Electric time recorder

Electric time recorder, made by Gledhill Brook, used in Bay 2 of Mather & Platt Park Works, Manchester, c.1920-90. Serial number 29369.

This is a Gledhill-Brook Time Recorder that was used at Mather and Platt's factory at Park Works, Newton Heath. It allowed the factory workers to mark when their shift started (clocking in) and ended (clocking out). The factory had at least 30 of these clocks to keep track of workers’ shifts across its 17 bays. This particular time recorder was used by the new apprentices in the factory.

In the early 1990s this system of recording worker’s time was made obsolete by new digital systems. After they were removed, the old clocks were raffled off to employees of the factory. This clock was won by John Stinton, who then gave it to the museum in 2009.