Around 1930 the Sangamo Company Limited in Toronto was making early manual start electric mantel clocks with synchronous motors for the Canadian market. As of February 2025 these three examples are in the collections of The Canadian Clock Museum. The parent company was American. The Sangamo Electric Company of Springfield, Illinois was an early manufacturer of electrical products that included motors, meters, capacitors, and industrial timers.
Before the availability of sychronous electric motors, Sangamo had worked with the Hamilton Watch Company in the United States to make spring-driven mantel clocks that used a small electric motor to keep the spring wound up. Back then, the power line frequency was not reliable and power outages were frequent. The clock would continue to run for some time with the power off. Many examples of those American-made clocks are available online.
Folllowing the change to a synchronous motor, the words Hamilton Sangamo remained on the Canadian clock dials. Power failure would stop the clock. After a power failure, note these words on the label: TO START MOVE LEVER AND RELEASE.
Note that the centre of the dial rotates like a seconds hand to indicate that the clock is running.
The connection with Northern Electric in Canada (see the labels) is currently unknown. |