Electrical Horology Group

Electrical Horology Group (EHG)

Brillie 1/2 second pendulum battery powered Master Clock

Welcome to the Home Page of the Electrical Horology Group,
a Specialist Group within the Antiquarian Horological Society.

The Electrical Horology Group has been in existence since 1970 and has over 150 members world-wide.

EHG members share an interest in all electrical horology, from the early beginnings in the 19th Century, right up to relatively modern Quartz and atomic clocks. The diversity of approach in applying electrical power to winding or maintaining a clock is immense, and the ingenuity of solutions to the problems encountered is fascinating.

Meetings are held approximately four times a year, usually on a Saturday in March/April, June, September and November. A variety of venues is used but generally two or three of the meetings are held at the Guildhall Library, City of London. Meetings may involve formal lectures, short talks, visits to places of horological interest, exhibitions, visits to private collections, and so forth.

Announcements of forthcoming meetings of the Group are generally included in each issue of Antiquarian Horology, as are the subsequent reports of these meetings. These are also accessible on this site. (See the listing on the right).

The Annual General Meeting is held in November and is combined with a special lecture, often given by a guest speaker.

The Group publishes technical papers from time to time on electrical horology matters that may not have a wide enough appeal for inclusion in the Journal. These Papers are available to Group members. New Papers are dependent on members providing the material for publication. Over seventy such Papers have been published so far.

ATO 1/2 second pendulum battery powered wall clock

If you are not a member, but are interested in joining, please contact the Secretary of the Electrical Group, James Nye, or the Chairman of the Electrical Group, Martin Ridout.

Membership of the Group is only open to members of the AHS, and you can indicate to the AHS when joining that you would also like to join the EHG. Membership of the EHG is just £3 per year (in addition to the annual subscription for the AHS).

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Meeting Report

March 2009 - Visit to Amberley Working Museum, Sussex

A group of twenty-three gathered at Amberley Working Museum (see www.amberleymuseum.co.uk) for a tour of this marvellous attraction, the high-point being a guided tour of the Milne Electrical Collection, housed in the Electricity Hall. The tour was conducted by the retiring curator, John Narborough, formerly of SEEBOARD, who has looked after the collection since 1997.

The collection has representative artefacts to illustrate all aspects of the electrical world, including electricity generation, transmission and distribution; high-voltage test and laboratory apparatus; motors and generators; batteries and battery-powered vehicles; domestic appliances and electro-medical devices; and, of course, clocks. Its collection of electrical horology is wide-ranging, but of great note is the crossover between timekeeping and metering, exemplified most clearly in what must be the UK’s best collection of early pendulum electricity meters, particularly those of the Aron Electricity Meter Company, formed in 1898.

Not only is the collection’s coverage of twin-pendulum (and other early) meters comprehensive, many of the objects are on display and working, testament to the long and dedicated hours put into their restoration by Steve Jones, instrument engineer, horologist and Amberley volunteer, who sadly passed away, tragically young at 47, in January 2009. Steve’s efforts remain very much visible and to the fore, and John introduced the slideshow on the Aron meter that Steve put together for the IEE History Conference in Swansea in 2006. Also on show was the early spring-wound Aron meter on loan to Amberley from the ‘Scottish and Southern’ collection at the Christchurch Museum of Electricity – the last restoration task Steve completed.

The Group was able to inspect all the exhibits over a leisurely afternoon, with John kindly on hand to explain and demonstrate objects and instruments. Towards the end of our visit, and in response to our enquiries, John explained his vision for the Milne Collection, now that the sponsorship of EDF has come to an end. Although John is retiring as formal curator, he remains at the centre of volunteer efforts to support continued work at the Electricity Hall, to that end forming and acting as first chairman of the Friends of the Milne Collection (see www.milnemuseum.org.uk). We were therefore pleased to learn that a unique and valuable collection will remain preserved and accessible, not only to the specialist collector and enthusiast, but to the general public and particularly for children – an example of a traditional museum, filled with wonderful objects and a pleasingly notable absence of over-simplification. Our great thanks go out to John and his colleagues at Amberley for welcoming us, arranging lunch and tea, and for their wider efforts in preserving our technical heritage.

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Famous Names in Electrical Horology

Personalities: (listed chronologically)

Sir Francis Ronalds		Inventor of the Electrostatic Clock in 1814.
Alexander Bain	1811-1877	The "Father of electrical horology". He patented the first practical electromagnetically impelled clock in 1841.
Matthaus Hipp	1813-1893	Inventor of the Hipp Toggle in 1842 - a device attached to a pendulum or balance wheel that senses when the arc of swing reduces to a given point, and then closes an electrical contact to electromagnetically impel the pendulum or balance.
Frank Hope-Jones	1867-1950	Patented the best known, and arguably the most accurate, gravity impelled pendulum master clock in 1908, the Synchronome.
Henry Ellis Warren	1872-1957	Devised the first synchronous (A.C. mains powered) clock in 1918.
William Hamilton Shortt		Patented a highly accurate, electromagnetically impelled, free pendulum regulator clock in 1921. The clock operated in a vacuum chamber, and its accuracy was only superseded by the arrival of the Atomic clock.
Warren A. Marrison		Invented the quartz crystal controlled clock in 1927.
Louis Essen F.R.S.	1908-1997	Invented the Caesium Atomic clock in 1955.

Companies and Trade Names: (listed alphabetically)

ATO	The company set up in France by Léon Hatot (1883-1953) made clocks under this trademark (a contraction of his own name) from 1919 . In the 1950's Hatot's company developed and patented the world's first transistorised electric clock.
Bulle	The trade name of electromagnetic pendulum clocks marketed by a company set up in France by M. Favre-Bulle. Designed in France, they were given British patents in 1922. Production continued until stopped by the Second World War, with around 300,000 units made.
Eureka	A very successful early electromagnetic clock manufactured between 1904 and 1914. The main feature was a very large balance wheel several inches in diameter. Around 10,000 clocks were made.
Gents of Leicester	A very successful company run by Messers Parsons and Ball manufacturing sturdy electrical Master Clocks from 1904 to the 1970s.
Hamilton Watch Co.	An American company which produced the first electrically maintained wrist watch in 1957, after 10 years research.
Smiths Sectric	The trade name of Smiths English Clocks Ltd in Cricklewood, London. The company produced many thousands of electric clocks, both A.C. mains powered and battery powered during the middle years of the 20th century.
Synchronome	Started in 1895, this is the company name of Frank Hope-Jones. The company produced very accurate electric Master Clocks that were capable of driving many slave clocks around a factory or office building in perfect synchronism.
Telechron	The trade mark of the Warren Clock Company in America and applied to synchronous clocks (A.C. mains powered). The name literally means "time from a distance".

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History

These are just a few of the more significant milestones in the development of Electrical Horology.

1840	First practical electromagnetic clock, by Alexander Bain.
1864	Distribution of time to public clocks, by Magnetic Telegraph Co, Glasgow.
1881	Electric motor to wind clock spring, by Chester H. Ponds, (USA).
1906	Eureka, first successful balance wheel electric clock, by T. B. Powers (Patented by Kutnow Bros).
1918	Synchronous electric clock invented (A.C. mains powered), by Henry Ellis Warren (USA).
1927	Quartz crystal controlled clock invented (experimental design), by Warren A. Marrison.
1931	Synclock: one of the first domestic synchronous clocks for the UK (Warren motor, A.C. mains powered), by Everett, Edgcumbe & Co.
1933	Speaking clock: the first accurate fully automatic service, Paris.
1953	Transistor first used to electronically maintain a pendulum, by Leon Hâtot (France).
1955	Caesium atomic clock, by Louis Essen.
1957	Wrist watch with electrical contacts operated directly by balance wheel produced commercially, by Hamilton Watch Co (US).
1959	Accutron watch using an electronically maintained tuning fork as timing element, by Bulova.
1970	First LED display on a wrist watch.
1971	First LCD display on a wrist watch.
1972	First mass produced domestic quartz clock, by Staiger in Germany.

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EHG Technical Papers

The Electrical Horology Group of the AHS has published a number of Technical Papers over the years, covering a wide range of electrical horology topics.

Regretably, these papers are available to Members of the Society on request only.

The complete list of such Papers shown below indicates the depth and breadth of information available to Members.

	Title
1	List of articles on Electrical Horology from "Horology" and "The American Horologist & Jeweller"
2	List of works on Electrical Horology
3	List of works on Electrical Horology from "Practical Watch & Clockmaker"
4	List of articles on Electrical Horology from "Model Engineer"
5	Electricity for the Antiquarian Horologist - An introduction in 5 parts
6	A Chronoscopic Conundrum
7	A Pendulum Electric Timepiece ca 1845 made by Alexander Bain of Edinburgh
8	Spark Prevention
9	The Magnetic Escapement
10	Electric Clocks - controlling the current
11	Magneta Master Clock - Translation from the French
12	An Electrically Maintained Precision Pendulum Clock
13	The Evolution of Timeswitches
14	The "Brox" Electric Pendulum
15	Digital Calendar Clock
16	Electronics in Timekeeping
17	List of Major Electric Clock Literature available from The Franklin Institute Library, USA
18	Bright's Perpetual Motion Electric Clock
19	Quartz clocks and Atomic Time
20	Eureka Clock Survey
21	Rugby 60kHz Broadcast
22	The Synchronome Master Clock - Adjustment and Setting to Work
23	Electric Clocks Acquired by the Science Museum in 1978
24	Breguet's Electric Clock
25	Replacing a Bulle Clock Suspension
26	The Development of Batteries for Electric Clocks and Watches
27	Electrical Horology Group - The First Ten Years
28	The ATO Electric Clock
29	An Early Electric Clock System
30	The Role of Electrical Horology in the Development of the Quartz Clock
31	Master Clock - Quartz Controlled Time Transmitter
32	The "Chronopher" Master Clock System
33	The Construction and Early Development of the Talking Clock
34	A Proposal for a Time Ball at Boston, USA
35	Time Balls in and Around Charing Cross
36	The "Synchronome" Astronomical Regulator>
37	Improvements to Astronomical Clocks
38	Stored Energy Power Supply for Synchronome Impulse Systems
39	Adjustments to the English Clock Systems Master and Slave Clocks
40	ITR/IBM Supervised Time System - Principle of Operation
41	Hints for Servicing Pulsynetic Clocks
42	Electromagnetic Clock Literature of the 19th Century
43	Telephone Manufacturing Company Ltd. High Movement Impulse Transmitter
44	Electric Clocks in the Science Museum Reserve Collection
45	The Greenwich Mean Time System
46	Time in Broadcasting
47	The Latest Developments in Quartz Crystal Oscillators
48	The Telephone Rentals Uniselector Chronogram
49	The Electric Clock Systems of the London Underground
50	An Earth Cell Experiment
51	National Time Standards
52	Almost Perpetual Motion - The Amazing Clinker Pendulum Clock
53	100 Years of the Domestic Electric Clock
54	The Bulle Clock - Practical Manual
55	The Fedchenko Isochronous Pendulum Suspension Spring
56	Catalogue of Exhibition of Electrical Clocks Working on the Hipp Toggle Principle
57	Matthaus Hipp of Reutlingen
58	Smiths - An Overview of Their Activities in Electrical Horology
59	Warren's Synchronous Clocks
60	Ffolliott Gray's Invention "The Duo Electric Clock"
61	Siemens & Halske Electric Clocks 1847-1945
62	Post Office Clock Survey
63	"Clocks Magazine" - Electrical Horology Index
64	Gillett & Johnston Master Electric Clock
65	Rabe Bros. of Hanau - Torsion Pendulum Clocks
66	The Beginning of the Liquid Crystal Watch
67	Pul-Syn-Etic clocks, Installation, Maintenance and Repair
68	English Clock Systems Ltd 1-Second Master Clock
69	Gent Fig.C53 Strike Controller
70	100 Years of Paul Schroder of Stuttgart 1902-2002
71	The Quartz Revolution
72	Master Clocks Designed & Manufactured By Gent Ltd - 1898 to 1980
73	A Celebration of the Centenary of the Eureka Clock Patent
74	The Lowne Electric Clock Company - History & Servicing the Master Clocks
75	Servicing Procedures & Catalogue Details for the TMC 'SPB' Half Second Master Clock
76	Bulle: A Study into the Effectiveness of the Isochronous Spring.
77	An Approximate Expression for the Effect of the Bulle Isochronal Spring
78	Frank Holden – the Man and his Clocks
79	P A Bentley - The Man and his Clocks
80	Recollections of 40 years of the Electrical Horology Group
81	A Game of Numbers - some observation on serial numbers
82	English Clock Systems Ltd - Revisited

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Electrical Horology Links

Accutron - Dashto
Accutron - Rob Berkavicius
Accutron - Sean Connor
Barrie's Clock Museum
BHI Workshop Tips - Electric Clocks
DCF-77 - German radio time transmissions
Electric Clocks - Michel Viredaz
Electric Clock Archive - Jan van Harten
Electric Clocks - An Overview - M Ridout
English Clock Systems Ltd - History and clocks
Gents Pulsynetic clocks - Gijs Veraart
German electric clocks (in English) - Werner Moser
History of the evolution of electric clocks - J E Bosschieter
Jefferson Golden Hour clocks - Roger Russell
MSF - UK time transmissions
NIST - US Time Standard

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Antiquarian Horological Society