Ingraham Clock Company Co.
The inventor behind the scenes Ingraham Clocks was Elias Ingraham (1805-1885). Elias, who lived to the advanced age of 80, was born in Marlborough, Connecticut. He came to Bristol in 1828 to work for George Mitchell crafting clock cases. In 1830, Elias Ingraham, now a talked-about clock casemaker, set about being employed for Chauncey and Lawson C. Ives. He produced over five thousand clock cases for them over the next three years. As a category, Ingraham clocks, and especially the clocks made under a label bearing the Ingraham name up until 1885, refer to clocks made by several different suppliers. The firm of Brewster and Ingrahams clock company was established in 1844 and carried on until July 24, 1852. During this time Elias engineered the Gothic clock case, with four columns. The E. and A. Ingrahams Company was then commencedand ran from 1852 to 1856; and then Elias Ingraham and Company from 1857 to 1860. Then from 1861 to 1880 the name E. Ingraham & Company was used. From 1881 to 1884, the company was know as The E. Ingraham & Company. Finally in 1885 it was incorporated as The E. Ingraham Company. This well-documented history and short time periods for each company make it easy to date the early Ingraham clocks based upon the labels on the inside of the antique clocks.
Ingraham Clock Cases
While we tend to reason of patents in clock manufacturing as applying to the mechanical aspects of clock functions, Elias Ingraham contributed to the industry by focusing on clock cases. He attained a total of 17 patents from 1857 and 1873 relating to clock cases. Ingraham patented the sophisticated and aesthetic figure 8 door design that was a characteristic of Ingraham clocks.
Elias Ingraham stayed as the director) of his business firm until his death in 1885 when his son Edward Ingraham took his place. Edward Ingraham followed in his father’s footsteps and received a patent pertaining to clock cases in 1884. Edward Ingraham invented the technique for attaching black enamel paint to clock cases, where enamel paint creates a gloss over and glowing appearance when dry. The actual black mantel clocks that gained great popularity in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s were built by not only the Ingraham company but, also other well-known American clock makers using Edward Ingraham’s patented technique. There are more than 200 styles of Ingraham black mantel clocks constructed up until the 1920’s when they were in fashion.
Ingraham Company 1900
Much like other clock suppliers of the era, the Ingraham company introduced pocket watches to their inventory in 1913, eight-day lever-movement clocks in 1915,and electric clocks in the 1930’s. They roughly began wrist watches in 1932. Watches were made until the 1960’s. Moreover similar to other clock producers, the Ingraham company closed clock assembly during World War II to alternatively service
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