Antique Clocks: Ithaca Clock Company

Video Transcript

We've talked about calendar clocks, and I mentioned that the Ithaca Clock Company was really the a...the main producers of these, and the most famous clocks, calendar clocks, and probably the ones that you'll see most now, and the ones which, perhaps, are the most collectible. This is an example of an Ithaca Clock Company shelf clock in this case. You see the large, lower dial like we talked about before. In this case, we see the day of the week indicated, and we also see the month indicated as well as the pointer that tells you the day of the month. This little aperture here is so that you can see the pendulum swinging behind it, and you know your clock is running if you can't hear it ticking. These are perpetual calendars. The patent goes back to the eighteen-seventies when they figured out a way to...that you didn't have to, on short months, go and bump that calendar pointer ahead. This would know the long and the short months, if you started it at the right point. It would know the leap years, even. There was another little cam in there which told, which told the clock when it was a leap year. So these perpetual calendars are quite intriguing, and then, normally they can work right unless they've been oiled. This is just a little cautionary note. All of them originally came with a big sticker on the back that said "Do not oil the calendar mechanism." Everything relies on things being smooth and dry and falling into place. Once as it's been oiled, they're almost impossible to make work again because the oil makes 'em all sticky and gummy and they don't work right. So definitely, don't get in there with your can of WD 40. If you want to know more about calendar clocks, Tran Duy Ly again, has done a great compilation of the major calendar clock production by the big companies, including Ithaca. We see another Ithaca clock on the front here, which is even...even fancier. This may be a fashion model that has it even larger dial on the bottom, showing the date and the month, and all those...all those things that now you can find out on your computer. But in the old days, this gave you a reminder of where you were on the calendar.

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