Chapter 8 FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN CHEAP TIME-KEEPERS. -THE PROCESS OF CLOCK MAKING.-

It would be no doubt interesting to a great many to know what improvements have been made in manufacturing clocks during the past twenty years. I recollect I paid for work on the O.G. case one dollar and seventy-five cents; for the same work in 1855, I paid twenty cents, and many other things in the same proportion. The last thing that I invented, which has proved to be of great usefulness, was the one day timepiece that can be sold for seventy-five cents, and a fair profit at that.

I remember well when I was about to give up the job, of asking the man who made the cases for the factory what he would make this case for. He said he could not do it for less than eight cents, I told him I knew he could make them for five cents, and do well, but he honestly thought he could not. He was to make two thousand per month-twenty-four thousand a year. After getting the work well systematized, I told him if he could not make them at that price, I would make it up to him at the end of the year. When the time was up, he told me that it was the best part of his job, and that he would make them the next year for four cents; it will be well understood that this was for the work alone, the stock being furnished.

When I got up this new time-keeper, as usual all the clock-makers were down on me again; Jerome was going to ruin the business, and this cheap thing would take the place of larger ones. I told them there were ten thousand places where this cheap time-piece would be useful, and where a costly striking one would never be used. There is a variety of places where they are as useful as if they struck the hour, and there are now more of the striking clocks wanted than there were when I got up this one day time-piece. When I first began to make clocks, thousands would say that they could not afford to have a clock in their house and they must get along without, or with a watch. This cheap timepiece is worth as much as a watch that would cost a hundred dollars, for all practical purposes, as far as the time of day or night is concerned. Since I began to make clocks, the price has gradually been going down. Suppose the cheap time-keeper had been invented thirty years ago, when folks felt as though they could not have a clock because it cost so much, but must get along with a watch which cost ten or fifteen dollars, what would the good people have thought if they could have had a clock for one dollar, or even less? This cheap clock is much better adapted to the many log cabins and cheap dwellings in our country than a watch of any kind, and it is not half so costly or difficult to keep in order. I can think of nothing ever invented that has been so useful to so many. We do not fully appreciate the value of such things. I have often thought, that if all the time-pieces were taken out of the country at once, and every factory stopped making them, the whole community would be brought to see the incalculable value that this Yankee clock making is to them.

The little octagon marine case which is seen almost every where, was originated and first made by me. I think it is the cheapest and best looking thing of the kind in the market, and all the work on the case of that clock costs but eight cents. All of the large hang-up octagons and time-pieces were made at our factory two or three years before any other parties made them at all. As usual, after finding that it was a good thing and took well, many others began to make them. I will say here a little more about human nature and what I have seen and experienced. during the last forty-five years. Let an ingenious, thinking man invent something that looks favorable for making money, and one after another will be stealing into the same business, when they know their conduct is very mean towards the originator who may be one of the best men in the community; still, nine out of ten of those who are infringing on his improvement will begin to hate and abuse him. I have seen this disposition carried out all my life-time. Forty-five years ago, Mr. Eli Terry was the great man in the wood clock business. As I have said before, he got up the Patent Wood Shelf Clock and sold a right to make it to Seth Thomas for one thousand dollars. After two or three years, Mr. Terry made further improvements and got them patented. Mr. Thomas then thought as he had paid a thousand dollars, he would use these improvements; so he went on making the new patent. Mr. Terry sued him and the case was in litigation for several years. The whole Thomas family, the workmen and neighbors, felt envious towards Mr. Terry, and I think they have never got entirely over it. There was a general prejudice and hatred towards Mr. Terry amongst all the clock-makers at that time, and for nothing only because they knew they were infringing on his rights; and to act out human nature, they must slander and try to put him down. This principle is carried out very extensively in this world, so that if a man wants to live and have nothing said against him, he must look out for, and help no one but himself. If he succeeds in making money, it matters but little in what way he obtains it, whether by gambling or any other unlawful means; while on the other hand, if he has been doing good all his life, and by some mishap is reduced to poverty in his old age, he is despised and treated with contempt by a majority of the community.

It may not be uninteresting to a great many to know how the brass clocks at the present day are made. It has been a wonder to the world for a long time, how they could possibly be sold so cheap and yet answer so good a purpose. And, indeed, they could not, if every part of their manufacture was not systematized in the most perfect manner and conducted on a large scale. I will describe the manner in which the O-G. case is made, (the style has been made a long time, and in larger numbers than any other,) which will give some idea with what facility the whole thing is put through. Common merchantable pine lumber is used for the body of the case. The first workman draws a board of the stuff on a frame and by a movable circular saw cuts it in proper lengths for the sides and top. The knotty portions of it are sawed in lengths suitable for boxing the clocks when finished, and but little need be wasted. The good pieces are then taken to another saw and split up in proper widths, which are then passed through the planeing machine. Then another workman puts them through the O-G. cutter which forms the shape of the front of the case. The next process is the glueing on of the veneers-the workman spreads the glue on one piece at a time and then puts on the veneer of rosewood or mahogany. A dozen of these pieces are placed together in hand-screws till the glue is properly hardened. The O-G. shapes of these pieces fit into each other when they are screwed together. When the glue is sufficiently dry, the next thing is to make the veneer smooth and fit for varnishing. We have what is called a sand paper wheel, made of pine plank, its edge formed in an O-G. shape, and sand-paper glued to it. When this wheel is revolving rapidly, the pieces are passed over it and in this way smoothed very fast. They are then ready to varnish, and it usually takes about ten days to put on the several coats of varnish, and polish them ready for mitering, which completes the pieces ready for glueing in shape of the case. The sides of the case are made much cheaper. I used to have the stuff for ten thousand of these cases in the works at one time. With these great facilities, the labor costs less than twenty cents apiece for this kind of case, and with the stock, they cost less than fifty cents. A cabinet maker could not make one for less than five dollars. This proves and shows what can be done by system. The dials are cut out of large sheets of zinc, the holes punched by machinery, and then put into the paint room, where they are painted by a short and easy process. The letters and figures are then printed on. I had a private room for this purpose, and a man who could print twelve or fifteen hundred in a day. The whole dial cost me less than five cents. The tablets were printed in the same manner, the colors put on afterwards by girls, and the whole work on these beautiful tablets cost less than one and a half cents: the cost of glass and work was about four cents. Every body knows that all of these parts must be made very cheap or an O-G. clock could not be sold for one dollar and a half, or two dollars. The weights cost about thirteen cents per clock, the cost of boxing them about ten cents, and the first cost of the movements of a one-day brass clock is less than fifty cents. I will here say a little about the process of making the wheels. It will no doubt, astonish a great many to know how rapidly they can be made. I will venture to say, that I can pick out three men who will take the brass in the sheet, press out and level under the drop, there cut the teeth, and make all of the wheels to five hundred clocks in one day; there are from eight to ten of these wheels in every clock, and in an eight-day clock more. This will look to some like a great story, but is one of the wonders of the clock business. If some of the parts of a clock were not made for almost nothing, they could not be sold so cheap when finished.

The facilities which the Jerome Manufacturing Company had over every other concern of the kind in the country, and their customers in this and foreign countries, are worth to the present company more than one hundred thousand dollars. Their method of making dials, tablets and brass doors was a saving of more than ten thousand dollars per year over any other company doing the same amount of business; and I know that the present company would not give up the customers of the Jerome Manufacturing Company for ten thousand dollars per year: they could not afford to do it. The workmen who came with me from Bristol, were an uncommonly energetic and ingenious set of men. Many years they had large and profitable jobs in the different branches, which encouraged them to invent and get up improvements for doing the work fast, and in a great many things they far surpass the workmen in similar establishments-all of which have resulted to the benefit of the present manufacturing company of New Haven.

In the year 1850, I was induced by a proposition from the Benedict & Burnham Co., of Waterbury, to enter into a joint-stock company at my place in New Haven, under the name of the Jerome Manufacturing Co. They were to put in thirty-five thousand dollars, and I was to furnish the same amount of capital. We did so, and went on very prosperously for a year or two, making a great many clocks, and selling about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth per year in England, at a profit of twenty thousand dollars. They were very thorough in looking into the affairs of the company, which was all right of course, but did not suit all of the interested parties. My son was Secretary and financial manager of the company. He seemed to have a desire to keep things to himself a little too much, which also did not suit many of the interested parties. My son told me he thought we had better buy the company out, and said that we could do so without difficulty, and he thought it would be a great advantage to us. Some were willing to sell, and others were not. Mr. Burnham made an offer what he would sell for, which the secretary accepted, others of the stock-holders made similar propositions and the bargain closed, we paying them the capital they had advanced and twenty-one per cent. profits, and buying, in the mean time, seventy-five thousand dollars worth of brass-the profits on which were not less than twenty thousand dollars, which they had the cash for in the course of the year. About this time a man by the name of Lyman Squires bought stock in the company, and took a great interest in the business. A wealthy brother of his bought, I think, ten thousand dollars worth of stock. The stock was increased in this way to two hundred thousand dollars. The financial affairs were managed by the Secretary, Mr. Squires, and a man by the name of Bissell. They made a great many additions to the factory which I thought quite unnecessary, enlarging the buildings, putting in a new engine and a great deal of costly machinery. They laughed at me because I found fault with these things and called me an old fogy. I was not pleased with the management at all times, and although I had retired from active busines [Transcriber's note: sic], I felt a deep interest in the affairs of the company, and owned a large amount of the stock. The Secretary thought I was always looking on the dark side and prophesying evil, because I frequently remonstrated with him on the many extravagancies which were constantly being added to the establishment. I frequently told him that if the company should fail, I should have to bear the whole blame, because my name was known all over the world. He always told me in the strongest terms that I need give myself no uneasiness about that, as the company was worth a great deal of money. Things went on in this way till the year 1855, and while I was absent from the State, P.T. Barnum was admitted as a member of our company. Within six months from that time, the Jerome Manufacturing Company failed, the causes of which, and the results, I have clearly and truthfully narrated in another part of this book. The causes were not fully understood by me at that time. I have found them out since, and deem it an act of justice to myself to make them public. I was hopelessly ruined by this failure. The company had used my name as endorser to a large amount, many times larger than I had any idea of.