Clocks · Regulator clock
Regulator Clock - Robert Ellery, Astronomical & Telegraph Controller, Melbourne Observatory, Victoria, 1888
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1888
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Regulator clock
- Dimensions
- 260 mm (Length), 420 mm (Width), 260 mm (Depth), 1410 mm (Height)
- Holding institution
- Museums Victoria, Melbourne
- Accession / object no.
- ST 26040
- Catalogue title (original)
- Regulator Clock - Robert Ellery, Astronomical & Telegraph Controller, Melbourne Observatory, Victoria, 1888 (English)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museums Victoria, Melbourne (object number ST 26040), this is a regulator clock, dated 1888. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: 260 mm (Length), 420 mm (Width), 260 mm (Depth), 1410 mm (Height). The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Summary — Museums Victoria
Astronomical regulator clock designed by Government Astronomer Robert Ellery and built at Melbourne Observatory in 1888. The clock was probably made by Observatory instrument maker Carl Otto. Ellery designed this clock to send time-signals by telegraph line from Melbourne Observatory to the time-ball at Williamstown. The time signal dropped the time-ball precisely at one o'clock each afternoon, thereby enabling ships's officers in the port to check the rate of their chronometers. Ellery designed the clock so that it would give a prolonged electrical contact, thereby generating an appropriate electrical signal. 'I therefore designed a controlled pendulum clock, in which the pendulum drives the seconds wheel and hand, and thence the minute and hour hands. The seconds wheel closes contact springs in the usual way as each tooth passses, but, as the motion of the wheel is slow as that of the pendulum, the contact is sufficiently prolonged to obviate all difficulty complained of as regards adjustment of line relays.' Report of the Government Astronomer, 1888, p. 6.
Physical description — Museums Victoria
Weight driven; deadbeat escapement. Pendulum has steel shaft with cylindrical brass bob.Separate dials for minutes, seconds, and hours.
Inscriptions & marks
Round silvered dial marked "REGULATOR ROBERT J. ELLERY MELBOURNE".
Provenance
Donation from L. Smith, 08 Feb 1967
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Related records
Clocks · 1830–1870
Wall clock in a papier mâché case with painted decoration. English, mid 19th century.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1840–1900
Alarm clock, mounted on model of coffin with skeleton, probably English, 1840–1900
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1840–1880
Clock dial marked "Potter, Railway Time" with two hands, unknown maker, British, 1840–1880
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1840–1877
Electric clock of the Bain type
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1840–1878
Mantel clock by A. Brocot, France, 1840–1878
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1840–1880
Wall Clock in octagonal case with Prince of Wales Feathers above makers name "W. Avison, Railway Time, York", made by William Avison, England, 1840–1880.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1841–1870
Contact bar from electric clock, unsigned, London, England, 1841–1870
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1841–1870
Contactor from electric clock, unsigned, London, England, 1841–1870
Science Museum Group, London