694 Transactions of the A 21 eric an Institute. 



ITorJc, wliicli was recently read before this association,* and in which 

 Trinity church clock and its maker were not fairly treated. 



I have the honor of saying that i built Trinity clock, and I take 

 pleasure in referring to it as a specimen of workmanship and as a 

 time-keeper. It is the largest clock in this country. The three 

 great wheels are thirty-one inches in diameter, two-inch face each ; 

 the other wheels in like proportion, of the best brass and well ham- 

 mered ; the wheels all work into box pinions, with brass boxes ; the 

 leaves are cast steel, tempered and polished ; there are nine pinions 

 and nine wheels in the running, and hour and quarter trains ; the 

 whole works are built in a strong, substantial and workmanlike 

 manner ; it has run full seven days ever since it was placed in the 

 steeple ; it will be remembered that the clock strikes 4,320 strokes 

 more in a week than any other clock in the city ; the pendulum-rod 

 is made of white pine, well saturated with best tallow and beeswax 

 to keep out dampness, and, if the clock is properly taken care of, 

 it will keep as correct time as any other tower clock in this city or in 

 the world, 



I received a gold medal from this Institute for this clock, the report 

 upon it having been made by Mr. James Gemmel and Mr. S. W. 

 Benedict, gentlemen of the greatest experience and soundest judg- 

 ment in matters of time-keeping, I beg to call your attention to the 

 following extract from the report made by them October 22d, 18-1:6 : 



" We have exiamined the clock, and find it the largest we have 

 ever seen. The whole is of brass, steel and iron, with the exception 

 of the barrels on which the ropes are wound. The arrangement of 

 the whole, as well as the make and finish, is done in a masterly 

 juanner, and does great credit to tlie skill and ingenuity of the 

 maker, and it deserves the liighest praise of the American Institute." 



For several years I had charge of the clock, and its value as a time 

 keeper was patent to all frequenters of Wall street. 



The ridiculous story told by the essayist, about the employment of 

 the sexton's son as a messenger, I pass over as unworthy of notice, it 

 being entirely devoid of truth. 



I do not know that you will consider the essayist's references to 

 Trinity clock deserving of this notice* but it seemed to me proper to 

 make a true statement of the case, to the body whicli listened to the 

 essay ; and I request that the same publicity be given to these few 

 remarks, as was accorded to the essay which is thie cause of them. 



* See Transactions of the American Institute for 1867-8, p. 798. 



