POTD: The Clock Strikes Bullseye – J. Hall’s Patent Pinfire Clock Gun
Sam.S 10.20.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a clock that is also a gun. Yep. That was a thing. This “ingenious” device patented in 1902 by John Hall of Cumberland, England was a clockwork scarecrow – a timed 12 gauge shotgun. It held 12 pinfire blanks in individual barrels. Weights hung by strings from a clock face would fall at set intervals when cut by the razor-edged hour hand, firing the blanks to scare off birds. The intervals were adjustable in 15-minute increments over 12 hours. Hall touted its safety and cost savings over other timed bird scarers that used exposed black powder charges. Though clockwork gadgets seem outdated today, Hall’s novel pinfire clock gun showed some clever innovation and a solution to those pesky birds pecking at your crops and pooping on your carriages.
“This unusual “clock gun” is comprised of 12 pinfire chambered barrels, a wooden block bored with 12 guide tubes that, when readied, held 12 weights suspended by thread and a clock mechanism that is attached to the wooden block. At every hour the clock mechanism cut a thread, resulting in the release of a weight that detonated a blank cartridge waiting below. The metal bar behind the barrels would have kept the cartridges in place. All housed in a metal case, which has “J. HALL’S/PATENT/CLOCK GUN/STATION ROAD WORKS/WIGTON, CUMBERLAND” marked on the front and “DANGER” on the back. A paper instructions label is pasted to the interior of the lid.”
Lot 3609: J. Hall’s Patent Pinfire Clock Gun. (n.d.-al). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/78/3609/j.-hall’s-patent-pinfire-clock-gun.
