Gardiner Houlgate
Lot 1133
A very rare Shortt Synchronome free pendulum clock finally developed by William Hamilton Shortt engineer for the London & South Western Railway and Frank Hope Jones horologist of the Synchronome Company. Shortt Synchronome free pendulum clock No. 101 according to the builders plate, that would have finished a production run begun in 1924. Purchased in the 1970s as a part assembled movement (as it were off the shelf) that could be completed to become a finished example when added to all the component parts some of which are missing. These missing parts that we know of include, free pendulum rod, collars, trunnion, suspension spring and safety plate. The majority of, possibly all, items to finish the 'movement' are contained in plastic packets mostly carrying descriptions, some copies of original drawings ie, components, layout, setup are also included, in addition is the large seconds slave movements, parts, plates and castings. The master movement/clock housed in a cylindrical copper wall mounted vacuum tank, with the movement still to be assembled under a later glass bell jar with a glass bottom circular plate to be secured by the cast brass three point adjustable clamp, the glass plate allows one to see via the mirror the beat plate to be fitted below the pendulum bob. Also the Astronomical slave clock and pendulum of the type used with the free pendulum system, 10" silvered dial signed Synchronome, Patent No. 187814 with centre seconds, subsidiary minute and twenty four hour dial over two door mounted dials, Free P and Slave, within a glazed mahogany case, 55.25" high. No serial number had been allocated These complex precision electromechanical pendulum clocks by William Hamilton-Shortt in collaboration with Frank Hope-Jones were the most accurate pendulum clocks ever commercially produced and became the highest standard for timekeeping between the 1920s and 1940s, after which mechanical clocks were superseded by quartz time standards. They were used worldwide in astronomical observatories, naval observatories, in scientific research, and in primary standard for national time dissemination services. The Shortt was the first clock to be a more accurate timekeeper than the earth itself; it was used in 1926 to detect tiny seasonal changes in the earth's rotation rate. Shortt clocks achieved accuracy of around a second per year, although a recent measurement indicated they were even more accurate. About one hundred were produced between 1922 and 1956 .
