THE LEGACY OF HENRY WARREN

Chapter 8 presented its membership, on October 11, with an all day educational symposium on electrical horology. This was conducted at the Warren Conference Center in Ashland, MA. The site was the home of Henry Warren, the leading figure in the 20th century, in the development of the electric clock. This conference center, incidentally, now operated by Northeastern University, would knock your sox off (Sox are on most New Englander's minds this year) for its facilities, food, and beautiful grounds.

Starting in the early 1800's with the development of the first battery electric clock and continuing through to the present day atomic controlled timepieces, a panel of six speakers, gave presentations about many facets of this branch of horology. Major emphasis was on Henry Warren, who in 1916 invented the self-starting synchronous motor. From this came the master clocks, the frequency control of electric power generating stations, and successful marketing of millions of electric clocks for the home. Warren's invention had a significant impact on manufacturing, marketing, advertising, corporate mergers, and communities.

Elmer Crum, FNAWCC, talked about all the significant dates that were key events in electrical horology.

The author and Art Deco historian, Jim Linz, gave a PowerPoint presentation on the design and marketing of Warren's Telechron clocks for both Warren and GE He also talked about the corporate links of Telechron, GE, Herschede and Revere. All of these companies manufactured electric clocks.

Richard Fannon, Trustee of the Ashland Historical Society, and a retired employee of Telechron, presented a fascinating picture of Warren, the man, with pictures from the 1930's of the factories and the community. He related anecdotes about Warren as citizen of the town of Ashland, and the influence a factory of 1500 had in a town of 2200 people.

Following a break for lunch, Mitchell Janoff, collector, restorer, and expert on precision frequency standards, covered the technical aspects of Warren's clock and the part it had in the distribution of time by well known names such as Western Union, the Naval Observatory and the current government atomic service in Colorado.

Thomas Erb, an industrialist, then showed many slides of present day electric clocks that are manufactured by his company in Medfield MA. The company essentially makes all its own parts except for basic castings like the base of large street clocks. The clocks are installed inside and outside of structures and examples were pictured worldwide.

Our last speaker, Bill Ellison, President of Chapter 78, Electrical Horology Society, wrapped up the sessions by pointing out the need to encourage and support future research in a number of specific area in electric clock horology. Information about experimentation and causes for changes in types of clocks is scarce.

-- Dick Trepp

Symposium theme: Electric Horology

October 11^th is the date of a blockbuster program, an Electric Horology Symposium. Those attending will learn about the History and Development of the Electric Clock, at the hometown Warren Conference Center in Ashland, Massachusetts. Henry Warren was the man responsible for making electric clocks work The Warren Center will host six nationally known guest speakers who will present the technical development, design aspects, factory life, and the state of the art regarding precision time today.

Meet the authors of "Electrifying Time" and "150 Years of Electric Horology," Jim Linz and Elmer Crum, FNAWCC. Other speakers and experts in this field will be Richard Fannon, Mitchell Janoff, Thomas Erb and a representative of Electrical Horology Chapter 78, NAWCC who will present the concluding remarks.

In addition to this, an exhibit of significant landmark electric clocks that became part of our household heritage and provided advancements to the future of time keeping will be featured.

Continental Breakfast - Snack Breaks - Deluxe Luncheon

Set the date aside and mark your calendar. The event is open to all interested NAWCC members who are able to attend subject to seating capacity limitations.

Registration for the Symposium: must be received by OCTOBER 6th, 2003.
Registration Limited to 100. -- NO WALK INS -- Will refund registrations over 100.

Mail check for $65 to Burt Kassap, 112 Bullough Park, Newtonville, MA. 02460.

Schedule:

7:45 - 8:30 AM Registration: Continental Breakfast Provided

8:30 - 8:45 AM Welcome & Introduction
Dave Deutermann, President, Chapter 8
Burt Kassap, Program Chairman

8:45 - 9:45 AM Session I
Past History of Electric Horology and The Warren Mystery Clock
Elmer G. Crum, FNAWCC, Co-editor & author, "150 Years of Electrical Horology"

9:45 - 10:45 AM Session II
The Design and Marketing of Telechron and General Electric Clocks
Jim Linz, Author, "Electrifying Time: Telechron and G.E. Clocks, 1925 - 1955"

10:45-11:10 AM Coffee Break/Refreshments

11:00 - Noon Session III
Working at the Warren Telechron Company Plant and Stories from the Factory
Richard Fannon, Trustee of the Ashland Historical Society

12:00 - 1:00 PM Lunch in Main Dining Area

1:00 - 2:00 PM Session IV
Henry Warren and the Development and Acceptance of the Telechron Master Clock, etc
Mitchell Janoff, Collector and Restorer of Master Clocks, Slave Clocks and Precision Frequency Standards

2:00 - 3;00 PM Session V
The Manufacture and Installation of Major Industrial Clocks of Today
Thomas D. Erb, President, Electric Time Company, Medfield, MA

3:00 - 3:20 PM Coffee Break/Refreshments

3:20 - 4:20 PM Horological Exhibit Tables and Available Technical Texts
Presenters and Staff

4:20 - 4:30 PM Closing Remarks
Bill Ellison, President of Chapter 78, NAWCC, Electrical Horological Society

PRESENTERS:

Elmer G. Crum - Graduate of the Lane Technical High School in Chicago, Elmer worked for a number of electrical manufacturers in electronics, which included Admiral and Zenith. He furthered his education and completed electronics courses in 1958 and became knowledgeable in commercial electronics, ranging from simple radios to precision standards. He formed, with his wife, an Electronics Installation Company in 1972 and subsequently sold it 21 years later in 1993, and retired in Florida. Elmer founded Chapter 125 in 1978 (Midwest Electric Horology Group) and served as President till 1992. He chaired the Chicago National Electrical exhibit and co-edited, "150 Years of Electric Horology" with Bill Keller. He has researched, developed and given a number of presentations on the subject of electric clocks. He was presented with the NAWCC Fellowship in 1990 at the Denver National.

Jim Linz - is the author of two books - "Art Deco Chrome" and "Electrifying Time: Telechron and GE Clocks, 1925 - 1955". He has been collecting Art Deco for over 30 years and is the Publications Chair for the Art Deco Society of Washington. He is also a member of NAWCC and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Jim is a graduate of Emory University and previously served as Assistant Director of the US General Accounting Office. Jim recently completed a two-volume history of the Western Clock Manufacturing Company which should be available by the end of the year.

Richard Fannon - As the youngest of six children, he was a witness to all of his family working at Telechron, either at the Ashland, Lowell or Worcester plant operations. After serving in the armed forces, Richard attended Northeastern University and was graduated as an Industrial Engineer. He worked for Telechron Company in Worcester as a Plant Methods Engineer for several years. Richard is now retired and spends much of his time at the Ashland Historical Society where he is a Trustee and "Telechron Specialist". The Society has an extensive collection of Telechron clocks.

Mitchell Janoff - Mitchell has been collecting and restoring master clocks, slave clocks, and precision frequency standards for the past ten years. His interests are primarily in time keeping and time distribution with a focus on clocks made by the Self Winding Clock Company of New York (SWCC). He has over twenty SWCC clocks, all of which receive hourly synchronization signals from a computer based "master clock" every hour on the hour. He has published a paper "Self Winding Clock Synchronization", in the NAWCC Bulletin, 1995.

Thomas D. Erb - Tom has been President of Electric Time Company of Medfield, Massachusetts since 1986 He has a Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Electrical Engineering. His company specializes in custom manufactured exterior, interior, and post clocks from standard designs or to specifications for any location or size. For 70 years, Electric Time has been a master in the art of handcrafted clock work and clock design. Tom has been called upon to make presentations to various clock organizations on previous occasions.

Bill Ellison - A mechanical engineer retired from General Motors, Bill is known to many of you as the owner of the Horolovar Company. Bill is a NAWCC Fellow, currently President of Chapter 78, a director of the 400 -Day Chapter 168. He is active in other NAWCC chapters and has written articles for the NAWCC Bulletin and the Torsion Times.

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