T h e H o w a r d B a n t a

A l a r m C l o c k C h a p t e rChapter 178 of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors

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eptember 2012 President’s Message

GREETINGS ALL

s you all know the 2012 National Convention isver. I have been taking a short break since thevent to rest up but am back up and running again.

e did have a Chapter 178 meeting on Saturdayorning at the convention. Attending were chapterembers Bob and Cora Lee Linkenhoker, Vince andhyllis Angell, Dennis Sagvold, Larry and Mary Lenudsen and guest Billy and Ruth Johnson who are

riends with member Gene Baker. You can read theomplete minutes of the meeting in the Chapterighlights of the September / October Martagazine. I wish to thank Phyllis for taking notes

nd writing the minutes. Besides the chaptereeting Vince and Phyllis had a great alarm clock

isplay in the mart room during the entireonvention. All in all I would rate the conventions successful and quite entertaining. I encourage allf those that can possibly make the Nationalonventions to do so. I feel sure you will not regret

t.

ennis Sagvold stopped by our residence in Augustnd dropped off quite a few copies of material fromis archives of early advertising for alarm clocks.uch can be learned from these ads about what was

ffered for sale and the prices from the early part ofhe 20th century. These are the items our parents and

grandparents would have been using and the pricesthey would have been paying for them, of coursewages were not what they are today. Check out theinformation later in this newsletter for some of thisinteresting data. I will be including more of thismaterial in future letters.

As always I wish you all good health as well ashappy and successful collecting. Till next timeyours truly.

Bob Linkenhoker

"A great Find in Pasadena" Above, Bob Linkenhokerproudly holding a rare box for a "baby Ben". Yes theword "baby" is not capitalized and the word "Ben" is....Webelieve this to be possibly the second model of the BabyBen with the earliest patent date of 1902 on the back tothe latest of 1911.

www.acc178.org 2012 Volume 3

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Rare Alarm Clocks at The Mart

This Admiral Byrd alarm clock was actually purchased byVince Angell and shipped to Germany to Alarm ClockPeter......demonstrating that even members in foreigncountries can shop at our Marts and not even leavehome."

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Above, Phyllis Angell and Debbie Arlington workon setting up the the booth at the Mart. Below, thefinished work. Thank you ladies!

Verlyn and Phyllis Kuhlman visit the Howard BantaAlarm Clock Chapter Booth.

Tom Tognetti examining a Seth Thomas "Lodge" withalarm. Tom finally bought this and said it would be agreat addition to his collection.

Pictures from Ward’s Catalogues

These pictures and the related text were taken fromvarious Ward’s catalogues (at least I believe this istrue) of earlier years. Read the text to get an idea ofthe selling points that were used to pitch these items.I don’t have the years that these are from but look atthe prices and you will get an idea.I have a question ‘Does anyone know who was thelarge clock manufacturer that Ward’s contractedwith to make the Old Reliable and the Reliable’?Also is the Reliable a downgraded version of the OldReliable or just a latter product. I have seen theseproducts for sale at the local regionals but since Ipersonally specialize in Westclox haven’t giventhem much attention. This will certainly change inthe future.

Check out the text for the German made alarm. At49 cents it looks like they didn’t really push thisproduce but rather showed it in comparison to anAmerican made produce. A flashback to an earliertime when American products were valued overforeign competition.

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There is one more sheet included which is theinstructions to set up the E. Ingram produced eightday National Call alarm.

One other interesting point. even thoughMontgomery Wards has gone through many changesin its life and in the late 20th century closed all it’sretail stores, even going through a bankruptcy, thattoday it exist as an on-line retailer. Type‘Montgomery Wards’ into your browser and seewhat comes up.

I hope these will be of interest to you.

Bob Linkenhoker

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