History of Synchronome Grandfather Clocks

Many of us are familiar with the traditional spring and pendulum powered tall case clock. Long case or tall case clocks came to be known as grandfather and grandmother clocks. Other, less widely used names for tall case clocks is hall or floor clock. Whether you call them floor clocks, grandfather clocks or long case clocks, most use a fairly traditional spring and pendulum movement. Throughout the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, there were grandfather clock manufacturers that pioneered a unique electrically powered movement.

The invention of the synchronous electric clock movement combined the best of a pendulum driven, electrically powered mechanism. Using a series of batteries, a pendulum, electromagnets and escapement mechanisms, the clock relies on both an electric current and gravity. A precursor of the modern electric clock, synchronome clocks operate in a similar way as traditional pendulum clocks. One big difference between a mechanical clock and a synchronome is the rate of accuracy. Early synchronome clocks were somewhat difficult to set properly but were not as prone to lose time.

As with other types of long case or grandfather clocks, the swinging pendulum of the synchronome clock is the focal point of the clocks operation. As the pendulum swings a chain reaction is set in motion that takes just a fraction of second. The pendulum serves to open and close various electrical connections.

Originally introduced in nineteen hundred, the Synchronome Clock Company is said to have utilized the same basic mechanism through nineteen sixty eight. Nineteen and eight saw the introduction of the Mark I or A frame mechanism. This is truly phenomenal give the technological advances we witnessed during the Twentieth Century. A second variation of the synchronome mechanism, the Mark II, was introduced in nineteen sixty eight.

One advantage of a synchronome clock is its ability to be used in a master-slave relationship with other clocks. The electrical impulses generated by the master clock could be transmitted to a number of other slave clocks, maintaining a uniform time setting over multiple locations. The dial movements of the slave clocks would be wired in series with each other and the master clock.