Mass Production of Wooden Shelf Clocks in Eli Terry Clock Factory

Eli Terry's clockmaking innovations revolutioned the way time was measured in the early 19th century. This video explores his ingenious methods for mass-producing shelf clocks, makng them accessible to a wide audience and changing the American landscape forever.

This is the story of Eli Terry, who in 1807, created several new technologies to accurately reproduce a set of roughly 50 identical wooden parts needed to build a wooden clock again and again. Eli Terry created mass production and the first set of wooden interchangeable parts. Until that point in time, a broken gear in a metal or wooden clock could not be reproduced and the entire clock had to be destroyed. Now, clock owners could get a clock repaired by replacing one broken gear at a low price.

This is a historic tribute to a woodworker from his apprenticeship to the day of his retirement with a brief look at the future. It is the story of water mills, and leather belts running saws and lathes every day. Terry invented new machines that cut up to 10 identical parts in the same operation; and easy assembly of mechanical clocks that could now be sold for $15.00 apiece – compared to an average cost of $80 apiece; when the average annual wage was $100.00.

I thank the research of the late George Bruno, who studied American clock makers of mechanical clocks from the early 1700s up to 1840. It was his sketches and mechanical reproduction of clock making tools and technologies that opened my eyes to the genius of Eli Terry.

Timeline
1:56 Terry Enters an Apprenticeship
2:47 Lessons from the Foundry
6:57 Initial Business Plan
7:48 Add Power at Watermill
9:36 Accept Investment Funds
10:02 Adapts new technologies
13:01 Value of Sales Staff (Yankee Peddlers)
16:43 Credits

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