Editing Bracket clock

{{more citations needed|date=June 2007}}
[[File:Bracket Clock by Daniel Quare.jpg|thumb|Bracket Clock circa 1700 by [[Daniel Quare]] on display at the [[Walker Art Gallery]], Liverpool]]
A '''bracket clock''' is a style of antique portable table [[clock]] made in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
  | last = 
  | first = 
  | title = Bracket Clock
  | encyclopedia = Clocks and Watches, Encyclopedia of Antiques
  | publisher = Old and Sold Antique Marketplace
  | date = 
  | url = http://www.oldandsold.com/articles02/clocks-b.shtml
  | doi = 
  | accessdate = 2008-07-08}}</ref>  The term originated with small weight-driven pendulum clocks (sometimes called 'true bracket clocks') that had to be mounted on a [[bracket (architecture)|bracket]] on the wall to allow room for their hanging weights.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Milham
|first=Willis I.
|title=Time and Timekeepers
|year=1945
|publisher=MacMillan
|location=New York
|isbn=0-7808-0008-7
|page=83}}</ref>  When spring-driven clocks were developed, which didn't require hanging weights to power them, they continued to be made in the bracket style.  Often they are composed of two matching pieces created as an ensemble: the [[clock]] and its small decorative shelf.  They are almost always made of wood, often [[ebony]], and often ornamented with [[ormolu]] mounts, brass [[inlay]], wood or tortoise shell veneer, or decorative [[varnish]].  Since in their day clocks were expensive, and a household would not have one in every room, bracket clocks usually had handles to carry them from room to room.

These clocks were almost always [[repeater (horology)|repeater]]s, that is [[striking clock]]s which could be made to repeat the striking of the hours at the pull of a lever or cord.  This feature was used before artificial illumination to tell what time it was at night.  However, because they were often used in bedrooms where the hourly striking of the bell could disturb sleepers, they either had a knob to silence the hourly striking, or did not strike on the hour at all but only at the pull of the cord.  These were called 'silent pull repeaters'.

[[Image:Pendule cartel (Delaunay).JPG|thumb|A bracket clock with matching wall bracket, made around 1735 by Nicolas Delaunay, a watchmaker of Paris.]]

==See also==
*[[Lantern clock]]
*[[Carriage clock]]
*[[Mantel clock]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

*{{commons category-inline|Bracket clocks}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Clock designs]]