PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 413 



Augusta, Georgia, on the same errand and at the same time. Neither staid 

 but a short time. 



The first one-day brass clock appears to have been made by Jerome, in 

 '38. This, together with the competition that sprung up, brought down 

 the price to a very low figure. The first clocks were sent to England in 

 1842. A Mr. Peck, from Bristol, went out as agent. Mr. Peck wrote back 

 several times that he would have to send them home again, but Jerome 

 insisted on his sticking to it. The English were incensed at the idea of the 

 people who made clocks for all the world, buying of the Yankees. Finally, 

 a merchant gave Mr. Peck permission to set two of them running in his 

 store, and attaching the price. The next day, Peck went in to see how 

 they were getting along, and found them both sold. There was something 

 so strange about it, that the merchant let him leave four more, and the 

 next day found them sold. In a few daj'^s, the merchant gave an order for 

 200 more. The neighboring merchants, finding them selling, all went in 

 for the Yankee clocks. Two other consignments were made, which were 

 seized at the custom-house; but, finally, John Bull found this did not pay, 

 and allowed the Yankees to have their own way in the matter. I think 

 the first lever clock was made by Kirk, in New Haven, about '45. He 

 used a double escapement wheel, and had it patented; but the same escape- 

 ment is described in Reid's work, published in 1823. They ran very well 

 when in good order, but the balance being heavy, and standing upright, 

 the bottom pivot soon increases its bearings so much that it runs hard. 

 Kirk also added a striking part to run from the same spring. All of the 

 first lever clocks were made too heavy, and did not perform well. Those 

 made now have a crown wheel, not much heavier than a watch. 



A writer in the Atlantic Monthly for January, claims the first clock 

 made entirely in this country to have been the work of Benjamin Banneker, 

 a negro astronomer, near Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, and who had never 

 seen a clock in his life, in the year 1162; he took a watch for his model. 



Clocks were early made in Jersey, and a Yankee went down there to 

 make some cases in 1812-13. These were the old English styles. 



The Best Brass Clock. 



And now, Mr. Chairman, I will show you what I consider one of the best 

 and simplest eight-day movements made in America, or in Connecticut, for 

 as far as clock movements are concerned that constitutes America. There 

 are movements 'made in Williamsburgh, but they are hardly of enough 

 value to be counted in the catalogue (that is my private opinion). The 

 movement which I hold in my hands runs eight days and strikes, but per- 

 haps \you will be surprised to learn that it contains almost as many pieces 

 as a fine French one. A French movement contains about 200 pieces, and 

 tliis contains over 1.50, yet the machinery by which it is made is brought 

 to such perfection, that the whole is finished in the time it takes to make 

 the spring, barrel or pallets in the French. The outside form is struck out 

 by one blow, the inside at another, and the holes to receive the pivots, 

 stud for the pendulum and rivets for fastening the bridge, are all done at 

 one blow. The wheels are struck into their present shape, excepting the 

 teeth, they are straightened up, and from ten to twenty-five put on a man- 

 dril, screwed up solid and put in the cutting engine, and the requisi 



