David Rittenhouse Tall Case Clock

Description:

David Rittenhouse (1732-1796) was eighteenth-century Pennsylvania's most accomplished clock- and instrument-maker. An avid astronomer, he built complicated astronomical clocks and orreries, or planetary models, that not only kept time but predicted celestial events. These major works, coupled with his notable and widely publicized observations of Venus passing between Earth and the Sun in 1769, established him as a scientific leader and secured him an eminent place in the history of American science.

Rittenhouse was also a prominent citizen of Philadelphia, politically active on behalf of the Revolution and the new American nation. He conducted boundary surveys in the Middle Atlantic states and the Northwest Territory, succeeded Benjamin Franklin as President of the American Philosophical Society, and served as first director of the U.S. Mint.

This eight-day clock in a plain walnut case, made about 1770, reminds us, though, that Rittenhouse spent more than twenty years—from about 1750 until the Revolution—making clocks for a living. Largely self-taught, he incorporated standard English features in this timekeeper: the movement has cast brass plates and steel pinions; a seconds pendulum; an anchor escapement; a rack-and-snail striking mechanism; a second hand on the escape wheel arbor; and a calendar. The dial is engraved "David Rittenhouse/Philadelphia."

The lead weights, according to oral tradition, survived the Revolution while most others did not. Probably because they sympathized with the British, the family that owned the clock hid the weights in a well to avoid having them melted down for shot. Ironically, Rittenhouse was one of those responsible for the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety's drive to procure ammunition during the war. His duties included collecting the lead clock weights commonly in use and replacing them with iron ones.

Date Made: ca 1770

Maker: Rittenhouse, David

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

See more items in: Work and Industry: Mechanisms, Domestic Furnishings

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Gift of New York University

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1984.0416.007Catalog Number: 1984.0416.007Accession Number: 1984.0416

Object Name: tall clock, Rittenhousetall case clock, rittenhouseclock

Physical Description: wood (overall material)brass (overall material)steel (overall material)Measurements: overall: 96 in x 19 in x 10 in; 243.84 cm x 48.26 cm x 25.4 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b3-78bf-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1063413

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