Vigo County Historical Society

Today’s clocks modeled from those of the Middle Ages

How is time measured at your home? Electricity: Battery? At the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, the bulk of our clocks need a key turned, a pendulum swung, or weights pulled to keep the clock ticking. At the close of the year 2000 and the beginning of the new millennium, our Historical Treasure is our clocks.

Time has been measured in many ways down through the ages. Our earliest ancestors measured time only by the passing of the moon and the seasons. Babylonians and Egyptians used the sundial. Later, the Egyptians invented the clepsydra or water clock so that time could be measured at night. The basic model of the mechanical clocks we use today was invented in the late Middle Ages. In England, clock makers used wood for the movements in their clocks. Even though they were the most economical to produce, the wooden movements were easily worn and would swell during humid conditions or shrink during dry periods.

The more accurate clocks were made of brass. Brass movement clocks were expensive to produce and only the wealthy owned them. In 1837, Chauncey Jerome of Plymouth, Conn., claimed credit for inventing the first cheap one-day brass clock. His brother, Noble, received the patent for the new clock on June 27, 1839. By 1840, brass clock making was a booming industry.

Our picture shows only three of the many beautiful clocks that have been donated to the museum. When the museum opens again in early February, stop by to see all these ticking treasures.