Vintage Seth Thomas Metronome Wind Up De Maelzel Metronome E-899-575 iss-3 Works

Description

Vintage Seth Thomas Metronome Wind Up De Maelzel Metronome E-899-575 iss-3 Works
Vintage Seth Thomas Metronome Wind Up De Maelzel Metronome E-899-575 iss-3 Works and in good condition.
Some usage wear on item.
Key winds and works.
Pendulum and slide work.
Dates to pre 1968 as General Time Seth Thomas was sold in 1968 to Tally Industries.
Please see all the pictures for overall condition.
The label on the back reads as follows.
Metronome
De Maelzel
This instrument provides the rate of speed at which a piece of music is to be played. The Metronome speed is indicated at the start of classical and semi-classical
compositions
. For instance, it is shown as 84 = (quarter note) slide the weight on the pendulum until it rests directly opposite the number 84 on the scale. Then set the pendulum in motion. The speed at which it ticks indicates that the piece of music is to be played on quarter note to each tick. If the composition is
marked
84 = (half note) this means that it is to be played one half note to each tick, etc.
To Wind: Turn key 9 full turns. This movement has a clutch to prevent
over winding
. Key may be turned
continuously
; however, 9 turns fully winds the movement.
When the
metronome
is not in use, move sliding weight to 80 and replace cover.
Seth Thomas Division
General Time
A Talley Industries Company
Thomaston, Connecticut, U.S.A.
E899-575 ISS-2
8022
The Seth Thomas Metronome is about 8.25" tall with a 4.5" x 3" base.
Shipped with USPS Priority Mail Service.
**Please note all sales are final.  There are no returns, trades, or exchanges permitted. Please review photos closely as they are part of the item description.
Described to the best of my abilities. Feel free to message me for additional details.
The winning buyer is asked to please make payment within 3 days of winning this sale.  Thank you!
Brief: Maelzel Johann Nep o muk Maelzel ( 1 7 7 2 -1 8 3 8 ) registered the metronome patent in 1 8 1 5 after devising the musical scale for a device largely constructed and invented by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel a year earlier. Maelzel started production of the metronome in Paris 1 8 1 6 , gaining praise and publicity from none other than Beethoven himself and who he was later to fall out with, over rights issues for "The Battle of Vitoria". Maelzel was widely travelled, promoting and selling numerous musical inventions and automated wind and cog driven devices, ranging from ear trumpets, chess players, pan harmonicons, rope-dancers and speaking dolls, twice visiting the West Indies, Munich, Vienna, Paris, London and the United States. Although greatly respected and successful in his own right, Maelzel also had an ability to seize o n the ideas and works of others and use them to his benefit. There are two reports of how he died in 1 8 3 8 , neither of which I have been able to confirm. The first that he died from alcoholism o n a ship in the harbour of La Guaira, Venezuela, the second was that he died while sailing o n a brig, "the Otis" travelling from Havana to Philadelphia, but not before establishing a highly successful musical accessory business. For a detailed insight into the earliest Victorian production London and Paris manufactured metronome's and the first and earliest Maelzel examples made between 1 8 1 4 - 1 8 2 0 , please use the 'Beethoven ' link posted above. Paq uet Metronomes ( France )
Seth Thomas Company History Seth Thomas Clock Company was one of the most prolific and long lived clock companies. The quality of their products was always maintained at an above average level. Seth Thomas must have sold many clocks in the Lafayette, Indiana area, for out of all the antique clocks we repair, about 40% are made by Seth Thomas.  Many American clock factories in the 19th century suffered factory fires but Seth Thomas was fortunate in this respect. Through conservative growth and taking advantage of the new ideas of others, Seth Thomas was able to enjoy financial stability, whereas many other companies faced financial difficulties.  Seth Thomas was born in Wolcott, Connecticut in 1785, went to work for clockmaker Eli Terry in 1807, bought out Terry's factory (together with Silas Hoadley) in 1810, and in December 1813 bought out Heman Clark's clockmaking business in Plymouth Hollow.  Thomas continued Clark's wooden movement tall clock production, and about 1817 began making the wooden movement shelf clock. These were cased in pillar and scroll cases until 1830, when the bronze looking glass and other styles became popular. In 1842, brass movements were introduced, and first cased in the popular O.G. case (which was made until 1913). Wood movements were phased out in 1845. In 1853 Mr. Thomas incorporated the Seth Thomas Clock Company, so that the business would outlive him. Mr. Thomas died in 1859, and Plymouth Hollow was renamed Thomaston in his honor in 1865.  Mr. Thomas was very conservative, and after his death many new styles of clocks were introduced by his sons. Regulator clocks were introduced in 1860. The patterns and machinery for these had been purchased in 1859 from the creditors of bankrupt clockmaker Silas B. Terry. Spring driven clocks were introduced ca. 1855—1860. Perpetual calendar clocks were made from ca. 1863—1917. Some of the most popular later types include walnut kitchen clocks, made from 1884—1909; marble clocks, 1887—ca. 1895; black (Adamantine finish) wood mantel clocks, ca. 1885—1917; black enameled iron cased clocks, 1892—ca. 1895; oak kitchen clocks, 1890—ca. 1915; tambour clocks, introduced in 1904; chime clocks, introduced in 1909; and electric A/C clocks, introduced in 1928.  Many Seth Thomas clocks from 1881 to 1918 have a date code stamped in ink on the case back or bottom. Usually, the year is done in reverse, followed by a letter A—L representing the month. For example, April 1897 would appear as 7981 D.  In 1930 a holding company named General Time Instruments Corporation was formed to unite Seth Thomas Clock Company with Western Clock Company.  In 1955, a flood badly damaged the Seth Thomas factory. They phased out movement manufacturing and began importing many movements from Germany. Hermle, in the Black forest of Germany, has made many movements for Seth Thomas clocks.  In 1968, General Time was bought by Talley Industries, and in 1979 the headquarters was moved to Norcross, GA.  In June 2001 General Time announced that it was closing its entire operation. The Colibri Group acquired Seth Thomas. The NAWCC (the National Association of Watch and Clock collectors) purchased from Seth Thomas their collection of historical records, drawings, photographs, advertisements and documents.  Colibri Goes Into Receivership In January, 2009, The Colibri Group unexpectedly shut its doors, laying off its 280 employees and preparing to sell all remaining jewelry, gold and silver to pay creditors. I don't know yet what this means for Seth Thomas.  The following message appeared on the Colibri website:  "February 16, 2009  The Colibri Group is currently in receivership and is not accepting any orders at this time. We are also unable to repair or replace any items returned to us for the time being. We will do our best to ensure that items that have been sent to us will be returned to the respective customer or owner. We will update this message as new information becomes available. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience."  Here is a blog post about the Colibri shutdown Seth Thomas and Colibri Acquired by Alliance Time March 25, 2009  Alliance Time Acquires Colibri Group Assets, Colibri & Seth Thomas, Top-Tier Jewelry, Lighter, Accessory & Clock Brands  Deal Includes Intellectual Property, Trademarks & Inventory  Company to Connect With Former Employees for Possible Opportunities to Rehire & Revitalize Brands  NEW YORK, March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance Time (www.alliancetime.com), a leading distributor of brand name and designer jewelry, watches and accessories, has acquired the entire inventory of goods, intellectual property and trademarks from three top brands -- Colibri, maker of popular lighters, accessories for men, jewelry, executive gifts and flasks; Seth Thomas, the oldest clock manufacturer in the United States; and Linden Clocks, a noted clock maker.  The company plans to leverage its robust distribution channels with mid-sized and large market retailers, national chains and high-volume e-commerce sites to promote and sell the range of Colibri, Seth Thomas and Linden products that it purchased as part of a recent receivership auction for the defunct Colibri Group, the brands' parent company.  "Colibri, Seth Thomas and Linden are well-known brands with a history of quality and consumer appeal -- from the ubiquitous Colibri lighter to the iconic Seth Thomas-manufactured clock in Grand Central Station in New York," said Eli Katz, Alliance Time president, retail division. "We believe that their brand recognition combined with the strength of Alliance Time's distribution network will reinvigorate their presence in the marketplace." "As we look into possibly developing and growing these brands for the future, we would be remiss, if we didn't explore tapping into the people and resources that previously served Colibri, Seth Thomas and Linden well. We are confident that we can leverage the synergy of our existing infrastructure with the historic legacy of these brands" added Katz.  About Alliance Time:  Based in New York City, Alliance Time (www.alliancetime.com) is a privately-held retail distribution company offering a multitude of products from mid-range to luxury brands, specializing in jewelry, watches and accessories. They are the exclusive worldwide distributor for the European watch brands Milleret (www.milleret.ch) and Golana (www.golana.ch). Since 1999, the company has successfully provided goods to brick-and-mortar and online stores nationwide, including major chains and e-tailers.  On April 13, 2009, the following message appeared on seththomas.com: "Thank you for visiting SethThomas.com.  We are excited to announce that Seth Thomas is under new ownership with a long-standing commitment to providing quality products and a 100% customer approval rating.  For almost 200 years, Seth Thomas has earned a reputation for producing masterfully-crafted clocks including many public tower clocks installed throughout the United States, the most famous of which proudly stands in the center of Grand Central Station in New York City. We now begin a new era with a promise to improve on this legacy and our service to you, our valued customer, as we take immediate steps to regain your trust and confidence.  Thank you for your patience, and please expect to hear from us soon."  On April 13, 2009, the following message appeared on colibri.com: "COLIBRI - THE FLAME BURNS ON  Thank you for visiting Colibri.com, a name our customers have trusted for over 80 years.  We are excited to announce that Colibri is under new ownership with a long-standing commitment to providing quality luxury products and a 100% customer approval rating.  Colibri was founded in 1928 with a sincere dedication to our customers. Our legacy was built on offering innovative products with the highest quality and design standards. We are committed to you, our valued customers, and we are taking immediate steps to regain your confidence.  Thank you for your patience, and please expect to hear from us soon."  September, 2010 A default server webpage comes up at seththomas.com  Colibri.com now has a web page. © 2009 CST Enterprises, LLC. They sell lighters and mens accessories - no mention of clocks.  March, 2011 seththomas.com now brings up the same web page as colibri.com. At the bottom is: © 2009 CST Enterprises, LLC  References:  "Illustrated Catalog of Seth Thomas Clocks, Regulators and Time Pieces, 1863", reprinted by the American Clock and Watch Museum , 1977, with Seth Thomas history by Chris Bailey.  "Seth Thomas Clocks & Movements", Tran Duy Ly, U. S. Books, ISBN 0-9647406-0-5, Second revised Edition, 1996.  Clocks in the author's collection and clocks observed over the years.  "Printers of Hartford 1825 Thru 1860", by D. R. Slaght, part of the label printer project coordinated by Paul Heffner of NAWCC.  "Seth Thomas comes to Columbia", News from the Library and Research Center by Beth Bisbano, NAWCC Bulletin, December 2001, vol. 43/6, No. 335, p. 791.
If you ever took music lessons chances are you are familiar with the metronome; the audible task master that helped you to keep time with the music. While digital software has replaced the need for the box with the swinging pendulum, it remains an endearing and “old school” approach to keeping the beat. Although Johann Maelzel (1772–1838), a German inventor, engineer, and showman, is credited with patenting the metronome as we know it in 1815 (under the title “Instrument/Machine for the Improvement of all Musical Performance”), a kind of metronome was among the inventions of Andalusian polymath Abbas ibn Firnas (810–887 A.D.), an inventor, physician, chemist, engineer, Andalusian musician, and Arabic-language poet. Among his many inventions, Abbas Ibn Firnas is known to have designed a water clock called al-Maqata, devised a means of manufacturing colorless glass, invented various glass planispheres, made corrective lenses (“reading stones”), devised a chain of rings that could be used to simulate the motions of the planets and stars, and developed a process for cutting rock crystal that allowed Spain to cease exporting quartz to Egypt to be cut. He also created an instrument with an inverted pendulum that could be set to a beat at so many times per minute with a loud ticking to keep the tempo – the precursor to the metronome more finely evolved centuries later. Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time In 1581, Galileo Galilei studied and discovered that pendulums (of any given length) vibrated in the same time, whether the amplitude was large or small. In other words, regardless of amplitude, the pendulum will take about the same amount of time to complete one period, or back-and-forth swing. Galileo realized his discovery could be applied to timekeeping, leading to the invention of the pendulum-powered clock by Christiaan Huyghens in the 17th century and George Graham in the 18th. In 1696, Etienne Loulié (1654–1702), a noted French musical theorist, attempted to apply the principles of the pendulum to a metronome. His “machine” was merely an adjustable pendulum with calibrations, but without sound or an escapement to keep it in motion. Plaguing Loulié and his contemporaries was the problem of creating a metronome that would beat slowly enough to keep the tempo of many classical musical pieces, often set at a mere 40 to 60 beats per minute. In 1814, the German inventor Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel developed a “musical chronometer” capable of keeping fast and slow times, but he failed to patent his device. Through questionable practice (so goes the story), Johann Maelzel appropriated Winkel’s ideas, added a scale, called it a metronome and started manufacturing the metronome under his own name in 1816: “Maelzel’s Metronome.” Maelzel also patented this creation in London, Paris, and Vienna. Maelzel’s metronome used an escapement (think of the toothed wheel that makes a watch tick) to transfer power from a wound-up spring to a weighted pendulum. Each swing of the pendulum produced an audible tick, and users could adjust a dial to control the tempo of the ticking. An early example of a Maelzel metronome can be found in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, acquired by The Met in 1979 as part of its acquisition of The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments. Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time Ludwig Van Beethoven became the first composer to give his pieces metronome markings, and even pledged to do away with indicating such indefinite tempi as “allegretto.” Musicians had already adopted standardized symbols to indicate time signature, key, dynamics and note relationships. In the same way, metronome markings were a way for composers to communicate the tempo at which they intended a piece to be performed. Others quickly followed suit. Modernist composers of the 20th century, such as Stravinsky and Bartók, wrote music demanding stringent rhythmic precision, and conductors obliged, forming the basis for a pro-metronome movement in the music world. There are various types of metronomes on the market today. Mechanical Metronomes are what might well be thought of as the “classical” metronome. They usually come in a pyramid shape and use an inverted pendulum to keep the beat. Electronic, or Quartz, Metronomes came onto the scene as the more precise way of determining time. Quartz metronomes make use of quartz crystal, much like a watch does. A Digital Metronome is just a piece of software. It does, however, often provide additional features, particularly for recording artists. Although digital metronome software has replaced the need for the classic mechanical metronome, the beat goes on for collectors who respect the engineering and craftsmanship of the box on top of the piano. Metronome Makers Philippe-Nicolas Paquet was born in 1823 into a family of watch makers and followed the family tradition by entering the time-keeping industry. He settled in Paris, working for the Maelzel Metronome company, and after the death of Johann Nepomuk Mäelzel in 1838, eventually took over the running of the factory. Paquet went on to establish a new small machine tools plant and metronome producing plant in Beaumont Sur Oise in 1867, winning many awards at International exhibitions. The factory in Beaumont remained in production until 1983. The two dates shown on the majority of Paquet – Maelzel metronome trade labels are 1815-1846, the former being the year the patent was first approved by Maelzel, and 1846 being the year that Paquet took over the company. Paquet is by far the most common maker of antique metronome. They produced the metronomes in large numbers under their own brand, and then licensed through many distributors. Robert Cocks founded his music publishing firm in 1823 and went on to become one of the largest musical publishing and accessory manufacturing companies of the era. Robert Cocks metronomes were manufactured in London until 1898. The Cocks firm used two distinct door emblems on their metronomes; the earlier badge is believed to have been used prior to 1868 and reads “Robert Cocks & Co 6 New Burlington St London – Metronome De Maelzel.” After bringing his sons into the business, the firm updated its plaque to read “Best English Make London – Metronome De Maelzel” until production ended in 1898. Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time Keeping Perfect Time The Cramer company was founded in 1824 by Johann Baptist Cramer, and used the Cramer name alongside various partners until 1968 when it was taken over by the piano manufacturer Kemble and Co. Metronome production had ceased around 1910. Cramer and Cocks, both London-based metronome makers, used very similar emblems, with both opting around 1870 to use the generic language of “Best English Make London – Metronome De Maelzel” on their products. Prior to this date Cramer metronomes used numerous dedications to the outer edge of the front door cartouche depending on the production date. Metronomes from both Victorian London firms were constructed using the best quality fittings, and the most desirable wood paneling available, making them highly collectible today. Established in 1885 by Gustav Wittner (another watchmaker) in Germany, the Wittner company quickly flourished to become the largest manufacturer of modern day metronomes. The design, and shape of the pyramid style metronome have changed little over the course of three generations, although new modern patterns and designs prove to be hugely successful. In 1921, Gustav’s son Rudolf took over the company at the age of 22 to raise the bar from his father’s small hand-to-mouth metronome business. Rudolf moved the company closer to the Black Forest – the source of the wood used in their metronomes, cutting costs for raw materials and giving them access to the best available wood. Wittner metronomes are made under the leadership of Rudolf’s son, Horst. Seth Thomas (Conn., 1785-1859) founded his clock company in 1813 and over the next 45 years built an empire and pioneered mass production of primarily clocks from his factory in Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut. He died in 1859 and the business fell to his sons, Seth Jr., Edward, and Aaron. The Seth Thomas company, already hugely successful in the manufacture of clocks, incorporated metronomes into their catalogue, initially purchasing them from Philippe-Nicolas Paquet and re-branded them with the Seth Thomas name and logo. The company went on to manufacture its own in-house metronome in 1887, which continued until 1984. While these are some of the better known brands and makers to know, there were other, smaller antique metronome manufacturers such as E. Paillard & Cie (Switzerland), Barnett Samuel (London UK), and Theodor Presser (United States) on the market. These firms in most cases utilized products from Maelzel or Paquet and re-branded them, some applying small patented improvements to the mechanisms, design, or mechanics in order to create uniqueness and distinction in the marketplace. The quality of some of these smaller manufacturers’ metronomes is often superior to the larger mass produced pieces. Others simply purchased units from larger manufacturers and added their own label and brand.     Technology Moves Forward In 1909, White and Hunter received a patent for a pocket metronome having a hand which turned complete revolutions, one revolution to a beat. Its speed was adjustable between 40 and 208 revolutions per minute. “The object of our invention,” they wrote in their patent application “is to provide a new and improved metronome which is simple in construction, compact, composed of few parts, not apt to get out of order and can readily be adjusted to conform in its beats with the beats of a conductor or the time of a piece of music being performed and when so adjusted indicates the time at which the musical piece is performed, on a scale commonly known as the Maelzel metronome scale, that is, so many beats per minute.” With the advent of controlled alternating current (AC), clocks could operate with greater accuracy by using electricity for a steady influx of energy, which contributed to the invention of the Franz electric metronome (1938). In this metronome a synchronous motor, like those used in electric clocks, drives a tempo-beating hammer through a mechanical reduction which is adjustable from 40 to 208. These electro-mechanical units were produced through June, 1994. Today the function of the metronome has been replaced by software, websites, apps for iPods and other portable MP3 players, “wearables” with built in software, and smartphones, offering musicians and composers a range of different sounds, programmable samples, and endless possibilities. Yet, there is still a market for the classical metronome among old-school musicians and collectors, who recognize the craftsmanship and engineering that has made the metronome an object and technology that continues to keep pace with time.