Charles Shepherd Jr.

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Shepherd Gate Clock at Royal Greenwich Observatory
The Gate Clock Mechanism

Charles Shepherd Jr. (Born September 20, 1829 in Pentonville, † July 1, 1905 in Southsea) was a British watchmaker , inventor and engineer.

education

Charles Shepherd Jr. probably learned from his father Charles Shepherd Sr. (* 1802 - † June 21, 1865) the craft of a chronometer maker. At a young age he was interested in electricity and its application for clocks. In the Census of 1851 (England) he is listed as "engineer".

Shepherd & Son

Until his trip to India, C. Shepherd jun. in the company Shepherd & Son, which is owned by the father Charles Shepherd sen. was directed. After the death of Charles Shepherd Sr. (1865) the company was managed by his widow Mary Shepherd with the support of their son William Henry Shepherd. In the census of 1871 Mary Shepherd is listed as "manager" and in her will of 1881 she emphasizes her role as owner of Shepherd & Son. C. Shepherd jun. was at this time (1853–1877) in India. Shepherd & Son had its registered office at 53 Leadenhall Street London from circa 1849 to circa 1881 (82). The clocks still preserved today often have this address on the dial. Property 53 Leadenhall was owned by Bricklayers Company, which terminated the lease agreements in 1881. A final reference to this address is found in the Post Office London Directory of 1882: "Shepherd Charles & Son, chronometer watch & clock manufactuares 53 Leadenhall street EC." In 1884 the company Shepherd was listed in the Business Directory of London with a new address: "Shepherd & Son chronometer manufacturers 14 Talbot ct Gracechurch st EC." Charles Shepherd's two brothers, William Henry and George Augustus, also worked as chronometer makers for Shepherd & son.

activities

Charles Shepherd made significant achievements in the field of electrical clocks / clock systems in the 19th century and is therefore one of the pioneers in this field. Shepherd's electro-mechanical clocks met the requirements placed on precision pendulum clocks and could therefore be used as master clocks in a time distribution system. The 'Mean Time Clock' built by Shepherd for the observatory in Greenwich was of particular importance as it was the clock for 'Greenwich Mean Time' for about 70 years and emitted electrical time impulses worldwide. It is one of the most important clocks in the United Kingdom (as highlighted and shown by the Greenwich Observatory itself). The principle developed by Shepherd of pendulum excitation by a gravitational impulse, triggered by an electromechanical device, was later taken up by other watchmakers and further developed.

List of the most important clocks and clock systems built by Charles Shepherd and Shepherd & son.

  • 1849 Construction and installation of a master clock with slave clocks for Pawson's Warehouse St. Paul's Churchyard London.
  • In 1850 C. Shepherd jun. accepted into the Royal Society of Arts, a year later his father C. Shepherd sen.
  • 1851 Construction and installation of a master clock and slave clocks for the Great Exhibition's Crystal Palace building, Hyde Park, London.
  • 1852 Construction and installation of a master clock and the Shepherd gate clock plus three slave clocks for the Royal Greenwich Observatory. Shepherd's master clock also electrically triggered the time ball in Greenwich and Deal. It was also the master clock for Greenwich Mean Time for about 70 years.
  • 1853 Construction and installation of a master clock and an electromechanical device to trigger the time ball for the "Coastal Tower of Deal". Shepherd's facility was in operation until 1927 and can now be viewed in the Deal Timeball Tower Museum there.
  • 1854 Construction and installation of a galvano magnetic regulator for the Guildhall in Exeter, as well as an electromechanical device for triggering the hour strike in St. Peter's Cathedral in Exeter.
  • 1856 Construction and delivery of an electrical clock system for Jerez de la Frontera for the "Plaza del Arenal"
  • 1859 Construction of a master clock for the Observatoire cantonal de Neuchâtel.
  • 1859–60 construction of a master clock for the observatory Williamstown / Melbourne / Australia. The clock is still in function at the Melbourne Observatory today.
  • 1868 Construction of a master clock for the Colaba observatory (Bombay).
  • 1872 Construction of a master clock for the Madras observatory in India.
  • 1883 Construction and installation of an electric tower clock with electromechanical striking mechanism for the Church of St. Peter zu Hornblotten.
  • 1883 Construction and installation of a master clock with 19 slave clocks for the Examination Schools Oxford. The master clock is now in the Museum of the History of Science Oxford.

Shepherd Gate Clock

One of the most famous Shepherd clocks is the so-called "Shepherd Gate Clock" in the right gate pillar of the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

  • Royal Observatory Greenwich / Time Ball

  • Deal Time Ball Tower Museum

  • Guildhall Exeter

  • Oxford. New Examination "Schools" Building (South Writing School) (3610699587)

Clock systems

Great Exhibition 1851

Crystal Palace 1851 with Shepherd's exterior clock in a round arch

In 1851 the "Great Exhibition of all Nations" (World Exhibition 1851) was held in London. For the exhibition building ( Crystal Palace ) in Hyde Park, Shepherd supplied an electrical clock system, which became one of the main attractions of the exhibition. In particular, the large outside clock above the entrance portal (South Transept) attracted a lot of attention and was mentioned and illustrated many times in the contemporary press and specialist literature.

Shepherd was represented with its own stand at the exhibition:

“128 Shepherd, c. 53 Leadenhall St. Inv. and Pat.- Patent electro-magnetic striking clocks, in connection with the large clock in transept. Small turret bell, the hammer moved by electro-magnetism. "

The electrical clock system of the exhibition consisted of a temperature-compensated seconds pendulum which was driven electromechanically. This pendulum served as a pulse generator and controlled the large outside clock in the transept and several large slave clocks in the building. Furthermore, at the Shepherd stand there was a smaller electrical slave clock designed as a skeleton clock and an electromechanical bell strike.

“128 Shepherd, Charles, 53 Leadenhall Street - Inventor and Patentee. Patent electro-magnetic striking clock. From the pendulum of the clock, a number of dials may be worked. The greatest novelty consists in the method of giving the impulse by means of a remontoir escapement, by witch the variations of the battery take no effect on the time measured. The novelty of the Large Clock in the Transept of the Exhibition Building, in connexion with the former, is in the method of locking the escape wheel, to prevent the train from running by the action of the wind on the hands. Two dials, five feet in diameter each. A skeleton electro-magnetic striking clock, showing how the number of blows to be struck is regulated. Small turret bell, illustrating the method of applying electro-magnetism to move the hammer. "

During the exhibition there was a partial failure of the clock system. The lines to the slave clocks had been cut. The Illustrated London News reports on this incident:

“The great clock, notwithstanding the large surface exposed to the wind, and the recent high gales, has continued to mark the time in a satisfactory manner. We regret, however, to record that some mischievous or malicious person has cut the Wires, on one or two occasions, which communicated the power to the dial in the Western Nave, and the same clock, having received some injury, has not performed as well as its more noble companion. "

The newspaper article proves that there was no total failure of the clock system due to technical or constructional defects, as Grimpthorpe has shown many times.

In 1878 Shepherd had an electrical clock system patented, which was protected against failure of individual lines. (Patent No. 2467).

Horn blush

Church of St Peter / Hornblotton / Somerset

Godfrey Thring (* March 25, 1823 - September 13, 1903), pastor of St. Peter in Hornblotton / Somerset , commissioned the architect Sir Thomas Graham Jackson (* December 21, 1835 - November 7, 1924) to build a new one Church in Hornblotton, which was built in the years 1872–74. Since the church tower did not offer enough space for a conventional, purely mechanical, weight-driven tower clock system, C. Shepherd jun. In 1883 an electric tower clock system that required less space and no drive weights.

The plant in Hornblotton consisted of:

  • A master clock (including the batteries for the entire system) that was set up in the rectory, which is a bit away from the church.
  • An electromechanical drive mechanism for the hands in the tower.
  • An electromechanical bell strike in the tower (for the hour strike and quarter hour strike).
  • Electrical lines between the rectory and the church.

This electric clock system was the first in the United Kingdom to have an electric bell strike. So far it had been of the opinion that it was not possible to operate a bell striking mechanism with the help of electricity, a thesis which was supported in particular by Lord Grimpthorpe (* May 12, 1816; † April 29, 1905).

“And any one who sets to work to invent electrical clocks must start with this axiom, that every now and then the electricity will fail to lift anything, however small: and if his clock does not provide for that, it will fail too. It is therefore unnecessary to describe Shepherd's plan further now, as I did in former editions. "

Shepherd refuted this thesis by building and operating the facility.

The drive mechanism for the hands and the chiming mechanism have been restored and are now in the Science Museum (in the depot there) in London, the master clock of the system is missing.

Observatoire cantonal de Neuchâtel

Neuchâtel, L'Observatoire

In 1859 the Shepherd company delivered a "Galvano magnetic regulator" to the "Observatoire Cantonal de Neuchâtel" (Observatory in Neuchâtel Switzerland). The Shepherd clock was used to keep the time for the mean time and sent electrical time impulses to Berne, Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds every day. The watch was converted by the Hipp company in 1874 to the so-called 'Hipp contact'. The pendulum excitation was also changed by Hipp. The Shepherd watch is featured as a decorative element on the diplomas of the Neuchâtel Observatory, which were issued as part of chronometer tests. This shows how important this watch was in Switzerland. The watch is now in the La Chaux-de-Fonds International Watch Museum (Depot) and has been restored.

Shepherd in India

Charles Shepherd Jr. worked from 1853 to 1856 as 1st class assistant in the construction of the Calcutta-Agra telegraph line for the East India Company under the direction of William Brooke O'Shaughnessy. On August 4, 1853, C. Shepherd jun. together with his wife Mary on board the "Ripon" England with destination Alexandria. From there onwards via Cairo to Suez. In Suez embarkation on the "Bentinck" with destination Calcutta. Prominent fellow travelers (on parts of the route) were Prince Ernst zu Leiningen (born November 9, 1830 in Amorbach; † April 5, 1904 Amorbach), nephew of Queen Victoria and the Irish botanist William Henry Harvey MDFRS (born February 5, 1811 Summerville / Limerick / Ireland; † May 15, 1866 Torquay). In the Calcutta Gazette of November 23, 1853 we find a mention of C. Shepherd jun. and his new role in telegraph administration:

"ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH: - The Calcutta Gazette of Wednesday, Nov. 23, contains the following appointments: -" Dr. WB O'Shaughnessy, to be superintendent of electric telegraphs in India; Mr. C. Shepherd, junior, to be deputy- superintendent of electric telegraphs in Bengal presidency; Mr. RL Brunton, to be deputy-superintendent of electric telegraphs in the Madras presidency; Dr. H. Green, to be deputy-superintendent of electric telegraphs in the Bombay presidency. "

- Allen's Indian Mail.

There are currently no data available about the further journey of Shepherd from Calcutta to Agra. On January 8, 1855, Shepherd's wife Mary died in Agra at the age of 29. In 1863 he married Sophia Marshall in Agra. Probably permanent return to England in 1877. Strong evidence and the entry in the registration form of the death of Sophia Shepherd indicate that Charles Shepherd jun. is identical to the photographer Charles Shepherd (Photographer). This worked in Agra, Simla ( Shimla ) and Bombay from 1857 to approx. 1877. Accordingly, C. Shepherd jun. after leaving the telegraph administration, turned to photography. First mention of a C. Shepherd with the designation Photographic artist (photographer) in Agra for July 27, 1857. The photographer Shepherd became known in particular through the company partnership with Samuel Bourne . One of the most famous photographs that Shepherd (together with Tytler) took (1858) shows the Mughal Mughal Bahadur Shah II.

Bahadur Shah II, photographed by Charles Shepherd and Robert Tytler in May 1858

Patents

  • 1849 Patent No. 12567 "Improvements in Working clocks and other timekeepers, Telegraphs and Machinery by Electricity".
  • 1878 Patent No. 2467 "Improvements in Electro-Magnetic Clocks"
  • 1878 On December 25th, C. Shepherd jun. Patent No. 6719 (innovations in electrical clocks)
  • 1879 On December 9th, C. Shepherd jun. U.S. Patent No. 222,424 (Improvement in Electro-Magnetic Clocks).
  • 1881 Patent No. 3696 "Improvements in Electro-Magnetic Clocks and Batteries for same and other Purposes"
  • 1885 Patent No. 5308 "Improvements in Striking or Chiming Apparatus suitable for Time-keepers"

Utility model protection

On February 20, 1851, Shepherd received utility model protection for the design of its arched dial with two hands. This design is identical to the version of the outer dial on the exhibition building (Crystal Palace / London) of the Great Exhibition 1851.

Exhibitions

The Shepherd company was represented at the following exhibitions.

Honors

  • In 1853 he received the Society for Arts' Society's Medal for his "Improvements of electric clocks". Prince Albert was present at the award ceremony.
  • In 1862 he received an "Honorable Mention" for his "Galvano magnetic clocks ingenuity and adaptation" during the London World Exhibition in 1862. The award should refer to the Shepherd & son company, as Charles Shepherd jun. according to the current state of research, was still in India at the time.
  • In 1885 he received a bronze medal for his electric tower clock at the International Invention Exhibition London in 1885.

Employee

In addition to his father Charles Shepherd sen. and his brothers William Henry (* 1841; †?) and George Augustus (* 1849; † 1886) only one other employee is known by name: Sykes, William Robert (* April 1840, London; † October 2, 1917, Whitstable ) is said to have worked for Shepherd from approx. 1861 to 1863. The father C. Shepherd sen. as well as his brothers must have been significantly involved in the "electrical clocks" business segment, since the Shepherd company also used electrical clocks during C. Shepherd junior's stay. built and supplied in India. The admission of the father to the Royal Society of Arts in 1851 is further evidence of this assumption. Furthermore, in a patent granted for Scotland, the father is also listed as a patent holder.

family

Charles Shepherd had a sister Mary Ann (* approx. 1828; †?) And a third brother Francis John (* 1845; † 1874), who was not a watchmaker. He was married twice, his first marriage (⚭ 1853) to Mary Osmond, who died on January 8, 1855 in Agra / India. From this marriage a daughter named Mary Louise (born June 25, 1854) was born. His daughter is listed in the 1861 Census of England. According to the 1861 Census, she lived with her grandparents (Shepherd) in London. His second wife Sophia Marshall (* 1830 - June 4, 1909) married Shepherd in 1863 in Agra. Sophia Marshall was the sister of Henry Marshall and Francis Marshall who worked as chemist and druggist in Agra and Ajmere.

Gravesites

Charles Shepherd Jr. was buried as well as his second wife Sophia in the Highland Road Cemetery in Portsmouth. The tomb has been preserved. The parents of C. Shepherd jun., The father Charles Shepherd sen. († June 21, 1865), his mother Mary Shepherd (approx. * 1808, † March 8, 1881) and his brother Francis John Shepherd († 1874) rest in a family grave in Abney Park Cemetery / Stoke Newington / London.

! --- Patent specification?

Publications

By C. Shepherd jun. the following publications written by him have become known so far:

  • ON THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AS A MOTOR FOR CLOCKS, BY CHARLES SHEPHERD, PATENTEE OF THE ELECTRO-MAGNETIC STRIKING CLOCK: LONDON: PRINTED AT THE PATENT JOURNAL PRINTING OFFICE, 89, CHANCERY LANE. 1851.
  • Shepherd: Improvement of Mr. Smee's battery. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 120, 1851, pp. 357-358.
  • On Improvements in Electric Clocks, and the Means of Working the Greenwich Time Signals, in: The Journal of the Society of Arts, and the Institutions in Union, Volume I, From November 26, 1852 to November 11, 1853, p. 85.

literature

  • FG Alan Shenton: Who Was Charles Shepherd? In: AHS . No. 5, Vol. 21, Fall 1994, pp. 438-445.
  • Denys Vaughan: Charles Shepherd's Electric Clocks. In: AHS. No. 6, Vol. 21, Winter 1994, pp. 519-530.
  • Douglas Bateman: The replacement of the war-damaged Shepherd dial at Greenwich by James Cooke & Son of Birmingham, in AHS No. 1, Vol. 36, pp. 84-90.
  • A. Mitchell and DF Nettell: AN ELECTRIC TURRET CLOCK BY SHEPHERD, in AHS, Vol. Autum 1977 p. 463.
  • Christophe von Känel: L'horloge Shepherd de l'Oberservatoire Neuchâtel, in: Chronométrophilia, Bulletin No. 81, Hiver 2017, pp. 123-138.
  • Charles FC Beresford and John H. Combridge: THE DEAL TIME BALL, AHS, Vol. 19, Autum 1990. pp. 33-43.
  • Tony Mercer: Chronometer Makers of the World. NAG press, London 2004, OCLC 4950466962 .
  • Howse, Derek (1997) Greenwich Time and the Longitude, Official Millennium ed., London: Philip Wilson, National Maritime Museum, ISBN 0-85667-468-0 .
  • Howse D .: Greenwich Observatory: Buildings and Instruments, London, 1975.
  • Roberts Derek: Precision pendulum clocks: the quest for accurate timekeeping, Atglen PA 19310, 2003.
  • Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy. Edited by Wilfrid Airy. , Cambridge, University Press, 1896.
  • The Examination Schools Conservation Plan, April 2012, Building No. 155, Oxford University Estates Services, First draft February 2011.
  • Robert Volkers: Agra cantonment cemetery. BACSA, Putney 2001, ISBN 0-907799-76-0
  • Saroj Ghose: William O'Shaughnessy - an Innovator Intrepreneur, in: Indian Journal of History of Science 29 (1) 1994.
  • Eugen Denkel: Charles Shepherd Jr., chronometer maker, engineer, inventor, photographer. On the 110 year of death, notes on life and work. In: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie , annual publication 2015, Volume 54, pp. 181–194. ISBN 978-3-923422-23-4

Individual evidence

  1. ^ England and Wales Census, 1851
  2. ^ England and Wales Census 1871
  3. ↑ Mary Shepherd's will, March 21, 1881
  4. ^ History of the Tylers and Bricklayers.
  5. ^ Post Office London Directory, 1882. [Part 2: Commercial & Professional Directory] p. 1246.
  6. ^ The Business Directory of London, 1884, p. 590.
  7. ^ Notices of the proceedings at the meetings of the members of the Royal Institution, with abstracts of the discourses Vol. 1, 1851-1854.
  8. ^ Official Catalog of the Great Exhibition of the Works of all Nations 1851.
  9. ^ Derek Howse, Greenwich time and the discovery of the longitude, Oxford 1980.
  10. ↑ Derek Howse. Greenwich time and the discovery of the longitude.
  11. ↑ Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy. Edited by Wilfrid Airy.
  12. ^ Henry S. Ellis: Description of Shepherd's Galvano-Magnetic Regulator, in: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 15. 1854/55.
  13. ↑ Francisco Sánchez Martínez: El reloj farol de cuatro caras de la Plaza del Arenal (I), in: Diario de Jerez. Status: July 7, 2017 http://www.diariodejerez.es/ocio/reloj-farol-caras-Plaza-Arenal_0_668033397.html
  14. ↑ BULLETIN SOCIETE DES SCIENCES NATURELLES DE NEUCHATEL, Tome V, 1859th
  15. ↑ HALF-YEARLY REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, ENDING 30TH JUNE, 1857.
  16. ↑ VICTORIA. FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS TO THE ASTRONOMICAL AND MAGNETICAL OBSERVATORIES 1860-1.
  17. ^ CW Brebner New Handbook for the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal .., 1898.
  18. ^ G. Airy to RL Jones, Jan 29, 1867, RGO MSS 6/616/581.
  19. ↑ Observations of the fixed Stars made with the Meridian Circle at the Government Observatory, Madras, in the years 1862, 1863 and 1864, under the direction of Norman Robert Pogson, CLE, FRAS, & FMU Government Astronomer at Madras. Published by order of the Government of Madras. Madras Printed at the Lawrence Asylum Press, by GW Taylor 1887.
  20. ^ Shepton Mallet Journal 1883.
  21. ↑ A. Mitchell and DF Nettell. AN ELECTRIC TURRET CLOCK BY SHEPHERD in AHS Vol 10 Autum 1977 S. 463rd
  22. ↑ Guardian, Wednesday, January 2, 1884 / Page 12.
  23. ^ The Examination Schools Conservation Plan, April 2012, Building No. 155, Oxford University, Estates Services, First draft February 2011, This draft April 2012.
  24. ^ Museum of the History of Science Oxford.
  25. ↑ Offical Catalog of the Great Exhibition of the Works of all Nations. 1851
  26. ↑ Offical Catalog of the Great Exhibition of the Works of all Nations. 1851
  27. ↑ Illustrated London News - Saturday 23 August 1851.
  28. ↑ Guardian, Wednesday, January 2, 1884 / Page 12.
  29. ^ Shepton Mallet Journal Christmas 1883
  30. ↑ A RUDIMENTARY TREATISE ON CLOCKS, WATCHES & BELLS FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES. BY EDMUND BECKETT, LORD GRIMTHORPE LL.DKCFRAS
  31. ↑ Allen's Indian Mail, Vol. XII. January-December, 1854, p. 5, London 1854
  32. ^ Allen's Indian Mail and Register of Intelligence for British and Foreign. 1852
  33. ↑ Allen's Indian Mail, Vol. XII. January-December, 1854, p. 5, London 1854.
  34. ^ Times of India / Bengal Directory / The New Calcutta Directory
  35. ^ Register of Deaths / District Portsmouth / No 32 / 04.06.1909
  36. ^ Agra Fort Directory according to the Census taken on the 27th July 1857 by Asst Surgeon JP Walker MD ", Mofussilite Press, 1857
  37. ^ Patent specification of the Imperial Patent Office No. 6719/25 December 1878
  38. ↑ United States Patent Office
  39. ^ The National Archives, Kew, BT 43/7/76978
  40. ^ Board of Trade, Patents, Designs and Trade Marks Office, 1852-1923 / Office of the Registrar of Designs, 1839-1852 "BT 44/1/76978 Design number: 76978. Name: Charles Shepherd. Address: Leadenhall Street, London . Description: Clock Dial. "
  41. ^ Reports of the Commissioners of the United States to the International exhibition held at Vienna, 1873, Volume II.
  42. ↑ Journal of the Society for Arts, Vol. 1, no. 30 (June 17, 1853)
  43. ↑ John Timbs: The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art, London, 1854, p 147
  44. ^ 1862 International Exhibition London Medals and honorable mentions awarded by the international juries; with a list of jurors, and the report of the council of chairmen
  45. ↑ International Inventaion Exhibition Catalog London 1885, Group XIII Electricity, Exhebit 1304
  46. ↑ Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Vol. 48, Oct 1849 to Apr 1850 "p. 190, point 11
personal data
SURNAME Shepherd, Charles Jun.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British watchmaker, inventor and engineer
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH Pentonville
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1905
Place of death Southsea