saijinte This is a brass key measuring 3.8 inches in length. “Patented ” May 28 , 1901 Febr 11 , 1908 Oct 6 , 1914 Oct 16 , 1916 PAT’S PEND Please tell me everything. I want to learn everything about it. Thanks.
Doug MacQueen The first patent would be U.S. design patent 34,563 for a watchman’s marking key assigned to Abraham Newman. That should give you a start. Doug
wylk That is a watchman’s key, used to record a watchman’s nightly rounds. Do a search here for “watchman”, there have been other discussions of these keys and how they are used. Your key is a nice example!
saijinte Doug MacQueen wroteThe first patent would be U.S. design patent 34,563 for a watchman’s marking key assigned to Abraham Newman. That should give you a start. Doug Thanks for you help. Saijinte [unknown]
Jay524 as already stated its a key to a night watchman’s clock. its a mechanical clock, with a paper tape that advances as the clock runs. it is carried by the night watchman on his rounds. every area he is required to visit at a specific time has a station with a unique key that punches the paper so they know he was there when he was supposed to be.
Dean Nickel No, they are not in use that I have seen. Now I see Dallas chip markers everywhere and they have wand that the touch to that marker chip and the wand takes the chip ID and time. Same thing but high tech.
Billy B Edwards Jr. CML Adrian Weber wroteToo bad 😃: Correction: “still being used” The last time I saw one in use was around 1974 at the University of Louisville, KY. Their watchmen used to carry around the ‘Chicago Watchclock’. The keys were mounted on short chains in little cast iron boxes at various points along their route. Chicago was purchased by Detex in 1958 so those clocks were old and much prettier when I saw them than the one at the link. BBE. http://www.watchclocks.org/Types/20th_Century/453_Chicago_Watchclock_Spartan/453_chicago_watchclock_spartan.html [unknown]
