Ingraham Clocks

An Ingraham clock is one made by a company started by Elias Ingraham in 1831. He opened a clock case and cabinet making shop in Bristol, Connecticut. Elias is best known for his innovative clock-case styles and mass production.

The development by Eli Whitney of a system of precision manufacturing of interchangeable parts and the assembly line late in the late 1700s made Connecticut into a major center of manufacturing. This development enabled clockmakers to compete with the Germans and Swiss in making a quality product. Ingraham was known for his innovative case designs.

In 1860 Ingraham & company was created as a successor to various previous clock making operations run by Elias Ingraham . It soon set up shop in a facility it would later come to own near Birge`s Pond in Bristol, CT.

Ingraham originally bought its movements from assorted makers, but in 1865 decided to set up it`s own facility to make movements on site. Ingraham bought a hardware shop and had it hauled onto land the company owned and then hired Anson Atwood to set up and manage a movement making operation in that building.

Between 1857 and 1873, Elias Ingraham received 17 patents for many of the various popular cases and features he designed. For many of his cases, he used a unique figure 8 door design. The company also often made veneered case models with name slike Doric, Venetian, and Ionic which were produced in various sizes and were quite renowned and popular.

Elias had a son named Edward who took over the company for his father in 1885. Edward was a master craftsmen in his own right and had several patents in his name. Notably, he had perfected a technique for putting black enamel paint on wooden clock cases. He utilized this method to create imitations of expensive French marble mantel clocks. This technique was soon copied by many other companies, but Ingraham remained the leading maker of this type of clock model and introduced 221 other models over the next 30 years.