ABC #043: Henry & Thomas Voigt, Isaiah Lukens, & Henry Seybert - Tick Tock: Clocks, Watches, and Laurel Hill, Part 1

2022-10-01

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Philadelphia has had skilled clock and watchmakers since colonial times. Henry Voigt helped David Rittenhouse build his legendary orrery and supplied surveying instruments to the Lewis & Clark Expedition. His son Thomas Voigt built a special clock for Thomas Jefferson that he used for his astronomical experiments. You can see his clocks both at Monticello and in the US Senate. Isaiah Lukens not only built clocks that can still be seen at The Athenaeum and the G...

Philadelphia has had skilled clock and watchmakers since colonial times.

Henry Voigt helped David Rittenhouse build his legendary orrery and supplied surveying instruments to the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
His son Thomas Voigt built a special clock for Thomas Jefferson that he used for his astronomical experiments. You can see his clocks both at Monticello and in the US Senate.
Isaiah Lukens not only built clocks that can still be seen at The Athenaeum and the Germantown City Hall, but he also built an air gun that may have been used by Lewis & Clark during their expedition.
Henry Seybert used the money left him by his father Adam to have a clock and a bell built for Independence Hall for the 1876 Centennial Celebration. Almost 150 years later, they still stand. And then there's the spiritualism...

I did not have time to talk about David Rittenhouse, Bailey, Banks & Biddle, Hugh Craig's pocket watch, the bell tower at Laurel Hill West, and the clock tower at City Hall. They will have to wait for Part 2.

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