On October 24, 1876, U.S. Patent No. 183725 issued to Seth E. Thomas (son and namesake of the founder of Seth Thomas & Sons clock making enterprise) on an Improvement in Clock-Cases.

The case was particularly adapted for the now familiar back-winding alarm clock. There were alarm clocks before this (and the patent indicates that “[t]he works need involve no novelty”). Levi Hutchins is credited with one of the first U.S. alarm clocks in 1787. The alarm on this clock had a preset time that could not be changed. U.S. Patent No. X7154 from 1832 on an Alarm Bell, For Time Pieces, Alarm Clock discloses a bell for an alarm clock. U.S. Patent No. 1956 from 1841 mentions the “common alarm clock.” U.S. Patent No. 9123 from 1852 is the first U.S. on an alarm clock per se.