12/09/2013
After a period of nearly seven decades, a unique Astronomical Regulator Clock will once again be telling Bostonians the correct time. This rare timepiece presently belongs to the seventh generation of jewelers and owners of The E. B. Horn Company, and it currently holds a revered place in their showroom situated amongst the other original 1878 Eastlake cabinetry.
In 1839 Edwin Booth Horn began his career in Boston as machinist, present-day engineer, by working for Daniel Davis, Jr. at 11 Cornhill Street, Boston. The shop was a veritable early nineteenth century “think tank.” Davis was a well-known maker of “philosophical instruments” and daguerreotypes plus the owner of the third patent ever issued in the United States in photography. The same year Elias Howe, Jr. joined the shop as journeyman and there invented and constructed the first sewing machine. Here E. B. Horn was surrounded by engineers, inventors and skilled craftsmen launching many of the prime inventions of the day: daguerreotypes, clocks, lighting fixtures (thanks to the newly created petroleum derivative fuels) and watches. Excluding photography, E. B. Horn was issued ten letters patent in the other three categories during his lifetime. Such surroundings definitely inspired and enabled the designing and constructing of his now rare astronomical regulator clock, for in this beginning milieu he would certainly have known or known of renowned Boston clockmakers such as: Edward Howard, William Bond, Daniel Davis and Joseph Poseley to mention a few. E. B. Horn was well aware that astronomical clocks of this nature were used by observatories and jewelers which he would soon become as a monitor for the correct time when there was no official time standard in the United States. Time, in fact, was sold to the railroads to keep operations running safely and even to the Government for accurate time had become a real commodity.
The unusual nature of the E. B. Horn clock was perhaps the reason it had stood dormant for such a long period of time. After Mr. Paul Calantropo was summoned to inspect the clock he noted while examining the mechanism that it showed evidence of some past yet unsuccessful attempts of repairs. Knowing of his reputation for having repaired and cared for some of the most difficult and unusual timepieces in Boston for the past forty years, The E. B. Horn Company requested his help and knowledge in the total restoration of its prized clock. While Mr. Calantropo was repairing the mechanism and fabricating the three missing hands of the clock, the North Bennett School Cabinetmaking Department replicated the original molding to replace a few missing pieces and refinished its Eastlake tall case which became its new home when E. B. Horn moved to 429 Washington Street in 1878.
The E. B. Horn Company, at this time, wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the North Bennett Street School Cabinetmaking team as well as to Mr. Paul S. Calantropo, clockmaker for the superb results of all their work to return Edwin Booth Horn’s Astronomical Regulator Clock back to its fine working condition for all to enjoy.
