E. Ingraham Company
A Bristol cabinetmaker who designed clock cases built a company that ran for well over a century, and its many name changes are a gift to anyone dating a clock.
A case designer in Bristol
Elias Ingraham was born in October 1805 and moved to Bristol, Connecticut, in 1824. The Connecticut Historical Society describes him as a cabinetmaker and designer of clock cases. Sources disagree on when the company began: the University of Connecticut archives date its founding to 1831, when Ingraham set up his own cabinetmaking and case-design shop in Bristol, while the Connecticut Historical Society dates the firm to 1844.
In 1844 he joined the movement maker Elisha Brewster to form Brewster and Ingrahams. Over the next four decades the firm changed its name repeatedly: E. and A. Ingraham in 1852, Elias Ingraham and Company in 1857, E. Ingraham and Company in 1861, and the E. Ingraham Company in 1884. The Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas, gives 1860 rather than 1861 for E. Ingraham and Company. Apart from 1855 to 1857, when it moved to Ansonia, Connecticut, after a factory fire, the firm stayed in Bristol.
Ingraham's talent was the outside of the clock. The Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas, notes that he received 17 patents between 1853 and 1873, all for case designs rather than movements. He led the company until his death in 1885.
Gothic cases and black mantel clocks
Early Ingraham clocks followed the Gothic Revival taste. A Brewster and Ingrahams shelf clock of 1844 to 1852 at The Henry Ford has a pointed top and a small spire on each side, the steeple look the museum links to Gothic Revival style. The Rosenberg Library adds that later cases brought in columns and rippled moldings, with some decorated in paint, mother-of-pearl or gilt.
Black mantel clocks became a signature. Elias's son Edward Ingraham patented a way of finishing wooden cases in black enamel, a form of japanning that imitated costly French marble clocks at a much lower price.
See also: shelf and mantel clocks for today's homes on OnlineClock.app.
Alarm clocks, watches and war work
According to the UConn archives, the company made only pendulum clocks until about 1890. It then added lever-escapement time and alarm clocks in the 1890s, a dollar watch in 1913, pocket watches in 1914, non-jeweled wristwatches in 1930 and electric clocks in 1931. The Rosenberg Library adds that the firm had expanded into a new four-story building in 1887.
The firm came through the Depression well, UConn notes: employment never fell by more than 15 percent in the 1930s, and wages were not cut. In 1942 the War Production Board ordered clock and watch manufacturing to stop, and by August of that year Ingraham had retooled for war items such as mechanical time-fuse parts for anti-aircraft and artillery shells. Full clock and watch production returned in 1946.
See also: a short history of the wind-up alarm on OnlineClock.app.
Dating an Ingraham clock by its name
Ingraham's many names make dating easier. The Henry Ford's Gothic shelf clock reads Brewster and Ingrahams, Bristol on its dial and front plate, and its paper label says the clock was made and sold by Brewster and Ingrahams, Bristol, Conn. That name places a clock between 1844 and 1852.
Use the same logic for later marks: E. and A. Ingraham for 1852 to 1857, Elias Ingraham and Company for 1857 to 1861, E. Ingraham and Company for 1861 to 1884, and E. Ingraham Co. from 1884. Ingraham Company marks belong to 1958 or later. An Ansonia address on an Ingraham label would fit the brief 1855 to 1857 stay there.
For a closer match, the University of Connecticut has put a run of Ingraham sales catalogs online through its archives digital repository.
What became of Ingraham
Dudley Ingraham, the last family member to serve as president, stepped down in 1954, and the firm was renamed the Ingraham Company in 1958. In November 1967 it was sold to McGraw-Edison and reorganized as Ingraham Industries. The company's records for 1840 to 1967 were donated to the University of Connecticut in 1980. Its correspondence is fullest for the years 1916 to 1947.
Questions people ask
How do I tell how old my Ingraham clock is?
Read the company name on the dial, label or movement. Brewster and Ingrahams means 1844 to 1852, E. and A. Ingraham 1852 to 1857, Elias Ingraham and Company 1857 to 1861, E. Ingraham and Company about 1861 to 1884, E. Ingraham Co. 1884 or later, and Ingraham Company 1958 or later.
Is Ingraham still in business?
The family company ended in 1967, when McGraw-Edison bought it and reorganized it as Ingraham Industries. We could not confirm any later history.
Why are so many Ingraham mantel clocks black?
Edward Ingraham patented a black enamel finish for wooden cases that imitated expensive French marble clocks, and black mantel clocks became a company signature.