Antique Clocks: Time Clocks

Video Transcript

"Perhaps not many of you need to punch in when you show up for work these days but that was an important part of factory life and the punch clocks now are collectible. Particularly for people who like early industrial products, factory things which you no longer find in use. Well most of them were make by the Simplex Company out in Gardener, Mass and those have been the ones I've had most often. The one I happen to have currently is by the International Time Recording Company. So this is a little bit rare but in the same style. And for those of you haven't had to punch in on a factor job this clock not only told the time but drove another mechanism down below so that when you slipped your time clock in underneath, your time card underneath the little arrow there and pushed that as you entered it would stamp the time on your card and it also made a loud noise so that the boss would be able to look up and see who was punching in. Especially if you were late. There are other type of time recording devices too, in addition to punch clocks. This is a time stamp. This again showed the time but converted it also into a stamping device so that when you were registering your deed or doing something else official where you needed to actually log in the time and the date that you did that then the document would go in there, you'd push down on here and you'd have a permanent record of when you registered that transaction. This is heavy. This is even heavier. If you're thinking of owning or collecting, buying these make sure your back is strong and that you've got a darn good hook on the wall if you decide to hang it up."