At the The Knights of Columbus, 1800 South 92nd Street, West Allis, WI 53214.

Educational Lecture will be “Anniversary
Clocks: History and Repair”, part 2 provided by  Harry Schultz

“Show & Tell” – Bring an Anniversary clock.

A reminder that the Knights of Columbus on 92nd Street has cancelled our contract as they are selling the building in April 2019. The March meeting will be the last one at the West Allis location.

Vice President’s Message
For the January educational program we showed the first half of “Anniversary Clocks: History, Repair, & Maintenance” by Bill Ellison.
The torsional pendulum clock was first invented and patented by American Aaron Crane in 1841. Other American inventors and patents follow in 1852 and 1876, but without commercial success. German Anton Harder independently invented and patented the torsional clock in 1882 with commercial success.
Early torsional clocks can be identified by a lack of decoration above the pendulum. Before 1900 some torsional clocks had a striking mechanism yet ran for 1 year. Some clocks were made with a calendar. Older clocks have no means of leveling. Older clocks also have thicker domes with the bottom of the glass ground.  Bowler & Burdick a Jewelry store in Cleveland conceived and trade marked the term “Anniversary” clock in 1905. They imported movements from Germany and cases from France.
After World War 2 many Anniversary clocks were imported from Germany. Some-one noticed that there was a much lower customs duty on watches than clocks. By making the clock plates less than 1.77 inches wide the clocks would qualify as watches for custom duties. Early 1950s clocks had fins added to make the plates look wider. Later the fins were dropped. The pendulum guide cup was patented in 1952. In 1958 the temperature compensated torsional spring was introduced by Charles Terwilliger, greatly improving time keeping. He also published the “400 Day Clock Repair Guide”.
The March educational program will finish the second half of the DVD with an introduction to Anniversary clock repair and maintenance.

Thank you,
Harry Schulz

Here are a few pictures from our last mart. Hope to see you on the 17th.