A Closer Look at the Stancraft Digital High Time Clock

It's time to take a closer look at the Stancraft Digital High Time clock. We'll talk a little background, some history, and take a look inside this flip clock with a twist.

When looking online you'll quickly find that the High Time clocks, came in regular alarm clocks in addition to three variants of the digital clock.
According to what seems to be a page from a sales brochure, the Stancraft Digital High Time clocks could be found in a Burl Wood look finish (model No 7661), white (No 7663) and brown (No 7667). The Burl Wood style retailed for $49.95 and the others $39.95.

On this brochure you can get a look at the other High Time clocks. You'll find a large number of these on e-Bay at any time. According to this sheet:
"In 1969 Stancraft Products introduced the first High Time Ceiling Alarm Clock, with its unique feature of projecting the time on the ceiling in large digital numerals. Since then the High Time line has been greatly expanded to include many more styles and price points, and has been an instant success wherever shown. Every High Time clock has an insistent alarm, switch for the projection beam, and is UL listed. Isn't it high time you checked it out?"



Looking more closely you will often find a few different names associated with these clocks, including, Stancraft or Stancraft Products, of course, but also Saxon industries, Brown & Bigelow, Standard Packaging, and even Hoyle. That's why on some packaging you'll see the ace of spades representing the famous Hoyle brand of playing cards. So what's up with all these names?



Brown & Bigelow was originally founded in 1896 and according to the New York Times, was known as "the world's largest producers of calendars and other printing and advertising specialties" with headquarters in St Paul, Minnesota. Among the various forms of art prints produced and distributed widely by Brown & Bigelow was the famous "A Friend in Need" by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge.

In 1960 Brown & Bigelow merged with Standard Packaging (the merged companies going forward were officially known as "Standard Packaging), which in turn acquired by Saxon Industries in 1970.

Stancraft, also known as Stancraft Products, was simply a division of Brown & Bigelow, established to bring their products to the retail market. Stancraft marketed many type of games and Hoyle was Stancraft’s major brand name for games including playing cards. Hoyle became such a strong brand name, due to the playing cards, that after 1975 the division's name, "Stancraft Products" was changed to "Hoyle Products".

Despite the mergers and acquisitions, and the name changes, even into the late 1970s you could still find the names Brown & Bigelow, Stancraft, Hoyle, Hoyle Products and Saxon Industries used sometimes all together, other times in different combinations. Most likely, attempts at name recognition for marketing purposes was the reason these names were applied to the clocks. Regarding the Digital High Time, clearly "Stancraft" is not a clock company. Almost certainly, these clocks were not even a product of Standard Packaging, or any Saxon Industries company anyway, and were likely made in Japan. What we do know is that the High Time Digital Clocks feature the well-respected Japanese made Copal mechanisms.

Now lets take a closer look at this Stancraft Digital High Time flip clock that we have here in Flip Clock Fans Studios.
Right away you'll notice that this Digital High Time is not as big as you might suppose from online images. It's wider than a simple flip clock alarm, though, due to the mechanics of the time projection.

There are four screws to remove to open the clock and you'd be best served to use a number 1 Phillips-head screwdriver.



The top just lifts away but if it's never been taken apart it may be a little sticky. This may be due in part to this aluminum tape in the light compartment across the two case halves that probably helps protect against heat as well as to move the light in the proper direction. Here on the top, you'll see the projection lens assembly. When I looked one of these clocks in the past, I noticed that it was glued in position and was not intended to be adjustable, so that maybe a user could fine tune the projected time. However, on this clock, I broke it loose and discovered that there are indeed built-in ramps to allow fine adjustment. I believe that adjustments were done in the factory for an average ceiling height, then the assembly glued in place. In any event, I learned that you do not get much change anyway when moving the lens up and down, so you'd be better off not risking breaking this loose. But I'm glad I did just to see what it was all about.

Here you can see the fine Copal mechanism. It's a customized one though because you have time adjustment on the right side in addition to an extension that will rotate the time wheel.

On this wheel you can see very, very small depictions of the time. If you look closely the method of projection is clear. This rather large bulb projects light through the small window in this metal plate. The light passes through the wheel projecting the image on a mirror that sends the image up through the lens assembly.

One thing the makers did well, was to seal off the light compartment so that there's not extraneous light throughout the clock or into the room. But a poor design turns out to be the very same feature. The light compartment is so well sealed that the heat generated will often warp the light door. Thankfully, the clock has a switch to enable or disable the projection lamp. Still, many times online you'll find a clock for sale that's missing this door.

So there it is. The Stancraft Digital High Time. A relic of the 1970s that can be frequently found online, but often missing a key part. It's a good clock due to the Copal mechanism and would make a great addition to any collection. Just don't use it too much.



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