Murday's Electric Clock made by The Reason Mfd. Co. 1910

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  An English great-wheel electric skeleton timepiece invented by Thomas John Murday in 1908 (Patent No. 22,819) and manufactured by The Reason Manufacturing Company, Brighton, England in 1910. It consists of a glass chapter ring with Roman numerals, blued steel hands, the movement visible to the centre supported on two columns centred by a large balance wheel carrying a Hipp toggle receiving impulse via make/break contacts in the usual manner every few seconds. There is a brass name plate on the base with the manufacturer's name and details. Mounted on a turned circular mahogany base under a decently thick glass dome. Murday's clock was the most successful application of the Hipp toggle principle to the balance wheel control of clocks. The propulsion system was utilised from his earlier pendulum clocks with modifications for the balance wheel. The balance wheel swings about twenty times before the toggle is acted on and each minute it oscillates fifteen times. Only about 300 were apparently made, (for comparison there were over 10,000 Eureka clocks manufactured), with glass or enamel dials. The glass dials are surely the most attractive and are said to be rarer. The balance staff has a delicate Sapphire bearing and there is a locking device to raise the balance wheel for transporting the clock in order to protect it. The clock runs on two 1.5 volt batteries for six(?) months. This is arguably one of the most beautiful and attractive of all the early electric clocks. There are a series of different moving parts which act one after the other that is quite memorising. Looked at from the front, side or back there is lots to look at! Murday clocks were not a commercial success - probably due to the cost of manufacturing them, so examples are rare. The clock works perfectly. Height with dome 14.25" (36 cm) base diameter 9.0" (23 cm) (P.S. The record auction price achieved for one of these clocks was £15,535 ($25,369) at the sale of "Important Clocks and Scientific Instruments" from the collection of the Late Professor E.T.Hall 11 July 2003 Christie's, King Street, London)
  

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