Ingraham School Clock

Front Porch

A Quick Cleanup 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The E. Ingraham Company

Bristol Connecticut 

Made Roughly 1900–1915

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

About a week ago I met up with some friends for dinner and one of them had brought me some items they picked up at one of their neighbors' moving purge.  There were a couple of nice pieces, including two very old irons and a 1940s or '50s metal cuckoo clock.  But the best of the finds was this Ingraham Co. wall clock of pretty substantial size and just an absolute beauty.  I'm not going to try to restore it all the way back to original condition, but I do want to clean it up, and I think I found a nice spot for it here at 173. Let's get into it.

First, a Brief History 

Bristol cabinetmaker Elias Ingraham opened his own shop in 1831 and, through ventures like Brewster & Ingrahams (1843–52), helped popularize the sharp/round Gothic “steeple” clock cases. 

After successive names—E. & A. Ingrahams (1852–56), Elias Ingraham & Co. (1857–60), and E. Ingraham & Co. (c. 1860/61–1884)—the firm became The E. Ingraham Company in Bristol in 1885. 

By the late 19th/early 20th century it was a major U.S. clockmaker, later adding wristwatches (1913) and eight-day alarm clocks (1915). 

During World War II it paused making civilian clocks to make time-fuse parts and anti-aircraft components, earning the Army-Navy “E” award (1944). 

The company shortened its name to “Ingraham Company” in 1958 and ultimately closed in 1967. 

A School Clock (or Store)

Here’s what I was able to pin down about the specific style of this clock:

This clock is what's called a store/school “Regulator”-style oak wall clock made roughly 1900–1915.  Apparently, the black lower tablet with gold “REGULATOR” and a Greek-key border is a telltale Ingraham feature seen on their box-regulators and calendar/office regulators from this period. 

The fan-shell appliqués and repeating frieze look like pressed-oak ornaments, typical of Ingraham’s turn-of-the-century production—decorative but mass-produced rather than hand-carved. 

The original tablets (a decorative element, placed within the clock's case) were reverse-painted (gold on black) with that Greek key frame. The factory finish was “Antique oak” (golden/medium oak stain) sealed with shellac/varnish, with a lacquered brass bezel. 

This clock measures 15" wide and 36" tall.

Hands in the Dust - a haiku

Ticking without end,

hands sweep the dust from each hour—

time keeps what it takes.

GB Shaw Jr.

1990

Restoration 

While this clock was in pretty decent condition, it definitely needed some cleaning and a little preservation.  But restoring it to like-new condition just wasn't part of the plan.  So, I decided the best approach was to give it a light cleaning and shellac refresh to preserve originality.  Also, you may be able to tell that the wood was pretty dry..

Because it's going to be mounted on the front porch, I think a good protective finish is in order 

First

The first step was the reasonable dismantling - you know, just enough to evaluate and clean it up.  I have no idea what happened to the face of the clock, but if you look closely, you can see where some white paint was spilled...wasn't me!

It's also just plain dirty and stained.

I'm getting a little bit out of order so let me get back to the sequence. I dismantled the clock like I mentioned just a minute ago. I removed the door, took the hands off and pulled out the face...

I tested an inconspicuous spot on the face to see if I could clean it up but, even that little spot left a stain.  So I figured I'd just give it a very light cleaning and call it good enough.  I thought about taking it to a graphic artist and having a new face made, but the overall condition of the clock, while pretty good, wasn't sufficient to invest that kind of money.  So I gave the face a gentle cleaning.  I think it'll be okay.

Next Steps

The next thing I did was remove the door because I needed to tinker with a couple things inside the case.  Also, I didn't feel safe having all that glass just flopping back and forth. When I was taking the door off, I noticed that some of the hinge screws were a bit loose.   A few little slivers of cedar and some glue have the screws sometime to bite into when I put the door back on.

While the glue was drying, I cleaned the case with warm water and a light helping of elbow grease. It wasn't really all that dirty but it definitely needed cleaning up. 

I noticed also the case was pretty dull in some areas so I figured I'd put on just a light coat of amber shellac.  In the next picture you can see how dull one side was compared to the other side with a fresh coat of shellac.

A little bonus shot so you can get a wider view of a  bigger portion being or shellacked.

And here's a shot of one side after the shellac was put on. As you can see, it really made the colors much more robust without changing the nature of the the case itself because it was originally shellac anyway.

And that's really the extent of what I did for this clock. Just a quick cleanup, a light coat of amber shellac, tightening up the hinge screws for the door and bafa bing - done!

Its Natural Habitat 

I've got to say that this clock that was given to me as a kind of throwaway. It turned out really beautiful. I don't know that I'll ever get the clock itself to work, but as a decorative piece, it's absolutely stunning in its natural habitat on the front porch.

Here's a shot of the applique at the top of the clock case. I think it's very unique and quite beautiful and it really stands out after cleaning and applying shellac.  It really stands out quite nicely

This is the lower part of the case where the Greek lines are painted on the inside of the glass of course, and it just gives it a really nice look.  I'm surprised of the great condition this paint is in compared to the paint around the dial in the upper part of the door.

And of course, here's the little applique the bottom of the case and again, just a simple cleaning and some shellac really made the whole thing pop and give it some life again.

Of course, now I'm just going to throw a whole bunch of pictures in from different angles because that's what I seem to do in these kind of posts. 

Here's a shot of it next to the front door. Of course 173 has closed-in porches so, the amount of weather the clock is exposed to will be a bit limited.

Just another little angle...

And one final angle just for fun!

And there you have it, the story of my free Ingraham's clock that now inhabits the front porch. And, if there's nothing else I can say about it, at least it's right twice a day!

Hey,  thanks for stopping by - see ya' next time!