Re: Monday's answer
Gary's research paid off. He gets a large gold star for his forehead!
The man was Eli Terry and the item is the Connecticut Pillar and Scroll clock.
That clock and its proliferation started America's concept of farmers and then industrialists working by time.
Before the large scale distribution of the mass produced clock human work - especially agricultural work was largely parceled out by daylight vs. night. With the accurate representation of hourly time, and growing industrialization, hours passing gradually overtook the general block of a day identified as �daylight� in terms of importance of the worker.
Eli Terry was a key to this happening because he built clocks well, cost effectively, and made them stylish. He standardized wooden parts and later, metal parts, by the use of jigs, custom lathes and woodworking machines. The first step was to make lots of precise circles, and eventually he designed how to divide the various sized circles so that consistent gear teeth could be cut. Allthough he was a trained engraver he farmed out engraving tasks, and fancy work. By designing a case only four to six inches deep and under three feet in height it could fit on most mantles or other home shelf. By adding wood then brass finials, delicate wooden scroll work, reverse painting panels, he made it an important piece of furniture for everyday homes�in fact, it became an essential part of most homes because it provided its inhabitants a reference by which things could be scheduled. The first ones ran thirty hours before needing rewinding, but gradually it has stretched to eight days before needing the key. This was patiently explained in directions for use pasted on or inside the clock. Time zones were not standardized as to portions of the country when first on the market, that didn�t happen until well into the 1900�s, but to be able to indicate time elapsed was good enough for most people for it to be essential for daily living.
Terry knew that most �typical� homes could not pay for or even fit a tall case �grandfather style� clock so he adjusted the fit to the average home and made it beautiful and graceful so that display of it was a sign of taste as much as doing well. He introduced �new� models, and the installment plan to boost sales. Literally hundreds of copies still exist (even a few with wood gears) and thousands more are out there made by companies who stole his idea.
Eli Terry eventually sold manufacturing to his early assistants Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley. Examples seen on the web are usually Seth Thomas designs and can be found in abundance under �pillar and scroll clock� in most browsers.
Eventually by the time he died in 1852 Eli Terry was finished with mass production, he could by then afford the luxury of time and reverted back to making high end hand made clocks.