Joseph Ives
GALLERY
The following gallery exhibits some of the artifacts which were going to be on display during the portrait unveiling event. These artifacts were going to be exhibited throughout the main event room where the presentation on Ives was going to be. Some of the artifacts were going to be in running order, others were to be displayed in a manner which gave a broad understanding of Ives' innovations and impact on the Connecticut Industies.
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The artifacts in this exhibit come from several collections. Collections include the American Clock and Watch Museum, the Bristol Historical Society, two private collections, and assistance from the New England Carousel Museum.
Chronology of Clock Mechanisms
Abraham and Calvin Edwards
30-hour wooden time and strike movement, Ashby Massachusetts, ca. 1795.
Early wooden clocks in Connecticut would have been similar to this movement made in Ashby MA in 1795. Wood was a substitute for brass, which after the American Revolution, was exceedingly difficult to import at affordable rates. Crude clocks like these were still made one at a time, or in small batches. Abraham and Calvin Edwards made 500 of these clocks from 1790-1795, which was an extraordinary accomplishment at that time.
Collection of Tom Vaughn, 2018
Eli Terry for Levi G. and Edward Porter
30-hour wooden time and strike movement, Plymouth Connecticut, ca.1809
Eli Terry was the first to introduce clockmaking to this area when he moved from East Windsor to Watertown (Plymouth) in 1792. While other makers were still following traditional methods by making one clock at a time, Terry decided to make batches of about 200 at a time. By 1806 he was contracted for 4,000 clocks to be completed in three years. He spent the first year developing the machinery to produce interchangeable parts, and shortly after finished the 4,000-clock contract. This was the first time in world history that interchangeable parts (without the means of hand-filing and hand-fitting) was accomplished, meaning, this is one of the first mass-produced objects on the planet. It was also the birth of the first modern assembly line. Porter-contract clocks are extremely rare, with less than a dozen movements identified. This movement was undoubtedly made using leftover stock after the contract was submitted. Terry’s innovations forever changed the clockmaking industry, as well as the American industry. Bristol clockmakers, like Gideon Roberts, Seth Richards, and the Ives family, needed to find new methods of clockmaking to compete with Terry’s new technology.
Collection of Tom Vaughn, 2019
Joseph Ives or Amasa Ives Jr. & Company
8-day wooden time and strike movement, Bristol Connecticut, ca. 1809
Many of these Ives 8-day roller pinion movements have survived, however it is not possible to distinguish exactly who made them. Each movement has minor differences, meaning interchangeable parts were not used here. Labels were distributed with movements but very few have survived. These movements may have been made by Joseph Ives himself, or Amasa Ives Jr. & Company, which was a firm Joseph operated with his two brothers. This clock has roller pinions, which limit the friction produced by porous wooden gears. This was the first Ives patent, and these are the earliest clocks produced by the Ives family. The clocks produced by the Ives’ are also 8-day movements, which other makers did not regularly produce. This was the Ives’ technique of gaining interest in their product over Terry’s.
This clock is in running condition.
Collection of Tom Vaughn, former collection of Tom Manning, 2019
Joseph Ives Label
Framed printed paper, Bristol Connecticut, ca. 1814
Direction labels like these were printed by local printers, and distributed with each clock movement sold by the maker. Sometimes the labels were glued into their tall cases, but most were discarded. This would have been distributed with the Ives 8-day roller pinion tall case movements. This rare example has written at the bottom “The Company of Flynt Clark & Co bot of George E Rich May 21st 1814 one wooden clock which I warrant to (crossed out) keep good time. George E Rich for Joseph Ives att [attested] Philo Parsons.”
American Clock and Watch Museum Collection, Bristol Ct. M-00058
Dr. Titus Merriman (1768-1848)
Above: A collection of ten cases for Ives clock movements were found in the attic of Titus Merriman’s house on Maple Street before its demolition in 1925. Few made it into circulation so these clocks are tremendously rare. This timepiece was found in the attic and is pictured in the center bottom row.
Titus Merriman lived on Maple Street directly across from Miles Lewis’ House which is now the American Clock and Watch Museum. Merriman owned the land between Maple Street and present North Main Street. Here in 1808, Amasa Jr., Joseph, and Shaylor purchased a small plot of land to make clocks under Amasa Ives, Jr. & Company.
In 1811, Joseph Ives separated from his brothers to make clocks independently on Frederick Street in Forestville, but he returned to his brothers’ shop in 1812. It is estimated that between 1812-1813, the brothers made the movements for these cases made by Merriman.
Titus Merriman was also the community doctor. In 1806 he helped set up the pest house on Shrub Road to inoculate those in town infected with typhus. Candace Roberts, daughter of Bristol’s first clockmaker Gideon was a patient of Dr. Titus Merriman.
Merriman died in 1848 and is buried in the center of the Lewis Street Burying Grounds.
No Merriman case has been found with a movement inside. A proper movement has been restored to this case. Jim Dubois, an Ives expert estimates these clocks were made between 1812-1813.
American Clock and Watch Museum Collection, Bristol Ct. C-00132
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Chauncey Jerome and Asa Darrow
30-hour wooden time and strike movement, Bristol Connecticut, ca. 1825
This style shelf clock movement was developed by Joseph Ives right after the development of his mirror clocks. Notice the similarities of this clock and the much larger tall clock movement by Ives in 1809. Chauncey Jerome learned clockmaking from Eli Terry when Terry first developed the shelf clock. Jerome moved to Bristol in 1822 and set up his own shop producing movements of his own design to prevent patent infringements with Terry. Unlike Terry who developed a whole new movement design, Jerome decided to make a smaller version of the earlier tall case movements, which he could fit into cases. These movements are called Groaner movements due to the groaning and creaking sound they make as they run. This was the first mass-produced shelf movement in Bristol, which allowed Joseph Ives to find new ways of competition for sales.
Collection of Tom Vaughn, 2018
Birge, Mallory & Company, Joseph Ives Patent
8-day roller pinion strap-frame movement, Bristol Conn. Ca 1838-1843
In 1827 Ives developed the brass A-strap movement while living at Brooklyn. Due to financial difficulties, and two stays in debtors’ prison, John Birge of Bristol came to the rescue and bailed him out. This brought the A-frame movement from Brooklyn to Bristol. Birge, and Ives’ brother Chauncey began producing the movement, which was the first brass shelf clock movement to be mass produced. This was the predecessor to the standard strap frame movement which was patented in 1833.
The strap-frame movement pictured here was the last style of Ives patent to be produced in Bristol. From 1864-1870, Solomon Crosby Spring and Elisha Niles Welch were still producing these early brass movements. This style mechanism fell out of favor with Chauncey Jerome’s 1839 30-hour OG clock, however the Ives strap-frame movements lasted 8-days, and were better quality.
Collection of Tom Vaughn 2019
Chauncey Jerome
30-hour brass movement OGEE clock, Bristol Conn. Ca. 1840
After Jerome relocated to Bristol following his apprenticeship with Terry, he quickly began setting up his own industry. His success was time consuming and labor intensive but quickly paid off. His first endeavor was to case clock movements for Chauncey Boardman. This successful trial paid well, and Jerome made enough money to build his own complex with his brother Noble on the Pequabuck River in Bristol. He built a stately house on South Street and built the bridge on Main Street (which was his driveway) to access his new clock shop. In 1839, he forever changed the American Clock Industry by producing the first mass-produced brass gear shelf clock. This “Ogee” clock was named for the ogee trim which surrounds the door. The clock sold for $1 apiece, whereas wooden clocks were still selling for up to $15. The Ogee clock was also the first American object traded in bulk with England after the war of 1812. This handsome clock was one of the first produced in Bristol. The clock is in its original, unaltered, running condition. The tablet was done by William B. Fenn, who now had to produce up to 30,000 tablets for Jerome clocks annually (not including the other industries). When Jerome’s factory burned to ashes in 1844, he relocated the industry, including all of the workers (and their families) to New Haven, where he would later be mayor, and run for President of the United States. He was bankrupted by P. T. Barnum, and never recovered. He died penniless in 1868. Fortunately, he wrote “The History of the American Clock Industry and Autobiography of Chauncey Jerome”, which is the most informative complete clock history that any clockmaker published.
Collection of Tom Vaughn 2016
Birge and Fuller
8-day wagon spring brass movement, Bristol Conn. Ca. 1845
John Birge, a manufacturer and close companion of Joseph Ives went to Brooklyn in order to rescue Ives from potential debtors’ prison. Upon returning to Bristol, the wagon spring design was adapted for use in clocks made by Birge. In 1844, John Birge went into business with Thomas Fuller to produce these mechanisms in classic Ingraham style double-steeple clock cases. The company operated until Fuller’s death in 1848. Fuller’s daughter Eliza would marry Wallace Barnes, who would convert the clock shop into a spring factory, later Associated Spring.
American Clock and Watch Museum Collection, Bristol Ct. C-01347
Joseph Ives by N. L. Brewster
8-day tin plate movement, Bristol Conn. Ca. 1862
Joseph Ives designed and patented the tin-plate mechanism on October 25th 1859. The clocks were advertised as “J. Ives’ Patent Rolling Pinion and Rolling Escapement 8 Day Clocks, Bristol Conn. No Oil to be Applied to Any Part.” Instead of using standard pinions and a standard escapement, Ives replaced the verge and pinions with rolling pinions. N. L. Brewster cased these mechanisms and used a cut-out dial so that viewers could see the escape wheel move when the clock is running. Because the plates are sheet tin, the bushings wore tremendously and the clocks were not a success. Using tin was cheaper, and would have resulted in an easier gifted patent, which ultimately resulted in the failure of its production. This was Joseph Ives’ last patent before his death in 1862.
American Clock and Watch Museum Collection, Bristol Ct. C-00122
Other Artifacts
Pewter Button
Probably Bristol Conn. Ca. 1810
In 1803, Abel Lewis, inn-keeper on Federal Hill leased land for a garden, a store room, and small workshop to Amasa, Philo, and Joseph Ives for six years. It is unlikely that the brothers had experience in clockmaking at that time. A second document in March of 1808 is a sale of property from Titus Merriman to the Ives brothers for “the convenience of carrying on the button factory or any other purpose…”. This suggests that the brothers began manufacturing together in the production of buttons, before using the Merriman shop for the production of the 8-day roller pinion wooden clocks. Pewter buttons like this one, were made in several stages. A soapstone mold is carved to cast a wax blank. The wax blank is packed in sand or gypsum, and melted away. Pewter is poured into the hollow space, and a crude button is formed. Each button was put into a lathe and was turned to add designs and refine the casting. This button dates to this period and may have been a product of the Ives brothers.
Found by Tom Vaughn on Fall Mountain, 2019
$3 Exchange Note
The Manufacturer’s Exchange Company, Bristol Conn. 1814
Lott Newell (1788-1864) gained a “nefarious scoundrel” reputation in Bristol through failure to pay out exchange notes. Newell was the first postmaster of Bristol in 1812 and gained the trust of investing in local manufacturing firms. Through the 1820s, Newell faced multiple lawsuits for failing to supply the funds promised in these notes. Newell is credited with bankrupting Joseph Ives in 1819. This note in particular was a promise to pay clockmaker George Mitchell three dollars on September 15th, 1814.
Collection of Tom Vaughn, 2020
Joseph Ives’ Coffin Plate
Engraved and cast silver on copper plate, 1862.
During second half of the 19th century, it was custom to label the coffin of the individual inside. This plate would have been purchased by the family and installed on his coffin. Before his internment in the Lewis Street Burying Grounds, the plate was removed and kept by the family.
Bristol Historical Society Collection.
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Double Candlestick Steeple Clock on Frame
Tom Vaughn, Terryville Conn, 2020
This clock is an exact replication of a "double candlestick steeple clock on frame", produced by Joseph Ives independently in 1847. After Birge & Fuller discontinued the use of Ives' patent wagon springs, Ives took up the production of the clocks himself to make up for lost profit. Because the clocks (which lasted 8-days on one winding) were becoming out-dated by the later 1840s by new styles of clocks and innovations, Ives made these cases with 30-day movements. These clocks by Ives alone are tremendously rare.
This style clock and mechanism was reproduced by Tom Vaughn in March of 2020. The wagon spring mechanism, which is hand forged, is nearly identical to the early mechanisms produced by Ives.
Collection, and product of Tom Vaughn, 2020
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