Patent Electric Regulator Clock by Richie 1873

Catalogue number #471665059

Richie Electric regulator 1873	Richie Electric Regulator 1873 - door open	Richie Electric Regulator 1873 - pendulum and bar magnet	Richie Electric Regulator 1873 - movement	Richie Electric Regulator 1873 - trademark and signature	Richie Electric Regulator 1873 - pendulum, impulse and batteries

Description:

After Alexander Bain and Wheatstone's inventions in electrical time keeping of the 1840s there was little further interest until Mr R. L. Jones applied Bain's electro-magnetic pendulum bob to existing key-wound clocks for which he got a patent in 1857. In 1873 James Richie (of the Edinburgh clock making firm James Richie & Son specialists in turret clocks and long case clocks amongst other types) developed this further. Dispensing with the weight or spring and realising that a very small amount of electrical energy was required to keep two tuned pendulums in place he propelled as well as synchronised the sympathetic pendulum by impulses from each arm of his clock's gravity escapement. He received a patent for this invention and the clocks he made were so successful in trials that a series were set up to form "The Edinburgh Ring". This was the name given to the system set up in 1873 to provide accurate time to the citizens of Edinburgh. Previously 'time' in Edinburgh was provided by the firing of a "One O'Clock Gun" from Edinburgh Castle activated by a signal from the Edinburgh Royal Observatory and a "Time Ball" which decended on a mast set up on the Carlton Hill. (The One O'Clock Gun is still fired daily from Edinburgh Castle but sadly the Time Ball on Carlton Hill is currently inoperative). Richie's clocks were connected through the telegraph lines directly to the Edinburgh Royal Observatory and had the merit of providing continuous 'correct time', not merely once a day, for the citizens of Edinburgh. No complete plan of the 1873 ring is currently known to exist but it is known that Richie Clocks were positioned at the Edinburgh City Chambers (still present and working), The Royal Scottish Museum (currently in storage and lacking its case), Register House in Princes Street (said to be much modified and working only on occasions), Edinburgh University (working), Edinburgh Castle (condition unknown), Richie & Son (clock's whereabouts unknown), Nelson Monument Carlton Hill (working but in storage), General Post Office HQ (whereabouts unknown), The British Linen Bank (whereabouts unknown) and the Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill (condition unknown). All the clocks named and located above are hanging wall clocks. The locations of any other Richie clocks which may have formed part of the Edinburgh Ring are currently unknown. The example on offer here is the only long case example known to me to date and the only example amongst those listed not in institutional hands. The clock movement has Richie's reversed graviy escapement and the serial number 1016 (It is known that Richie numbered his clocks from serial No. 1001). The case is mahogany with a glazed door an the original red velvet in the back to the rear of the pendulum. The case appears to be entirely original with no repairs or restoration. The original white dial and hands has the inscription Jas Richie & Son Patent. The plaque on the rear of the movement reads Trade Mark Patent J. Richie & Son No 1016 Edinburgh. For further reading see Electrical Time Keeping by F. Hope-Jones. This must be one of the rarest Victorian electrical clocks in existence. Height 74.5" (189 cm) base width 22.75" (58 cm) trunk width 18" (46 cm) depth 9" (23 cm) Transport at cost. The clock can be operated from the mains using a simple transformer as an alternative to batteries.

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