Famous Walter Folger Clock Restored

THE INTERNATIONALLY famous "tall clock" made by Walter Folger, Jr., of Nantucket, has been fully restored and is once more on exhibit at the Peter Foulger Museum. After being absent for six months, during which time it was in the shop of John C. Losch, in Holliston, Mass., where it was carefully cleaned and put in running order by that excellent craftsman, the handsome timepiece was brought to the Island on July 6, and promptly re-installed in the case, which also had been repaired, the work being done at the Mill Shop.

Its dial cleaned and hands refurbished, the Folger Clock not only provides a handsome exhibit but serves as a dramatic example of the skill of its maker. Walter Folger, Jr., was a Nantucket genius, and he constructed the clock works over a three-year period, completing it in 1790 at the age of 22. It is considered by experts as the most remarkable astronomical clock in America. The dial bears the name of the maker, and shows a gilt disk and a silver sphere which respectively represent the sun and the moon in their orbits across the sky, rising and setting at the exact time of their real counterparts, and moving in slots in the shape of the segment of a circle.

The time of the rise and set of any heavenly body depends, among other things, on its declination — that is the angular position of the body north or south of the earth's equator. The sun disk in the Folger Clock shows the declination of the sun going through its annual cycle from 231/2 degrees north in summer to 231/2 degrees south in winter, and since the length of daylight varies with the seasons, the upper slot is provided with shutters that adjust themselves in such a way as to make the hours of daylight correspond exactly with the real sunrise and sunset.

The moon's declination follows a more complicated program, however, and the noted horologist, Dr. Arthur L. Rawlings, has stated: "It is doubtful whether anyone else, either before or since Walter Folger's time, ever designed a mechanism to predict it,"

Not only is the moon's declination taken care of by the mechanism of this remarkable clock but the complicated arrangement includes one wheel turning in 27 days 8 hours and another turning in 24 hours 50.527 minutes, but one turning in 18.6 years. Dr. Rawlings believed the ingenious Folger's mechanism employed the first application of variable ratio levers.

The conventional clock-works movement is so arranged and mounted that it provides space for the accommodation of the 15 wheels and 12 pinions of the astronomical section. The methods Folger used for his complicated moon orbit and determination of declination were entirely his own and apparently were the first ever so designed.

Upon his death in 1849 the astronomical functions of the clock failed to operate, and although the time-piece continued, no one was able to reactivate the sun and moon features — or, at least, no one was successful in any attempt at it. In 194,8 the great-granddaughter of Walter Folger, Jr., presented the famous clock to the Historical Association. In 1952, through the active work of Dr. William E. Gardner, the clock was placed in the hands of Dr. Arthur L. Rawlings, then a consulting engineer at Bulova Research Laboratories, and a noted horologist, whose services were obtained through the interest of Brooks Palmer, then president of the National Association of Clock and Watch Collectors. In 1953 the clock was returned to the island in working order.

However, during the past few years, and particularly since it was transferred to the new museum, the famous clock showed signs of needing expert attention, and performed erratically. Fortunately, Mr. John Losch was recommended by several experts as the craftsman to whom could be entrusted the delicate restoration needed. The works were carefully packed and taken to his shop in Holliston in December, 1972. Over the intervening months the entire assembly of wheels, pinions, and gears was carefully taken apart and cleaned, with several intricate repairs completed. These parts were photographed, and the work of reassembling accomplished. The result is that the remarkable old clock is once more functioning as Walter Folger originally designed it.

Visitors are cordially invited to come to the Peter Foulger Museum for the opportunity to study this extraordinary "Grandfather's Clock."