Barr & Poole Poole Synchronous Electric Clock

[Jeremy Woodoff]

I recently purchased a synchronous electric wall clock will the name "Poole" on the dial. I bought it because I was curious about the relationship between Poole and synchronous clocks. The clock is a typical kitchen wall clock in an ivory plastic case with a steamlined design. "Poole" is printed on the dial above the hands, and at the bottom of the dial is "Weedsport Mfg. Corp. Weedsport NY." I guessed it was from the 1930s or 40s, but there is a date stamp on the back cover of March 55. Also printed on the back cover along with the warranty information is "Poole Time Products." The motor appears to be unmarked and has a fully exposed rotor and plates of a silver-colored metal. I do not recognize the motor as being the product of another company.

The information I have on Poole clocks concerns only the battery-wound electro-mechanical clocks produced by Poole, Morse Chain, and finally Barr. The Barr clocks were made in Weedsport from 1937-46 and were signed "Barr Mfg. Co."

So it appears that the Poole name lived on after 1946. Does anyone have any further information or examples from the Weedsport Mfg. Co. or Poole Time Products?

Jeremy

 

[glr1109]

The "Poole" clock began in NYC, moved to Morse Ind. in Ithaca, NY and then on to Weedsport, NY. There the "Poole" clock as most people recognize it ended a few years later. Barr began manufacturing clocks with electric motors. Confusion comes in as during these years at Barr, the clocks were manufactured under the names of Barr, Poole, Poole time products. I think there was another one but cannot remember it. The "Clock" division was then purchased by "Solay Industries" of Auburn, NY. I have one clock made by them, but have not seen any others.

Your clock (I think) is a "Poole Combination Refrigerator Automatic Defroster" and sold for $9.95. See link below and let me know if its the clock your speaking of. I've only seen one "Poole" synchronos clock and that was made in Ithaca. It is my belief that there was only one made. If you do a "search" for poole on this site you will find many articles concerning poole.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18148309@N00/?saved=1

 

[Jeremy Woodoff]

glr1109,

Thanks for responding. My clock has the same case, dial, and hands. The case is white. However, mine is not the combination clock/defroster. It does not have the little circle under the hands as on the one you illustrated, and it also does not have the heavy cord extending from the bottom of the case, which I assume is for connection to the refrigerator.

Does your clock (if it is your clock) have a date stamp?

Does your clock state "Barr Mfg." on the bottom of the dial?

Jeremy

 

[glr1109]

Does your clock (if it is your clock) have a date stamp?

yes, May 1954


Does your clock state "Barr Mfg." on the bottom of the dial?

yes


These particular clocks came in White, Red, Yellow. Their "sister" clocks(w/o the defroster) came in the same colors.

I do need to appoligize...I thought when you said synchronos, that you were speaking of a Master and slave clocks. This is the clock that I've only seen one of.

Barr made quite a few clocks with synchonos motors. See photo:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/18148309@N00/?saved=1

I've yet to find all of them but I'm trying

 

[skyscraperclock]

Arthur F. Poole died in 1934 and I don't know that he ever marketed synchronous electric clocks in his lifetime. But he had applied for some patents not long before his death, and some of these were issued after he died and were assigned to his wife. Poole had registered his company's logo as a trademark. But as far as I know, all he ever sold were various models of pendulum clocks powered by batteries. Poole had an association with Morse Chain, and after his death, his assets were purchased by John H. Barr, who had worked for Remington and held numerous typewriter patents. Barr typewriters were also being made in association with Morse Chain. Barr died in 1937 and for some reason, his typewriter and clock interests were spun off into another company and moved to Weedsport, NY (from Ithaca). This was Barr Manufacturing. By WWII, they had stopped making typewriters and concentrated on defense work, which was quite lucrative. Meanwhile, Barr had begun selling battery powered pendulum clocks based on Poole's. Somewhere along the way, they started making synchronous electric clocks similar to Telechron's but using their own motor design. I doubt these were made much before 1940. After the war, things got muddier. The Barr firm floundered in the postwar market, and some of the top execs were indicted on tax evasion by the government. Eventually, we see the Poole synchronous clocks being made by Weedsport Manufacturing, which was probably some sort of reorganization of the Barr firm's assets under a new name. By doing a Google search, I found a reference to the Weedsport firm's plant being damaged in a fire in May, 1956, which may mark the end of when the Poole clocks like the Defroster were manufactured. Could be that the Barr pendulum clocks like the Executive were all prewar... and a few of these apparently were made to run on AC instead of batteries.

 

[Jeremy Woodoff]

Skyscraper--interesting new information. Thank you!

 

[fixoclox]

FYI There is a relitive of Arthur Poole I think his son, he bought a poole wall clock from me on e bay about 2 years ago. He stated that he was looking for examples of his fathers work. I believe there is a daughter involved also. cheers bill@fixoclox

 

[skyscraperclock]

Poole was pretty old when he died in 1934. There is a great-granddaughter who has given some family history here: http://clockhistory.com/newhavenwestinghouse/arthur-poole.htm She has also posted to this forum: https://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?t=14344 Here is some information I found about Poole's relationship to Morse Chain: From the Cornell Alumni News, May 2, 1929: THE MORSE CHAIN COMPANY, Ithaca's second largest industry, has been merged with the Borg-Warner Corporation of Chicago, a $90,000,000 corporation. The assets of the Morse Chain Company are more than $8,000,000. Frank L. Morse will remain the president of the Chain Works. This is an interesting chapter in the history of local industry. The com- pany was founded in Trumansburg in 1893 by Mr. Morse and his brother, the late E. Fleet Morse '84. It was moved to Ithaca in 1904. Since then it has grown steadily, and has brought forth young in the form of the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation, the Poole Manufacturing Company, makers of the Poole electric clock, and the Barr-Morse Corporation, manufacturers of typewriters and com- puting machines. These three companies are not included in the merger. So, while not owned outright by Morse Chain, these three companies (including Poole) were apparently at least partially owned by either Morse Chain, or, perhaps, Frank Morse personally. This was most likely done as these companies then used Morse Chain to manufacture parts used in their products. After Poole died, it is not surprising that one of the other companies (Barr-Morse) purchased the assets and began producing very similar clocks under the Barr name. John Barr died in 1937 and his firm seems to have split from Morse Chain at that time.