JOHN GIBSON LANTERN CLOCK c.1695

Welcome all to this the 20th in my weekly presentations of clock restoration. This week I'd like to talk to you about my restoration of an English lantern clock made around 1695. This opening picture shows classical artwork titled the Dropsicle Woman. It shows a lantern clock strategically positioned on the wall near the window so that natural light illuminates the clock all day. Here's the description offered by the vendor of the clock and I'll leave you to read it but apparently she didn't know too much about the clock except that her mother had been very excited to receive it. In the description offered by the vendor she quotes N Gibson of Ongar. Well there's plenty of old English there where F's and S's were interchangeable and there's a little O on top of the N as an abbreviation of John. So in fact the maker was John Gibson of Ongar. Here is a modern map of this part of England and it shows Ongar 20 miles from London which is where the clock was made. We'll also take note of the place Brentwood because that will become apparent in two or three slides time. In my research for John Gibson I found his will. This is most unusual because people rarely made wills at this time. This will outlines the fact that John Gibson lived in the parish of Shelley in the county of Essex and he was classified by himself as a clocksmith. Now a clocksmith is an in-between terminology since clocks originally were made by blacksmiths and as a blacksmith became more conversant and skilled at making clocks he moved towards clocksmith and eventually that became a specific art and trade of its own and became clockmakers. So this man is working in between the period when blacksmiths and clockmakers operated, 1690s. Here is a more modern map of the area containing the village of Shelley. In fact Ongar is actually a civil parish now in the Epping Forest district of Essex and their towns contained within this parish are as shown Marsden, Ash, Chipping, Ongar, High Ongar, Shelley, Four Wants and a few other places such as Greenstead, Greenstead Green. They're all located within this parish about 21 miles northeast of London. It's a large open area of farming land. Here is some evidence that John Gibson was well respected within the community. It shows that he was chosen to be a juror in the Essex Assize. This was held in Brentwood, a reasonable distance away from his home in Shelley. The Assize was the circuit court which moved around the country on a regular circuit to try prisoners. So to be chosen as a juror you would have to be of good standing within the community. Here is the clock as purchased. Obviously hasn't been cleaned for a long time so that would indicate it hasn't been serviced either. And it is a complete clock however there are some things that have been done to it that have not been in good stead. Some of the finials at the top are broken and have been re-soldered. The frets appear to have been homemade and the hammer lever has been patched up. But essentially it's a complete clock and I was quite excited to find it in this condition. These pictures show some of the features of the clock. It's a centre swing pendulum. The pendulum is actually in between the time train and the striking train in the middle of the clock swinging from side to side. And you can see one of the strike detents has been arched up and over to allow the pendulum to swing through that part of the mechanism. The verge mechanism on top of the clock is totally original and unaltered. There are no extra holes in the top plate so this clock has never been brutalized or converted to anchor escapement. A finial is missing, been cut off from the top of the bell strap maybe to fit inside a box or in a shelf. And as I said before the frets appear to be homemade replacements. Top left picture shows the non-original handmade, homemade fret fitted to the clock. It's trying to be a copy of the one shown at the bottom right. The bottom right fret is a contemporary fret but reproduced in all of its detail. And if you look closely you can see some of those details in the handmade copy. You can see the outline of the sea monsters which are regularly described as dolphins on English lantern clocks. They're nothing like a dolphin in fact they're more like the sea monsters seen on some of the maps of the oceans of this period. The clock as purchased had three original finials still fitted to the clock. One of the others was a non-original and they've been soldered to the front and the one that was missing from the top of the bell. Using one of the originals I had some cast to the exact design and size so that I could replace them on the clock. Here are the finials all fitted to the clock. The castings have been turned polished and the frets that I'd purchased from the UK have all been fitted to the top of the movement. The bell strap also has been restored so it now looks like it would have done when it was brand new. Complete dismantling of the case and the movement followed with full restoration, repair, pivot polishing, rebushing, de-rusting and cleaning and reassembly to result in this fully restored condition as shown here. Use the top plate of the case with many indicators of the original workmanship. The file marks on the top plate. The square headed slotted screws original. The old cocks made from cast brass. All these things have to be considered when assessing a clock for originality. From the rear you can now see the cruciform plates for the movement. Cruciform plates are typical and indicative of English manufacture. Also you can see the count wheel or locking plate as it's also known which controls the striking. The clock is now starting to look in very nice restored condition. On the left is the escapement of the time train. You can see the crown wheel horizontal with the pallet arbor running across it. Normally this would extend out to the back of the clock so the pendulum could hang down behind the mechanism down behind the case. Here you can see it goes down through a slot in the middle of the top plate. And hanging from that is the pendulum. And on the right you can see that rod with the anchor shaped pendulum which can swing in between the time and strike movement. Burge and crown wheel escapements operate with quite a wide arc. Hence this pendulum swinging through the center of the case has slots to allow it to extend beyond the case. The pendulum also is a little decorative in the shape of an anchor. And here you can see one of the anchor flukes actually comes out through the case during normal operation. The clean dial plate shows all the nice engraving in the center and a little in the quadrants. And the dial, cleaned up and re-silvered, enhances the numerals and the maker's name and town. And the hand has been cleaned up and re-blued so that it is contrasted against the engraved center. Being weight driven and requiring high mounting on the wall to give it some duration, a wooden bracket is required. And I made this from recycled oak, typical of timber used at that period. Here's a before and after shot of the clock and I think you'll agree it looks much better now than it did when I received it. It stands a good 15 inches tall so it's a substantial clock and is very very heavy. And that's typical of the period and this size is known as the standard size. Here's the clock on its bracket on the wall. You'll notice from the side doors that it's important to retain a lot of the original handwork that was gone into making these clocks. Brass plate for instance, in this period, was cast and then beaten and filed. Rolling brass was not yet invented. So to retain the hand making marks is very important for the originality of the clock. During my research I submitted an inquiry to Brian Looms in the UK. Brian is considered to be one of the experts of English lantern clocks and his reply was very very favorable, advising me that I had the only clock known by this clockmaker. So I was really pleased to have restored this clock back to a sound working condition. 325 years old and still going. I can't think of any other mechanical device that's been made over the many many centuries that can be still restored to a fully operational and functional condition. These old clocks are just absolutely amazing and are symbols of the quality and workmanship of those amazing men of the 1600s. I hope you enjoyed this presentation and the restoration of a magnificent old English lantern clock. If you've got any comments or questions about this presentation please send me an email to the address shown at the bottom of this page. Once again thank you very much and I look forward to presenting another one at this time next week. Thank you. Bye.