James Hamblet
1824-1900
Presentation by Keith Rickard
Great-great-great-grandfather
James Hamblet
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Born in Chelsea, Suffolk, MA on 16 Jun 1824
Had a sister Susan Deliverance Hamblet (b. 1828)
Lived in Boston with his family in 1830
Worked as a brass finisher in 1850, his father as a
soapstone worker, as can be seen in the 1850 US Federal
Census:
James Hamblet
• Married his first wife, Indiana Kendall, on 5 Jul 1853 in
Boston and had 3 children with her.
• Worked for William Bond & Son making astronomical
instruments, as seen in the 1860 (Boston) census:
James Hamblet
• Left William Bond & Son in 1862 and goes into the business
of manufacturing telegraph instrument and apparatus with
Edmands and forms the firm “Edmands & Hamblet” in
Hanover Street, Boston.
• In 1868 his firm produces the “Magneto Telegraph” device,
including the magneto-electrical dial instrument.
• In 1870 James marries his second wife, Mary Louisa Lester
Larabee, and has two children with her.
• The 1870 census (Boston) shows the following:
James Hamblet
• In 1870, one of Hamblet’s
telegraph instruments
business patrons was
inventor Thomas Alva
Edison. Edison was an
“ambitious telegraph
operator” in the Western
Union office in Boston
who needed Hamblet’s
help for his early
inventions which included
a stock ticker. Edison
regularly used Hamblet’s
workshop.
Picture of Thomas Edison c.1872
James Hamblet
• Between 1872-1876,
Hamblet starts working
for E Howard &
Company, clock makers
(est. 1842) in Boston. He
becomes very interested
in the regulation of
clocks. His main job was
to manufacture, sell and
set-up the ElectroMagnetic Watch Clock”
Picture of James Hamblet c.1875
James Hamblet
Electro-Magnetic Watch Clock
James Hamblet
• In 1877, Hamblet leaves E Howard & Co.
• He has an interest in the Western Union’s plan to transmit a time
signal at noon from the US Naval Observatory at Washington DC. It
is thought that this may have been Hamblet’s suggestion.
• He moves to Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and new children.
• He acquires a number of West Union circuits and starts providing a
time service to jewellers and other stores and offices in New York
City.
• He designed a cogwheel attachment for a central master clock
which would then automatically transmit time signals to sounders in
subscribers’ premises.
• This clock was synchronised with Washington DC
• He later becomes General Superintendent of the Time Telegraph
Company.
James Hamblet
• In 1878 he becomes manager
after founding the Western Union
Time Service at the Western
Union Building.
• He extends it to thousands of
towns & cities across America
where Western Union’s
electrically synchronised clocks
were installed.
James Hamblet
• With James’s cooperation, a large
time ball on a flag pole erected on
the tower of the Western Union
Building.
James Hamblet
• Extract from the 1880 Census (Brooklyn New York City)
• In 1882, Hamblet obtains signatures of jewellers and clockmakers to
petition to Congress to pass a law establishing four time zones and
standard time across the States.
• Hamblet had noted that the
some 300 times zones that
existed across America made
time table setting for rail
companies very difficult to
achieve and maintain. And for
passengers to understand
James Hamblet
• In 1882, Hamblet went on a crusade round America to
preach the need of correct time to the nation.
• He wrote articles in newpapers, magazines, visited
railroad and steamship companies, lectured before
socieites, clubs and churches for the adoption of
standard time.
• In the 19 Jan 1882 edition of the New York Times it was
reported that he spoke before some 340 members of the
New York Electrical Society about his experiments in the
construction of his clock which could control the
mechanism of his design in some 58 clocks.
James Hamblet
• With his snow white hair
and long beard he
became known to the
public as “Father Time”!
James Hamblet
The Day of Two Noons
• On 18 November 1883, from his office (Room 48) in the Western
Union Building, No 45, 193 Broadway, New York City, Hamblet’s
complicated and delicate clock, which formed the regulator of some
2000 clocks at jewellery stores across New York, was stopped for
3 minutes 58.38 seconds, so standardising New York time.
• After checking the adjustment by comparing by telegraph with
observations at Washington DC, Allegony (PA) and Cambridge (MA)
that all was correct the Time Ball then dropped at the “new” noon.
• Railroad companies immediately recognised the new standard time
zones and adopted time tables based on standard time.
James Hamblet
• Crowds gathered in the streets with watches in hand to check their
time, and captains of vessels trained their telescopes on the Time
Ball.
• On 18 March 1884, after much pressure by an aroused public
opinion, Congress passed the law establishing Standard Time.
• The four time zone were officially recognised:
EST
CST
MST
PST
Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5 hours)
Central Standard Time
(GMT -6 hours)
Mountain Standard Time
(GMT -7 hours)
Pacific Standard Time
(GMT -8 hours)
• Not everywhere adopted standard time, but Congress made it
mandatory on 19 March 1918.
James Hamblet
• Because of his new fame, Hamblet was seen as a
Brooklynite socialite. The New York press report on his
attendance at certain functions.
• In 1890, Hamblet is secretary to the Brooklyn Institute
and becomes president on 11 October 1890.
James Hamblet
• He presides over lectures and meetings which included:
25 Oct 1890:
7 Nov 1890:
15 Nov 1890:
13 Dec 1890:
27 Dec 1890:
25 Jan 1891:
7 Feb 1891:
8 Mar 1891:
21 Mar 1891:
1 May 1891:
9 May 1891:
7 May 1892:
14 Jan 1893:
6 Feb 1897:
16 May1898:
The Magnetic Current
Electrical Transmission of Time (by himself)
Sub Marine Telegraphy
Inspecting an Electric Plant
Some Introductory Notes on Electricity
Monthly council meeting
Inspecting the Edison Plant
About Arc Lighting
Construction of Electric Motors
Annual General Meeting of all Departments
Annual Meeting of the Dept of Electricity
Electrical Exhibition in November
What is Electricity?
New Electric Points
The Magnetic Field
James Hamblet
• In 1894 Hamblet becomes a Professor and in 1896 a
trustee of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers
of New York
• On 24 Dec 1889, Hamblet has a patent approved at the
US Patent office.
• Patent number 418,125 “Electric Synchronising Device
for clock Pendulums”. This device was probably used to
synchronise those clocks subscribing to the Western
Union Time Service.
James Hamblet
• Between Oct and Nov 1894, Hamblet suffers but
recovers from a severe attack of pneumonia brought on
by a cold which had settled on his lungs for 5 weeks.
• On 2 January 1900, Hamblet dies from another
pneumonia attack.
• The Brooklyn Eagle publishes his obituary:
“James Hamblet died at 20 Sidney Place last Tuesday of
pneumonia. He had been ill since last fall. Mr Hamblet
was born in Boston seventy-five years ago and came to
Brooklyn from San Francisco about thirty years ago. He
became interested in electricity when a youth, and filled
the office of superintendent of the Western Union time
service for twenty-five years. The great clock on the
telegraph building in Manhattan, which regulates the
time of the various office(r)s of the Western Union
system, in the United States, is a monument to his skill”.
He was president of the electrical department of the
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, for ten years last
passed. He was also head usher and clerk of the vestry
of St. Ann’s P. E. Church at the time of his death. He
leaves a wife [Mary Louisa Howard Hamblet] and
daughter [Edwina Hamblet].”
James Hamblet
1824 – 1900