Founding of The Self Winding Clock Company
The Self Winding Clock Company clock movement was patented by one of the company founders, Chester Henry Pond (1844-1912) in 1884 (Patent No. 308,521). Pond was also a principal in the Gamewell Fire Alarm-Telegraph Company. He was not only an accomplished instrument maker but also a pioneer in the developing field of electricity. With these two skills he successfully designed a small electric motor and matched it with a conventional clock mechanism to create the reliable SWCC movement. In addition to the electric motor to wind the SWCC movement, in 1886, Chester Pond patented a correction device that used an electrical current to activate a mechanical lever attached to the clock movement. This correction attachment would move the clock hands precisely to the hour (Patent No. 339,688). If the clock is not absolutely accurate it would be corrected when receiving the hourly time signal over a telegraph line from a master clock calibrated to the US Naval Observatory. This correction was referred to as synchronizing and many SWCC clocks were fitted with this option. The original SWCC factory was located at 205 Willoughby Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. This site was across from the Pratt Institute and now is part of the Pratt Institute campus. Charles Pratt (1830-1891), the founder of Pratt Institute, was also one of SWCC’s original founders and the company started business in his buildings. The SWCC factory remained in Brooklyn until they moved to 75 Varick Street, New York at some time in the 1950’s, to apparently make room for expansion at the Pratt Institute. In addition to doing the clock manufacturing in Brooklyn, SWCC had business offices at various locations in New York city throughout its long history.
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