Gale calendar clocks.

Welch, Spring & Company, The three Gale Drop Calendars.

Daniel Jackson Gale was born in Waterville, Vermont on December 24, 1830. At the age of 24, he moved West to Sheboygan, Wisconsin and worked as a shoemaker and farm laborer. It is on this farm that he becomes interested in clocks. Here began repairing and tinkering with them. On November 16, 1869 he receives his first patent for a calendar clock. In 1870 he began a relationship with the Welch & Spring Company. They agreed to use his calendar attachments on their movements. Gale continued to improve his design and added several complications. These three examples pictured here are a good example of this practice and relationship. Gale died on June 17, 1901 in Bristol at the age of 71. Interestingly, here are three Gale Drop Calendar clocks variants. It is not often one gets to see them pictured all at once. On the left is the Model No.1. This clock was produced from 1871 through 1874. The calendar was modified from a 1869 patent. It had a painted dial. It the center is the Model No.2. This clock was produced from 1874 through 1879. The calendar was patented in 1877. The dial on this model is now paper. The Model No.3., was produced from 1879 through 1884. The calendar is modified from an 1885 patent. The dial remains as a paper format. This is the last of the three Models. They are also referred to as “Parliament Models.”