As far back as I can remember, which would be about 1945, I've had the desire to find out how things work, especially electrical and mechanical things. If it would come apart, I would have it apart. Nothing was safe. The mechanical eyes in my sister's baby dolls were especially vulnerable. We had a couple rather ordinary electric clocks but I wasn't allowed to "play with" them, but my grandmother had a clock that ticked and had to be wound with a key, and it would strike every hour and every half hour. Now that is something that I would love to have been able to get into, but she wouldn't let me touch it (more about this clock later).

I guess had the usual kid toys, electric trains, windup vehicles, bicycles, and such, but My family didn't have a lot of money so if something broke, I had to figure out how to fix it or do without. By the time I was in elementary school, I had become the kid that the other kids, and sometimes the teacher, would came to when something wouldn't work.

Radios became a special interest to me and when I was about 14 or so I started my first "business" repairing radios and phonographs. By the time I graduated from high school I had probably seen the insides of almost every radio in our small town. At first people would bring me the old junkers that the "big shops" either didn't want to fool with, or wanted too much to fix. It was a matter of, before we pitch it out lets see if the kid can fix it. Well, pretty soon they found out that the "the kid" could fix them, and often did a better job than the big boys, and charged less to. From that time on I have maintained that if it's worth fixing, it's worth fixing right.

After graduation from high school I went to work for a local electronics manufacturing company, then about a year later, I went to work for Collins Electronics (not to be confused with Collins Radio). Collins manufactured a line of miniature electromechanical switching devices. They also had a full machine shop, and although my primary duties were not in the machine shop, I learned a lot from the master machinist who worked there. The ancient South Bend lathe seen in my shop tour came from there.

1967 was a major career turning point. I left Collins Electronics to attend college and pursue a career in education. It was also the year when I acquired and repaired my first antique clock. With no income, and the expenses of college ahead, money was pretty tight, so I started a little part-time business that I called Greenfield Enterprises. Direct dial telephone service was relatively new and the phone company designated the Trappe Md. Exchange as "Greenfield-6" or "GR6", which corresponds to the 476-, which is still in use today. A street was also renamed "Greenfield Avenue", so "Greenfield" seemed like a good name for my business as well.

The business at this point was mostly confined to subcontract assembly of electronic circuit boards for Fisher Mfg. Co., Seaford Delaware, refurbishing and selling used bicycles, and repairing an occasional radio. By 1972 the ten-speed bicycle craze was in full bloom and I had taken on selling and servicing a line of "better quality" Japanese bicycles. I developed a reputation for quality work and reasonable prices. The bigger shops in the next town would even send me some of their more challenging repairs. The bike shop had been good to me, but after graduating, and securing a teaching position, I soon realized that there just was not enough time to do both, so the retail business was closed.

Greenfield Enterprises continued, largely out of the public eye, as the contract operator for the local municipal water treatment plant until I left the teaching profession in 1990. At that time, I accepted a limited position with the city as water system operator and superintendent, and, contracting as Greenfield Enterprises, performed mechanical maintenance, welding, and food processing machine restoration for a local canning factory and equipment exporter.

The canning industry in this area was in decline and the factory was eventually forced to closed, I then obtained a Class 5A wastewater treatment plant superintendent's license from the State of Maryland, and accepted a full time job with the city. Greenfield Enterprises continued to do a few small welding jobs, and an occasional radio or phonograph repair, as time permitted, then in 2004 I retired…….again.

Retirement is fine, but the pay is poor, and too much time with too little to do does not appeal to me, so Greenfield Enterprises is back, now offering quality repair and restoration for early American clocks, at reasonable prices. Although not formally trained as a clock maker, since 1967 I have maintained my own collection, as well as clocks that I have swapped, sold, or traded over the years. I still have more to learn (doesn't everyone) which is why I advertise service for American clocks. Some day I may be comfortable offering service for other speciality clocks, but for now, I want to focus on what I can do and do well. I still follow the same policy that I first established when I was 14, "if it's worth fixing, it's worth fixing right". And that old clock that was my grandmothers? I just finished restoring it (January 2008). Although she's no longer with us, I'm sure she would be pleased.

Bob