‘Regina’ mantel clock, c.1909

Overview

Frank Holden was born in New York in 1869 and made a career in the electrical industry. He lived and travelled internationally, residing in London from 1897 and Italy from 1923. His name was associated with more than 60 patents in the UK, mostly associated with electricity meters. The patent for this clock dates from 1909. The principle is to concentrate the electro-magnetic impulse on the pendulum at zero: a trailing finger on the pendulum is magnetised, with the fixed contact surfaces made from magnetic material. Every time the pendulum passes the midpoint, it receives a small impulse maintaining it in motion. This clock has ‘REGINA’ on the dial, apparently a reference to a UK trademark for a patented railway ticket printing and registering machine, though it is unclear what the connection was to Holden. Other Holden clocks (see TCW 3015) have other names on the dial, often similarly mysterious.