Inventions
The gallery, or banjo, clock had been invented years before, in Grafton, but its patent was issued in 1802. The original model had been called the Grafton wall clock. Later, it was also known as the Improved Timepiece. In 1816, its patent expired.
Immediately after arriving to Boston, Simon Willard developed a movable timepiece, the Roasting Jack, which was specifically designed for outdoor fireplaces. For it, Simon reduced the traditional English Lantern clock, simplifying its components. Willard's clock jack was patented, on July 2, 1764, and the document was inked by John Hancock.
The third clock which was patented by Simon Willard was the Patent Alarm Timepiece, which was also known as the Lighthouse and which was similar to the English Skeleton Timepiece. To build a clock which might be amusing to be seen, Simon bared the clock off its case, surrounding it with a glass cupola. Such device would be a beautiful thing to be stared at in the morning so Simon added a waking bell, onto it. Simon patented it in 1819 and president James Monroe inked the document. However, the model was too expensive and, also, it didn't fit among other household furniture because of its large size. Simon manufactured about 200 clocks of these, but few exist nowadays.
Read more about this topic: Simon Willard Clocks
Famous quotes containing the word inventions:
“Opera, next to Gothic architecture, is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process.”
—Kenneth MacKenzie Clark, Baron of Saltwood (1903–1983)
“In America, the geography is sublime, but the men are not: the inventions are excellent, but the inventors one is sometimes ashamed of.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)