is most popular. If a clock is very slim, spring-driven, has a dome top and square or arch brass dial, (many of the movements in this type of clock tend to play chimes) it is classed as a Grandmother clock even if sometimes it is slightly over six feet.

Any longcase clock less than five feet tall is classed as a Granddaughter clock. Generally, because most of them were made after 1930, the cases and are not normally of high quality and many of them tend to be veneered on plywood. The veneers used are normally oak, mahogany and walnut. You may sometimes see them in solid cases, but these are the exceptions rather than the rule. They were not expensive clocks when first made, and so a lot of outlay in their manufacture was prohibitive.

How they work

Each Grandfather clock has a pendulum, which is at the heart of the clock - it provides the ability to regulate and adjust the time keeping. The pendulum is attached to an anchor, and as the pendulum swings, the anchor turns a gear. The action between the anchor and the gear causes the clock to tick. In the grandfather clocks, the pendulum swings once every two seconds.

Movements

Grandfather clocks are generally offered with one of two different types movements: a mechanical cable-driven or a quartz battery-operated movement. Key-wound grandfather clocks are the patriarch of mechanical timepieces and are powered, or driven, with weights that hang on cables or with springs. What is the difference between a weight-driven and a spring-driven clock? Nothing, really. Both a weight and a spring store energy. In a spring-driven clock you wind the spring and it unwinds into the same sort of gear train found on a weight-driven clock.

The weights in a weight-driven grandfather clock power the clock from the gravitational pull of the weights slowly falling down on the cables. These weights are heavy enough to power the clock for some days, at which time they will need to be wound up again by inserting a crank into holes in the dial. In antique grandfather clocks, the weights had to be manually pulled up by pulling on chains that the weights hung from.

Indeed, the more sophisticated grandfather clocks are cable-driven. Usually there are three weights and each weight has a specific function. The middle weight powers the timekeeping function of the clock. The left weight, as you're looking at the clock, powers the hour strikes. Finally, the right weight, as you're looking at the clock, powers the chimes.

Grandfather clocks with cable-driven movements are surprisingly accurate. In fact, they have the potential to be timed to within a minute a month of the correct time. The timekeeping function is regulated, or made more accurate, with the use of a pendulum. Pendulums can be adjusted to make the clock run faster or slower by simply turning a small rating nut at the bottom of the pendulum. Turning this rating nut will cause the pendulum bob to either raise or lower. Raising the bob will cause the clock to run faster and lowering the bob will cause the clock to run slower.

Some floor clocks have battery-powered quartz movements. They usually need new batteries annually and the microchip movements might need to be replaced after a decade or more.

The strike and chime sounds are made by a series of hammers hitting various length rods. Each rod makes a different sound when hit by a hammer. Specific chime melodies are achieved by controlling the sequence that each hammer hits a corresponding rod.

Learn also about:

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