SMITHS*
•
AMEEIOAN
HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO
PRACTICAL HOROLOGY.
VOL. IV
NEW TOEK: G. B.
MILLEE. 1873.
CONTENTS OF VOL.
IV.
c Answers
page
:
Compensation Balance Arkansas Stone Duplex Escapement Doublets
....
Frodsham Colored Foil Faci ng Tool (out of Depthing Tool) Ringing Noise in Hair-Spring
Compensation Pendulum Adelaide Chain Troubles of Shopkeepers Length of Pendulum Rods Plated- Ware Manufactory Coloring Etruscan Jewelrv Refining Gold
22 23 23 47 23 23 46
Construction of Watch Correction Compensation Balance (Overton's)
4fl
Cleaning Show Cases Clock Crutch or Fork Church Clocks Chronometer Balances and Springs " Trials at Greenwich Observatory.
Hot Chamber
47 47 70 71 71 72 72 93 94 95 95
Drilling Glass
9.5
.
.'
Apprentices
,
.
Jewellers' Rolls
Wooden Ring Essence Lemoine Cleaning Show Cases, etc Fastening Clock Case Astronomical Dial Horse Timer Oil upon Main-Springs Cleaning Brass Long and Short Fork to Clock African Diamonds Removing Joint Pin Rounding up Cones Method of Observing Transit
107 167 191 191 191 191 191 192 21
216 216 240 262 262 262 263 263 263 263
Tourbillon
Bronze Powders Repairing Cylinders Oiling Forks of Lever
Secondary Dials .... Cleaning Glass Stop Work Fitting Hands, etc Polishing Powder ,
Analytical Horology
28,
Arkansas Stone Adelaide Chain Alloys and Solders Automatic Watch Pocket
,
Apprentices...
m
Institute Fair ,
271 23 47 64 92 93 115 120 223 257
i
s.
71 96 143
163 166 17i
Clock, Electric (Himiner's)
31
D Diamonds Duplex Escapement Difference of Temperature Drilling Glass Dial, Secondary,
17
23 in
Rooms
91
Worked by Battery
,
95 215
E Emerald Effect of
14
Unequal Temperature
Exercise for
18
Watchmakers
44
23 1
96 191
F 21, 37, 65, 90, 117
Friction
Frodsham
...
Colored Facing Tool Finishing and Lacquering Brass Fastening Clock Cases Friction, Clyde on Facing Pinions Foil,
110, 181, 239, 258 23 23
46 97 119 159 214
H Himmer's
Electric Clock Horological Institutes
Hands Hooke, Robert
Hot Chamber,
for Adjusting Houdin, Robert Horse Timer Hyperidro. is (Excessive Sweating)
Ice Pitcher Isochronism, Principles '
of.
Fricf ional
Jewellers' Rolls
Japanese Metal Working Joint Pin, to Remove Jewels, Thick and Thin
B Bel
22
47 60
Escapement, Duplex Etruscan Jewelry, to Color Essence Lemoine 143 Engraving Item
Watch-Hands
ic
,
" Pendulum Concave Lenses Coloring Etruscan Jewelry
90'
119 120 142 143 143 143 143
Stopping of Regulator Prize Essay on the Balance Spring Resilvering Quadrant Glass Measuring Top Pivot
Ame
VGE 49 73 22 114
9(i
Engraving Item. Polishing Screw-Heads Measuring Work in the Lathe
Astronomical Dials Angles of Tools (Eggleston) Ambiguous Orders
1, 25,
31
42 56 86 95 L'9 142 256
131 173, 2-16
259
94 139 143 261
Experience with
Beoch Kys Bond & Son, Boston Brass, to Clean
&
Whitcomb Lathe Ballon Brain vs. Whiskers Bronze Powder
\1 (okl 8
119 132 143 121 239 210
Long
vs. Short Screw-Drivers Lacquering Brass Lathe, Ballon Whitcomb's New Light, Tvndall's Lecture Little Details
&
21, 68, 92, 93, 119, 141
98 12 182
189
CONTENTS.
M
PAGE PAGE Re-Silvering Quadrant Glass 19 68
Mechanical Progress " Science "
Operations in
Bank
10
143, 189
v ,1
N Neuchatel Observatory Trials
New
237
s 112 116 Springs, Chronometer Balance " Hair, Ringing Noise in " 191, 216 " Bell's Experience " Ulrich's Essay on " Philcox's " " Immisch Prize Essay 43 SandBlast... 44 Spring, Hair, to Select
of England
Motions of the Watch Pocket Main Spring Oil on Measuring Work in the Lathe
215
Refining Old Gold
Inventions
46 1
,.,
o 114 143, 189
P Pinions by Machinery Pendulum, Length of
"
5 '
Temperature Experiments
Pinions, Facing
70 107 134 156 169
Stopping of Regulator Secondary Dial, by Battery
191 215
1
.
83,
T
Temperature of Rooms Tool, Facing 214 Tools, Formation of Cutting Angle 191 Trouble of Shopkeepers 261 Transmission of Time by Electricity Theory and Practice
Polishing Screw-Heads " Detent Shoulders
R
Regulators, their Construction
Sherwood N. B Spectrum Analysis Sizes of Wheels and Pinions
71 .135, 150, 198 :
Regulator Reminiscences Refining Gold Robert Hooke Ring Gauges Robert Houdin Rounding up Cones
Standard Ring Gauge S torv of a Watch
250
Plated- Ware .... Prize Essay, Balance Spring. ...... .........
Transit, to take
Tourbillon 62, 101, 153,
51 275 72 86
40,
115
46
,
217 70 75 82 167 216
w
Watch Repairing 92,118 Watch Dials 109 128, 167 145, 193, 217, 241, 264
137 198 12 20 64
Solders and Alloys.
Overton's Compensation Balance Oil on Main-Springs
1
135, 150
Wheels and
Pinions, Proportional Size
WatchHands Whiskey
8, 35, 58, 79,
vs.
Whiskers
104, 125, 148, 233, 253
54 169 191 260
AMERICAN
Horoloffical Journal. NEW YOKE,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS. Essay on the Construction of a Simple and Mechanically Perfect "Watch Formino Pinions by Machinery,
Watch Repairing, Marine Chronometer Balance Springs, Sand Blast, Emerald or Smyragdtjs of the Ancients, .
;
.
.
1
5 8 10 12
14
JULY,
1872.
No.
1.
even when walking. It cannot be done except under cover, and at a place free from dust, while a keyless watch can be treated in the open air without any fear of rain or dust. All this is more than a mere convenience, because it
insures the continual service of the watch
17 during a voyage, when the wearer seldom finds Diamonds, Effects of the Unequal Temperature of a moment of rest for winding his watch, and the Atmosphere of Rooms on Compen18 in these rare moments may forget to do so, sated Pendulums, 19 Mechanical Progress, or may have forgotten to take the key with him, 20 Selecting Balance Springs, 21 and it is sufficiently acknowledged that a watch Long and Short Screw-Drivers, 21 Friction, is doubly important when you are travelling. 22 Answers to Correspondents, 123. Another advantage may be expected Equation of Time Table—July and August, 24 from the employment of the keyless mechanism, [Entered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. Millek, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.]
and I venture to say that it is also a very imporThe rotary motion required for winding a keyless watch takes place in a plane vertant one.
ON THE
tical
CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANIThis CiVLLY PERFECT WATCH.
or at right angle to that of the balance. is
mental
effects
of the bad, but very frequent,
habit of the wearers of watches, of moving not
BY MORRITZ GROSSMANN.
CHAPTER
a complete guarantee against the detri-
only the key, but also the watch
XI.
it.
This practice,
it
will readily
when winding be understood,
THE keyless mechanism.
involves a sudden rotary motion of the movecomplement of the modern watch, ment in the plane of the balance, and which is so much in demand now, and, it must be con- repeated ten to twelve times till the operation of fessed at the same time, so useful and agree- winding is completed. If, in the best case, this 122. This
able, is getting so
facture
much
in favor that its
and construction
word about.
is
Even now
manu-
careless treatment does not result in direct in-
well worth saying a jury to the acting parts of the escapement,
it
a pro- causes at least deviations of rate in a lever nounced mistrust against it in a considerable watch by violent banking, and those irregularpart of the public, and there are even many ities, which nobody can account for, often disthere
is still
watch in the opinion of its owner, and want of skill or care of The keyless mechanism, though, is much more the repairer to whom it has been intrusted. 124. A very important consideration of the than a mere toy, or a convenience to the wearer. It is useful in many directions. In the first keyless mechanism is the greater durability of place, it affords the possibility of winding a the cases, and their interior remaining better The watch, and of setting its hands, at any time, preserved from injury and deterioration. and in any place, because these operations do oft-repeated opening wears the rims and joints respectable watchmakers
who cannot
advocate a keyless watch.
resolve to credit a
are often ascribed to a
not require the opening of the case, while the of the case, and, besides, there
is
a necessity of
winding or setting of any other watch must not too hard shutting for the case of a key be done while the body is perfectly at rest, and winding watch, which does not exist with reis impossible in a carriage or on horseback, or gard to a keyless one. This latter may shut
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOTJRNAL. more more
and thereby protect the watch
closely,
tically,
while the pinion stands in a horizontal
and these two moving parts, therefore, must be connected by an angular gear. In key -"winding watch at least once every day ad- most keyless watches this gear is composed of mits the direct entrance of dust. The key also, a straight pinion and a contrite or crown wheel. efficiently
The
125.
against dust,
direction,
etc.
necessity of opening the case of a
in the majority of cases,
is
however, constitute a very imperfect
a very active agent These,
for the introduction of filaments
and impurities transmission of
force,
because the teeth of the
owing to the bad practice of car- contrite wheel, being cut in the radial direction, rying the key about in a waistcoat pocket which can only agree in one point of the action with nobody thinks of cleaning. the direction of the pinion teeth, viz., when the 126. For the purpose of studying and com- side of the tooth is in the fine of centres. During paring the different keyless mechanisms, it the part of the action which takes place before of
all
kinds,
be indispensable
will
the
tain groups, lest
could
contrivances
to classify
them
into cer-
great variety of
be conveniently
not
in-
The
greatest part,
watches
may
tooth,
which
is
certainly not'
an advantage for
The detrimental effects of a gear kind will be the more considerable with
and
in fact almost all key-
of this
be divided into two principal a pinion of low number, because
its
teeth lead
through a more extended angle.
categories 1.
after the line of centres, the pinion tooth
both parts.
spected.
less
and
these works against the outer or inner edge of the
Those with which the setting of the hands
130.
For these reasons
it
is
preferable to
done by devices arranged on the winding employ a conical gear, as offering the best conarbor and shifting on the same. ditions for a regular and smooth transmission
is
2. Those who accomplish this result by means of a nocking plate. 127. The last mentioned class, indispensable for fusee watches, is of a more delicate nature, and requires a more careful execution. The former, therefore, is more resorted to, especially
of power, and for the durability of the parts.
A
conical pinion, too, can
stronger than a straight one.
be executed much There is, indeed,
almost an impossibility of practically executing
a conical wheel and pinion of perfectly theore-
tical shape of teeth, but in the way they are In considering this first commonly made they are quite fit for service, class of keyless mechanisms a subdivision may and far superior to the straight pinion and coneasily be established between those where the trite wheel.
Swiss watches.
in
hands are little
by pulling the winding knob a
set
piece for putting the 128. This
latter
cases, are executed action, that
knob
131.
One of the best keyless mechanisms, on
outward, and those provided with a push- account of its simplicity and durability, has the
is
hands in motion. class,
The
barrel arbor has at
when
upper end the
any
effect
when
the
knob
is
adjusted
the a large wheel, as large, indeed, as the size of
turned to the right, and perform a click the watch allows
action without
its
with the so-called kregnet- ordinary square, and on this square
they wind the spring
is,
following general features
in the majority of
is
of,
or,
which
nearly the size of the barrel.
is
the
same,
This wheel
is
in
turned the other way, thus affording the advan- gear with another wheel of about two-thirds its tage that any inconsiderable effort for turning size, which is concentrically connected with a
knob the wrong way can not do harm to conical wheel below the upper plate. This The kregnet click, however, latter wheel is set in motion by a bevel pinion, is not an essential feature of this form of key- the arbor of which extends .through the pendant less mechanism. of the watch, and has a rifted button at its end 129. The winding knob, in the majority of outside of the pendant. One of the two flat keyless watches, is connected by a square or wheels on the top of the upper plate has at the other adjustment with the winding pinion, the same time to perforin the service of a ratchet, arbor of which passes through the pendant, the by means of a properly shaped click and spring. the
the mechanism.
pinion part being within the rim of the case.
By this arrangement the operation
is
This
is
the fundamental principle of the oldest
the barrel arbor, on which stem-winding watches, but
to take place, is situated ver-
have been made on it.
many improvements
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. 132.
For the purpose of
vices of various kinds
setting hands,
may be
^e - was a small pinion adjusted
connected with the
to the inner round end of the winding pinion arbor, and freely turning on it. The minute wheel geared into a similar' wheel, having another row of contrite or crown teeth, and these teeth were constantly in gear with the little pinion on the winding arbor, so that these two parts were following
movement of the motion work when the watch was This little pinion was going. kept in its position by a bridge, and had a small pipe projectthe
ing towards the
end of the
The oldest plan of winding axis, and this pipe had two rectangular this kind was the following The winding pinion cuts across its face, forming thus four recesses, had a lengthwise motion, and upon pulling broad and deep enough to receive a pin fastened the knob a little out, the toothed part of the in a hole drilled across the extremity of the Thus, by pulling the knob and winding pinion came out of gear with the bevel or arbor. crown wheel, and by means of a lever a small pinion out, the pin, when entered into one of crown wheel was pushed in gear with the min- the cross cuts, made the pinion follow its moute wheel or another wheel connected with it. tion, and thus imparted the movement to the By pushing the knob back to The small crown wheel was adjusted with a motion work. pipe into the inner part of the axis of the its former position, the motion work became winding pinion, either on a square or on the disconnected, and the winding action was in previously mentioned parts.
:
round
axis,
fourth of
its
in this case,
about one- gear as before. 134. This way of setting hands, certainly pin screwed into its side very simple and reliable, was found objection-
having one side thickness.
had a
steel
flatted
The pipe of the wheel,
so as to project a little in the hole, thereby get-
ting sufficient hold
axis to prevent the
only allowing
it
on the
flatted side of the
wheel from revolving on
a sliding movement in the
rection of the pinion axis.
133.
32 shows the knob pulled out.)
(Fig-
situation of the parts with the
it,
di-
Another plan was as follows
:
able,
because the knob,
when
pulled out for
was often left in that position by wearers, and the watch, having then
setting hands, careless to
move
also the
There siderable
friction,
winding pinion with its conwas quite unable to perform
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. the
increased task,
and stopped
those of the winding pinion, so that this latter
altogether.
This was a drawback which has essentially does not follow the movement of the axis, and produced mistrust against keyless watches, and when the setting has been done, the button, finally it
has led
to
dropping the device of pull- released from" the pressure, allows the spring to bring the tube back to its former position ready
ing out the knob for setting hands. 135.
may
Another plan has found much favor, and to answer the purpose very nearly.
be said
The winding described,
parts are exactly the
same
as
for winding.
137. There
is
a secondary advantage in this
arrangement, inasmuch as
it prevents any damwith the only difference that the age to the winding parts and clickwork in' case
winding pinion is fitted loosely on a round axis, of any one turning the winding knob the the inner end of which, as far as it projects wrong way, because, in this case, the two ratchfrom the winding pinion, is square. On this ets produce the effect of a so-called kregnetsquare a little steel tube, with a square hole, is key. adjusted, loose enough to move with ease up 138. Nevertheless, objections have been raised also against this system, because the side
opening in the rim of the case for the passage of the button was thought a means of letting dust, etc.,
penetrate into the movement, and
because the projecting button may, under un-
and down the square. The face of the wind- favorable circumstances, be forced in while the ing pinion and the corresponding face of this watch is in the pocket. For these reasons, much skill and sagacity tube are cut with ratchet teeth, forming exact counterparts of each other. in a
A gearing,
was spent on other methods of
acting
notch round the periphery of the tube,
139.
keeps the two parts constantly connected with
One of them
establishing the
pates in the motion of the winding axis.
When
the setting of the hands
is
bow
com-
of the case,
connection with the motion
work when the bow
is re-
quired, a small button or push-piece projecting tages to be
from the case near the stem,
hands
consists in a rather
each other, so that the winding pinion partici- plicated arrangement of the 136.
setting the
in motion.
is
The advan-
put down.
expected by this contrivance are
pushed in and very doubtful, since the bow may be accidendown in wearing the watch, thus
causes the spring to slide the tube downwards tally put
on the square. The other face of the tube has bringing it to a stand-still. Besides, many peoa small set of contrite teeth which, by this ple have the commendable custom of always movement, come into gear with the minute putting the bow down when laying a watch flat on a table, in order to preI
vent the polish or engine turning
being
scratched.
This, of course,
would lead
to the
same
result.
Other contrivances
140.
have been made with keyless hunters, to the effect of
having the push piece protected
by the
front cover of
the case, and projecting from the periphery of the bezel.
This
push-piece,
pushed
inward,
part of
its
when
causes
spring to
a
get
wheel itself, or another small wheel connected hold at the outer edge of the bezel, and from with the same. At the same time the ratchet this moment the winding ceases, and the moteeth of the tube are drawn out of action with tion work is and remains in connection with the
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. winding
axis.
This hold of the spring and or centred, by being seized by the exterior in by shutting the case, and the jaws of a self-centring chuck, and the
push-piece
is
released
every part
is
in its former situation.
This plan projecting end turned to a point by a tool with
answers excellently for every purpose, but
if
the cutting edge at an angle with the fine of
the hands are set without shutting the case the lathe.
when coming
afterwards, which some people do
home
or going to bed,
operations upon
will evidently stop.
it
These pointed centres form the
basis for holding the pinion in all subsequent it,
fectly concentric
(To be continued.)
next operation
so that all
its
parts are per-
with these two points.
is to
The
place one of these blanks
[The preceding chapters of this Essay were between the centres of a self-acting lathe, which published in Vol. II. of the Jouenal, the inter- turns up the arbor, and roughs out the pivots. ruption having been caused by the illness of full and complete description of these little
A
Mr. Geossmann. It is hoped that his new self-acting lathes would be intensely interesting Essay may be ready by the time the present to the mechanician, but would require a numone is completed probably in three or four ber of the Joxjekal to fully describe. They are numbers.] employed largely in all the turning operations o A verbal description of what in the factory. these lathes do, is the most that can be atForming Pinions by Machinery. tempted. The cutter, unlike the screw lathes
—
The
beautiful machines of the machine shops, is in the rear of the work purpose cannot be suf- operated upon, and the stock which holds it has
perfection of the
which are used
for this
admired. The exactitude of their a motion parallel to the lathe bed or fine of the performance (under the guidance of experienced lathe, and is moved along by a wheel and wormThe extent of its excursion along the operatives) contributes much to the excellent gear. ficiently
and and the
limited to any required extent,
character of the performance of machine-made
work can be
watches over the same quality of hand-made movements. In this department of the factory
the instant that limit is reached
ment
deeper
it
stops
from the face of the work, retreat back to the point of a commences and operations the fact is particularly noticeable, when a second cut a trifle commencement, that there is yet remaining a field for improvein the manufacture of steel, the best ob-
character.
greatest care
The same lot, and judgment,
iound not identical
;
is
taken.
The
cutter is not held im-
movably in contact with the work, as in the selected with the machinist's lathes, but is held to it by a spring
want of uniformity
tainable metal showing a
tool retires slightly
will
in
sometimes be of the necessary strength, so that really the
there being a
want of that
tool is
absolute homogeneous character which is essen- holding
somewhat yielding, as in the case of This freedom preit by the hand.
and particularly so in factory work. In vents, or at least has the tendency to prevent, using hand tools in turning upon dead centres accidents to the work which is being operated by the bow and graver, there is a better oppor- upon by these automatic motions, which are all tunity to detect the character of the material produced through the agency of cones and operated upon, for the sense of touch, both by levers. There is also an arrangement by which tial,
the bow hand and the hand holding the graver, becomes highly educated by practice but the factory automatic lathe gives no such indication as the work progresses the article must be completed before inspection shows the defects. For pinions, Stubb's wire furnishes the best ;
;
the operator,
if
necessity requires
it,
can, with-
out changing the speed of the lathe, reverse these motions he can by hand run the cutter back to the starting point, when it will begin its journey again, or he can move it partially ;
backward or forward. This is allowable, because the driving power is communicated to the in fact this is tricities of texture than any other, and conse- machine by friction contact In most of of transmission. usual mode the quently stands foremost in market. The proper the amount with which hines, the ease the ma size is selected for the contemplated pinion, and cut up by a special machine into suitable of resistance is regulated by this mode, gives it lengths, and these pieces have each end pointed a preference above all others in tapping holes stock,
showing
less of the objectionable eccen-
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. for screws,
for
instance, the
force of contact
arbor merely
lies
in a half hole in the arbor, d,
which turns the tap may be so nicely adjusted by this means, that any considerable resistance an amount sufficient to endanger the tap will cause the parts to slip, thus saving the tap, and preserving the thread from being broken. These self-acting lathes occupy about a square foot of space, and although of the most perfect work-
cursions sufficiently in the opposite direction.
manship in
all their fittings, are, for their size,
of which are succes sively brought into use to
massive in
fact,
—
—
;
sufficient to
which
is
so cut
away
as to allow the cutter to
travel in that direction quite
beyond the
pinion,
as the superior length of arbor permits
The whole arrangement of upon a sliding bed, which
the parts
allows
it
ex-
its
is
built
to travel
horizontally beneath the revolving cutters, three
the mass of material must be complete the pinion.
These cutters are sup-
prevent the slightest -amount of ported by mandrels, which are themselves sup-
tremor or unsteadiness
— a fault which would be
ported by a cylinder revolvable about axis, so that
fatal to great accuracy.
own
its
each cutter can in turn be brought
The blank pinion wire being now suspended into action upon the pinion blank while the between the female centres of the lathe arbor, others remain idle. The first cutter is simply a and the stops upon the lathe adjusted to pro- saw, which cuts the space between each leaf of duce the proper length of shoulder, the machine the pinion at the base the second roughs out ;
is set
running, taking off cut after cut until the the curve of the leaf to
requisite thickness for the arbor remains
blank
is
;
the
third gives the finishing
then reversed, and the other end the
turned in the same manner.
It
may be
stated
that the position of the cutter can be adjusted
its
proper shape
and
final
form
the
;
to
it,
operator shifting the division plate and
blank under the cutter for each leaf
sliding the
of the pinion.
After being completed, a slight
mov- blow upon the plunger forces it out, when it give the correct posi- ready for hardening and tempering, which
in its holder, or rather the cutter itself is
is
able by screws, so as to
is
tion of the cutter vertically. is
After the arbor the next operation.
formed, the pivots are turned
their required size,
be transferred it is
down
and the blank
is
After being tempered, the next process
to nearly
is to
ready to grind and polish them, and here comes in the
to the dividing engine, in
which
service of what is technically called
"wig- wags,"
placed between centres, not by the points, which are reciprocating polishers running in
but held by the arbor itself, which, it will be guides, and actuated by a crank and pitman, or remembered, is concentric with them. It is an eccentric. The pinion polishing machine is necessary to be thus supported to endure the as complicated as the cutting engine, and only force necessarily applied to cut the spaces be- an illustration of its principles will be attempted. tween the leaves of the pinion. The mode by The principal parts consist of a reciprocating which it is held between the arbors is simple rod, which is given its back and forth motion and ingenious, which is sufficiently illustrated by a crank and pitman, the rod running in guides
by
Fig.
a is a
1.
strong arbor, carrying at
its
bed in which the pinion rests in it by its arbor. kept up in contact with the polisher
just above the
half hollows, which support
This bed
is
by a spring beneath, so as to insure a constant pressure upon it. To the reciprocating rod is fixed, by suitable and very convenient means, a
strip of metal, its
edge planed
to exactly cor-
rear end the usual steel division plate, its en- respond with the space between the leaves of tire length being pierced with a hole, c, through the pinion this slip, charged with stone dust ;
which a plunger passes
and the machine is so ing out the pinion after being cut for the hole constructed that it will make a given number of in the nose of the arbor is a slight taper, so vibrations between the leaves, and then the that the action of the revolving cutter, b, tends pinion is automatically moved forward one tooth, for the purpose of push-
and
oil, is
set vibrating,
;
more and more, and thus insure and after making a complete revolution in this being carried with the arbor when the divis- manner it stops and waits for another pinion
to drive it in its
ion plate
is
moved.
The
short end of the
to
be put
in.
The forms given
to these grind-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. ing and polishing tools have the same care be- polishing the arbor of the pinion.
stowed upon them as upon the cutters which reciprocating block produce the pinion is
taken
to insure
and the utmost pains by the
leaf,
primary and mathemathical form
to the
it
smooth rod
pitman, siding freely
assumed. between them, and by which means also addi-
and stone dust
oil
In use the guided and manipulated
fingers of the operator, the
a constant adherence to the which connects
After grinding, the
is
is
thor-
tional pressure
may be
applied
oughly brushed out by a revolving brush and although the weight of dry lime, and a soft-metal polisher substituted,
charged with Vienna lime and oil, and the same
it is
when
necessary,
considered sufficient
most operations.
in
Pivots are polished and ground in the same
which method of finishing the manner, except that the outer end of the pinion From this they arbor is supported by a centre rest of thin steel go back to the turning lathes and have the through a hole in which the chamber or bevel pivots turned down to a gauge so little above of the shoulder rests, allowing the full length the required size that the grinding and polish- of the pivot and the face of the shoulder to process repeated,
pinion gives excellent results.
ing them will complete the perfect measure- project sufficiently to be operated upon.
ment.
down
grinding
The next
step
is
grind and polish the are constantly tried for size by Dennison's split
to
arbor and pivots, and here the wig- wag polisher gauge, and the grinding is
the instrument for this
ations.
At
Fig. 2,
a
is
In
the pivots in this process, they
and
all
kindred oper-
a cross-section of the of the operator, the its
is
continued until the
nearly approached that, in the judgment
size is so
reduction.
final polish will
While
the pivots are rounded and polished of Arkansas stone
Vienna
lime.
At
complete
in this lathe, the ends of
and a boxwood
by a
stick
slip
with
this stage of the process the
ready for such fancy turning as the character of the watch to which it is to be apThe subsequent operations, plied requires. pinion
polishing block, which
is
an inch square, more such
is
as
under-cutting
the
leaves,
shoulder, some six inches in length, the far grooves behind the
etc.,
oil
stop
are all done
less, and hand, the work being end of the polisher being screwed to a straight by skilled mechanics by usual way. in the up shellacked rod of a foot or so in length, which is attached have some new Factory Watch The S. U. by a universal joint to the end of a horizontal pinion cutters, or machines, cutting wheel pitman, to which a crank gives reciprocating called, that are cermay be they whichever This arrangement of the polisher motion.
or
bring a fresh tainly admirably arranged for cutting the bevel new stem-winding wheel work surface to the work as occasion requires it gear for the are now producing. The blank for they which parallel to the also permits a sliding motion, pinion being secured or wheel bevel the of length parts its that all axis of the pinion, so upright arbor, which moves only an upon up quite turned may be it or reached, may be of the division plate attached out of the way, and also allows it to be brought by the revolution arranged upon a sliding cutters the in contact with the face of the pinion, which is to it, and blank at such an angle the across travel rapidly rotated while being ground and polished, bed to give the desired bevel will as upright the with of course carried by a dog, not necessary to rewheel. or pinion the to present in the figure to understand the prinIt 3eems hardly possible to arrange a mode To keep the polishing surallows of
its
being rotated,
to
;
ciple of operation.
face always parallel to the axis of the pinion,
it
of construction that can give
necessary that the surface of the arbor,
b,
and
is
upon which one
face of the polisher is constantly
finish to pinions
Any want
more
perfect form
than the one described.
of truth developed in the process of
eliminated by should remain always intact; to hardening and of tempering is the subseand accomplish this, along the surface, d, is set a turning up the pivots afterward, leaves, pinion the polishing sapphire, Avhich suffers no abrasion by the stone quent grinding and
in contact,
of support, which dust and Vienna lime used for grinding and with the arbor as a centre
is
AMEBICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
8
Watch Repairing.— No.
concentric with the pivots, insures also The great care beperfect truth in the pinion. itself
1.
BY JAMES EEICKEE, AMEEICES,
GA.
stowed upon the forms that are given to the
To
grinding and polishing tools to insure their
the " veterans" of the trade,
no
it will,
conformity, as far as possible, to the theoreti- doubt, look like a piece of presumption for any cal curves
down
which have been assumed
for the
one
the secret of the small
amount
pairing, or to say that this or that
pinion leaves,
is
power lost in its transmission through the whole train. Also in the polishing machine, the arrangement of the parts is such that any number of vibrations desired can be given between of
to
attempt to lay
same machine,
to give the highest
re-
the
way
to
all this,
and
if
I was writing especially for their benefit,
it
Now, I admit
repair watches.
would not only appear savor
much
so,
my
is
but would actually
of egotism, to say the
each leaf of the pinion, thus affording the oppor- not even claim that tunity, on the
watch
rules for
least.
views are the
I do
best,
but
and instruction that and shall more particularly
shall give the best advice
possible finish to such pinions as are to be used I
am
capable
of,
The use address myself to that class of workmen who of machines of the class described, is a direct have not had the advantage of a good instrucgrowth from the absolute necessity felt, by the tor, and to many of whom works on Horology watch manufacturers, that some means must be are unknown, and who look to the Hoeoeogiresorted to by which perfect work could be done cae Jouenae for all the information that relates by unskilled operatives. Skilled labor, in this to their especial calling, outside of actual expeTo all such the establishment of the branch of manufacture, was not to be had, and rience. Jottenal has been a godsend, and Hoeological necessary educate, or even import to the time The uncertainty of ac- none of us are so old or experienced but what it, could not be spared. in the higher grades of
tion in that, in
movements.
human machines the an emergency, when ;
bare possibility their
services
we have of
its
derived
pages.
much
There
is
benefit
no
from a perusal
class of artisans or
were most needed, they might become possess- mechanics in this country who stand more in ed with an idea that their services were abso- need of a journal devoted to their especial intelutely indispensable, and that any demands, rests than do the watchmakers and jewellers, however unreasonable, which they might make, and I am proud to say that we have, in the
must be complied with, led those who risked Ameeican Hoeologicae Jouenae, one that in their capital in the adventure to place their every way deserves our individual and united trust more upon the perfection and faithful support, not only in subscribing for it, but by performance of machines than upon the uncer- contributing to its columns such matter as may tain and capricious character of operatives. The be of interest to the trade. Every good workresult has been the production of watch move- man can certainly write something that will be ments of a quality and in quantities which, al- of value and interest to the majority of its though not equal to the desires of the managers readers. There are those who are adepts at of these establishments, are yet far, very
far,
pivoting,
others in jewelling,
springing,
etc.,
ahead of what they would have been able to etc. Now, let any one who has some peculiar produce by any other plan in the same length method of doing any particular class or kind of of time. The success of the past points steadily work, and knows the same to be good, give and surely to a future that will far surpass, the trade the benefit of such knowledge, and in the perfection of
that
its
productions, anything
hand labor can do
for a
so doing
we
will all gain something,
The present
condition of mechanical watch
is
but the
first
few revolutions of
the great wheel which will ultimately drive a
whole train of constantly accelerating machinery, and which will turn out productions that will fully satisfy the critical
progressive age.
I shall
demands of
this
tell
and no
my way
of
any one knows a better way of doing the same things, I shall be glad to see an account of it in the Joueoj ae. It is a well-known fact, that the majority of the watch repairers in the United States are not first-class workmen by any means, and it is to be hoped that they will be vastly improved by carefully reading and studying the valuable doing some things, and
price.
manufacture
by
corresponding one will lose anything. if
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. articles that
There
nal.
appear in the Hoeological Joue- pallet jewels are broken, or the corners need Again, both the locking and imare, of course, a certain class, polishing.
cut, called "botches," who can never be induced to pulse faces are and need polishing, improve themselves, and are a curse to our or new ones may be required. After thortrade but as we cannot get rid of them, they oughly examining the escapement, take off must be endured. They "blow their own the cock and remove the balance and ;
horns," and not unfrequently, for a time at examine the balance
them
staff,
pivots, hair-spring
making the public believe and cock jewel, roller and roller jewel exsuperior workmen to their more amine the hands and hour wheel and see if
succeed in
least,
to
be far
;
modest neighbors, who are in This, of course,
artisans.
reality first-class
annoying,
is
they usually find their level after a while.
my
this class
To
advice will be as " pearls cast
before swine," but, as before stated, the rising
and young watchmakers will thankfully receive any instructions and advice from their more experienced brethren. When I was learning my trade, I would have given a good share of my small salary to have had the reading of some such periodical as the Hoeological JouEtfAL, and to all those who feel as I then did, I know that what I write will be of interest. This much by way of preface, and to explain why I may describe some very common or ordinary methods of doing various
;
off the dial,
;
;
;
hold
it
with the
left
hand, with lower plate up,
and then remove the third bridge, take out the third wheel, and then let the spring down now examine all the end shakes and side shakes, take out the barrel, remove the pins, and carefully examine every jewel and hole in the watch; then examine the pinions, pivots and wheels all with a glass and see if any of them If the teeth are worn in any of the are worn. ;
—
—
things.
The
much or too little shake now examine the depthing of dial wheels, see if the pin for the minute wheel is tight and the right size, and if any of the teeth in the dial wheels are bent let down the mainspring if the barrel arbor is long enough to allow you to hold it with a key, do so, and carefully raise the click and let the spring unwind if not, place the pin vice on the fuzee arbor and the latter has too
but take
first
when you are going to which we will suppose to be an
thing to do,
new one or reverse the is much worn the only If a pivot, case, then carefully examine the balance to see safe way is to put in a new one. if it runs true, and examine the end shake and you must either put in a new pinion or pivot, also the side shake of the pivots then examine or else turn down the old one and re-polish it, repair a watch,
English
lever,
is,
of course, to take
it
wheels, either put in a
out of the old one.
If a pinion
;
up the hole if a and guard pin hold the watch in the left jewelled watch, put in a new jewel. You will hand, and turn the balance with the left fore- frequently have to turn down the centre and finger, so as to bring the roller jewel outside of fuzee pivots and bush the holes, as they, espethe pallets, fork and scape wheel, banking pins and, in a plain watch, bush
;
;
the fork
;
then, with the tweezers, held in the cially the centre holes, are so thin that they cut
right hand, see resting on
if
the scape wheel teeth,
the locking face of
the
when
pallets,
will force the outer end of the fork (when the banking pins are near the outer end of the fork) back against the banking pins, after you have moved the fork so that the guard pin presses
In bushing the centre and fuzee always leave the bush as long as possible
the pivot. holes,
the reason for this
was
fully
and
succinctly ex-
plained in the recent articles on friction, and
which, by the way, are very interesting and instructive.
Now, after having examined all the train, pens that the scape wheel teeth are slightly take the fuzee apart and see if it does not want worn on the end, and are, consequently, too a new click or ratchet, or other repairs also against the roller, as
it
not unfrequently hap-
;
short,
which
will
be indicated by the guard pin examine the barrel and see
if
the main-spring
roller after placing it is of the proper width, strength, and length. not power enough exerted After taking out the main- spring, put the arbor on the pallets by the scape wheel to ordinarily and lid back again, and examine its " shakes."
remaining against the there,
and there
is
drive the watch, in which event to put in a larger scape wheel.
you will have If the holes are worn you must bush them, and Sometimes the you may have to turn the arbor pivots true also.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
10
If the barrel
is
" spread "
it
must be
Marine Chronometer Balance Spiings.
closed,
which purpose a valuable tool is now in the In the second volume of the Jotjbnal was market called a " barrel closer," one of which " Horolevery watchmaker should have. Next, see if the published a series of articles signed embodied the which mathematical ogist," theory can which you barrel runs true on the arbor, balance spring, and in of the the present article plyers cutting in your arbor do by holding the make a few to remarks on propose the conwill show we which barrel slowly, the and turning you which side is too high. Correct this by struction of the balance springs used in marine for
on the high side chronometers. Fine cast steel, on account of the peculiar little off from the See if all the pillars are in fast, properties it possesses of being manipulated other side. When taking the watch into elastic forms, is the material from which also dial frame feet. spreading the
(when
lid is
lid
slightly
up) and taking a
all the screws and see if these springs are generally made, although any of the threads are "stripped;" if so put in many attempts have been made to find a subnew screws. Not only see if any of the jewels stitute for it, on account of its liability to be are broken, but see if they are loose peg them affected by magnetism, and the inherent danger
apart carefully notice
;
and see
out,
if
they are polished inside.
Some-
it
possesses
hole are
;
at others the holes are not polished, or
worn down on one
side
;
by rust when damp atmosphere a
of being ruined
times the balance-staff holes are too large in the exposed to the unavoidable
marine chronometer
is
often subjected
to.
The
again they are too Jurgensens, of Copenhagen, have experimented
thick, scarcely allowing the pivot to protrude,
very extensively with gold as a material for
in which event the shoulder will rest in the cup balance springs, but none of their chronometers
and materially
affect the
running of the watch, having gold springs maintain the same steady
Other firms stop altogether when rate as those having steel ones. Too much care and atten- and individuals have spent much time and tion cannot be used in making a thorough ex- money trying to discover an alloy of metals amination of every part of the watch, before that would combine all the advantages of steel, you do any work at all. "When a watch is left and have none of its disadvantages, but so far to be " put in order," never do any work on it their endeavors have not been crowned with until you have carefully examined it in every success. Some experimenters have tried glass part, and if you have agreed to repair the as a material for balance springs, and the pubwatch for any stipulated price, make all the lished rate of one made by Dent, of London, repairs needed, even if the work is worth much that was tested at the Greenwich trials, is more than you have agreed to do it for. In tolerably good still the extreme brittleness of other words, if you agree to put the watch " in glass, although it may have been manipulated order " for a certain price, do so on the other in the most skilful manner, prevents its general hand, if nothing is said about the price, and use for this purpose, and there is yet sufficient you find, after " due examination," that it will room for inventors to try their powers in this cost more than you have reason to suppose that direction. the owner would like to pay, do nothing to it The most of the steel from which balance until you can see him and explain the trouble. springs were formerly made came from India, Many men, who would think themselves in- and was analogous to that peculiar quality of sulted if their integrity or honor were called in steel Damascus sword blades were made from. question, are so very economical that they are It is first drawn into wire by some of the usual quite willing to take advantage of a technical- methods of drawing steel wire, and afterwards ity to get two dollars worth of work done for annealed and passed between two steel rollers, one dollar, and the only sure way to avoid mis- one being perfectly flat and the other having understanding is to adhere to this rule. grooves of a size and shape corresponding with This leaves us now with the watch all in the spring wire desired to be made. This wire, pieces, carefully examined, and with our minds after being repeatedly annealed and reduced to made up as to what we are going to do with it, nearly the proper size, is made clean and bright, which will be treated of in the next number. and finished in a draw plate having the hole if it
does not cause
it
to
in certain positions.
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. made
of sapphire, which gives
it
eiaooth and regular surface that sired for this purpose. to spools,
and
that beautiful usual methods the hardest parts are the round
is
i
so
much
de- corners where the elbows are made. i
The spring
The wire is then rolled on
in this condition
11
it is
sold to chro-
ened on
wire,
having been carefully
to the form,
fast-
must now be prepared
to
nometer makers. The best quality of needles be subjected to the action of heat, which should may be annealed and drawn into spring wire in be applied to it slowly and regularly, and no the manner we have described, the most for- air be permitted to come in contact with the midable obstacle being the expense of making surface of the
draw
the sapphire hole in the
the wire ; but in an emergency
it
when it is under when it is in the act
steel
plate to finish
ence of heat, or
may be reduced
cooled.
This precaution
the influ-
of being
necessary to prevent
is
proper size and strength by drawing
it the steel from blistering or changing its bright color. Some workmen use pastes of various between two pieces of oil stone. The springs are formed into shape by wrap- compositions to effect this purpose, but probably ping a piece of the prepared wire around a as good and as safe a plan as any is to place the form having spiral grooves cut in it by a small form with the spring around it in the inside of
to the
carefully
screw cutting lathe, or with a cutting engine. the bowl of a large
The ends of
the wire are fastened
by
screws,
it
common
clay pipe
and pack
well with pounded charcoal, the object being
is to prevent any air coming in contact with the These forms are usually surface of the steel. As the steel is covered up made of brass, but we could never understand and hidden from view, a small piece of the same the philosophy of using ft, unless it was because 'size of wire that the spring is made from should they were easier made and the grooves easier be placed in a convenient position among the In our particles of charcoal, so that it can be taken out cut in brass than in any other metal.
which hold
being
it
in position while the spring
hardened.
opinion steel should be used for this purpose,
and examined
to ascertain
when
the spring has
and when this color being hardened, the brass expands in a larger has been reached the whole mass is plunged ratio than the steel of the spring, and conse- into oil and made hard. At this stage the quently it produces an undue strain, which can- spring, although it is hard, will be found to not in any way be beneficial to the spring, and have a sufficient amount of elasticity to admit may be injurious. Fine steel is not much more of being handled, and after it has been thordifficult to work than brass, and we think it oughly oleaned it is blued over an alcohol lamp worth the extra trouble to use it in making in order to give it proper elasticity, and also to these forms. put a skin on the surface to protect it from rust The prepared steel-wire from which the when exposed to the atmosphere. spring is to be made is fastened at one end Such is a brief description of the most apof the block by means of a screw, and, as we proved method of making a marine chronomhave already stated, is wound tightly round eter balance spring from steel. Some makers the bottom of the grooves and fastened to the varnish their springs with collodion to more efform at the other end by means of another fectually prevent rust, and others have gilded but screw, which should have a left-hand thread, them in order to effect the same purpose because tightening up the screw will draw the it is obvious that covering the steel with any wire closer against the form, while using an foreign substance will affect its elasticity, and because, in heating the spring previous to
its
reached a cherry red color
;
;
ordinary right-hand wire loose.
screw would make the the most reliable chronometers are those that bend the have no coating of any kind on the surface of
It is the usual practice to
elbows at the ends of the spring into shape the spring except the blue that after
the
pered, but
we can
is
soft,
many
it.
The
practically
why this illustrated in the liability which chronometers, when the having had new balance springs applied to them, recesses made in have of accelerating on their rate for the first
instances
and suitable
the form to receive them.
This plan would in- few months, and
finished, while
in
finally,
without any apparent
same hardness cause, settling down to a steady springs made by the noticed in a future article.
sure the entire spring being the
when
is
see no good reason
could not be done in spring
upon
is
spring has been hardened and tem- very curious phenomenon, which
rate, will
be
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
12
Sand
Blast.
they all presented the same general appearance. The emery was worn away in a manner very
There are strong probabilities
that, in the similar to that which is so often seen on the the application of some surfaces of rocks near sand beaches, which are " sand blast," which modification of the exposed to violent winds, carrying sand with was mentioned in a previous number of them, and suggested to me, whether more imthe JouBtfAL, will come into quite general portance should not be given to this agent as a use, for the purpose of superficial ornapower of degradation, and as the cause of many mentation of metallic articles. That it will be phenomena in structural geology not hitherto especially adapted to the wants of plate workexplained. If such effects can be produced by Its adaptability to many ers is almost certain. the fan blast in a very short time, is it not of the arts of civilization is clearly indicated by likely that the action of the wind at ordinary Prof. Eggleston's report of even the few tests velocities continued a very long time, will proof its power which he was permitted to make duce much more powerful effects on a large at the Fair of the American Institute. He scale, and may we not expect that a hurricane
not far
"
off
future,
The sand
blast proved to be so
much more
powerful than could have been imagined, that it
was necessary
rearrange the ex-
to entirely
would produce effects similar to that produced by the injector machine with steam? The peculiar chatoyant lustre of
many
minerals I
on any mineral periments after they had been commenced. The possessing cleavage, by a few moments' exposminerals chosen were corundum in crystals, ure to the blast. It seems probable that many from Delaware Co., Pa., a piece of emery from of the rounded faces of minerals which have Chester, Mass., composed of a mixture of cothis lustre, may have been produced in this rundum and magnetite, a pebble of topaz of way, and that many of those rounded surfaces the variety known as Goute d'Eau, a large noticed on minerals which have no cleavage topaz pebble, colorless and transparent, with a may be traced to this cause. It seems more large cleavage face, and a black diamond. The than likely, too, that some of the deep furrows
was able
to
produce at
following table gives the results of these ex-
periments
existing in rocks :
hardness, Time
Minerals.
Exposed.
Corundum
Crystal.
. .
30 seconds
Weight Weight
1.49
Emery, Chester, Mass. 1 minute 16.65 Topaz (goute d'eau) " 1 2.097 .
(i
" 1 3 minutes
a
5
"
least,
Loss
m
in grms. in erms. before. after. weight.
9.774 1.2607 1.2235 1.2607
that,
the
will,
composed of layers of
may have been
different
produced, partly at
by the agency of sand. I greatly regret though I continued my experiments up to
moment
of closing the building the last
night of the Pair, I was not able to carry 22021 1.16979 them out as I first intended. The specimens 11.6968 4.9532 1263 1.9707 exhibited, however, show that sand whirled by 7.6241 1.2235 1.1738 1.1738
2 1499
0.0372 0.0497 0.0869
the wind, even at a moderate velocity,
is
a much
more powerful agent than we generally have sup" 8 posed, and that at the velocity of a whirlwind " In a former experiment, a hole nearly even the hardest rocks will be worn away with f of great rapidity." very an inch above, and | an inch below, was bored It may be possible to apply this mode of through a corundum crystal from Ceylon, one half an inch thick, in eight minutes. The abrading surfaces to "matting" the several tt
<(
parts of watchwork, previous to gilding them, preserved in so as to give that granular appearance so pecuthe mineral collection of the School of Mines. liar and desirable to gilded surfaces. This is In the emery from Chester a large hole was now done by the use of revolving wire brushes,
weight of this crystal previous
was not
taken, but the crystal
to the operation is
made, in which pieces of corundum project, which certainly perform the work in a satisfacshowing that the blast acted much faster on tory manner, and so long as any mode of the magnetite than on the corundum. A conical doing a thing is satisfactory that is, profitable no producer will ever trouble himself to adopt hole was made in the topaz pebble, the point of
—
—
the cone being quite sharp.
The microscopic improvements simply because they are such; only when some new rival establishment threatens to
examination of these specimens, showed that
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. annihilate his business will he adopt, as a trade
The
external air
and best methods of pro- through the proper
necessity, the latest
is
13
then
pipes,
forced
within
it,
by steam air-pumps,
The constant advance of discovery or "compressors,"
duction.
until the pressure is sufficient claimants for public favor one great to force out the contained water, which is kept advantage over old concerns, by the adoption of out by the same means and which also furnishes
gives
new
manuwhereby they can successfully compete with experience, capital, and reputation. This constant action and reaction between the old and the new ways keeps the world advancing. Principles that were once thought applicable to the latest improvements in their line of
the
facture,
There are some peculiar mechanical arrangements necessary to the working of this system.
workmen
a constant supply of fresh
air.
To allow of entrance and exit to the caisson, this immense pressure is constantly in
where
action, there is built at the bottom of the well a only one class of results, are constantly being small chamber, or "lock," as it is technically discovered useful in new and unexpected direc- called, of boiler iron, of the same strength as
and
many
cases with far greater bene-
the other parts of the structure. Into this suggested their ap- chamber the door (3 feet by 2) opens from the well also another in its side, of the same size, plication to any purpose of art. tions,
fits
in
than those which
first
;
One of the
indirect uses of the principle of permits egress
the " sand blast," and quite foreign to the design of the inventor,
is
beautifully illustrated
from the " lock" into the caisson.
The descent of 75 feet below the surface of the water is made by stepping into an open basket
engineering purposes in suspended at the top of the well from a wire the excavation for the massive piers construct- cable, which can be wound up or down by a ing for the suspension bridge between New small engine on the pier. On the occasion of in
its
adaptation to
York and Brooklyn, and a brief description may our visit, we were let down to the bottom speedAs the ily and safely. On arriving there, the attendof interest in this connection. piers require the utmost stability, the "bed ant signalled with a hammer upon the iron rock," or solid substrata, must be laid bare to door, and was answered from within by the be
This rock
receive them.
is
covered to a greater roar of
or less depth with " drift," or loose material,
—
air
escaping from a pipe overhead.
After waiting about five minutes, the escape of
etc., a mass of the compressed air within the " lock" had so must be removed, and modern diminished the pressure that the door could be engineering science has adopted the use of opened, and we stepped from the well into the "caissons" for this purpose. The principle of ante-room of the great caisson. The door was their construction is easily understood by sup- then closed behind us, and we were hermetically posing a shallow apartment of any desired shape, sealed in a wrought-iron can barely capable of open at the bottom, constructed in a manner holding us six humans, who were packed like and of such material as will insure the requisite sardines in a box, and grimly illuminated by a usually a massive frame-work of single candle, sconced upon the wall of our iron strength timbers forms a platform upon which the ma- prison. The situation was not cheerful in the sonry is built. Through the centre is an open- extreme, nor were the results which the imagiing through which access is had to the interior nation pictured, pleasurable, in the event of anyof the caisson, either by winding stairs or by a thing happening to anything connected with the steam hoist, and also through which pipes are machinery. The engineer gradually turned the laid for the admission of air, gas, etc., as well pressure upon us, letting the compressed air of
sand, gravel, boulders, rock,
debris which
;
as for raising to the surface the material exca- the caisson into our small apartment, the augvated.
The
interior
is
also
supported by a mented pressure forcing the
drum
of the ear
system of timber braces, which no superposed inward, producing a sensation somewhat similar weight can crush, and the ponderous caisson to that experienced when water gets in the ears thus freighted sinks upon the bottom.
To of a
bather.
The roar of the dense
air,
as
it
—the pressure which equalling that within the permits us open the other door, — and we step
allow excavation below the caisson, the water rushes in upon us, at last ceases,
must be forced to close the
a lock
out.
To do
that will
caisson,
this it is necessary finally
and construct permit entrance and exit.
bottom of the
well,
to
out, reeking
with perspiration, into the
little
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
14
world of diggers, and wheel-barrows, and shov- the world above, thankful that we had safely els, and see the dim, shadowy forms of men escaped from beneath the very centre of the slowly undermining the dome upon which rests pile of granite which the workers below were the whole superstructure of the pier. The ef- sinking, inch by inch, to its final seat upon the fects of the
condensed atmosphere are curious
;
and one must get hearing is somewhat very near a listener to be heard at all. The sensation of one's own voice is the same as if the ears were tightly closed while speaking, and
bed
rock.
difficult,
audible whistling
pressure of 45 the ers
is
impossible.
lbs. to
Living in a
—about
the square inch
same as the ordinary pressure of steam
—does
nor does
boil-
not interfere with muscular action,
it
seem
to affect the circulation or res-
piration.
The dynamic wish
effect is
what we
particularly
Through the extends up to the
to notice in this connection.
dome
of the caisson there
Emerald; or Smyragdns of the Aucients. " With, verdant light the modest emeralds glow,
Blue sapphires glare, and rubies blush below, Light piers of lazuli the dome surround, And pictured mocoes tesselate the ground."
—Darwin.
"As when an emerald enchased In naming gold, from the bright mass acquires A noble hue, more delicate to sight." J. Phillips.
—
Pliny, the historian, says of his quaint language
outer world iron pipes, 3 inches or so in diame- not a ter,
the open end of which reaches
down near
gem
it,
translates
as Holland in " There is it :
that so fully possesseth the eye,
yet never contenteth
it
with
sacietie.
*
*
and *
excavated earth, and which Moreover, the longer and farther off that a man opened or closed by a suitable stopcock. looketh upon emeralds, the fairer and bigger
to the surface of the
are
Through them all the loosened debris is dis- they seem to the eye, by reason that they cause charged upward simply by the outward rush of the reverberation of the aire about them to the compressed air, carrying with it whatever is seem greene, for neither sunne nor shade, nor small enough to pass through the diameter of yet the light of a candle, causeth them to the pipe. Around the bottom of the pipe, the change and lose their lustre. Contrariwise, sand and stone are deposited, after being loos- they even send out their own raies, by little ened and broken into suitable size to pass it, and little, so they entertain reciprocally the and, upon opening the cock, the rush of air beams of our eyes and for all the spissitude carries up the rubbish as rapidly as four men and thickness that they seem to have, they can shovel it about the end of the pipe. The admit quietly our sight to pierce into their botfury of this upward current produces a sound tom." like steam from the escape pipe of a boiler. The Emerald seems to be a name of Eastern orieffect of this blast of sand is especially evident gin, the significance of which is obscure, and upon the cast-iron elbow at the top of the pipe, may have been derived from the Chaldean which is put on to direct the outrushing current " Esmorad" or the Arabic " Zamarut." of air, sand, and stones, at a right angle against This stone was held in high estimation by a timber target, which prevents it being scat- the ancients, and to it they attributed all mantered far and near over the neighborhood. This ner of virtues, moral, physical and even medicielbow is of cast-iron, and about three inches in nal. Pliny states that when Lucullus landed thickness, and this blast of sand and air cuts it at Alexandria, Ptolemy presented him an emequite through in a few hours. Our outcome rald, set in gold, with his portrait engraved on from this region, after an hour of interesting it. They have been found in the ruins of observation, was effected in the reverse order of Thebes, and ancient writers give accounts of entrance. On stepping into the "lock" and stones of immense size. Much controversy has closing the door behind us, the compressed air taken place as to whether the emerald was ;
about us
is
gradually
let
out to the upper world really
until its density equals the outer air
;
known
to the
ancients previous to the
the other discovery of the emeralds of Peru, some even
door can then be opened, which admits us to arguing that those ancient stones found in the the bottom of the well, where we step into the East must have been derived from the mines basket in waiting, and are quickly drawn up to of Peru by
way
of
the Philippine
Islands.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
15
There
are, however, obstinate facts which seem show conclusively that the Romans were in possession of real emeralds, which they might have obtained from Upper Egypt, or they may have derived them from the Ural and Altai Nero, Mountains, where they are now found. who was near-sighted, is said to have used an
ment between the Queen and himself which
to
proved prejudicial
emerald
Theophrastus mentions an emerald obelisk of
is
to witness gladiatorial exhibitions.
It
The
to his future prospects.
historical accounts of
famous emeralds
are numerous, and have given rise to endless controversy, from
the fact that early records
furnish such unsatisfactory details as leave the
character of the
stones
described uncertain.
hardly probable that Nero used this in the only four stones, forty cubits high, and two by
character of a concave lens, as a corrective of four broad, standing in the Temple of Jupiter. the myopia with which he
was
afflicted,
but in The accounts rest wholly upon the uncorrobo-
then so prevalent, that even the rated testimony of the writers, but, if true, the looking upon an emerald was extremely bene- stones must have been other than true emethe belief,
ficial to it
the sight.
was a
least for
lens,
Could
it
be established that rald
;
probably were green jasper, or malachite,
the invention of spectacles, at artfully cemented together, and perhaps their
myopes, would have been anticipated
by a thousand years
or more.
size wonderfully magnified by these reporters. The Alexandrians were famous for their glass
That the emerald was highly esteemed by manufacture, and the Mexicans and South Americans at pre-his- been executed in
figures of this size
may have
some vitreous composition,
is proved by the magnificently and represented to credulous visitors as real wrought specimens which Cortes found in the emerald. Modern science has made sad havoc The Aztec with many of these famous gems of the anpossession of the Incas of Peru. rulers of Mexico possessed crystals of rare cients. The 28-lb. mass of emeralds formerly beauty, which they held in especial estimation, belonging to Charlemagne has since been asand the Hindoos have ever been especial ad- certained to be " green fluor." Another, demirers of the emerald when formed into pear- posited in the treasury at Genoa, and which shaped drops, pierced so as to be worn as pen- was not to be seen except upon an order from dants for the ear. So essential was it to sus- the Senate, on careful analysis has proved to pend these and other gems upon the person, be green glass. that many magnificent stones have been sacriIt is a fact that some of the antique glass ficed to this mania for beads. The gems so emeralds possess color, lustre, and hardness in
toric periods,
mutilated must, for modern use, be cut into two a degree far superior to the modern pastes. inferior ones. King, in his history of " Ancient and Modern
Emeralds became much more common the conquest of Peru, and
Cortes presented to the
it
King
is
after Precious Stones," says that one
asserted that that
of Spain 100 lbs.
had been recut and
found at Rome,
set in
a gold ring,
eclipsed in beauty almost every real stone of
It is said that of five the kind he had ever seen. In fact, it is a wrought by the Aztecs, usual practice there among the gem dealers, on which he brought to Spain, he was offered obtaining a fine green paste, to get it recut and for one 40,000 ducats, by some Genoese mer- facetted for a ring-stone, and as such obtain a chants, and history relates that the finest one high price for it of the unwary dilettante. of these, a small cup with a foot of gold and The most magnificent cut emerald in Engfour tiny gold chains attached to a large pearl, land is in possession of Mr. Hope, of London. to be used as a button, he presented to his It is perfect in color, weighs six ounces, and is bride as a marriage gift. Of the others, one valued at £500. It is supposed to be from was cut in the form of a rose, another a horn, Coimbetoor. There are grave doubts of the the third a fish with eyes of gold, and one genuineness of this stone, for its freedom from
of this beautiful stone. stones,
beautifully
formed into a bell, with a magnificent pearl for flaws, as contrasted with the true emerald, is a tongue. That the young conqueror should enough to lead to suspicion for, of all the have given the most beautiful of these gems to precious stones, none are so liable to defects as ;
any other than the Queen of Charles V. is sup- this, it being almost impossible to find among to have caused that feeling of estrange- the Peruvian emeralds even a small one, which,
posed
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
le
when
be free from flaws.
cut, will
The Duke of the mine
for ten years, at
an annual rental
of Devonshire has a hexagonal prism, weighing of about $15,000, the Government of Colombia 8 oz. 18 dwt, which is two inches long, and its prohibiting the working of any other mine in
This the country during that time. It is the opinion perhaps the of the Erench engineer, Lehmann, who is now finest in Great Britain, although it is too im- director of the mine, that the mountains of In the Royal Muzo are rich in emeralds. The whole chain, perfect for the lapidary's art. three diameters are 2*,
crystal,
from
Collection at
New
2f-
and 1|
Grenada,
inches.
is
Madrid there are some magnifi-
as far as "Lasquez," bear traces
of Spanish
cent stones, as large as those in the Duke's mining, and as the whole neighborhood is evidently of the same geological formation, the collection, and of the first water.
The ancient Romans, probably derived
as well as the caliphs,
emeralds principally
their
quantity must be inexhaustible. ical location
of the
gems
in these
The geologmountains
is
from the Egyptian and Ethiopian mines. Ex- exceedingly interesting, having distinct mines The lower is in a mass tensive traces of these works are still to be at different altitudes. seen under Mount Zubara, in Upper Egypt. of semi-decomposed granite, mixed with ferre-opened the shafts, and had ruginous clay and nodules of wolfram, among miners at work, but without success, the which the prisms of beryl are disseminated, mines probably having been exhausted. The rarely exceeding an inch in length, and of
Mohammed AH fifty
Ural Mountains and the East Indies furnish a greenish yellow color. Eight hundred yards some, but the principal source of supply of above is an irregular vein of micaceous clay, emeralds for the whole world, since the dis- which contains the most valuable crystals, of covery of America, has been Peru. Of all the pale green color, and sometimes seven or eight South American mines, those of Muzo, in the inches in length by two in diameter. At the is a vein of dried clay, mixed with
Republic of Colombia, are the most extensive summit
and interesting. Mr. Bunch, Secretary of Legation at Bogota has furnished much information on these emeral mines, derived undoubtedly from his Erench colleagues, who are in sympathy with the French Company, who have the entire monopoly of emerald mining till 1874. These mines appear to have been known long before the conquest by the Spaniards, and probably before the discovery by Columbus. The native tribe, called "Los Musos," at the period of the Span-
and beryls of greenish blue, and sometimes a transparent sky-blue color. Most of the emeralds from Muzo are sent to Paris to be cut, where they have been much in demand by the Imperial Court, on account of arsenical pyrites
the color, green, being the color of the Empire.
The emerald and beryl have the same chemical constituents,
but usually
differ
in
color,
although some so closely approximate the emerald green as to deceive experts.
Indeed, the
famous stone in Mr. Hope's collection is susish invasion, possessed large quantities of em- pected to be an Indian beryl. Green saperalds, but how they worked the mines is not phires also occur which so resemble emeralds clear, as they had no iron tools. They at pres- as to be difficult to identify. Prases are occaent show unmistakable evidences of having been sionally met with among antique intagli which, extensively worked by the Spaniards, both in from the extraordinary richness and brightness the open air and in galleries. They were aban- of the green, cannot be distinguished by the doned about the middle of the eighteenth cen- eye alone from Peruvian emeralds. King says tury, but what for what reason no one seems that Pliny's account of Nero's smyragdus, to know. Tradition relates that they were left " which reflected objects like a mirror from its
because the mountains vomited flames which plane surface," was singularly correct, and lasted
many
years.
at-
This account seems fabu- tests his accurate acquaintance with the pecu-
no evidences of volcanic liar properties of the gem. A large, flat emeMuzo. They were not again rald, if held so as to reflect the light, will worked until the Spaniards were expelled by assume the exact appearance of being silvered the war for independence since then they have at the back its green disappears when its plane been let out to individuals and companies. is brought to a certain angle with the ray of In 1864, a Erench company obtained a grant light, and it will seem exactly like a fragment
lous,
for
there
are
action at or about
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. of looking-glass in the same position, which the singular change
is
price,
17
which may occur when the French
not observable in any other monopoly of the emerald mines of Colombia
colored stone.
ceases,
The chemical composition of
the emerald
which
will be in 1874.
is
68.5
Silica
Alumina
15.7
G-lucina
12.5
Diamonds.
The
fear, or
hope, has often been expressed
Perox. Iron
1.0
Lime
0.2
that the discovery of diamonds in quantities
Oxide of Chrome
0.3
might overstock the market and reduce the price but recent discoveries do not tend to con;
BEHTL.
Alumina
1871, to the
16.5
Glucina
1.0
Lime
0.5
London
Dec. 20,
Society of Arts, by T.
Tobin,
who has been
on the
subject.
W.
somewhat the geological character of the diamond fields of South Africa, gave rise to a lively discussion
14.5
Perox. Iron
A report made
firm this expectation.
67.0
Silica
investigating
Contrary
to
general
belief, in-
Emerald has its specific gravity, 2.7; hard- stead of depressing the market value of fine ness, 7.6 mohs; acquires positive electricity by stones, those under a carat in weight had adfriction; crystalline form is hexagonal prism, vanced in price still for large stones, the anits color a beautiful cient rule for estimating the price would not with double refraction green, unsurpassed by any other gem. The hold good, and they could not now be obtained. Greeks believed that it possessed the property The rarity of stones of the first water from that of "assimilating the color of water into which locality will also aid in sustaining the present it is thrown to its own color, the stone of mid- prices. The bulk of all the South Africa dia;
;
dling quality tinging a smaller quantity, the monds, as yet found, although large in
best sort all the water, while the worst only too colors the liquid directly over
and opposite
it-
much
off color to
stones in^the
compete with
size,
The black diamond
market.
(carbon) so largely used in the Arts for drilling,
self."
The
intensity of this "quivering green "
was could be bought
for
about
five
francs a carat,
formerly supposed to depend upon the oxide of but within the last year has gone up to 30
chrome, but analysis tion,
and the opinion
fails to is
show
this connec-
expressed that the
tint
depends on some organic substance, similar
to
In confirmalow heat
the coloring matter of vegetation.
tion of this opinion, emeralds at a
become white and opaque, while those minerals colored by chrome remain unaffected. Emeralds are cut in the square table form, with the edges replaced by facets, the lower surface cut in facets
Fine stones are rior color are to
are
first class
set
parallel
without
surrounded by
enhance the
effect.
foil
to ;
their
sides.
those of infe-
brilliants or pearls,
The discovery of the
mond
is
f.
real source of the dia-
as far off as ever.
It is quite evident
which they are found, and which is easily disintegrated, was not a true rock, but a more modern formation, something like a conglomerate, and it is yet to be proved that the diamond has a true matrix like other gems. The evidence thus far adduced goes to show that the finds now were only erratic diamonds imbedded in the conglomerate, and this belief is strengthened by the fact that amorphous diamond (black carbon) is not found inconnection with the South African crystals some chemists and mineralogists even go so far as to express the opinion that the diamond is not that the material in
The rarity of fine emeralds, free from flaws and of fine color, places the price of such stones on a par, if not in advance of, the diamond; of mineral formation at all, but a crystallized perfect ones reaching a price as high as $150 gum, as amber was a fossilized gum. A proof to $175 per carat, while small, imperfect stones of which is that they are found of all colors, with It is quite cavities and foreign bodies imbedded in them, will not bring $1.50 per carat. probable that any considerable increase in the and that up to this time there was no reliable quantity placed upon the market would lower record that a diamond had ever yet been found in
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
18
a matrix. The ence is beneficial, and is an important element the purer the in the success of the mercurial pendulum. was, that only thing surely known It appears to me that the majority of those contained, and it matter earthy less color the
what might be
strictly called
the more perfectly ygen gas.
it
would be consumed
in ox-
who have
proposed, or have tried to improve Graham's pendulum have overlooked the fact
that
substances
different
require
quantities of heat to raise Effects of the
Unequal Temperature of the
At-
In order
temperature.
them
to
different
to the
warm
same
a certain
weight of water, for instance, to the same degree of heat as an equal weight of oil, or an The communication of " Fairbanks " in the equal weight of mercury, twice as much heat last issue of the Journal, concerning the influ- must be given to the water as to the oil, and mosphere of Rooms on Compensated Pendulums.
ence the unequal temperature of the atmosphere thirty times as much as to the mercury while in rooms may exercise on the accuracy of the in cooling down again to a given temperature, ;
mercurial compensation, leads
me to make some
the
oil
will cool twice as quick as the water,
must be and the mercury thirty times quicker than the admitted by all who have had opportunities of water. This phenomenon is accounted for by the observing the performance of the compensation difference in the amount of latent heat that further remarks on this subject.
It
of pendulums of various constructions, that, in exists in various substances.
On
the authority
no form of the mer- of Sir Humphrey Davy, zinc is heated and curial compensation gives any better results, or cooled again ten and three-quarters times shows a more uniformly regular rate, than quicker than water, brass ten and a half times when it is made the same as Graham himself quicker, steel nine times, glass eight and a made it, and which is substantially the same as half times, and mercury is heated and cooled we see in the fine old regulators and astrono- again thirty times quicker than water. From practice at the present day,
mical clocks
made
Nevertheless,
it
is
in
London and
elsewhere.
the above
it
will
be noticed that the difference
not safe to conclude, on that in the time steel and mercury take to rise or
pendulum is free f^m errors, fall to a given temperature is as nine to thirty, compensation pendulums of every and also that the difference in the quantity of an accumulation or a combination of heat that it takes to raise steel and mercury to
account, that this but,
like
form,
it
errors
;
is
the one error in an imperfect
manner a given temperature
counteracting or neutralizing some of the other thirty. errors.
one at each end of a seconds pendulum,
be found that the temperature
is
it
will
in the ratio of nine to
is
without entering into minute de-
on the properties which
tails
we take two good thermometers, and place
If
Now
different
sub-
stances possess for absorbing or reflecting heat, it is
plain that mercury should
move
in a pro-
generally low- portionably different atmosphere from steel in
I have found this difference order to be expanded or contracted a given vary according to the position in which the distance in the same length of time and to
est at the bottom. to
;
clock
may be
placed,
and the materials from obtain
which the case is constructed but as a general rule it will be found that the temperature is slightly lower at the bottom of the pendulum. Several gentlemen, whom I have conversed with on this subject, and others who have ex;
pressed their views in writing, seem to favor
this result the
amount of the
in the temperature of the
opposite ends of the
a
little
more or
difference
atmosphere at the
pendulum must vary a
less according to the
nature of
the material the mercury jars are constructed
from.
I perfectly agree with " Fairbanks" that
this
the idea that this inequality in the temperature difference in the temperature of the atmosphere of the atmosphere
is
unfavorable to the accu- of a room will generally vary according to
rate action of the mercurial form of compensa-
size,
its
the height of the ceiling, and the ventila-
and however plausible and reasonable tion of the apartment and if the difference may seem at first notice, it will not must continue to exist, that it is of importance take a great amount of investigation to show that the difference should be uniformly regular. that, instead of being a disadvantage, its exist- We must not lose sight of the fact, however,
tion
;
this idea
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. that clocks having these pendulums, in apartments every
way
and placed
lar
on
favorable to an equal heated
19
when
all occasions,
the apartment
by the natural heat of the
temperature, and in some instances the clocks by heat applied
All
artificially.
sun, or
who
is
when
feel dis-
pendulums incased in double casing posed to comply with this request, or who can in order to more effectually obtain this re- offer any suggestion in the matter, will be the rates of the clocks show the helping the solution of the most formidable of sult, still same eccentricities as those placed in less all Horological problems -the improvement in favorable positions. This clearly shows that the construction and compensation of the matemany of the changes in the rates of fine clocks rial pendulum. Clyde. are due to other causes than a change in the and
their
—
o
temperature of the surrounding atmosphere. Still it
must be admitted that any change
in
Mechanical Progress.
the condition of the atmosphere that surrounds
a pendulum is a most formidable obstacle to be Ed. Horological Journal I rarely see anything in your Journal from overcome by those who seek to improve compensated pendulums, and it would be of commercial travellers "guerillas," as they are :
—
service to them to know all that can possibly sometimes derisively called. For many years, I have followed that honorable calling, having be known on the subject. Any experiments " Fairbanks " may have been promoted from the bench, or descended made will doubtless be very acceptable, but in from it, as you view it, to the road, and in order to gain as varied and as complete infor- my wanderings up and down the earth, I have
— —
mation on the subject as
is
possible to be ob- not failed to notice
a marked improvement,
few years, in the mechanical difference in the temperature of the atmosphere members of the trade, the watchmakers proper. at the two ends of a pendulum should be satis- I well remember the time when, out of cities of factorily settled, I would respectfully call upon considerable size, it was rare to find a young every reader of the Journal interested in the man at the business who had the least idea of subject, to try, by means of two delicate ther- what was good work, or the faintest perception mometers, during the summer and a part of the of the necessity for good tools. Even in shops winter months, what difference exists in the of some considerable pretension, no tools or matemperature of the atmosphere at the top and chines were thought needful beyond a few files, bottom of their standard clock case, taking cutting and flat plyers, drill-stock and bow, and tained,
and that the controversy regarding the within the
last
a common Swiss lathe. My memory goes back to the time when be uniformly regular in the summer months, and also during the winter, when the I found, in a country village in Ohio, a watchspecial notice if the difference in the tempera-
ture
apartment
is
heated
artificially.
If the
many maker who had
readers of the Journal feel disposed to respond village doctor's to this call,
and send
in the result of their ex-
visit to sell
him
—
" squatted" in the corner of the
and
office,
—
at the time of
my
no, not him, but his compet-
a few necessary materials, he was busy office of the Journal about the itor end of next winter, a mass of reliable statistics " topping" the tsethof an old-fashioned balancewould be obtained on the subject, and without wheel (crown-wheel). Some of the present reada great deal of trouble to any one, that could ers of your Journal would never guess the mode I by which it was done. He had no lathe, no scarcely be collected in any other manner. am authorized by the publisher to state that collet, no proper appliances of any kind for and yet, by one make-shift and the reports of the various experiments will be decent work periments to the
—
;
There- another, he had managed to gain quite a repufore, brother watch and clockmakers, hang up tation for good work, which meant simply, that two good thermometers, one at the top and the the watches he repaired performed in a satisother at the bottom of your standard clock case, factory manner. His method of doing the job published either singly or collectively.
and
notice the difference in their readings,
how I saw him
at
was
this
:
Upon
the pinion of the
and around the wheel he placing and, of the bow, hair the regupassed this he difference between the two be uniformly
much
the difference amounts
to,
and
if
shoved a piece of pith,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. the pivots in the Fig. 8 calipers,
and the
cali-
pers in the bench vise, he thus improvised a
upon by some
desire to be able to do a creditable job
them
;
or the fear that customers may,
which he was truing up the points of means, detect their inability to do fine work, the teeth with a piece of slate pencil. This day and so lose custom, may have brought about in of small things is passing away. I see, every them the same aesire for improvement. Whatday, a growing desire for information as to ever the cause is, the result seems pretty genThe stand your Journal processes, and a greedy thirst everywhere mani- erally accomplished. festing itself for the latest and best tools, and took on its first introduction to the trade, as an the very best materials. Wherever I offer them exponent of the methods, wants, theories, and lathe, in
workmen eagerly inquire if I am a workman and when I answer in the
for sale, the
practical
;
affirmative,
am
expectations of practical country,
And if I
many and none
could have better met the varied
years, they at once reply, "Well, you have been wants of the trade. There are many young about among workmen so much you must have
seen and learned
how this
me something
or that thing
about
is
done,
it."
This condition of mind shows a creditable advancement in the right direction, and the principal object I have in thus addressing you is to assure you that I attribute this state of things largely to the influence exerted upon members It of the trade by the Hoeological Jotjbnal. has shown good executive workmen that there are principles involved in construction which and that there they had but little considered are heights yet beyond the present attainments of very many. Young men, who once thought themselves as good as the best, by perusal of trade journals have learned, to a certainty, that they are not yet at the summit of knowledge in the profession, and are stimulated, if they have a spark of ambition, to perfect themselves in an art which, unfortunately, has not hitherto been generally appreciated as being above and superior to mere hand work. Another element may have contributed somewhat to this improved state of things. The demand ;
for greater
exactness in the performance of
watches has compelled to more careful workmanship. The general introduction, all over the country, of railroads and railroad time-keepers,
and the friendly competition among the
wearers of watches as to the superior going qualities
upon the trade regulation, and an
of each, has forced
greater attention to critical
attention to small errors, which, in times past,
would
over the
say I have very result which seems to have been attained
not been practically in the business for
tell
all
that could have
invariably beset with questions been selected for the accomplishment of the
about methods of working.
and can
workmen
was the best method
to perfect
men who
are anxious
themselves in the business
;
they find
way of securing compemany instances, the limit of
great difficulties in the tent instruction
;
in
the master's knowledge
is
when nothing
to be learned of him,
farther
is
soon reached, and-
they become restless, dissatisfied, and, finding few opportunities for working with more competent instructors, they naturally enough conclude that, rather than keep on with a master
no wiser than themselves, they
may
as well
on their own account and they hang out a shingle in some small town, take another boy to educate up to their own standard, and thus the manufacture of miserable workmen is perpetuated. I really believe, and certainly start business
;
hope, your practical Journal will diminish this
crop of self-sown tinkers those
who
—
first,
are really desirous of
by affording more knowl-
an opportunity never before offered for it; and, secondly, by becoming a gauge on which each workman may measure and compare his own attainments with those of Pardon me for thus obtruding my his fellows. views upon you, but I cannot refrain from again expressing the conviction that your Jottedal has done much toward improving, not only the mechanics themselves, but has also given an impetus to the trade in fine tools and materials. edge
obtaining
Peeegeinatoe.
New York
City.
Selecting Balance Springs.
have been discovered at all, or, if seen, would not have been thought of any Ed. Horological Journal: account. I have an idea, and the sensation is so The general use of a higher grade of watches has shamed inferior workmen into a novel that I must speak of it. It occurred to either not
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL me
a few days
spring,
when
since,
whether
selecting a hair-
would not be possible
it
a proper spring for a balance
select
spring which should give
it
ber of vibrations per minute weighing. of balance
—that
the requisite
handles exactly of the same
size,
and the points
is one a and a half inches from the handle, and the
to
is,
21
num-
—by some system of
are precisely alike, only the point of one
point of the other
four inches.
is
I only use
one hand on the screw-driver, and I can re-
The notion is, that a certain weight move a larger and stiffer screw much easier must have a certain amount of hair- with the long screw-driver than I can with the
spring to give
the proper vibration.
it
I can find no one that can explain
If the short one.
spring was too thin, or not enough of
it,
it
the reason to me, and I can see nothing that
would weigh too little and if too thick or wide, explains this strange fact in any work on the weight would be too great, etc., etc. Now, natural philosophy I have within my reach. take a scale beam, with one short arm and one If you, or any of the readers of the Journal, long one, very delicately constructed, so as to can give me any explanation I will be thankful E. H. turn by a fraction of a grain (it might be neces- to receive it. upon the short end sary to jewel the holes) Hartford, Conn. suspend a small scale pan, and let it be counter[These inquiries of our young correspondent poised by the long delicate arm itself. If you show symptoms of an inquiring disposition, and place in the pan the balance, with its staff- we would judge that sooner or later he is likely ;
.
;
roller, collar for
the hair-spring, in fact
all
the
to
master
many
of tbe mysteries of the horo-
must oscillate, it is evident logical profession, and also the philosophy of that somewhere upon the long arm there will many of the tools used in the various branches be a point where the spring which gives that of the business. Regarding the extra power
parts that the spring
balance the necessary vibrations, will counterpoise
it.
Now,
the long
if
arm has on
it
we appear
by using
to obtain
a long instead of
some a short screw-driver, we are inclined
to
the
be obvious that belief that, in using a long screw-driver, the any other spring of the right diameter of coil, if eye more readily directs the force we apply in system of graduation,
it
it
will
counterpoised the balance at the same degree,
ought
to give the
same number of vibrations
the balance as the
first
one.
to
A lighter balance
would, of course, require a lighter hair-spring.
a line with the centre of the screw quently but
little
of the force
in the case of the short this force is likely to
is
;
conse-
wasted
screw-driver,
;
but
much
of
be wasted by pressing the If any of our correspond-
If no rule could be formed for the purpose of screw to one side. measurement in this way, it seems to me pos- ents can offer any other solution of this quessible to get up an arbitrary table of num- tion we will be happy to receive it.] bers by actual
trial of springs and balances, which could be used for the purpose of selection, and thus avoid the tedious process of counting
vibrations,
or measuring the
spring by some machine.
Editor Horological Journal: Through the kindness of a friend in
A. E. T. St.
Louis,
Friction.
strength of the
Mo.
United
States, I
am
Journal, and I always take
a great deal of
but lately I have been especially pleased and instructed with the very spirited discussion on the subject of friction,
pleasure in reading Loner and 8hort Screw-Drivers.
Ed. Horological Journal
the
in regular receipt of your
it
;
:
and I beg leave to transmit to you a fact conand nected with our business, that has come under notice a great many strange things around me my own observation, and which bears on this but nothing puzzles me more than to find out question. I am familiar with the details of an why a long screw-driver has more power than a old clock which is constructed on the same I notice carpenters and machinists principle as an ordinary regulator in a tall case. short one. I
am
learning
to
be a watchmaker,
;
all use very long screw-drivers for large screws. It goes eight days with sixteen turns of the I have two small screw-drivers, which have barrel, has pinions of sixteen leaves, and a
AMEEICAN HOROLOOICAL JOURNAL.
22
If any given that I would judge weighs twelve or making the angle more acute. drives screw thread cut deeper, more surface is exweight that is while the pounds, fourteen in fact, it is only a little posed, as well as the angle rendered more it is very light indeed
pendulum
i
;
;
j
brass ornament hanging from the pulley.
The
acute.
Also,
if,
instead of increasing the depth
pulley and weight together weigh less than of the thread, the base of the thread
The escapement
one pound.
is
reduced
the ordinary in thickness, this renders the angle more acute,
is
differ in any par- and, by allowing many more threads in a given from those generally in use, except in length, greatly increases the surface. the scape wheel, which is constructed of the' Sag Harbor, I*. I. usual diameter and very light, and the parts of
dead beat one, and does not ticular
the teeth that act on the pallets are at least three times broader than scape wheel teeth are
Now,
usually made.
if friction
Answers
to Correspondents.
be proportion-
—
E. L. M., Defiance, 0. You seem to misbe made visible on the action of apprehend the idea of a "peg-balance," seemsuch a sensitive part of a clock as the escape- ing to think that the additional weight thus ment. Yet this clock, that has so broad bear- given to it is a detriment. Your excellent illusate to the extent of the bearing surfaces, the
fact
ought
to
comparing it to putting a number of main- pounds of lead in each shoe, to keep a man tained in an arc of vibration of 1-^ degrees on from walking more than four miles per hour, each side of the point of rest with a weight of should have suggested to you the very purpose
ing surfaces on the scape wheel, goes, and a tration, twelve or fourteen pound pendulum
is
which the balance of a watch is weighted. the vital energy of the man so great that quiring a weight of four, and even six pounds he was impelled at the rate of seven miles per to make a pendulum of the same weight vi- hour, in spite of himself, the wearing of weighted shoes would be quite adequate to reduce his brate in the same arc of vibration. The clock in question differs in no particular speed to four miles, if that was the rate he was point in its construction from the best class of required to go. You also have some wrong English regulators, except in the broad bearing notion of the theory of compensation balances, surfaces of the scape wheel, and I may state or else the article you refer to is not clearly that the greatest amount of judgment is dis- written. You say: "Let a man have the care played by the maker in every detail. rated in a safe, the heat of his body a watch of
less
than one pound, while
it is
nothing
to see
a fine regulator, with a thin scape wheel, re-
J.
Whitelaw.
for
Were
would add
Edinburgh, Scotland.
and that a man who is have his watch properly
to that heat,
so nice for time as to
adjusted, should
go in with
it
in his pocket,
and have a thorough test made as to both cold and heat, then the adjustments put out to the Correction. public would be of some account, but now they Editor Horological Journal: are looked on as bought and paid for, the same I desire to correct a wrong inference on the as patent medicines. Eor me, a plain gold balpart of a correspondent, in the June number of ance is far superior to any yet invented." the Journal, in regard to a quotation of mine.
For the benefit of those who have no copy refer
to,
Plain gold balances for constant tempera-
you or the rest as you say, the question does not refer in any way additional temperature of the body vitiates the to
tures are excellent; but either
I take the liberty of stating that the of the world are mistaken,
quotation in
whatever
to the
manner
of fastening the
Amer- adjustment,
if,
for the very object of
adjustment
ican lathe to the bench, but only to the sliding to have the watch maintain exactly the
is
same rate
backward and forward of the head and tail of going at any temperature to which it may be If stock on the lathe bed, which has no more a subjected between freezing and blood heat. you will give the subject a careful consideramore surface tion, you may see it differently. Just now you of screw threads by seem in the same frame of mind as was the
centre of motion than a brick.
I would also like
can be given
to state, that
to the face
AMEKICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL. who
left-handed man,
insisted that
used the right hand, and
he alone acting through the
23
jewel
train, the
slit
must be
the rest of the in straight fine between the staff and escape
all
wheel centres, and the finger or impulse pallet Milan, 0. The second volume of must be placed in position to receive the upthe Jourxal, bound, will cost you $3.50, and right tooth safely upon its face, at the instant you will find more practical information in it the radial tooth escapes from the jewel slit. than can be found on the subject anywhere else "With the parts placed in these relative posiin print; because it contains, in the form of tions, the escapement is in condition to its best controversies, communications, and answers to action, and has the least tendency to "set" correspondents, an aggregate of experiences under the perturbations incident to carriage in which the lifetime of any one workman would the pocket. world were left-handed.
M.
F.
—
D.,
not suffice to glean orally.
The Arkansas too fine grained
oil-stone
—the
S. D.,
you complain of
texture of the
probably too compact.
There
bility that the
was
surface
ground too smooth.
;
Frodsham being names and the
is
inscription A. D. F.
finished too fine
No way is known and many
—Mr.
the successor or Arnold, the two
m.
s.
sor of
which you inquire
z.,
a bare possi- about, means simply this:
is
ing the quality of the stone
much
stone
Philadelphia.
is
"Arnold, predeces-
Frodsham, A. D. 1850;" for in that year what he called "a new series with a
of chang- he issued
they vary very
new and
peculiar construction of the train,"
and all the subsequent movements were marked necessary to get just the thing, which should F. m. s. z., which was simply a cryptographical cut well, and yet not leave a rough surface. method of writing 1850, by substituting the Sharp and fine best expresses the requisite letters of his own name for numerals, with the qualities. You might succeed in bettering addition of z. for the cipher or zero A. D. of in that respect,
trials are often
—
with coarse, course being the abbreviation for Anno Domini. You can prepare very good G. K. L., Tenn. sharp sand and water, on a cast-iron lap. The easiest and best way to do this will be to place colored foil for setting stones, by taking bright
yours by re-grinding the
face
—
on a marble- worker's grinding- wheel, if you tin foil and coating the surface with a varnish have such in Milan, which will produce, in a of shellac in alcohol, tinted to the depth of color short time, a new and possibly a better cutting required by any of the aniline colors that are it
face
on the
J.
H.,
—You need make no excuse
for
broad
brush,
flat
asking questions, nor need you have mentioned nicely by passing the fact of your being a subscriber as an apology nishing. for
doing
ling to
who
so, for
some
the Journal
is
are
made on any
it it
quickly dry, flatten
will
between
rolls,
The proper material
is
or
by bur-
copper
foil,
ready and wil- silver-plated, and. colored as above.
answer the honest inquiries of any one
really desires information.
inquiries
Apply the varnish with a
soluble in alcohol.
stone.
Minn.
The
fact that
S. E.., Jr.,
tor for
Maine.
—The
ordinary refrigera-
house purposes, with the door opening
point shows that in front and the ice box in the top, will answer
and perhaps many readers will be every purpose It has been the ambiby a reply. of the Journal from the first to be useful one,
for
your use.
benefited tion
to the trade
;
and, to do the greatest good,
We
it is
are requested to state that, in con-
Ques- sequence of unavoidable delays in producing tions and answers accomplish both objects in the new Lathe advertised in the Journal, they will not be ready for market sooner than three the most direct and satisfactory manner. The duplex escapement is easily adjusted, or four months.
know
necessary to
when
their greatest needs.
properly made, as they mostly are.
You
remarks and a full description of the escapement on page 113, Vol. II., of the Journal but if you have not access to the back numbers, it will answer your present purwill find valuable
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL, PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
G. B.
;
know that when the staff is at rest under the action of the hair-spring, and no force
pose to
MILLER,
37 Maiden Lane, AT All
$1.50
JV.
Y. r
PER YEAR, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.
communications should be addressed, G. B.
MILLER,
P
O.
Box
6715,
New
York.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
24
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
For
Sidereal
Time
Day
Day
of
of the
Mon.
Week.
For August, 1872.
July, 1872.
Sidereal
of
Time
Time of
One
or Right Ascension
Hour.
of
Time to be the Semiadded to diaraeter Passing the
Sidereal
Equation
of
Diff.
for
Appareut Time.
Mon.
Mean Sun.
H.
Tuesday Wednesda3r
.
.
Thursday. Friday Saturday ..
.
Sunday Monday.... Tuesday .
.
Wednesday Thursday
I.
Friday Saturday.
Sunday. Monday. Tuesday
.
. '.
.
.
.
Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday.
Sunday.
.
Monday
.
Tuesday
.
.
.
Wednesday Thursday. .
.
Sunday.
...
Monday
. .
3 34.64 3 46 04 3 57 16
+ .480
8.01 18.52 28.69 38.49 47.92 56.92 5 50 13.61 21.25 28 42 35.09 41.25 46.89 52.01 56.58
67 62
4.04
0.445 0.431 0.417 0.402 0.385 0.367 0.348 0.329 0.309 0.288 0.266 0.247 0.225 0.202 0.179 156 0.133 0.110 0.087 063 0.039 4- 015 009 0.033 0.057 0.081 106
67.54 67.46 67.37 67 29 67.21 67.13 67 04 66.96 66.87 66 78 60.69
.
.
Friday Saturday
68.77 68.73 68.68 68.64 68.59 68.54 68.49 68 44 68.38 68.32 68.26 68.21 68.14 68.07 68.00 67.93 67.85 67.78 67.70
Tuesday Wednesday .
59
6.95 9 31 6 11.09
6 12 28 6 12.90 6 12 97 6 12.47 6 37 6 9 69 6 7.43 6 4 58
U
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing tracting 0.19s. from the sidereal time. The Semidiameter
for
39 43 47 51 55 59 3
0.470
may
6
10 7 14
7 18 7 22 7 26
30 34 38 42 46 50 .54
7 58 8 2 8 6
8 10 8 14 8 17 8 21 8 25 8 29 8 33 8 37
22.82 19.37 15.93 12.49 9 05 5.61 2.17 58.72 55.28 51.84 48.40 44.96 41.52 38.07 34.63 31.18 27.74 24.30 20.86 17.42 13.97 10.53 7.08 3.64 0.20 56.75 53.31 49.87 46.42 42.98 39.54
be found by sub
mean neon may be assumed
the
same as
that for apparent noon.
Thursday
1
.
Friday
Saturday
New Moon First Quarter
©
Moon
C
Last Quarter
<
Apogee
(
Perigee
M.
5
6 24.8
13
7 48 2
20
153.5
26 19 19.3 D.
.
4 5 6
.
Thursdav
7 8
.
Friday.*...
Saturday.
9
.
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
.
21 22
.
23 24
.
Sunday .... Monday. Tuesday Wednesday . . . .
Thursdaj' Friday Saturday.
.
.
Sunday Monday. .. Tuesday Wednesday. Thursday .
Friday Saturday.
Sunday
25
Monday
26 27
Tuesday Wednesda}' Thursday . .
28
29 20 31
.
Friday Saturday. .
20
1.3
42 22 48" 1 H. M.
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
Savannah Exchange Hudson, Ohio Cincinnati Observatory
5 37 58.062
Point Conception
8
t.
ASCENSION. H. M.
The Semidiameter for that for apparent noon.
1
6 25 19.73.
Jupiter
1
8 25 40.92..
Saturn.
1
.
APPARENT DECLINATION.
0.638i
0.656 0.673 0.689 0.705 720 0.734 0.747 0.760 0.773
may
H. M. S. 8 41 36.09 8 45 32.65 8 49 29.20 8 53 25.76 8 57 22.31 9 1 18.87 9 5 15.43 9 9 11.99 9 13 8.54 9 17 5 10 9 21 1.65 9 24 58.20 9 28 54.76 9 32 51.32 9 36 47.87 9 40 44 43 9 44 40.98 9 48 37.54 9 52 34.09 9 56 30.65 10 27.20 10 4 23.76 10 8 20.31 10 12 16.87 10 16 13.42 10 20 9 98 10 24 6.53 10 28 3.08 10 31 59.64 10 35 50.19 10 39 52.75
be found by sub-
mean noon may be assumed
New Moon
3
the
same as
Full
1.5
H. M.
2145.7
11 17 52 4
First Quarter
)
©
Moon
18
8 53.3
25
8 35.2
C
Last Quarter
(
Apogee
2 14.3
(
Perigee
C
Apogee
17 10.7 29 22.5
D.
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
Savannah Exchange Hudson, Ohio Cincinnati Observatory
142.64
H.
42 22 48.1
.
MERID. PASSAGE.
APPARENT R.
23 47.3 1 46.0
12 38.7
4 44 29 05 4 56 0.15 5 24 20.572 5 25 43.20 5 37 58.062 .
8
Point Conception
A-CBNSrON. h. m.
+23 40 57.6 +19 48 42.3
19 20 22.80....— 21 56
O.SSlf
0.601 0.620
D.
©
S.
Venus
22 28
10.63 58.44 45 73 32 51 18.80 4.61 49.96 34.86 19.33 3.38 47 04 30.33 13.26 55.83 38.05 19.97 1.56
0.156 0.180 0.205 0.230 255 0.280 0.305 330 355 0.379 403 0.427 450 0.473 496 0.519 0.540 0.561
S.
4 44 29 05 4 56 0.15 5 24 20.572 5 25 43.20
APPARENT
1.14 57.10 52.48 47.25 41.42 34.98 27.96 20.33 12.11 3.30 53 91 43.94 33.39
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing tracting 0.18s. fj-om the sidereal time.
H
6 12 4
*.
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
of Sun.
Mean
PHASES OF THE MOON. D. H.
Full
One Hour.
Time.
61.6O 66.52 66.43 66.34 66.25 66.17 66.08 66.00 65.91 65.83 65.75 65.67 65.59 65 51 65.43 65.36 65 28 65 21 65.14 65 07 65.00 64 93 64.87 64.81 64.75 64.70 64 64 64.59 64.54 64.49 64.44
2 3
.
Sunday Monday... Tuesday Wednesday
PHASES OF THE MOON.
)
Apparent
or Right Asceusion
for
S.
JT.
0.4
131
Passing the Meridian
Time
Diff.
Week.
Meridian.
Monday
of
of the
Dav
Sidereal
Equation
Day the Semi- Time to be Added to of diameter
APPARENT DECLINATION.
142.64 M«R[D. PASSAGE.
s
7 16.32.
Venus
1
9
Jupiter
1
8 53 15.34.
Saturn
1
19 10 54.50
.+17 52 26.4 .+18 7 32.3 ,-22 15 58.0
25.7 11 7
10 27.5
»
AMERICAN
Horolosical Journal. NEW YORK, AUGUST,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS.
No.
care which not all wearers 25
Essay, etc.,
Analytical Horology, .28 31 Himmer's Electric Clock, 35 "Watch Repairing, No. 2, "Clyde" on the Friction Question, ... 37 Mr. Kessels' Remarks on the Temperature op Rooms, 40 horological instruments at greenwich Observatory, 42 Neufchatel Observatory Trials, 43 Exercise for Watchmakers, 44
....
New
1872.
Inventions,
2.
bestow on their
watches, must be called defective, so long as other constructions
weak
may be
attained without this
point.
142. That kind of keyless mechanism with which the hands are set by laying down the
bow
of the case, implies a neglect of both the
above principles. require the
Those mechanisms which knob being pulled out, and those in
which the push-piece keeps hold is closed,
till
Mie case
are against the second of those prin-
44
Answers to Correspondents, Equation of Time Table,
46
48
ciples.
There is an arrangement which is from the above-mentioned objections (138), and applicable to open-feced and hunting cases, in which the push-piece projects 143.
entirely free
[Entered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. Miller, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.]
ESSAY
from under the of the case.
bezel,
and
flat
Its thickness of
with the outside
about one millim.,
CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANIor a trifle more, allows of its being pushed in CALLY PERFECT WATCH. with the nail without difficulty. The rim of the bezel in the open face case, or that of the
BY MORRITZ GROSSMANN.
must be filed through so that the end of the push-piece just front cover of a hunting case,
CHAPTER X I.—[Continued.] the keyless mechanism.
fits
into
it.
141. From, the foregoing observations
conclusions for the setting
may be
arrived
parts ought to
some It is evident that there' is no opening for the hands mechanism entrance of dust, that no pressure from outside
and I always thought these can move the push-piece, and the former free be constructed in such a way position of the setting hands mechanism is in-
at,
that
stantly re-established
The motion work can never come into contact toith them by any accidental cause ;
piece spring as
1st.
on the contrary, they should be so arranged as to require a decided act of the wearer to establish their effect on the motion work. 2d. After having set the hands, the said mechanism ought to go out of gear with the minute wheel by its own action, and without requiring any care whatever of the wearer. These two principles are of the utmost im-
by the
action of the push-
soon as the setting has been
The only inconvenience resulting from arrangement is, that an open-faced watch of this kind requires the glass bezel to be opened for setting the hands, which is not necessary with the projecting push-piece. But with a done.
this
well-regulated watch the setting hands
is
a rare
and even a little inconvenience in these cases is of no great consequence. 144. The other principal group of keyless occurrence,
portance for the good and reliable service of mechanisms, those with the rocking platform, the watch, for a watch invariably stops if the will also require some study. They offer some keyless mechanism comes into, or remains in very important advantages, especially for fusee
gear with the motion work at a wrong time watches, where the fusee arbor, not being and a construction which requires a degree of stationary, like the barrel arbor of a going ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
26
barrel watch, requires an absolute independence
sufficient distance
from the minute wheel by a
of the rest of the keyless mechanisms at any spring acting on the working bar.
moment of winding. There-
(Fig. 36.)
hands requires the inverse fore the wheels on the rocking bar or platform, position of the rocking bar to be established by in a fusee movement, must be kept by a spring external pressure on a push-piece, to which the in a neutral position, touching neither fusee same observations apply as made on this subject before (138-143). The push-piece produces a wheel nor motion wheel. 145. Most of these keyless mechanisms have change of position of the bar, bringing the three wheels on the rocking bar, the middle other wheel on it into gear with the minute one being the bevel wheel into which the wind- wheel, while a banking pin prevents the moveThis latter requires no pro- ment being extended farther than required for ing pinion gears. longation of its axis into the movement, and in a safe depth. After setting the hands, the bar many watches it depends only on the bearing is brought to its former position by its spring. 147. This arrangement has also the so-called of its arbor in the pendant of the case for its support. This, however, is objectionable, and Breguet click, and if it is attempted to wind the the considerable amount of side pressure which wrong way, the clickwork prevents the barrel always results from any angular transmission, wheel from following the motion in this direcstrongly indicates the necessity of giving the tion, and the rounded parts of the teeth of the inner end of the pinion a support on the edge rocking wheel slide over those of the barrel of the pillar plate, which is so easy to obtain. wheel, so that no harm can be done to any part A pinion supported in this way allows also of of the mechanism. 148. In fusee movements, as already exinspecting the bevel gear without having the movement in the case, a convenience of some plained, this mechanism requires another value. The rocking bar is fastened in such a arrangement, inasmuch as the wheels of the way that the centre of its oscillatory movement rocking bar must be kept in a middle position is the centre of the bevel wheel, so that the two between the winding and setting action, which wheels gearing into it at both sides remain in is produced by a properly applied spring. For regular action with it in whatever position the bringing the rocking bar to act on the fusee bar may be. One of these wheels is continually wheel, no push-piece is required. Here we see in gear with the barrel wheel on the square of one of the surprising effects of friction, which the barrel arbor, to which it communicates the is a constant and obstinate adversary of the winding action. The other wheel stands suffi- watchmaker. The friction of the small interciently apart from the teeth of the minute mediate wheel on its stud on the bar causes this wheel of the motion work, so that it does not latter to move round the centre of the bevel wheel by the reaction of time, except in the
146. Setting the
the gear, as soon as the
winding pinion in
the
right
is
turned
direction-
If this friction by itself is
not pufficient to throw
the wheel into gear with the fusee wheel with the
necessary
small
security,
stiffening
a
spring
must be applied underneath the
intermediate
wheel, in a recess at the
For it. hands the usual
lower side of setting
touch the teeth of
it
other side of the bar the barrel wheel.
when is
must be resorted to. When turning the wrong way, the fusee watch, knob the
the wheel at the push-piece
clear out of gear with
Moreover,
it
is
held at a having no Breguet action, the wheels on the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. rocking bar only effect
move
and without any
freely
the same, whether
a keyless
it is
or key-winding one.
whatever.
A beautifully
149.
its parts, is
27
151. The arrangement of the keyless meMr. V. chanism in an open-faced watch, on the con-
devised keyless mechan-
ism, with rocking platform, is that of
Kullberg, one of the
first
London makers.
rate
This mechanism has but two wheels, and the
trary, is rather difficult, if the is to
winding operation
be performed at the pendant, which
is
the
motion of the bar. is derived from very subtle most convenient of all the places that might be effects of frictional reaction of the gearing assigned to it. The pendant of an open-faced
The only drawback
watch always corresponds to the XII. of the dial, and if the watch is to have a seconds hand wheel, since the bar does not oscillate round on an eccentric seconds dial, which is the genthe centre of the contrate wheel. Mr. Kullberg eral rule for the watches of our period, the describes his mechanism in the April issue of position of the barrel with respect to the penthe London Horological Journal, 1869. dant can only be altered within very narrow 150. After the foregoing observations on the limits, if essential deviations from the principles wheels. sity
to it is the neces-
of a straight toothed pinion and contrate
nature of these two principal classes of keyless mechanism, and their essential functions, it remains to say some words about the way in which they are applied to the movement. The movement delineated in Pig. 38 admits,
of constructing the train (53) are to be avoided.
In a well-constructed movement
(Fig. 38) the
angular distance between the pendant line and taking the centre of the
the barrel centre,
movement about 20°
to ;
be the summit of the angle,
while in the same movement,
put in a hunting case, the pendant of which at the III. of the dial, this angle is
is
when is
90—20=70°,
a very convenient distance for the placement of the keyless mechanism, Avhile 20° are wholly insufficient for the purpose.
152. For avoiding this difficulty, several methods have been adopted, and there was hardly any proceeding showing more forcibly the necessity under which the constructor of a watch constantly finds himself, to subordinate his better knowledge to the taste and to the
of
habits
the public.
Making
the keyless
open-faced watches without seconds would do
away
altogether with the difficulty, since the
hunting watches, the application of the key- place of the barrel may then be chosen quite but the public want all watches with loss mechanism without the slightest change freely for
;
in
disposition, except setting the pillars a
seconds.
farther towards the edge of the plate, in
It has
its
little
been tried for a considerable period
to
order to have the pillar screws free of the large arrange the dial in another way, so as to have
winding wheels. wheel pinion,
The lower pivot of the
also, will
have
to
be
three- the seconds dial at another place, say at the
set in the
VIII. or IX. of the
dial,
but the taste of the
because the room public refused the offer, though irreproachable at this place will be required for the minute from the constructional point of view. Symmetry
pillar plate instead of the bar,
of the dial was
wheel.
pronounced
an
imperative
If the winding wheels are to be level with necessity. the upper plate, this latter
much
thicker
cause
it utilizes
for the
;
must be
left
so
In
this
awkward
position it
may be
called a
a very commendable plan, be- very ingenious expedient that some manufac-
symmetry
the additional height required turers tried to establish the sacrificed
winding wheels
to give greater length
to the axis of the train (60).
respect the disposition of the
In any other
movement and
all
of dial
by adding a date hand
cally situated
to
it,
symmetri-
with the seconds hand
additional cost of this dial, for
but the which no essen;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
28
tial
want was
existing,
was again an
objec-
the parts of the keyless
all
same, and
tion.
Others, again, provided
the
train
may be
mechanism are the
indifferently
used for open-
with an
auxiliary fourth pinion, serving merely to carry
This system realizes a between pendant and barrel for the placement of the keyless mechanism, with the seconds dial at its ordinary place but it the
seconds
hand.
sufficient distance
;
must be objected
to so
much
the more, as
it
not
only burthens the train with moving an additional axis, but also
must be applied
with the friction which
to this pinion
by a small spring
in order to prevent the shake of the toothing
being indicated by the seconds hand. 153. It is
possible
to
increase the above-
faced and hunting watches, and that all the mentioned angle by adopting essentially smaller parts of the train may be executed of the same train wheels. In the generally adopted type of regular dimensions as in a key-winding watch the Swiss manufactures this angular distance of the same size. is often increased up to 30° and even 35°, on
account of the wheels being much smaller than
they might have been with respect to the room
A by the dimensions of the frame. further increase might be obtainable by ap-
Analytical Horology.
afforded
proaching the third wheel
have
it
BY
J.
HEEEMANN,
LONDON", ENG.
to the barrel so as to
go under the toothed rim of the
DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT.
latter,
my long silence on the above from the cylindrical part of the barrel. But with subject, it is consistent with my promise of last all these various efforts, and the constructive communication to offer an apology. This I defects involved in them, it is not possible to tender willingly, for it is due but regretfully, establish sufficient room for the keyless parts. because it is the result of an inclination to ill 154. For attaining this purpose, a step of health, caused by years of close application. at the proper distance for leaving
it
just free
By
reason of
;
greater boldness
withstanding
its
was
necessary, which,
infringements
against
not-
On
this point I
am
sure that some of your
the horological readers can practically sympathize
sound and correct construction, with me hence I take it for granted that my has been sanctioned by the trade and public, in apology is accepted, and so proceed to my subthe absence of a better expedient. ject.
principles of
;
It consists in placing the third
with
its
wheel pinion
In examining a horological instrument, as a
arbor quite close to the periphery of watch or clock,
the barrel, and the
we
find that
necessary space for the distinct features or properties,
it
presents four
viz.
:
The source
wheel must be granted above the centre wheel. of power, its conversion into rotary velocity, The drawbacks of this arrangement are evident. this again into reciprocating intermittent The additional height of frame required by the motion, and last, the impulsive controlling force
and the close dis- associated with this motion. Technically, we moving parts, one over term these: 1st. The mainspring or the weight; the other, are certainly very grave objections 3d. The escapement and 4th. 2d. The train but a watch is, more than many other articles, The balance and pendulum spring, or the dependent upon the reigning taste, to the pendulum acted on by the earth's gravitatyranny of which its construction must be sub- tion. jected, and this must account for the fact that These four sections are progressive in their almost all open-faced keyless movements are comprehensive cardinalities, as well as in their superposition of the wheels,
position of three large
;
disposed in this way. (Fig. 39.) It
must be
;
importance relatively to the solution of the
said in favor of this method, that chief horological problem, " time,"
and hence
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. will receive our attention in the ratio,
29
same order and hook projecting no more than
to give
a firm
hold to the spring.
of which first
THE MAINSPBING. In speaking of the mainspring and its appliance, one feels called upon to apologize for introducing such an old and simple acquaintance.
Yet
for the very reason of its familiarity
there are points in
its
and hence I hope I
range often unnoticed, be pardoned for
shall
bringing a few briefly before the readers of the
Joubnal.
In placing a spring
into a barrel, say going
maximum
how
to
obtain a
resultant of force, with a
minimum
the question arises,
barrel,
strength of spring.
This question involves two
distinct points, viz.:
the physical properties of
the spring, and the
The
mode
of
its
appliance to
I beg to notice the two modes of leading off department of chemical the mainspring force 1st, by teeth on the metallurgy, and has to deal with the conditions barrel or chain and 2d, the one by a wheel The first one is that govern the elasticity of the spring in mounted on the barrel arbor. tension and compression for the strain com- now almost universally in use in non-fuzee the barrel.
point as to the physical prop-
erty belongs to the
:
;
—
;
which involves again the qualities watches, and possesses a property of compensaand properties of steel, the mode of manufac- ting the varying spring force which I think This turing, the influence of the temperature, gases, may some day be used to advantage. The second is a purely mechanical one. property can be explained by the principle of etc. We observe three points, namely, the centre of a simple lever with the power acting oblique. motion or barrel arbor pivots, the appliance of Fig. 1 will answer our purpose for explanation. Suppose that the force of the mainspring spring or barrel hook, and contact of barrel B, then the with the object to which the power is to be were acting parallel to the fine communicated, which point of contact lies in whole force of the mainspring would be exertthe primitive or pitch circle of the barrel teeth. ed in pressure on the barrel pivots, and none It is the relation that these points bear to each whatever to turn it about its centres, and so no or suppose it was other that governs to some extent the effect of motion could take place the mainspring on the centre pinion, and is acting in the direction from B to C, then we synonymous with the principle of a lever of the should have its whole force exerted in tension, and hence again no motion. third order. prises both,
;
Let
B
be the centre of a barrel, a b
(Fig. 1)
the barrel rim,
m the mainspring, H the
and d the pitch
of barrel teeth in contact direction from
circle
with centre pinion at 0,
W
P
H
the pinion equal
and
W,
hence
the force of the mainspring
C
to B,
the force and direc- in the direction from
BC B :
H P :
:
so the resultant of spring force, or
:
and in tension by acting
B
to C, it follows that
must be an intermediate point where we have an equilibrium, at which point the greatest amount of force is exerted in turning the barrel about its centre, and the least in. pressure or W, tension on its centres or pivots. This point must lie in a semicircle described from H, and
and the effect on the centre pinion. We have here a simple lever, of which the short arm, the B is the long and B elasticity of the spring equal P, the effect on tion of spring,
therefore,
If,
hook, would be expended in pressure in acting in the
BH. P
there
from its terminating points, a right angle to B C. As we get the Therefore we see that economic appliance of greatest result for rotary motion when the mainspring force consists in very short teeth, a direction of the spring force is at right angles
W
at equal distances
PC
thin rim as near the teeth as possible,
which
and a
to
B
is
C,
and
least
when
parallel, it equally fol-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
30
lows that the amount of spring force exerted in being so that the chain leads off on the oppoturning the barrel and in pressure on its site side to the centre pinion, and the other so centres, is proportional to the angle of direc-
with
tion
PHB,
B
The
C.
and
first is
by
the latter
represented by
cosine
P
sine
HB
that the chain leads off between the fuzee and
Both modes are
centre pinion. Figs.
2 and
3.
F
illustrated in
represents the fuzee and
variation of the direction in which the
The
spring acts constitutes, therefore, a compensating element, because this angle diminishes as
the spring
is
wound, and so a proportionate is expended in pressure on the
part of the force pivots.
In barrel arrangements where the mainis led off from the arbor, we have no mechanical variation. The mainspring is constantly acting on a fixed radius, and at right angles to it, which is the radius of the barrel arbor, and hence offers no compensation spring power
accumulating
to the
elastic force of the
spring
comes into play. This arcertainly very old, but that is just
as coil after coil
rangement
is
the reason
why
it
should be reinvented again.
The breaking strain of mainsprings is very great wheel, P centre pinion, C the chain. presvarying, and the reason why is one of very The difference is equal to the amount of on exerted wear and friction and hence sure, wide range, as hinted at in the commencement of this article, but which
compass.
is
out of
its
present the respective fulcrums of a lever of the
first
Experience has found an approxi- and third order.
mate ratio between the thickness of the spring and the safe angle of inflection. This angle is determined by the ratio of the diameters of barrel arbor and barrel. By making the diameter of the arbor one-third of that of the barrel,
we
insure a curve to the spring corresponding
To enter would be of little practical interest, and so I pass them by. The inequality of mainspring force is a fact to the
same
ratio
of co-ordinates.
into the properties of these curves
not to be disputed, nor
is its
effect in
be discussed at present, whether
turning
should be controlled by the fuzee or pendulum spring. I shall, therefore, only now notice the mechanito
cal contrivance of the fuzee in its
relation to the spring.
piece of
mechanism
contrivance
for
spring, because logical,
is
immediate
sufficient,
the
this
as being a force
Let a b represent a straight lever resting on
=
10 inches and F a F; let F b and a weight suspended from 6=9, then of the we should require a force at a to keep this
Mere mentioning
controlling it is
it
the fulcrum
=
9,
not only described in horo- weight in equilibrio
but in every other treatise on natural
philosophy, so that I will not intrude on your valuable space with another. One point in and the pressure on F would be =10-]- 9=19. connection therewith seems to create doubts in If we substitute for the weight at b the presthe minds of not only obscure watchmakers, but sure on the centre pinion, for the power at a also
that
prominent chronometer manufacturers is
as to the
modes of chain appliance
:
the pull of the chain,
one fuzee
pivots,
we have
and
for the
fulcrum the
the conditions which prove
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. that the constant pressure on the fuzee pivots is
Himmer's Electric Clock.
equal to the pull of the chain plus the pres-
Now
sure on the centre pinion.
let
us examine
Since the advent of electro-magnetism as a probable motive power, there has been a cona== stant endeavor among electricians to bring this
the next figure.
Let 9,
31
and
F b (Fig. 2.)= a lever arm of 10, F F as fulcrum a weight is attached to ;
slung over the pinion
C=9, and
by a power acting
brio
have
to
fulcrum
F is
a
equal to
;
first
sure on the fulcrum of 19,
Or by substituting fuzee only
and
we have
and the
effect this purpose,
latter 1.
From
of the proper means.
we have on menter
pivots
1.
difficulties of his
the
first
each has overcome
to the last,
The
any
their adjusting rod,
experiall
predecessors only to find
ones for his successors to overcome.
failing to see
This
persistent attempts to
the capabilities a power adequate to this end. a pres- The only conceded difficulty is in the adoption
fuzee a pressure of 19 and on the last
Watchmakers applying idea.
and the
both by horologists who were not thorough electricians, and electricians 10, but the pressure on who were not expert horologists, indicates that 10 — 9=1. We have there- there certainly lies hid away within its unknown
weight raised, but in the
first
power would
universal desire,
the same effect as to
fore in both cases
the
this
agent into use for horological purposes.
=
10x9
be
at
b,
kept in equili-
with every other
art, failures
the
new
Thus, as
have constant-
laugh at the ly been adding fresh greenness to its growth, wear and till, like a coral reef, naked and barren at its
difference,
real difference lies in the
tear of the fuzee pivots
extra pressure squeezes first appearance above the surface of the sea, the friction increases progressively the death and decay of each successive growth with wear, and produces errors which will to a of vegetation upon it furnishes new and richer great extent be obliterated in Fig. 3. will which spring new, more vigorous
out the
;
oil,
We
now
ground from
very briefly notice the second source of and valuable organisms, until the complete tropi-
power
island,
cal
crowned with beauty and
WEIGHTS. claims recognition
I should
feel
tempted
for its simplicity's sake,
came
to pass over this
were
my
it
item
not for a recent
peers.
A
among
its
utility,
geographical com-
similar culmination seems likely to
Each
await electrical horology.
successive in-
a professed vestigator has built upon the wreck of previous practical horologist, in close vicinity to the Britplans a better structure avoiding, improving, ish Horological Institute, who put a large discovering till there seems every prospect of wheel to the drum of a clock in order to obtain an achieved success for electrical clocks. In more force, and then replanted the depth. the electric current itself for want incident that
to
notice, of
—
—
earlier efforts
The
principle of the suspension of a weight
of uniformity in development, giving in conse-
from a string wound round a drum, fixed to a quence constantly varying power, was abandonwheel ed but with the constant improvement in batand axle. The weight is to the power comteries, approximating to constancy of action, municated to the pinion as the radius of the hope was again revived that the problem was wheel is to the radius of the drum hence, if this not far from solution still unexpected difficulsaid horologist had put a smaller instead of a By the use of the most constant ties arose. larger wheel he would have obtained his object. batteries were developed troubles that had lain Thus I shall conclude these few observations hidden in those constructions which worked sucon the appliances of the source of power, and cessfully for a short time, and a new departure Avheel acting into a pinion, is that of the
;
;
;
pass on, in
my next,
to the conversion of force
into a rotary velocity, or the train.
must again be taken. Gravity
tempting
J3F° Mr. Grossmann,
escapements field
for the
now
offer
the most
application of electro-
bearing magnetic force to time-keepers. In these the an hour on a motive power that is, the power to keep the trip through Switzerland and France, on which pendulum in motion is as constant as any I hope to gather valuable material for my next of those of which we at present know. And date July 5th, says
Essay."
:
"I
in
a
letter
—
start in
when
it is
—
remembered
that a
pendulum of 75
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
32
many which own momentum, without any as- means
give isochronous vibrations for
lbs. will
hours by
its
sistance from
any motive power, it will be seen an additional impulse it will require to keep it in constant motion, and this minute force can be constantly and uniformly supplied by gravity. An almost infinitesimal weight thus applied to the pendulum at the end of each arc or vibration, will fully answer the purpose of keeping up the motion forever. As this small weight can be raised by an electro magnet, independent of any force upon the pendulum, and at the same moment the same force move a wheel or pinion equally independent of the pendulum, there appears no reason why the wheel or pinion should not register the vibra-
how
slight
is above the point of the spring F. of a hair or thin thread n, the crank
By
m is
connected with the weighted end or ball 0, upon the spring E, which is fixed to the metallic pin or stud/*, projecting from the frame or clock case, the metallic pin q, or axis of the
beyond
projecting
The
just above the
it
weight
spring/
metallic conductors, r
s, connect the batwith the electro magnet C,
tery, respectively,
and the pendulum spring or the stud which supports the pendulum. When the pin q is in contact with the platinum tip which forms the end of the spring f, the circuit is closed, and the current passes from s through the spring E and pin q, through the spring f and the pendulum spring, on through the electro magnets C, retions of that pendulum with perfect accuracy. turning to the opposite battery pole by the wire With such an apparatus a perfect pendulum will r. While contact between q and f continues, give a perfect record of its oscillations and if the armature D is swung against the face of the such a pendulum, in its length ahd compensa- magnets, and the arm m 2 raises the impulse ;
such an electric arrangement as has been spoken of cannot do otherwise than record exact seconds of time, from which, by the simplest wheel-work, minutes and hours can be deduced. This is exactly what Himmer's Electric Clock purposes to do. Every one knows the principles of the electro magnet; that when the electric current circulates through many convolutions of insulated wire around a piece of soft iron, it becomes powerfully magnetic and the moment the current ceases no attractive power remains. This electro magnet, or rather two of them, not larger than, and much resembling, two spools of number 70 thread, are firmly secured to the back of a clock case or frame by means of a strong stud, and just above the pendulum A, which is also suspended from the stud B by its spring. At or near its upper end the pendulum is provided with two arms, d and e, projecting horitions beats exact seconds,
;
zontally, or nearly so,
these arms carry tallic springs,
upon
in opposite directions their
/ from contact
retreat of the spring
with q by
the return of the pendulum breaks the circuit,
and the armature
falling
away from the
the magnets permits the weight
face of
to rest
upon
the spring g, thus renewing the impulse for
another vibration,
from one and then from
first
the otherj and as will be seen, each impulse
amount constantly given by
receiving only the
the action of gravity upon the impulse weights.
By
this
means he has simply a pendulum
vibrating seconds, or half seconds, as
determines, and
it is
its
length
only necessary to put
it
connection with a recording apparatus, which
in is
a simple system of wheel-work affixed to the
back of the
dial
and properly connected with
the hands, to complete the clock. the pendulum, or
what
is
Each beat
of
the same thing, each
movement of the armature which the pendulum controls, moves the seconds hand one division
upper surfaces me- of
f and g respectively, which springs
upward more or
weight 0, through the agency of the pin y in the armature, and it remains raised until the
its circle.
A
feeble circuit
is
sufficient to
thus keep a
by the screws h. pendulum in motion; in fact Mr. Himmer's The armature D of the electro maget previously greatest difficulty was to convince himself of the mentioned as being secured to the frame or necessity of a feeble current, and small wire support, is a fiat iron plate vibrating on the conductors. Again and again were they reduced arbors i and j, which project from its ends near in size and capacity, with constantly improved the lower edge into ears of a plate E, that is action. One of the results of this feeble current connected with the electro magnet. One of the has been the elimination of one of the most arbors, i, is firmly secured to the armature D, troublesome difficulties attendant upon the old and at its end has an arm or crank m, the end of batteries, which was the accumulation of fungi are bent
less
I,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. at the point
where
the]circuit
was broken, which
in a very short time prevented the metallic contact
he
changes
the
many
reciprocating
"With the present arrangement, and tion of the wheel- work by the peculiar arrange-
the slightly sliding motion of the parts as they in contact,
no
difficulty
minimum of friction, moved by
because the train
the dropping of the click
weight, the
office
of the
raise the click
friction roller
by
is
gravity,
moves the
upon a secondary penclick, that, by its own
train,
thereby insuring a
really every revolution of the arbor, or at
its
own
val desired, metallic connection
is
any
inter-
established
pendulum being only and broken
while
nection with the gear.
ment of a
of this sort has dulum, which actuates a
been experienced in two years of running.
to
preference begot of experience and
experiments,
necessary to perfect transmission of the motion of the pendulum into the circular mo-
current.
come
By
33
He
it
is
in a circuit that leads to a second without con- or secondary clock-work, actuating the same in
also attaches to the unison
with the primary one.
The
ininutise of
arbor of the seconds hand of the clock a notched construction in these electric clocks, the various
cam, or break
circuit,
whereby once during ingenious devices
for
the
necessary adjust-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
34
balloon-shaped flask G is closed by a stopper and who through which two short glass tubes extend seems to have shown in its execution all the their small ends upward into the flask. In use the jar should be nearly filled with water, in skill which he possesses as a watchmaker. In the search for batteries adapted to his which one pound of sulphate of magnesia is dissolved by being stirred with some nonclock none were found in all respects suitable some were attended by constant trouble to keep metallic rod. The interior diameter of the them in working order, and the inequality of zinc cylinder should be such that the bulb of action in the so-called constant batteries would the flask will keep it from descending to the not do for his purpose others were quite use- bottom of the jar. The flask must be filled less, owing to the corrosive and offensive vapors with three pounds of broken sulphate of copper, evolved when in action, thus necessitating the and the interstices filled with water, the stopper placing of them in remote and inconvenient lo- secured in, and the flask inverted as shown in calities. These difficulties forced upon him the the drawing. The action of the battery deinvention of a battery as well as a clock, and pends upon the height to which the solution ments, show at once the inventor to be a mechanic inferior to none in his
art,
;
he
finally
succeeded in producing a truly con- rises about the copper cylinder, as 1
stant battery, which, being self-feeding, could of the flask
;
it
flows out
consequently the farther the tubes
drawn out the weaker will be the action of Being small, odorless, the battery. Prof. Van der Weyde says that and perfectly cleanly, it is admirably adapted, eight of these cells, set up in a closet in his not only to his electric clock, but for medical library room, answer all purposes of chemical purposes, small magneto-electric engines for operations, working the small Ruhmakorf coils, sewing machines, private telegraphs, hotels, small electro-magnetic machines, etc. burglar or safe alarms, etc. They are especially Mr. Autenrieth, who has become associated adapted to the wants of the watchmaker and with Mr. Himmer in the manufacture of elecjeweller for electroplating, because they are in- tric clocks, has for many years been largely of first-class offensive to sight and smell, and, there being engaged in the manufacture be
left
alone for one, two, or three years with- are
out being looked after.
no corrosive gases evolved, are harmless among regulator cases for the wholesale trade. He the shop tools. also has made a specialty of the three-side Vienna and Parisian half seconds This necessary research has, plate-glass therefore, brought into notice a most convenient, useful, cases, and they propose to fit them up with and elegant battery, "consisting of an outer electric clocks, the battery concealed above the clock
by the ornamental scroll-work upon the For regulators the battery is
top of the case.
concealed within the pannel-work of the base, the wires conducted within and entirely out of sight.
If
persevering industry and skilful labor
command success Messrs. Autenrieth & Himmer will succeed in making this improved electric clock a permanency among our Ameri-
can
can time-keeping productions.
Their peculiar
where numerous coincident time-keepers are required is an especial Large factories can feature of their merits. have, in every department, a dial which will glass jar A, in which is suspended, by an an- register the pulsations of a primary clock in gular flange, the zinc cylinder E, to which is the office, thus avoiding the endless controfixed the coupling screw F upon the bottom versies between men and the time-keeper as to Cities and towns can, at comparatively of the jar is placed the conical glass B, and hours. standing in it is the copper cylinder C, to which trifling cost, establish public dials, at convenient The inverted localities, as regulators of public and private the circuit wire D is attached. adaptability to localities
;
AMEBICAN HOBOLOGICAL JOTJRNAX. much
labor, tLat will insure a
to
be desired
uniformity.
it
;
turn the shoulder back to correspond with
the old one, then
The Himmer
Electric Clock is
manufactured too large.
by Messrs. Autenrieth & Himmer, Long Island spread a City
office,
;
371 Pearl
street,
New York
Watch Repairing. -No. BY JAMES FBICKER,
35
fit
the lid to the barrel if
If too small, little
it
it is
should have been
hammer
with a smooth-faced
up in the lathe. Now take it off, and with a round broach fit the arbor, always wetting the round broach when using it, as that will prevent its tearing up the brass. To avoid getting the barrel either too high or before putting
city.
2.
AMERICTXS, GA.
it
too low, it is well to bush the barrel and fit the [The reader will please erase the word " not" arbor before bushing the lid, so that you may where it occurs in the 4th line from the bottom be certain to get the end-shake right, and have of first column on page 9 of the last number of the barrel the same height as before; then this Journal it was a typographical error, and bush the lid and fit it to the barrel, and fit the ;
materially alters the sense of
what I intended arbor and get the end-shake again by turning
We
shoulder of the
off the
to say.]
now
up
only the end-shake
lid.
Now
see if not
but that the barrel where we left it in the last number, the watch all to runs true on its arbor; if not, correct it as pieces, and ready for any repairs needed. We directed in previous article. will suppose our present difficulty lies in the If a proper degree of care has been exerwill
barrel;
the
take
the subject
mainspring broken, the
is
barrel cised, the barrel will
right,
now be ready for
the main-
and the holes worn too wide. Now for spring but first let us suppose the old barrel the remedy. In the first place, with our barrel- was in such a bad condition, so sprung or spread,
;
closer or contractor,
the barrel to
its
we
will contract or close
original
size
by placing
it
it could not be remedied as above which case a new one must be supIf you can get one from the material
cracked, that directed, in
in one of the holes that is slightly smaller than plied.
the barrel, with the upper or open side of the dealer in time, of the proper
size, it will
save
tap- some work, as it is not an easy matter to fit a new ping lightly the bar that is screwed into it one. Proceed the same as above described for until the barrel is reduced to the proper size. an old one, after it is bushed. Always true it Next, bush the holes, having first reamed them it up by the outside, then you can get your hole out or what is still better, cement the barrel concentric with the circumference of the barrel. up on a chuck in your foot lathe, the outside Every one should have a Swiss gauge to get against the face of the chuck then bore out measurements by, as it will save much trouble the hole and turn down the projection a little and time. First get the outside the proper size, for a shoulder then make a bush with a then bore out the hole nearly large enough for square shoulder, and fit it from the inside of the pivot, then true up the inside with a graver the barrel, and the same with the lid. After or cutter turn down the groove for the lid unriveting in these bushes put the barrel back on til it measures the same distance from the botthe chuck again, using a brass chuck, with a tom of the outside of the barrel as the old one, hole in the centre as large as the arbor pivots premising that the old one was correct f turn true up the barrel by its periphery, then drill a down the shoulder to the same thickness as the hole in the centre, and bore out the hole nearly old one. Before taking the barrel off the large enough to take the pivot> and turn down chuck, satisfy yourself that it is of the proper the shoulder to the same thickness as the old size and thickness, and that the shoulder for the one. If the barrel does not run true, true it lid is correct, and the end not too thick then up with a graver, and if it will bear it, true out take it off and try in the arbor, first having the groove for the lid, leaving it slightly under- opened the hole with the round broach try the cut take the barrel off, and put up the lid, and height by putting it between the plates with true it up by the outside same as with the bar- the arbor in it next fit the lid, which may be rel centre and drill a hole, and bore it out too thick and require to be turned, filed, or slightly smaller than the pivot that is to go into stoned down a little. Now drill a hole for the
barrel down, placing the disk over
it,
and
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
36 hook, and carefully
file
out a rectangular hole,
same
caliper
and same
train as far as the
num-
towards ber of teeth in the wheels and pinions are conthe centre of the barrel, bnt at about an angle cerned, but of far different finish, and the shape of 45° from the radius, so as to hold the of the teeth of one as near perfect as possible,
which should not be
drilled directly
hook when the mainspring is in after which up the barrel and lid with oil-stone powder and oil, next with tripoli, and then with If you cannot obtain rouge, or Vienna lime. a barrel in time, and have to make one, select a piece of brass somewhat thicker than is required, and hammer it well so as to harden it, and close up the fibres of the metal with a ;
polish
;
pair of dividers strike a circle the size of the in-
tended barrel, after having
made a good
centre
and of the other as imperfect as they could
Now, one of these watches will go with a weak spring, whereas the Other re-
well be made.
a very strong one,
quires
escapement
when to
be
sible,
is
bad, which
especially
is not properly constructed but always use as weak a spring as pos-
the train safe,
the
if
usually the case
is
;
that will be certain to drive the watch,
and give the balance a good motion.
Another
important fact connected with mainsprings, and
then cut away the bulk of superfluous metal that every one should know,
a wide is this from the outside of the circle with a saw and thin spring gives better and more constant refile, then cement it on to a brass plate that is sults, besides being less liable to break, than a perfectly true, and when cold put it rup in the narrow thick one. Always use as wide a spring universal lathe, and if you have a hole in the as the barrel will take, and as thin as will drive ;
enough to let your the particular watch you may have in hand come through, and your blank, furthermore, there should always be one full turn with its centre down, is immediately over that more of the spring in the barrel than is actually hole, you can easily put it up true make a used, and in very fine watches we frequently new centre, and inscribe a circle on the now out- see two, especially in the Swiss and American. side for a guide. Now drill a hole clear through If the old spring was right, select one of the the blank, a little smaller than the pivot that is same width and strength. A pivot gauge should to go into it, then turn out for the inside of the always be used to get the strength, and not barrel, allowing for thickness of the rim from depend on springing it with your fingers to test the circle. The Swiss gauge will come into use its strength. By careful observation you will all this time in getting the thickness. Allow for soon learn to select a spring with but little your shoulder, and turn out the groove for the trouble. You may have to change a few springs lid, and make the barrel the proper height on account of their strength after putting them then turn up the outside, being careful not to in, but if you do that will teach you more than go down to the brass plate until you have twenty pages of printed directions. After havfinished it, or you will jar the barrel off. In ing selected the spring that you intend to put cementing the blank, or in fact anything, on to in, break it off full long, try it in, and if the a plate or chuck, always rub the article about, open space between the spring and the arbor is centre of your plate large
pump
;
centre
;
using considerable pressure, so as to get as equal the spring is of the right length, provided much of the shellac out from under it as pos- the strength is correct take it out and heat it sible before it cools. Now if you have pre- with the alcohol lamp, from the end to half an ;
viously faced off the other side of the barrel you are ready to drill for the mainspring hook,
and then polish
it
inch back, but do not heat
move
it
from the flame when
it
red hot, but re-
it is
black
;
punch
up, and, if you are prepared a round hole one-fourth of an inch from the
to do so, gild it. It frequently happens that end, then put the spring in the bench vice, so you can use the old lid when putting in a new that one-third of the end of the spring projects barrel, which will save some work. above the jaws of the vice, and opposite where It is impossible to lay down any absolute rule the hole is, letting it come even with the top of as to the strength and length that a spring the vice; file the exposed part away, turn it should be in any one of the various watches over and serve the other edge the same way, that come to us for repairs unless we know the which will leave the spring one-third its origicharacter and quality of the train and escapement, nal width at the end, and the full width oppoweight of balance, etc. Take two watches of the site the holes then thin the end down with a ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. file
to one-half its original thickness,
not
file
the inside of the spring any
sink the hole slightly,
when
If the hole in the barrel
is
but do distance, then carefully file it up so as to leave two cutting edges, removing the metal in front
counter-
;
be ready for of each cutting edge, which will give it the appearance of a carpenter's bit that has the point rectangular, select broken off, and a hole drilled where the point
it
the hook.
will
as near the size as
steel wire
a piece of
flat
possible
a round hole, take round wire)
it
down
put
(if
so as to
fit
;
file
When
had been.
you have
filed
up the
tit
on
the hook, put the cutter in the lathe and place
the hole perfectly free, then the tit in the hole and press the shoulder up it project about against the face of the cutter, and you can
in the pin vice, letting
it
one-sixteenth of an inch, and instead of putting it
37
straight through the jaws of the vice as
do pin wire to of about 45° ;
make
make pins, deflect it to an angle now hold the vice the same as make a pin, and file up a tit on
you would to the end of the
steel wire,
few
a perfectly square shoulder in a
you seconds.
making a square
" Clyde" on
the Friction Question.
In common with many readers of the Journal,
shoulder with the jaws of the pin vice for your I feel deeply interested in the controversy on fricguide examine it with a glass and see if you tion, and especially in the full development of any ;
have got a good shoulder. Where the tit meets new experiment or new fact that can be brought the hook it should be towards the front of the forward to support either side of the question. hook, so that the bulk of the metal will project There is one experiment, however, which has
back of the tit, which renders it more secure and less liable to pull out. Now, when you have got the tit well fitted into the spring and a good shoulder to it, take it out of the pin vice and fasten it in the bench vice so that the shoulder projects slightly above the jaws put
been made by B. I\ H., with the mandrel of a Swiss lathe, which he describes in the May
the spring on and rivet
I would respectfully beg leave to
;
it
fast
;
cut off the wire,
leaving enough attached to the spring to ;
see if the
;
;
;
evidently does mislead the author himself; and
make remarks
hook fits the hole in the barrel put it through from the outside, and mark on the inside where it comes through then file down to that mark, making the end of the hook of the same curvature as the barrel; stone it to get the file marks out, then burnish it clean it and the barrel and put it in with the winder. If the hook projects at all take it out and file away as much as will be necessary to bring it down flush. Never file it when it is in the the hook
number, that I consider has a tendency to mislead those who may be studying the question of friction on loDg and short bearings, as it
F.
make a few
in opposition to the views held
H. on the
friction question,
and
to
by B.
analyze
his experiment.
In the first
place, I assert that large flat bear-
ing surfaces have no more friction than smaller surfaces, if the character
and
quality
surfaces are in all instances the same, the force with
which
against each other
is
of
the
and when
the surfaces are pressed
also the same.
On
the
surfaces of the smoothest of bodies there exist
asperities or irregularities which lock into each Clean other when one body lies upon the other in again, oil it, put in the arbor, put in a state of rest, and before motion can be proand oil the arbor pivots, and with a duced these asperities must either be broken off
barrel, as that will disfigure the barrel.
and put it on the lid see if oil
rel
hand tongs wind the spring up
full to and worse ones formed, or one body must be which also distributes the separated a sufficient distance from the other to The spring and bar- allow the asperities or irregularities to pass that is on the spring. are now ready for the watch. each other and the greater the pressure that is
pair of
A
it
will stand,
;
up the upon the bodies the greater the amount of force shoulder of a main-spring hook is easily made that will be required to support them still, with by drilling a hole the right size into the end of the same weight or pressure, a surface in cona piece of steel wire which should be fitted into tact, say one foot broad, will be raised and one of your chucks. After drilling the hole and motion produced just as easily as if the surface facing it up, take a very thin saw and saw a was only one inch broad, providing the surfaces slot right down the centre of the hole a short be equally regular and flat. If the surfaces are very useful
little tool
for squaring
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
38
irregular, then
be required
to
a greater amount of force will be very broad the move one over the other, because will increase with
they must be separated a greater distance to
It appears to
difficulty of
making them
flat
their extent.
me
that Mr. Gribi, in both of
allow the irregularities on the surface to clear his brick experiments, has given ample evidence
each other.
Bodies with smooth surfaces move that with
flat
surfaces friction
is
independent of
rough or irregular the extent of the surfaces in contact but if his ones, simply because they have to be separated experiments in this direction are not accepted a less distance in one case than in the other as conclusive by every reader, I would state that the very highest scientific authorities of the when motion is produced. If we imagine two files, for example, to be day corroborate the accuracy of the results flat and straight, and the teeth cut in the sides obtained by him, as well as the soundness of and edges to be of the same degree of fineness, his theory, which is proved by models for illusone file will be moved horizontally over the trating mechanical philosophy. Those readers other one just as easily when the broad sides who five in the neighborhood of New York city rest on each other as when only the narrow will probably most readily get access to meedge of one rests on the broad side of the other, chanical models necessary to prove the princibecause in both instances it takes the same ples involved in this question by applying at amount of force to separate the surfaces far the class-rooms of the Cooper Institute, as I enough to allow the points of the teeth to pass know that they have models there for this pureach other. If the files, however, be irregular pose. Parker's Philosophy, and other elemenon their surface, although the teeth be of the tary works of the same description, may not same degree of fineness, it is plain that, before advance these principles of friction, but they do I have studied a great many motion can be produced, they will require to be not deny them. separated a greater distance, and far enough to encyclopedias and standard works on mechanallow the largest of the irregularities to pass ics, and all of them support the doctrine that each other consequently it will take more force friction is independent of the extent of the surEven the ordinary engineers' to move them, because one file has to be faces in contact. separated a greater distance from the other to hand-books which contain tables for the use of allow the points of the teeth on the highest practical engineers in constructing machines, have got tables showing the coefficient of fricirregularities to pass the others. In the example of a bearing surface one foot tion, and if it be necessary to give any stronger square, and another bearing surface only one proof than I have done I would simply allude inch square, and when the surfaces are equally to the celebrated experiments of M. Morin. smooth and flat, the theory is that the pressure About forty years ago experiments were instiupon the body is equally distributed among the tuted at the fortress and military arsenal of particles of matter that compose the surface, Metz, by the order and at the expense of the and each particle on the surface that is one French Government of that day, in order to foot square has a proportionably less amount prove certain theories concerning friction, where of weight to bear than each particle on the it was demonstrated, by a series of practical surface that is only one inch. If the pressure tests which lasted over a period of three years, be very great there will not be enough of par- that while different kinds of substances had a ticles to sustain it, and some of the particles will different amount of friction, narrow and broad be broken off and other irregularities formed surfaces of the same quality, and made from that will alter the character of the surface the same material, had exactly the same amount altogether. From this it is only plain reason- of friction when they were equally clean and ing to assume that the extent of a surface dry, and when the pressure was not so great as should be in proportion to the amount of pres- to bruise the surfaces. The accuracy of these sure that is upon it, and the material from experiments have been verified again and again which it is made, because if the surfaces are by experimenters of a more recent date, and he narrower than will support the amount of pres- would be a bold man, indeed, that had a knowleasier than those having
;
;
sure that
is
larities will
upon them,
ruts
soon be formed
;
and other irregu- edge of these and if the surfaces this theory.
facts
and attempted
to contradict
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. In the second
place, I
would remark that
the
were
to place
39
one of these mandrels or centres
manner as to test the round surface working against a hollow one, equality of the roundness and straightness of such as a pivot working upon its bearing, is an its form, for instance by a lever attached to example of sliding friction of the same nature the slide-rest with its shortest end pressing as one fat surface sliding over another. When against the mandrel or centre that is being tested, one or two pivots lie in their bearings in a state and the other end considerably prolonged so as of a
friction produced by the circular motion
of
rest,
in a fine lathe in such a
the asperities on the surfaces of each to magnify any motion in the short end that work that is under
interlock with the asperities on the surfaces of be produced by the the bearings, and before motion can be pro- revolving against it,
we
may trial
will find that the very
duced these asperities must either be broken best of Swiss lathe centres or mandrels are not or the pivot must be separated a sufficient regularly true and straight for 2§- inches in distance from the bearing to allow the points of their length, although the most of them are the asperities on each to pass the other and near enough for the purpose they are used for whether the pivots be long or short they will and I am willing to admit that in some inbe separated with equal facility if they are true stances they are used for very particular purand straight, and if the pressure that is upon poses, although of an entirely different nature
off,
;
;
How- from
the one in question. In trying this experiment I wonder if B. F. low bearing, it must be observed that if their H. placed the pulley on the end of the spindle surfaces be not regularly true and straight, the outside the bearings, or if he cut away a place
them be equal under
all
ever, in the case of the
circumstances.
round pivot and its hol-
resistance to motion will be greater than in the
in
the tail-stock of the lathe and placed the
The experiment could be
case of the flat surfaces. In the case of the two flat pulley in the centre.
a chance for one body, when it of no value unless the pressure was always in being moved over the other, to move a little the direction of the centre of motion of the
surfaces there is
to
is
one side or the other, and in that way slight revolving body. The pulley would be more may sometimes clear each other convenient placed outside but its action would
irregularities
;
without the two bodies being separated so
much
would be necessary to do but round pivots in hollow bearings there is not that equal state of freedom for the moving body to move to one side, and consequently, as has been observed already, any deas otherwise
it
;
in the case of
fects
or
irregularities
in
pivots or their bearings,
the surface of
however
cause the pressure at one end of the spindle to
be downward, and at the other end
to
be up-
ward, and thereby materially interfere with the accuracy of the experiment. A strange part of the experiment, and which I
am
at a loss to
making one of the the bearings of Babbit metal. To give such an
small, will
find a
reason
experiment
for,
is
justice, all
made from
in
the bearings should not
same kind of metal, but same faces. piece of metal, in order to insure the same In the experiment described by B. F. H., on quality of surfaces on the holes. Perhaps B. page 261 of third volume, the steel mandrel of F. H. felt generous and was giving his opa Swiss lathe, 0.35 of an inch in diameter, ponents the benefit of the advantage of this with a bearing surface 2f inches long, is used anti-friction metal, which is so beneficial in to show the supposed effects of friction on long bearings where there is a high rate of speed and short circular bearings. It is stated that but the velocity of his spindle was slow, and " the fitting is perfect— in fact no work could the motion was but of short duration, and it is Now, we all know what the man- doubtful whether his opponents did receive be better." drels or centres of Swiss lathes are. The most any advantage by his using that metal. He of them are very nice, and sufficiently accurate also leads us to suppose that the entire surface for the purpose for which they are used but, of the holes touched the entire surface of the with all due deference, I deny that any of them mandrel that was not exposed to view. Babare sufficiently true and regularly straight to bit metal, like lead, is one of the most difficult cause greater resistance to motion than defects only be
the
of equal magnitude existing on two flat sur- if possible they should be cut out of the
;
;
be used
for
an experiment of
this kind.
If
we
that
he could
select to
make a
hole of the
AMERICAN HORQLOGICAL JOURNAL.
40
length and quality of surface de- necessary uniformity for if they had, and if I do not doubt but what all the holes the pulley was in the centre of the spindle, the the mandrel in such a manner that the experiment would have been likely to give re-
diameter,
;
j
sired. fitted
;
!
mandrel had no apparent shake, and I am also sults favorable to the theory that friction is willing to admit that none of them did bind independent of the extent of the bearing surperceptibly but I can scarcely believe that faces. Perhaps it may be well to mention, so each particle of metal that composed the surfaces as to prevent any misapprehension in the minds of the holes touched equally all the particles of of any of the readers, that in an experiment of steel on the circumference of the spindle, or this kind it is not requisite that the bearing that they touched each other with the same surfaces should be of any special degree of force or pressure in every position in which the fineness, so long as they are of equal fineness and truth, and the spindle fits into all the bearmandrel was turned. As regards the fitting of the mandrel to the ings with precisely the same amount of freedom. In conclusion, I would ask why make the tail-stock of the lathe, I would remark that Swiss lathe makers cannot afford to spend the bearings so long, and why make them to touch time necessary to make a hole with a surface the spindle on its entire circumference? It of such a character besides, it is entirely un- only makes the experiment the more difficult to necessary for the purposes of a lathe, for if the execute and get reliable results from it, and mandrel or centre works into the tail-stock although the circular bearing surfaces were freely, and without shake, it is all that is re- ever so regularly and perfectly formed, a small quired for that purpose. With some knowl- particle of dust getting in between them would edge of the difficulty of making a hole of the bind them, or even a change in the temperature character we are discussing, I venture to assert would show different results at different times. that there are but few watchmakers or fine No pivot holes ever touch the pivot all around clockmakers in the country who have either at the same time. In ordinarily close-fitted holes the facilities or the experience for making such probably not more than one-third of the cira hole. There are thousands that could make cumference of the hole and its pivot touch each a hole that one could see through and there other at the same time, and with wider fitted are many who might fit up some temporary holes it is, of course, less. An experiment with arrangement and make a tolerably true hole a wheel having pivots of a size and length in and grind it to fit a mandrel if the mandrel reasonable proportion to the weight or pressure was a little tapering but to make a hole to fit that they have to bear, and having a little side a straight mandrel with the desired accuracy is shake, would be much easier executed, and altogether a different kind of a task. To make would also be more like that kind of friction a straight and true mandrel or pivot, .35 of an we have to encounter on the pivots of timeinch in diameter, and 2f inches long, and to keepers. ;
;
;
;
a hole to it so perfectly that all the particles on the surface of the one will touch lightly and equally on all the particles which compose the
fit
surface of the other,
Mr. Kessels' Remarks on the Temperature of Booms.
and which would be neces-
We have
received from Mr. Grossmann the
sary in order to give justice to an experiment of that nature, on account of the top section of one
memoir of Mr.
of the bearings being nearly cut away,
ferred to at page 185,
deed a very formidable undertaking
is in-
to execute,
Kessels, of Altona, which he rethird
volume of the
Jo tonal, in his reply to " Clyde " on the pen-
We
and would consume far more time than the dulum controversy. have made a translamajority of people would be willing to spend tion of the memoir, and present to our readers for such a purpose.
I have no hesitation in that portion of it which shows the difference and I judge from the Mr. Kessels found to exist in the temperature manner in which the experiment was conducted, of the atmosphere at each end of a pendulum. giving
it
as
my
opinion,
that the surfaces of the holes
and mandrel were
not regularly and equally of the same quality,
and that they did not
fit
"The Mercurial Pendulum stands first among the varied and important inventions
each other with the with which Horology was enriched
by the
AMEEICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL. Graham, who was the
41
same thermometers at the same height and disin an unused room, which was never expansibility for the compensation of the pen- warmed, and found no difference between dulum. This pendulum has been almost the them and it would be the same, doubtless, in only one used in England since the commence- an observatory. Prom the preceding it is very ment of this century, and has many advantages. evident that its decrease of rate since December 1st. The great simplicity of its construction 2d. 13, proceeded from the rod of the pendulum Because the height of the column of mercury experiencing 3° to 4° greater heat than the has been exactly determined by mathematical mercury, thus showing the impossibility of 3d. Because when furnished with making a mercurial pendulum perfectly comcalculation I index it is as sure in its indications as a pensating in an artificially heated room. an thermometer, particularly if placed in an ob- should remark here that during the entire servatory where there is no sudden change of winter the temperature in the case is never temperature. The pendulum of my regulator more than 16°, and during the summer, when I as- the rate of the clock was so regular, the theris a gridiron of a peculiar construction. sured myself, by repeated proofs, that the com- mometer in the case has often indicated 18° to The gridiron pendulum in this case pensation was too strong, and that it was neces- 20°. would seem preferable, for if the temperature sary to pierce new holes to change the relative higher is at the top than at the lower part, the length of the brass and steel rods. I removed nine compensating rods are equally affected by replacing it mercurial by a it for a while, penit. But in compensating action it is not its dulum. •" The entire year of 1847 the rate of the clock nearly as regular, and it is very difficult to rewas very regular, and from September 23d to gulate it, for in any room (artificially heated) celebrated
first
to pro-
pose, in 1715, the use of two metals of different tance
;
;
;
December 13th it was as follows From September 23 to September 31, 31 " October " " "
it is
:
8 days 12,12 "
12 " November 8,27 November 8 " December 12, 35 December 13 " January 8,26
October
".
" "
impossible to obtain a uniform temperature
..0.02.
throughout
..0'.04.
all
its
entire length,
and without that
proofs are necessarily inexact. " True, the length of the rods of steel
+0.01. +0.01. brass for
the gridiron
and
pendulum has been
..0.47.
found by nice exact mathematical calculation, only since December 13 that cold as well as the height of the column of mercury weather has commenced and considerable heat for the mercurial pendulum but the brass and "
As
it is
;
has been turned on,
I think, consequently, yellow copper being a most variable composithat its change of rate results only from the tion, it is impossible to construct two gridiron increased temperature which lengthens the rod, pendulums equally compensating."
remain the Mr. Kessels, of Altona, enjoys a high repuI then placed two thermometers, agree- tation among astronomers on the Continent of ing perfectly, in the case, one near the point of Europe as a maker of fine clocks, and we consuspension, and the other near the middle of sider any experiments that may have been made since the extent of the vibrations
same.
the ball, and, by repeated experiments, have by him are worthy of our earnest consideration. found a difference between these two thermom- In connection with this subject we direct the ateters of 3° to 4° Reaumur, the lower one indi- tention of our readers to the remarks of " Clyde" cating 3° to 4° less than the higher one. I on this question in our last number, and also to hung these thermometers in my room, one at 1 the experiments proposed by him with a view foot 10 inches above the floor, and the other 3 to determine the average difference that exists feet higher. I then found a difference of 3° between them. Thence I think the difference of 1° more than was found inside the case proceeds from the heat striking the upper part of
the case
;
where For the
in the temperature of rooms or apartments
standard clocks are usually situated.
guidance of those
periment
it is
who
desire to
make
the ex-
proposed that the thermometers
and the wood, though a bad conductor, be suspended inside of the case when
it
is
gradually increases in temperature, while, on practicable to do so, but when this cannot be the contrary, the cold rises from the floor and done thermometers suspended on the outside acts
on the lower part of the
case.
I placed the will show the difference that exists there.
It is
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
42
and in also proposed that the thermometers be com- regulates various sympathetic clocks, pared three times a day as early in the morn- fact does all which the current from the transit ing as possible at noon, and as late at night clock Hardy formerly did but it does it a great deal better. The steadiness of rate is very far as may be convenient.
—
—
bear in mind that 3° Reau- superior to any that we have previously attainOne evidence of this is the regularity with is equal to about 7° Fahr., and 4° Reau- ed. it indicates the barometric inequality. which 1° Fahr. equal to 10
The reader
mur mur
;
will
As
the eye and ear observations (of circum-
polar stars, Horological Instruments at Greenwich Observatory.
are recorded by
etc.)
transit clock
means of the
in the transit circle-room,
necessary to possess some
it is
means of comparing
the normal sidereal clock with the transit clock.
The Astronomer Royal's Report on the
This is done by the contact springs in the Greenwich Observatory, for the year ending transit clock, which are placed in connection 1872, June 1st, gives the following particulars with the wires by which, in ordinary transits, respecting the horological instruments in use the finger-touch causes a puncture on the chroIn 1871, December 1, the watchman's clock, nograph barrel the normal sidereal clock at upon which are registered the visits of the the same time making its puncture by its own night-watchman, was moved from the astro- wires. nomical observatory to the magnetic offices. As This clock was constructed under my directhe watchman, whilo not on beat, occupies the tion by Messrs. E. Dent & Co., and may be gate porter's cabin, this arrangement insures regarded, I think, as an excellent specimen of :
;
the visits of the
now
watchman
widely- extended
registers are read
to
every part of our horology.
The
premises.
and entered
in a
clock-
book every
morning.
August
It
was brought
into use in 1871,
21.
Other clocks have had small repairs and no special notice. The chronograph is in good order. A small
cleanings, requiring
The mechanical arrangements,
as
regards
and time arrangements, have been com- alteration has been made in its break-contact Since 1871, October, glycerine pletely modified by the introduction of the nor- apparatus. mal sidereal clock. This clock is planted in the has been used instead of water for producing magnetic basement, as the locality in which the the small resistances to the pendulum movetemperature is most uniform. Its escapement ment and to the movement of the friction reguis one which I suggested many years ago in the lator, which are required in Siemens' chronoCambridge Transactions a detached escape- metric governor and it possesses this advantage, transits
;
;
ment, very closely analogous to the ordinary that
it
does not cause rust in the steel-work.
A
produced by the abing an impulse only at alternate vibrations. sorptive power of the glycerine, which someThe pendulum compensation is of steel and times fills the cistern more than is desired. zinc. For adjustment of rate, I have placed a At the present time the number of chronomsliding weight on the crutch-rod, where it can eters lodged in the chronometer-room is 177. Of be moved by a nut at the level of the crutch- these, 137 are the property of the Government, axis, without disturbing the pendulum. I have namely, 93 box-chronometers, 26 pocket-chrochronometer escapement, the pendulum receiv-
also arranged
trifling
inconvenience
is
upon the crutch-axis a peculiar nometers, and 18 deck- watches
;
40 are the
apparatus (not yet tried) for adjusting the final property of chronometer makers, undergoing rate of correction for temperature.
At
the the annual competitive
trial.
All chronometers
middle of every vibration the pin on the pen- are compared with a mean solar clock, which
dulum
presses two light springs into contact sympathetic with the normal
mean
is
solar clock
which complete a galvanic circuit and a pin on some (including among others the chronometers the 60-seconds wheel interrupts the circuit once on competitive trial) are compared every day, in each minute. The current thus put in mo- some only once in a week all are rated for a tion, acting by relay, makes the seconds-punc- limited time in different magnetic positions, and tures upon the chronograph-barrel, drives or all occasionally in high temperatures. ;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
43
Six of our chronometers were lent to the ex- Westminster Palace shows that 60 per cent, of all its errors are below one second, 91 per cent, ;
pedition for observing the eclipse of 1871
are
now
under two seconds, and 98 per
returned.
The average
excellence of the
chronometers whose competitive
trial
cent,
under three
of the seconds.
first six
terminated
In preparation
for the transit of
Venus
in
in August, 1871, is slightly superior to that for
1874, the first-class clocks are complete, two of
and comparable to that for 1869. since, an accident happened to a chronometer from the weakness of the bottom To prevent a repetition of of its wooden case. this, I have had that part strengthened in all instances where it appeared advisable. At the request of M. Quetelet, a chronometer belonging to M. Briart has been rated for sevA mean-time clock for hourly eral weeks.
the Observatory clocks being fitted with zinc
1870,
Some time
galvanic signals to its
is
now being tested
and
steel
pendulums
A special frame has been mounted in the
one.
I was made aware of the assent of the Government to the wish of the Board of Visitors, as expressed at their last meeting, that provision
Hope graphy
made
for the application of photo-
the
observation of the transit of
to
Venus.
Observatory.
nine second-class clocks
lower south-east room for attachment of the numerous clocks during their rating.
preparatory should be
being sent out to the Cape of Good
;
are in hand, and the Observatory can furnish
It
unnecessary for
is
me
to
remark
On
10 days, the violence of the wind has that our hope of success is founded entirely on Under his prevented the raising of the time-signal- our confidence in Mr. De La Rue. ball; but
no failure has occurred from other
The
Mr. Dallmeyer has advanced far in
direction,
the preparation of five photoheliographs, im-
causes.
upon that which has acquired so much No- reputation at Kew and I am awaiting Mr. De
clock used at Deal in case of failure of proved
the Greenwich time signal
was cleaned
in
and has performed well since. The ball was dropped by the current on 90.7 per cent, of days since the last report on 4.9 per cent, the assistance of the attendant's hand was required on one day the ball was not raised on account of high wind on two occasions it was dropped a few seconds before one hour accidentally (by signals from telegraph clerks), which is notified to the public by the exhibition of a black flag and on 3.6 per cent, In the two communication was interrupted. latter cases the ball is dropped by hand at two vember
last,
;
;
;
;
La Rue's the huts.
final instructions for preparation of
The
subject
is
recognized by
astronomers as not wholly free from
but
it is
may be
many
difficulties,
generally believed that these difficulties
overcome, and Mr.
De La Rue is giving
careful attention to the most important of them.
—London Horological Journal.
Neuchatel Observatory Trials.
;
Horological Journal: Pocket chronometers on trial in an ObservaSome further correspondence with reference tory can be kept in constant external motion by the proposed establishment of a system of mechanical means, from the mildest " man of Er>.
hours instead of one hour. to
hourly time signals at the Start Point has re- leisure" usage, to that of the roughest railway sulted in a determination on the part of both shake.
the Admiralty
and the Board of Trade
to ad-
The machine wearer of watches
is
kept in motion by weights, and wound like a
here to their former decision adverse to the clock.
I use
it
occasionally ever since 1862,
and have several times sent letters concerning I am informed by the Engineer of the Post it but here matters ended no doubt it was Office Telegraph Department that the dis- considered of little value. I said, in substance, tribution of time-signals is becoming more that such an automaton watch wearer is as extensive; and a greater battery-power has necessary to watchmakers of pretension as the become necessary at the Royal Observatory for indispensable regulator, because testing watch working the additional relays at Telegraph escapements in the stationary condition, proves street. nothing; every artist must know this, if he reThe automatic report of the clock of the flects a little, as the balance is not influenced
proposal.
;
—
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
44
and, under such, circumstances, the
New
pendulum
Inventions.
spring has advantages that even the pendulum
—
Improvement in Stem-Winding Watches. and cannot have. The question may be asked, how such machines are made. Borel & Courvoisier, Switzerland, Assignors Various I will only answer by saying that here is an to Quinche & Krugler, New York. opening for genius to exercise itself, and an ex- plans for disconnecting the hand and winding tremely important one, because there are three mechanism from each other by closing the case, kinds (conditions) of isochronism, two of which have been introduced, making it impossible for must be separately tested in the machine and the owner of a watch to get it back in his has not
got,
—
;
this could not
be done in portability
(real pocket),
pocket without making the requisite disconnec-
watch pockets tion, unless he was so beside himself with vastly superior for tests of merit in an escape- obliviousness or something else, as to get a ment, to the real ones, as any class of external hunting-case in his pocket wide open, which the M. Saunier's theory most gross carelessness could hardly accommotions can be isolated. in the last number of volume three, Serologi- plish. Messrs. Borel & Courvoisier, of Neufchacal Journal, is ten years in practice in Am- tel, Switzerland, have recently secured Letters Patent on a plan for accomplishing the purpose, erica. J. MuMA. which seems an ultimatum in this direction. The Hanover, Pa. drawings will give a clear insight into the ar-
my
hence I consider
artificial
Exercise for Watchmakers.
Ho ro logical Journal:
Ed.
I want to say a few words to your readers on a subject to which I think, as a general thing, attention is paid by watchmakers; on the practice of taking too little daily exercise for the upper part of the body and as
too
little
that
is,
;
a consequence,
when one looks
at a
watchmaker
he will generally see a round-shouldered, hollowchested man.
When
I went to work at
my
trade I became very round-shouldered indeed so
much
so that
it
;
was considered necessary
that something should be done to correct the
were recommended and rangement. It has the usual push c, and the After thinking the matter double ratchel clutch sliding on the square over I went into gymnastics, and no sooner did when actuated by the spring lever D, which the muscles of my chest and shoulders begin to ordinarily is held in contact with the hand-work
evil
;
so shoulder braces
tried without avail.
strengthen and develop than a change came by a small push coming out through the case at
over the scene, and in a very short time
was
slide E, within and under rim of the case A, and held in place by my shoulders went back as God intended they the knob and slide g (outside the flat rim of the should be, and now I carry myself as erect as case), is made to force the lever D inward by any other man. A high bench is a good thing, means of the projecting lug h, upon its edge. but with a little exercise it will not be such a Its action is this when the front of the case is task to keep the body erect. In my experience opened, and the slide E is forced forward (or I find a pair of Indian clubs used a few minutes toward the pendant), the lug h comes in contact morning and evening very good. Try it and with the usual stud upon the lever D, and at don't take the word of your friend, but prove it. once connects the pinion end of the ratchet James S. Kelley, Jr. clutch with the dial wheels, where they would
wonderful
to see
how I
it
j,
but in this case a
straightened up, and the
flat
:
Minneapolis, Minn.
remain, but for another arrangement which
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. The ing and shrewd business
constitutes the peculiarity of this patent.
locking spring in
more
clearly
is
shown
45
tact of the
American
he agents, Messrs. Quinche & Krugler. In addition to Improvement in Pen and Pencil Cases. Joseph Monaghan and Thomas Flynn, JVew York. This improvement relates to pen and
peculiar, a3 will perhaps
—
in Fig. 2.
—
which both pen and pencil profrom one and the same end, and an extension from the other end forms a holder. When
pencil cases in ject
moved out
or
in,
the pencil
may
partially revolving the holder
be locked by which forces a
pin into one of the lateral notches. struction is very simple
mits of
they
making the
now
This con-
and cheap, and ad-
cases
much
shorter than
are for the pocket, and yet longer
when extended for use as a pen holder. John P. Allen and ~W. E. Panta, Spring-
—
Improvement in watch regulators a, it continues on, ter- field, Ohio. minated by the diagonal face j, which lies in by which the least movement of the indicator contact with a corresponding face upon the shall at once and invariably affect the hairslide *E. The action of the parts upon each spring and not be consumed in lost motion, other is instantly seen, for if the push-pin is which must necessarily be where cogs or gears carrying the locking hook
pushed inward with
it,
it
carries
spring are used
the locking
the diagonal face j forcing the slide
E
;
also the use of
round teeth in the seg-
ment, and small spring projections on
1;he indi-
proper position, releasing the spring cator hand which clasp and embrace the tooth lever D, and thus insuring the disconnection of on its opposite sides so that the tooth may roll between the spring jaws without any loss of the dial wheels with the pinion clutch.
back
to its
The same spring
action takes place
m is forced inward by the
when
the case motion.
act of shutting
Improvement
in
Spuing Boxes.
—
—John
through the agency of the lock- Allen, Springfield, 0. The object of this thus rendering it absolutely impos- vention is to prevent accidents from the
the front
cas,e,
ing hook
a,
sible to close the case
and get the watch
in the
coil
of the spring box
when
the
P. inre-
mainspring
This is done by the peculiar connecwinding and dial work, and that too by very tions between the body of the spring box and simple means, not easily deranged, and quite its head or top plate, which so long as they move independent of the volition of the wearer. in the proper direction are held together by
pocket without the proper disconnection of the breaks.
The invention has another favorable feature three equidistant hooked projections upon the which will commend it to general adoption, one, which fit into three corresponding bevelled which is, that it is entirely independent of any holes or slits through the other, so arranged as unusual construction of the watch movement. to draw the two parts more closely together
A
majority of movements
market when the wheel is in motion, but instantly them separate by a reverse motion, raising the head can have this arrangement, because the pecu- plate and instantly disconnecting it from the liar features are in the case itself, and involve body portion, and throwing it out of gear with only a little change in the manner of springing, the train, thus preventing damage to any part and but little or no additional expense over the of the train in case the mainspring breaks. ordinary methods. Stanley, Sout P. Joint for a Broach. This ought to add (if it were possible) to the Attleborough, Jlfass Easier in construction, large
in
are of the form here shown, and any of
—
—
already large sier
watch,
among
demand
for the Borel
which has
achieved
foreign competitors for
& a
Courvoi- cheaper and stronger than the usual form. position
American favor
Cahn, Y. Improved Fastening. —L. —Method of fastening the ornamental padlock, C.
N~.
which is attached to a watch chain in place of movement, and the courteous manner of deal- the ordinary vest hook. creditable alike to the intrinsic merits of the
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
46
—
—
pinion with which it is in contact, the constantly Gold Chain. J. Ii. Smith, Brooklyn. method of constructing flat gold chain similar changing points of contact between the two to the " roller" chain, avoiding the necessity of surfaces rapidly
producing a perfectly
flat sur-
which can then be glossed by a polishing Watch Key Swivel and Hook. Allen, & disk, actuated in the same manner. Por many Intended as a useful purposes the repairer will find this arrangement Croft, Springfield, Ohio.
using solder in putting together.
face,
—
—
ornament for a vest chain. Combined Watch Key and Cork Screw. X. J. Jenner, Chickopee Falls, Mass.
—
very convenient.
—
A. E., Holliston, Mass. The ringing noise which you mention as produced by the hairImprovement in Electric Clocks. J7 Him- spring, must be occasioned by the hair-spring Assignor to himself and suddenly leaving one pin and as suddenly strikmer, New York. Gustave Autenrieth. See page 31 of present ing the other, and may be produced by two causes. Usually the very remedy which you No. of the Journal for description.
—
—
!
applied to cure the difficulty
namely,
Answers
oil
N~.,
Conn.
—
little
Certainly,
it,
attached to the hair-spring or to the pins in the
to Correspondents.
regulator,
M. M.
the cause of
is
which by some chance has become
you can make
a very good tool for facing pinions or the shoulders of pivots out of a depthing tool.
and has remained so long as
glutinous or adhesive
spring attaches to
it
;
away and
be a
until the tension of the
spring overcomes the adhesion, and
breaks
to
consequently the
it
suddenly
upon the opposite pin Upon one of the jaws you must screw a brass with an increased velocity which is equivalent or steel plate, the end projecting beyond the to a blow upon the tempered steel of the spring, tool far enough to allow it to be screwed into causing the peculiar ringing sound which you The centres in one the jaws of the bench vice. noticed. Your assertion that the least touch of jaw can then be used to carry an arbor with a oil between the pins prevented the noise, should led you to suspect the cause, and your or slip on pinch tight, remedy, in the course of time, when the oil or what is perhaps a which you applied becomes adhesive, will only
brass pulley on one end for the drill bow. this arbor
you can
fasten,
a metal grinding disk,
recoils
On have
you can use the ordinary aggravate the difficulty. The fact that the many grinding and sound is only sometimes heard is accounted for polishing disks as you choose. This arbor is by the fact that the excursions or oscillations of placed between the centres of the depthing the balance are not always the same, and, under tool, which are kept in contact with the ends of the unequal motions which handling gives them, the arbor by a brass or steel yoke a, so bent the spring may not at some instants be opened out, t»r closed up sufficiently to press upon either better arrangement,
screw arbor, and
fit
to it as
pin with the force necessary
to
make
it
Critically speaking, this does affect the
when
of the watch, particularly
not constant is
;
for then the
not constantly in action,
and yet allow the yoke centres and arbor
free
motion as a whole. The pinion, or whatever else to be operated upon, is placed between the other pair of centres in the tool, and the proper depth obtained by the adjusting lateral
must
is
bal-
be as variable as are the sounds
you
hear produced.
than
the adhesion
amount of this force and the effects of the
upon the vibrations of the
spring's tension
that the pressure shall keep the arbor in place ance
adhere.
running
Still in
a watch of any other
extraordinary workmanship,
there
are
other sources of error which would entirely con-
minute results that this trifling defect would cause, and I very much doubt whether screw, and then the polisher moved longitudi- you would be able to detect any difference in nally along till in easy contact with the face of rate whether your watch did or did not have the the pinion. With a drill-bow the grinder or ringing sound you mention. There is a similar polisher is rotated, which in its turn rotates the metallic ringing or singing sound sometimes ceal the
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL. observable in watches, but constant and attend- machines in use.
It
47
was invented by Mr. L.
ant upon each vibration of the balance, which Towne, one of the firm of Sackett, Davis & Co., is occasioned by the spring very slightly touch- and they have recently renewed the original
ing the bottom of the space between the pins, patent, in combination with several improve-
and scraping along from one pin particularly
to the other,
the bar between the pins
if
is
ments which many years of use have suggested. The inventor has had the charge of construction, as well as their superintendence from their
roughened by file or stone marks. This is remedied by setting the spring away from con- first introduction. Owing to the perfection of workmanship required in them, only one serious tact with the metal. W. G. M., New York. We entirely agree attempt has ever been made to manufacture
—
with the remarks you make on the subject of chains by the same mode. The products of this compensating pendulums. It is of the utmost one were so inferior that its use was confined importance that you and constructing
new forms
not only be masters of tions connected
all
others engaged in to
making the cheapest
of brass chains, until
of compensation should suppressed for infringement. all
the intricate ques-
all
So far as known,
the machine-made chain in use comes from
with the theory of the pendu- these machines.
lum, as well as the disturbing influences the sumed by
Immense
all classes
quantities are con-
of manufacturers of jew-
making the fringes and tassels so much you should be in vogue. When the chain is to be colored it familiar with the laws that govern the action is used just as it comes from the machine when of heat on various substances. The sugges- to be used bright, it requires the subsequent tion is made by "Clyde," that, in consequence of operation of being " lapped," which gives to various escapements have on the regularity of elry in its
vibrations,
and
also
that
;
the difference in the quantity of latent heat each of
known
mercury and steel, a cold atmosphere at the lower end of a pendulum is rather advantageous than otherwise to the mercurial form of compensation, and we believe these laws to be founded simply on a study of the laws of heat, and not from any that
is
to exist in
actual experiment.
We
are glad that you feel interested in the proposed experiment to determine the general difference that exists in the atmosphere at the
two ends of a pendulum in the position in which standard clocks are usually situated.
By
the
end of January ample opportunity will have been afforded to try the experiment in the winter as well as in the
summer months,
at
its
eight sides the fine polish so peculiar
to lapped gold.
operation,
to
The firm mentioned have
in
supply the American demand,
from twelve to fifteen machines, and in Germany, Messrs. Steinheur & Co. have six of these machines in use, under license from Messrs. Sackett, Davis & Co.; and from their factory at Hanau, and the market at Leipzig, the continental trade is supplied by them. The machines have also been introduced in England. Within the past month Mr. George Hazeltine communicated to the London Society of Arts, the fact of his having introduced into the Kingdom and patented the first machine of the kind, in 1857 and that it was invented and ;
principally constructed in America.
He
sold
it
which time we shall be happy to receive a re- to a manufacturer in Birmingham, and that port of your experiment, and we will give it through them many fortunes had been made. due publicity along with all other reports we His original one cost less than £50, and permay receive. The rules proposed to be ob- formed the work of 70 operatives in a superior served in conducting the experiment are given manner, and he frankly and truly gave the at the end of an article on this subject in an- credit of the invention to America, and stated other part of the Journal. that it was owing to their patent laws that it G. H. L., Baltimore, Md. The chains you had been successful in Great Britain. mention are machine made, and more perfect X. Y. Z., Miss. " Doublets " are made to than it would be possible to make the same imitate real stones. " Paste " is not hard enough kind by hand. The chain is known among the to receive the proper polish upon its facets, nor trade as "Adelaide," and the machine that will it endure the hardship of constant use; makes it is one of the most ingenious, as well consequently the fronts of "doublets" are real as complicated, of all the modern automatic stone cemented to a paste back. These fronts
—
—
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
48
may be
a
thin,
layer of the real stone
intended to imitate, or
may be
it
it
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
is
a front of
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
some transparent stone which will receive its hue from the paste back to which it is cementThe readiest way for you to detect the deed. ception is by the file, which will not touch the
Sidereal
Ruby, emerald, and sapphire are the stones usually found as doublets. It does not pay to thus imitate the cheap stones. Anpected stone.
other class of imitations are the pastes soft glass
which
ness under the
is
easily detected
—"
strass,"
by
its soft-
my
Day of the
Week.
mon as
to
.
bly no
man
Proba-
has devoted more years
to
artificial
gems, than M. Graudin,
who has communicated
64.27 64.24 64.21 64.18 64.15 64.12 64.10 64.08 64.07 64 06 64.06 64.06 64.06 64.06 64.06 64.07 64 08 64.10 64.11 64.13 64.14 64.17 64 20 64.23 64.26 64.30 64.34
5 7
Sunday
8 9 10 11 12 13
.
Friday
14
the
study of the possible
64.31
4
.
6
and that there is Wednesday becoming so com- Thursday
be comparatively worthless."
M.
s.
64.39 64.35
2 3
Every few months the papers set the old story that some "French savant has
immediate prospect of their
Din".
for
15 16 17 18 19 20
production of Tuesday Wednesday.
.
.
Hour.
.
the
artificial
way
stones
is also
another
difficulty in
of their production, as the intense heat
.
1 1 1 2
2 2
3 3 3
4 4 5
5 5 6 6
S.
S.
0.786 0.797 0.808 818 0.827 0.836 0.845 852 0.860 0.866 871 0.876 881 0.883 0.885 0.885 0.885 0.884 0.883 0.879 0.875 0.869 0.864 0.857 0.849 0.840 0.831 0.821 0.811 0.799
17.14 36.11 55.36 14.87 34.62 54.59 14.78 35.15 55.71 16.43 37.29 58.27 19.34 40.49 1.71 22.95 44 20 5.42 26.62 47.77
The Semidiameter
to
produce
many
file.
ficial
stones of
any value,
will
be disappointed.
AMERICAN EOBOLOGICAL JOUMAL,
tbe same as
2 12 53.3
FirstQuarter
10
2
3.5
FullMoon
16 17
4.7
Last Quarter
24
1 21.7 D.
H.
C
Perigee
14 16.4
(
Apogee
26 13.8
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
42 22 48.1 H. M.
All
anticipations of the speedy productions of arti-
26 58 23.13 19.69 16.24 12.79 9.34
H. M.
colors;
alone producing those that resist the
mean noon may be assumed
different
manganese and nickel yield, at high temperature, orange and yellow. These artificial stones are more difficult to produce in the crucible than by the blow-pipe, the latter mode
18 22 26 30 34 38
be found by sub-
New Moon
Copper resists its action better than any other metal, and by dexterous manipula-
made
12 12 12 12 12 12
PHASES OF THE MOON.
manner from the
furnace.
tion can be
for
H. M. S. 43 49.30 47 45.85 51 42.41 55 38.96 59 35.51 3 32.07 7 28 62 11 25.17 15 21.72 19 18.28 11 23 14.84 11 27 11.39 11 31 7.94 11 35 4.49 11 39 1.05 11 42 57.60 11 46 54.15 11 50 50.71 11 54 47.26 11 58 43.81 12 2 40.36 12 6 36.92 12 10 33.47 12 14 30.02
10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11
that for apparent noon.
of the oxy-hydrogen blast acts on various substances in quite a different
of Sun.
Mean
6 French Academy some curious observa- Friday 21 7 8..80 tions upon the effect of the oxy -hydrogen blow22 7 29.73 23 7 50.53 pipe. He says that alumina alone will not do Tuesday 24 8 11.17 25 8 31.66 for the production of precious stones, owing to Wednesday 26 8 51 94 its tendency to de-vitrify again, becoming fluid 27 9 12.01 28 9 31.85 at once, and then volatilizing, like camphor. Sunday 29 9 51.43 30 10 10.74 In order to render it viscid, quartz must be Monday added, but that impairs both its crystallization Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may and its hardness. The coloration or tinting tracting J.8s. from the sidereal time.
to the
of
Right
One
Meridian
Wednesday
succeeded in making real diamonds, rubies,
of to be
Time
the Semi- Subtracted of diameter from Mon. Passing Apparent the Time.
going afresh
sapphires, or something else,
of
1
file.
Equation
Time
but will easily scratch the rear of the sus-
front,
a
For September, 1872.
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
S.
4 44 29 05 .
0.15 5 24 20.572 4 56
Savannah Exchange Hudson, Ohio
5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory
5 37 58 062
Point Conception
8
.
1 42.64
PUBUadS* MONTHLY BY <3c.
B.
MILLER,
37 Maiden Lane,
JV.
APPARENT R.
Y., •.
AT
$1.50
PER YEAR, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.
All communications should be addressed,
G. B.
MILLER,
P. 0.
Box
67it»,
yewYork.
Venus.. Jupiter
L
Saturn
L
AsCKNSION. H. M.
3
APPARENT DECLINATION. o
/
,/
MERTD. PASSAGE. H- M.
11 33 44.21. ...+ 4 17 16.2
49.9
3.4
22 33 6
4 33.73. ..-22 29 15.6
8 19.3
9 20 22.15. ...+16 13 19
AMERICAN
Horoloerical Journal. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS.
for this latter 49
Essay, etc.,
1872.
No.
must be granted above or under
the barrel, and this necessarily increases the
Our Regulator,
51
height of the movement.
Watch
54
the wheel on the barrel arbor
Dials,
Hands,
56
Watch
58
Repairing, No. 3, Concave Lenses, Reminiscences op an Apprentice, Alloys and Solders,
60
Friction,
Long and Short Screw-Drivers,
to
If,
on the contrary, is large enough
admit the screw gear beyond the circumfer-
ence of the barrel, the winding would be so
....
62
excessively slow as to necessitate a transmission of
....
64 65 68 68
Mechanical Science, A Standard Ring Scale,
70
Answers to Correspondents,
70
Equation op Time Table,
72
[Entered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. Miller, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.]
ESSAY OS THB
CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANICALLY PERFECT WATCH. BY MORRITZ GROSSMA.NN.
CHAPTER
3.
X I L—[Conthraed.]
155. If there be any way of overcoming the
inconveniences in the construction of
keyless
power by a multiplicative
train.
156. Lately I have succeeded in combining
an open-faced keyless movement with greater ease in the arrangement of the train, by having The a rocking platform under the dial. pendant and barrel are at an angle of 45°, taken from the centre, and the sizes of the train The third wheel is wheels are quite normal. fastened to a collet on the lower end of the pinion arbor, and moves in the space between This the barrel head and the lower bridge. space is quite sufficient for having the barrel and the third wheel amply clear of each other, and on the other side of the barrel the centre wheel is placed quite in the usual way. A movement on this plan is hardly any higher than a key- winder of the same breadth of mainspring.
158. It remains now to speak of some other employment of another system of transmitting designs for winding, in which the force is not There were some old the winding power. As long as flat, bevel, and applied by the pendant. contrate wheels are exclusively employed, the watches with a kind of keyless action by turnThis, howdifficulty can only be eluded by a construction ing the dome of the watch case. just as vicious as the before-mentioned ones. A ever, has found no followers, in consequence of combination of an endless screw and one or the impossibility of a dust-proof adjustment of two angular gears seems to afford a greater the case, and because there were no means of but I have not seen as setting the hands except in the usual way by liberty of disposition yet a commendable construction of this kind. using a key. It seems the idea has not yet been sufficiently Other inventors had a circular rack, operated eliminated. on by a slide projecting from the outside of the The source of difficulty lies evidontly in the case, then winding by an intermittent or recipro-
open-faced watches,
it
must be found in the
;
following circumstances
cating motion.
be performed
Others, again, utilized the
up and down mo-
with a certain moderate number of revolutions
tion of the front cover of a
hunting case for
If the winding operation
is to
knob (159), a very small wheel winding up a small part of the spring, on tho on tho barrel arbor must be selected for receiv- supposition that a hunting watch will undoubtof the winding
ing the action of tho screw
;
but then the place edly be opened a certain number of times dur*
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
50
ing the day, and thus be kept agoing. It is opposite end of the barrel arbor, produces a small not difficult to estimate the value of an arrange- degree of torsion of this latter, and one more
ment based upon such
suppositions for
its
effi-
tooth of the wheel
is
forced to pass the click.
next thing to those old self- From this moment the watch acts under the inwinding watches which were wound through fluence of the full power of the mainspring, inthe motion imparted to them by the walking of creased by the reaction of this torsion transthe wearer, and which required a good long mitted by the stop-work, and begins to bank It is the
ciency.
walk every day stead of this,
for being kept agoing
;
or,
in-
a good while of shaking up and
utes.
and often continues
This
is
so for
some min-
always accompanied with no small
danger for the acting parts of the escapement,
down. 159. ism,
violently,
When
it is
constructing a keyless mechan- and in case of no lasting injury to the watch,
very desirable to establish a certain
it
produces a considerable deviation of
rate.
Many a good keyless watch, when carefully between the turns of the winding knob and those produced at the barrel arbor. treated, with an irreproachable rate, has been In the greatest part of carefully made keyless discredited by irregular performance, resulting watches each revolution of the winding pinion from rough treatment in winding. relation
operates one-third of a turn of the barrel arbor,
A very
161.
simple remedy against this in-
This is a proportion which ought convenience consists in giving the click a small or nearly so. not to be much deviated from, in whatever amount of shake on its screw or stud. The re-
shake
given to the
coil resulting
to perform,
ease any torsional strain of the kind above de-
If,
on the con-
speed too
is
from
is
hard
direction, for if a greater
winding, the operation
especially for tender fingers.
this
is sufficient to
scribed.
I have also made keyless watches with an number of turns, the action will be very extra ratchet underneath the large winding easy, but at the same time a greater power is wheel on the barrel arbor, and found them The ratchet was taken off put into the hands of the person winding, and answer quite well. trary, the
winding
over too
effect is distributed
great a
this if
power may prove
fatal to the acting parts,
the size of that in a key-winding watch, and,
not used with the appropriate discernment. with rather vigorous teeth,
Especially the end of the winding operation, in
such cases,
is
attended with dangers for the
stop-work, the teeth of barrel etc.
With
and
centre-pinion,
the rocking bar mechanisms, the
relation of turns is simply in the ratio of the
make up
coil to
for
down
made
it
has
torsion.
sufficient re-
The room
abundant, and the
this ratchet is click, if
any
tail
for
of the
rather long, allows for letting
the spring without taking off the barrel
A click-work of this^ kind never causes
wheel.
numbers of the winding pinion and the barrel any trouble in casing, while those click- works which are laid in the level of the winding wheel. But the other group of keyless works having wheels, and at the edge of the larger ones of
J
wheel mov- them, sometimes are troublesome to get clear ing on the axis of the contrate wheel, the ratio from the dome of the case. 162. The movement of a keyless watch fcetween the numbers of these two must be ought not to be charged with any extra friction taken into calculation. If, for example, the In some parts, if it can be avoided. moving of winding pinion has 12 teeth, the contrate wheel a multiplication of speed by the
24, the flat
wheel on
teeth, the result will
it
flat
40, the barrel
be
:
oZVfO =
*
kind the motion work has to one or two setting wheels, and sometimes a pinion, all of them adjusted in a
wheel 60 watches of >
^a
carry with ^ *s '
this
it
.one revolution of the pinion operates one-third
way which
does not reduce friction to
revolution of the barrel arbor.
amount.
As soon
its least
as one of these stop screws
from has been overlooked, when the repairer provides violent winding in those watches which have a the movement with oil, the friction created by large winding wheel with fine teeth, or the click- it will bring the watch to a stand-still, espework acting in the teeth of this wheel. The cially when the sink for the screw's head fits 160. There is another danger resulting
immoderate winding
effort,
suddenly cut
off
by rather
closely.
All these accessories ought to
the action of the stop-work, and generally at the be brought into action only in the
moment
of
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
51
and should recede and express, at the rate of forty miles an hour, withCare out stops, they would not yet have arrived, nor work entirely free. must be taken that the setting wheel acts would their train be due until 1888 363 years At the present time, with in the direction of the centre of the minute upon the road! wheel when pushed into gear. The teeth of only eleven years more to go, they would still this wheel, too, ought to be pointed and thin, be sixteen times as distant as the moon so reso that its entering into gear causes no sud- mote that the earth would be to them only a setting the hands,
leave the motion
—
;
den displacement of the hands if the teeth of brilliant planet, of about one-fifth the moon's * * * If sounds could travel both wheels chance to meet with their points. diameter. o through celestial spaces at the same rate as in our air, then the thunder of a solar storm, or Our Regulator. the report of an explosion such as occurred last *'
Do you
regulate that clock
by the sun
?"
September, might reach us in a
And
said an old gentleman, as he glanced at the im- fourteen years."
posing regulator in the shop of a friend of ours. dous chasm, which
it
little
more than
yet across this tremen-
appalls the
mind
to
con-
"
No," blandly replied the owner of the ma- template, the sun exercises his lordship and perchine, as he removed the glass from his eye forms his service every pulsation of the solar and gave a final twist to the movement he had surface being instantly responded to upon the ;
"we
in hand,
don't
you
see
by that clock Regulator'' on the dial ?"
regulate the sun '
It is probable that a profession
many if
their
"
What,
then, is this
?
But
first,
body
so distant
a word as
they do not, like our that of the earth but, although so ;
it is
lighter,
bulk
for bulk,
and yet Its
to its size.
so entirely diameter is 860,000 miles, nearly
aspiring friend, essay to regulate his motions
by
earth.
of the members of so potent
whose movements are
guided by the sun, even
;
109 times
much
larger,
than our earth
;
or,
own wheel-work,
or to substitute for in other words, its density is only one-fourth the well-known columns headed " clock fast that of the earth, about 1| times that of and " clock slow," in the almanac, the words water. "Were our earth to be placed at the " sun slow " and " sun fast," may take an in- centre of the sun, there would be space for the
—
moon to revolve at her proper distance from us, In hopes of gratifying this and yet be thousands of miles from touching taste, we have made a few extracts from a the encircling globe. When looking at the pamphlet recently published by C. C. Chatfield moon some bright evening, imagine yourself at
terest in the recent discoveries relative to that
marvellous globe.
New Haven, containing a lecture by Young, of Dartmouth College, who is admitted to be the best American authority on this subject, and whose horological studies have been referred to in previous numbers of the &
Co., of
Prof.
the centre of a vast spherical shell, the inner
much beyond the from you, and you may get a faint idea of the sun's magnitude. " It would at first seem that the remarkable surface of which
moon
as she
is
is
almost as
distant
JotTKNAL.
lightness of the solar substance, and the great and most important matter relating power of solar gravity, can be reconciled only to the sun is his distance o f this Prof. Young by supposing the sun to be in the main a says "I do not suppose that, in stating the gaseous mass, a mere cloud of vapors towards distance of the sun as ninety-two millions of this conclusion also many other facts converge, miles, I have communicated to you any real such as the intensity of the solar temperature, notion. Probably I might just as well have and the peculiar motions observable upon his
The
first
;
:
;
The conception is too surface. At present this may perhaps be re* by the human intellect, garded as the prevailing opinion among men but perhaps one or two illustrations may assist of science, only an hypothesis, however, not in the matter. If, on some intramundane rail- yet by any means fully established." * * way between the earth and the celestial meMany attempts have been made to measure tropolis, the Pilgrim Fathers had started from the solar temperature, but with no satisfactory the sun at the same time when they really left result, the estimates varying from 3,000 to England, and if they had travelled by special 100,000 degrees Fahrenheit. said ninety-two billions.
vast to be fairly grasped
—
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
52 "
But though the temperature of the sun
thus uncertain,
is
not so with the quantity of
it is
heat emitted, which
is
sphere." The radiating portion outside of all is the " corona."
Of the
quite a different matter.
John Herschel ascertained that the heat received by the surface of the earth from the sun in the zenith, would be sufficient to melt a layer of ice one inch thick in about two hours and twelve minutes. Hence it follows that if the sun were surrounded by a shell of ice 134,000000, of miles in diameter and one inch thick, Sir
various theories relating to the pho-
tosphere, or visible surface of the
sun,
that
most generally received is that " it is a stratum of luminous clouds. It is supposed that when the vapors of the different substances contained in the solar atmosphere are exposed to the cold
of outer space, partial condensation takes place,
and clouds are formed, just as they are in our
own atmosphere but while our by made up of minute drops of water,
the ice would be completely melted in two hours
;
clouds are
and twelve minutes. To produce this effect these solar the burning of anthracite coal would require a clouds must be composed of drops of melted * * a layer 13 feet thick all over the sun to be con- metal. It is difficult to ascertain with sumed every hour, two-thirds of a ton per much accuracy the thickness of this luminous hour to every square foot of surface, such a shell, but from some peculiarities in the motion fire as no earthly furnace can ever parallel. At and appearances of the spots it is usually this rate, if the sun were made of solid coal, he estimated at from 3,000 to 8,000 miles." On this
—
would burn years.
these
nace it
in
less
than 6,000
And now come such questions as What maintains this tremendous furwhat is its fuel for how many ages has ,
:
;
entirely out
—
;
blazed as now, and when, if ever, will come
the day of
its
extinction ?
I cannot answer any
of them, nor can any one, I think, with cer-
So far as
tainty in the present state of science.
can be ascertained from facts of observation, is
impossible to assert that the sun
ing either hotter or colder."
is
it
grow- photosphere are the spots (one of which is shown in Fig. 2) which are the most familiarly
known
of any of the peculiarities of the sun's
surface.
Both
number and
in
size
they vary
within very wide limits, portions of the sun seem at times to be covered with them, like the face of a person with freckles
;
again the whole
be almost entirely free from them. In they vary from 400 or 500 miles diameter to
disc will size
as
much
as 50,000 or 60,000 miles diameter,
through the most
would drop
like a
"And now as What are they ? question,
common of which our earth pea through a ring. to
—they are
the nature of the spots
One thing
is settled
cavities in the
beyond
photosphere
but whether they are orifices reaching clear through this stratum and revealing some less luminous core below, as the Herschels have held, or whether the central umbra is formed by a mass of comparatively dark and opaque cut (Fig. 1) will serve to ex- vapors collected in a simple hollow or whether, plain the names given to the different portions as Zdllner holds, the umbra is a floating slag of the sun. The space between the two inner upon the liquid shell, which he believes to
The subjoined
lines
is
called
;
the
" photosphere
those lines and the ragged one
is
;"
between underlie the photosphere,
the " chromo-
*
*
It
is
is
as yet doubtful.
reasonably certain
that
directly
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
53
above the umbra or darkest part of the spot idea, which is maintained by Proctor, that it is there is a strong vertical current in the solar not a stratum at all, but made up of many atmosphere, and this produces a powerful in- separate jets of heated hydrogen issuing through
draught towards the centre of the spot along the surface of the photosphere,
cloud stratum
But whether
itself.
and
in
orifices in the
this vertical
shown
;
those near
the
(Two of
$
*
4.
solar
Vf-"-'
•
-'
'
!,,,',-
*
*-\
m
,^-
some '
extent systematically
chief
*
4.)
WM^
;
to
f£
\.
reliable result, because the
and that
and
in Figs. 3
west in about a fortnight, and it has been attempted to deduce the period of the sun's rotation from their motion but it is found imposspots themselves are drifting,
The
*
occasions centres in the prominences.
current ascends or descends is still uncertain. these are " The spots pass across the sun from east to
sible to obtain a
*
photosphere.
that interest of spectroscopic observation on ordinary
^ ~ -^\
'">''
'.-"
k
<
'''
'.''.
'
equator indicate a rotation period of nearly 25 These vary greatly in appearance and magniit is 28 days. The tude, as much as our terrestrial clouds, but may
days, while at latitude 44°
probability is that the sun, not being solid, has be roughly divided into two classes, the erupno one period of rotation, but different parts of tive prominences, and the cloud-formed. The its surface and of its internal mass move at latter are not very brilliant, but are comparadifferent rates." tively permanent, and frequently of great size,
Want
of space compels us entirely to omit from 20,000 to 80,000 miles in height, and of Young's interesting account of the spectro- even greater length. In structure they are scope and its application to the sun. generally cirriform, made up of little wisps and Exterior to the photosphere is what was filaments, whose delicate beauty defies descripnamed by Dr. Frankland, the chromosphere tion and delineation. Prof.
i.
e.
color sphere. "
many
At
the total eclipse of 1842
" The eruptive prominences are very different
of the observers noticed strange rose- and far more active
they are often mere streams upon the outline of the of intensely brilliant light which rise straight moon. Some called them red flames,' others and sharp, but commonly inclined to the vertipreferred the non-committal name of 'promi- cal. Not uiifrequently they attain a height of * * nences,' or protuberances,' and at once a brisk 15,000 or 20,000 miles in a few minutes. discussion arose as to their nature and location. Often we find them resembling in shape gigan* * It was not until 1868 that their true na- tic mushrooms, sometimes great pyramids, and ture was made known, and then by the spectro- at others the smoke of a distant steamer. The * * scope. The only reason why we cannot whole appearance of this class of prominences see these prominences under ordinary circum- indicates almost irresistibly that they are formed stances is simply this the air in the neighbor- by the ejection of gaseous matter through orihood of the sun is so intensely illuminated as fices in the photosphere. As Zollner shows, the completely to mask them if we could only de- difference of pressure between the inside and vise some means to weaken this air-light, with- outside of the orifice through which the gas is out much affecting their own luminosity, we driven must be simply enormous to account for the observed velocities, which often exceed 100 could see them well enough at any time." This is precisely what the spectroscope miles per second, and, as Proctor shows, may occasionally be 500 miles in a second, where does. " The chromosphere is from 6,000 to 10,000 heights as great as 200,000 miles are reached miles thick on a average, but varies greatly, in a few minutes. The maximum velocity of a especially in the neighborhood of spots. cannon ball is twelve hundred times less than Over the centre of a spot there is often a well-marked this. No explosive now known to human chemdepression, but at a little distance the surface is istry could hurl a missile with a velocity in any elevated and violently disturbed. Everywhere, way even remotely comparable to this. It indeed, its upper surface is ragged and uneven would follow, further, that if any denser material in the extreme, so much so as to suggest the was ejected from the bowels of the sun by this colored objects hanging
'
'
:
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
54
Watch Dials. it may fairly be called, it would never return to the sun again. It would One of the most artistic operations connected fly off into space and might possibly descend with the watch manufacturer's art, is the upon the earth as a meteor. In this view, as making of dials. Artistic skill and long pracProctor suggests, it is by no means impossible that some of the specimens of meteoric iron in tice are required, both in the enamelling and in our cabinets are really pieces of the sun. The the painting. In the first vol. of the Jotjen al forms and motions of many of the prominences (now out of print), a description was given of are such as to show that they float in an atmos- the present mode of their manufacture a rephere of different material and lower density, cent examination of the processes at the U. S. in which thero are winds of great violence, and Pactory, at Marion, has revived a subject that sometimes whirling storms like those in our may be interesting to later subscribers. The own atmosphere. Not unfrequently the top of basis of all dials is pure copper. From a sheet a prominence, which appears to be quiet at its of the proper thickness, round blanks are base, is torn to pieces by contending currents punched; these have punched through them explosion, as I think
;
which
snatch
little,
*
velocity.
nature of this atmosphere, paratively
and
shreds
off
away with enormous
we
them As to the know com-
carry *
as yet
for it is only directly visible at
the time of a solar eclipse.
This brings us to
and halo of glory which, If, on encircles the sun.
the Corona, the crown
during an
eclipse,
such an occasion the sky is clear, the moon appears of almost inky blackness excepting a little diffuse light
around the limb
—
-just
enough
to
bring out her rotundity in the most striking
manner
;
close
around
its
outline lies a ring of
pearly greenish light of almost dazzling brilliance at its inner edge,
the like
still
more
where
it
contrasts with
brilliant prominences,
burning rubies.
It
which blaze
gradually fades out
three holes to receive the dial feet, also of cop-
The and the centre and seconds hole. and seconds hole are not cleanly punched, but have a bar of projecting metal raised around them of sufficient height to prevent the fluid enamel from flowing into the hole. A shallow rim is turned up around the edge of the dial and the feet firmly riveted into their places, and it is then ready to receive the enamel, which is but a fine variety of porcelain, especially prepared for this purpose, and is somewhat more fusible than the ordinary porThis enamel is imported in cakes or celain. masses, and is then broken up and ground to an impalpable powder in an agate mortar, then levigated, to graduate the quality and remove all
per,
centre
outer edge, at a distance of from \ the impurities. to \ the moon's diameter, and is terminated by an irregular and very indefinite boundary,
towards
which
its
is
usually roughly quadrangular.
always distinctly radiant in
its
structure,
It
The
coarser
quality is used
is
made
up of filaments which stand nearly perpendicular to the surface of the sun, and yet in many places are strangely curved and intertwined." The foregoing is a very meagre outline of Prof. Young's lecture. Those feeling an interest in the subject will find themselves amply repaid by reading the entire pamphlet. the back of the dial plate, giving This fine and strength to the dial. firmness My son Henry left me in 1869, and since porcelain powder is then spread in a thin layer that time I have not heard from him. Should upon the dial plate, and gently heated to expel any one be able to give mo a trace of him, or of the moisture. his death, and will state this fact to me, I shall The enamelling furnaco is a miniature cupola be ever grateful. into which are set fire-clay muffles of a foot or W. Zilliken, 135 Centro Av., Pittsburgh, Pa. so in depth, and six inches in height. These
To My Brother IVatclunakers.
for filling
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
55
are surrounded with coke as fuel, and an air layer of the finest
and whitest ground enamel Within these muffles spread over and rapidly heated till it flows like a
blast supplies the draft.
are set
little
semispherical cakes of
clay,
fire
rounded surface are small thin plates of fire clay, which are the tables on which the dials are placed for bakThese simple arrangements give an easy ing. method of regulating the baking operation with the greatest nicety, for the heat must be
and resting upon
their
constantly watched so that the requisite de-
varnish over the whole surface, covering
it
with
a beautiful glaze.
From
the enameller
it
room, where the lettering
goes to the painting is
done.
The blank
white dial is placed on a centre-pin in a divisionplate of about 4 inches in diameter, off into
60 equal parts at
steel straight-edge,
its
marked
circumference
;
a
in fine with the seconds
and hole and the centre of the dial, shows the posimust not be tion of XII., VI., and a fine is drawn with melted. This is done by moving the base pencil on the white enamel surface. The plate which supports the table and the dial farther is then moved one division, and a short pencilin or out of the muffle, as circumstances may mark shows the position of the minute lines, demand, the heat at the inner end being every fifth fine being drawn through and markmuch more intense than near the mouth. The ing the hour positions. The dial is thus rapidly divided, and the spherical surface on which the table rests also gree of fluidity of the enamel at
the same time
is
obtained,
the copper
subserves another very important
office
while covered with the melted
;
the next process
is to
cut in the figures, or " chap-
ters," as they are sometimes called. These are would painted in black enamel, which is ground to an flow to the lower side, and, if it did not over- impalpable powder on a slab, and mixed with flow, would give a thicker layer on that side some highly volatile oil, which makes a pigthan the other but by moving the dial upon ment that rapidly dries, leaving the black This pigment is applied to the the table, which is itself poised upon the convex enamel dust. This dial at each chapter, in a dab large enough to surface, an exact level can be obtained. is done by the eye of the workman, which is construct the figures from, and the straightconstantly on the work while in the oven. All edge is again laid along the dial, say over the dial,
horizontal, otherwise
must be kept
enamel,
it
;
the handling of the red hot contents of the muffle
is
long, the
done by light tongs about two
jaws flattened
so as to seize the dial at
thumb and
feet
vertically at the end,
fig. I.;
a
flat
slip
of
steel,
with one
end as wide as the body of the
drawn along the
slit
figure, is
in its
then
straight-edge, scraping off the
edge as between a the black paint, except where the slit allows it For the fig. II. a steel to remain undisturbed.
its
finger.
is care- slip with two slits is used, and so on. To make by chance any these black parallel marks into figures requires they must be scrap- but to cut them off to the proper length, which
Before applying the enamel the plate fully cleaned
with
acid,
specks of oxidation are
and
left,
if
ed out, else they will be sure to discolor the
is
done by fixing into one leg of dividers a
The back being first boated with such wooden point, setting the other leg in the centre as is a little more infusible than that used on hole of the dial and striking a circle across them the front, and melted on, the front recess is at the top and bottom of the figures, wiping then filled and dried, then placed in the muffle away the superfluous enamel, and the bodies and liquefied by heat till it flows evenly over are complete. The hair lines are struck across tbe whole surface at this moment it is dex- them by replacing the wooden point with a terously taken out by the tongs and set upon the hair pencil charged with the black enamel pigThe iron which runs along a shelf in front of the ment, and with it drawing the hair lines. mouth of the muffles to cool. If any deficien- minute circles are drawn with the same instrucies are observed, a little dry enamel powder is ment by revolving the dial under the brush. supplied to the defective parts and replaced The minute marks, which, up to this point in in the muffle. The surface of the dial, after the process, yet remain in pencil, can now be this process, will necessarily be a little uneven done by the brush. After careful examination, it is therefore faced down by a few rubs upon to be sure that no speck of the black enamel a flat table of coarse emery, and then a thin remains upon the dial where it is not wanted, enamel.
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
56
put, for the last time, in the muffle,
it is
and
Hands.
the black enamel melted into the white, which forever fixes
done by
it
girls,
Dial paiuting
there.
mostly
is
under the supervision of a
skilful
artist.
At work ful
the factory
way
in the
we were shown some
beautiful
—a beauti-
of enamel painting
buildings
landscape of the factory
and
grounds, not omitting the sign upon the front of the building
— and
all this
of the hour figures
;
within the inner circle
also the Lord's
inside the usual seconds dial
was
this lettering, that
and
;
so
Prayer minute
a strong glass was re-
quired, not alone to execute
but
it,
to
read
it.
The hands of time-keepers are worthy of more attention than is frequently bestowed upon them by watch and clockmakers. Their shape and general arrangement, and the neatness of their execution is often taken by the general public as an index to the character of the entire mechanism that moves them and some are apt to suppose that when care is not bestowed on the parts of the time-piece which are most seen, much care cannot be expected to have been exercised on the parts of the watch or clock which are invisible to the general view. Although we ;
One of the charms of external appearance are not prepared to fully endorse the opinion which mark most of the American watches is that when the hands of timepieces are imperthe neat and tasteful dials, and very beautiful fect in their execution, or in their general areffects are sometimes produced upon especial rangement, that all the mechanism must of a where the graces of elegance are to be added to perfection of time-keeping. Dials for watches ordered for presentation are sometimes ornamented by the process known as etching. This is done by covering the dial with a film of tinted wax, barely enough to protect it from the action of acid. The design to be etched is then drawn through the wax with a steel stilus, which goes through to the enamel at every stroke dials,
of the artist.
When this
labor
is
necessity be imperfect also in
many
instances there
;
still
we
think that
room for improving and we beg leave to
is
the hands of timepieces,
a little more attention to this subject. In the general arrangement of the hands of watches and clocks, distinctness of observation should be the great point aimed at, and every-
direct
thing that has a tendency to lead to confusion
should be carefully avoided. Clocks that have completed the a number of hands radiating from one centre,
—
a few moments to the ac- and moving round one circle as for instance, which eats away the bright centre seconds, days of the month, equation of surface of the enamel, leaving it " dead." The time, and hands for other purposes may show contrast between the polished and unpolished a good deal of mechanical skill on the part of surface produces a delicately charming effect. the designer and maker of the timepiece but The pin holes are lastly drilled, the dial being so many hands moving together around one placed in a " gig," through which each hole is circle, although they may be of different shades drilled, consequently bringing each hole in the of color, causes confusion, and requires consame in each pillar or foot. These dial feet siderable effort to make out what the different holes, being the last ones to be occupied when hands point to, and this confusion is frequently the movement is to be put up, are the guide increased by the necessity for a counterpoise dial is subjected for
tion of fluoric acid,
—
;
holes for every position the plate
during
its
whole construction.
is
placed in being attached to some of the hands. As a rule first to time-keepers should be so arranged that never
From
they are relied upon for all measurements, and all the fittings which the plate undergoes. In fact they are the only ones which are not at some stage of construction manipulated, and
more than the hour and; minute hand should move from one centre on the dial. There may
holes.
supposed to be talking about the hands of time-keepers in every-day use for the ordinary
last
be special occasions when it is necessary or convenient to have centre seconds to watches are therefore very properly selected as guide but these occasions are rare, and we are to be o
The Third Volume of the Hoeological Joue- purposes of life, and also for scientific uses. nal (bound in Cloth) is now ready for delivery. In astronomical clocks we find the hour, minute, Price Two Dollars and Pifty Cents, postage and seconds hand moving on separate circles on paid.
the
same
dial
;
and one reason
for this arrange-
AMERICAN H0R0L03ICAL JOURNAL. iuent
is
to
57
prevent mistakes in reading the without detracting anything from
In chronometers, especially those measuring sidereal time, the hour hand is frequently suppressed, and the hours are indicated by a movable wheel or ring "with figures engraved on it that show through a hole in the dial. Hour and minute hands should be shaped so that the one can be easily distinguished from the other without any effort on the part of the observer. Probably a straight minute hand, a little swelled near the point, and a spade hour time.
distinct-
its
In watch work, and even in ordinary clock work, it seldom happens that any of the hands except the seconds require to be balanced, and then there is only one hand moving round the same circle, as is the case with seconds hands in general. We have become
ness.
so
accustomed
to
looking at seconds hands with
projecting tails that
we
are apt to regard the
appearance of the hand out the usual
tail
;
to
be incomplete with-
but we must remember that
hand, are the shapes best adapted for this pur- the primary object in view in having
tails
hands have to be looked at from a distance. There are occasions, however, when a spade hand cannot be used with propriety. In small watches, and clocks having ornamental cases, hands of other designs are desirable, but whatever be the pattern used, or whatever hue of color the hands may be made, it
may
pose, especially if the
seconds hands
to
not to improve the look of the
is,
hand
itself, but to counterpoise it, which becomes an actual necessity for a hand placed on so sensitive a part as the fourth wheel of a
watch, or on the scape wheel of a fine clock.
When
only one hand moves in the same
hand, the counterpoise
like a seconds
circle,
be
should ever be remembered that while a design effected by means of a projecting tail without in in
harmony with
the case
the sole use of hands
is
is to
perfectly admissible,
mark
any way detracting from a
the time dis- the hand, providing the
distinct
tail
is
not
reading of
made
too
and readily. The difference in the length long, and it is made of such a pattern that the of the hour and minute hands is also an im- one end can easily be distinguished from the portant point in rendering the one easily dis- other. In minute hands, however, it is different. tinguished from the other. The extreme point These two hands move round the same circle, of the hour hand should expend so as to just and a counterpoise on the minute hand is liable cover the edge of the end of the chapter, and the at a distance to be mistaken for the hour hand. extreme point of the minute hand should extend The minute hands of large timepieces freso as to cover about two-thirds of the length of quently require to be balanced, especially if the minute divisions. Hands made of this the dial be largo in comparison to the size of length will be found to mark the hours and the movement and in very large clocks, whatminutes with great plainness, and the rule will ever may be the size of the movement, it be found to work well in dials of all sizes. As becomes an absolute necessity to balance a general rule, the extreme points of the hands the. hands. In our opinion, tails should should be narrow. The point of the hour hand never be made on minute hands, when should never be broader than the largest stroke they can be avoided and in cases where tails of any of the chapters, and the extreme point can not be dispensed with, they should inof the minute hand never broader than the variably be colored the same as the breadth of the minute lines and in small work ground of the dial. In almost every instance, it is well to file the ends of the hands to a fine however, minute hands may be balanced in the point. The end of minute hands should in inside, especially if the clock is being all made every instance be bent into a short graceful from the beginning. The minute wheels may curve, pointing towards the dial, and as close be made large, and the one side weighted to to it as will just allow the point of the hand to balance the hand, or the pinion that moves the be free. The minute hands of marine chronom- hour wheel may be extended through both of tinctly
;
;
;
bent in this manner, and the frames, and a long arm attached to it that work behind the back frame and balance models of neatness and distinctness. the hand. A great many clocks used for railway eters are invariably
the hands of these instruments are usually will
Balancing hands by means of a counterpoise and similar purposes in Europe have their mina subject which requires some attention in ute hands balanced in this manner, and the plan order to effect the perfect poise of the hand works admirably for, in addition to rendering is
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
58
the hands more distinct, the clocks require less will put the fuzee, with the chain wound on it, power to keep them going than when the hands in its place in the lower plate with the snail in the position it occupies when resting against the stop are balanced from the outside. Such are our views on the subject of hands, also put the barrel in the lower plate, extend the and it will be observed that the whole ques- loose end of the chain on the barrel, and when tion resolves itself into one where sound judg- hooked, from half to three-fourths of an inch of ment and good taste only require to be a little it should rest on the barrel. If much shorter exercised on the part of the maker in order than this there is danger of breaking the hook in that all may be able to read the time on our winding; if much longer, the chain will be liable various kinds of time-keepers with ease and to run over to the upper side instead of the lower, when the watch is running down. If, inaccuracy. stead of putting in a
o
Watch Repairing.
?.l
—No.
3.
BY JAMES ERICKEE, AMEEICUS,
As we had
we
the
same
desirable to piece, ob-
new
conditions as for a
one.
knife carefully open one end of the
it
naturally fol-
stake, or other convenient metallic
take up the chain and fuzee in and holding
Before doing
this.
serve
is
new
broken chain, and remove the rivet, which is and mainspring under best done by laying the chain on a riveting
the barrel
consideration in our last article,
lows that
the old one, or attach a
With a
GA.
new chain, it
mend
down with
it
substance,
the forefinger of the
we will drill left hand, the nail of the same on the extreme new one, for the end link, and if the knife is sharp you can in-
however,
so,
the hole in the barrel, if a
we omitted to do in our last. sert the edge of it between the upper and centre done before the mainspring is plates forming the link as soon as you have the barrel must be first put together, loosened the outer plate, turn the chain over,
chain hook, which
Of course put in
with
;
its
this is
arbor in
;
place
;
it
in position in the
and loosen the opposite
plate
;
then remove the
plates with its bridge screwed on, then with the
centre one
point of a knife, or other convenient instrument,
with the centre plate, you can easily get
make a
small
mark on
if
the old rivet does not come aAvay
Now take the other piece
the barrel, about half with the knife.
the thickness of the chain below plate; take out the
;
the upper chain and lay
barrel and drill a very
first
it
down
the
it
out
of the
same as you did the
one, only with the finger nail
on the second
small hole at about an angle of 45 degrees to link, and remove the two extreme outer plates by the radius, and in the direction to retain the inserting the edge of the knife between them and hook of the chain, when the watch is wound the centre plate of the second link remove the then with a small pivot broach (that will enter old rivet, and put the two pieces of chain togethe hole) held between the thumb and finger of ther, being careful to have the convex face of the right hand, and the barrel in the left, with both pieces on the same side make a rivet out ;
;
the hole just drilled on
its
upper
side, insert
the of steel wire that will
fit
the holes
-in
the links
you revolve it, so as make the rivet nearly straight, and file it up to make an oval hole instead of a round one with a, fine file have the chain lying flat on the try the hook of the chain frequently, so as not bench insert the end of the wire in the hole, and give the end of the pin vice one or two to get the hole too large. If the old chain is worthless, and a new one slight taps with a hammer, which will force the You can lift the is needed, select one that you think to be about rivet in sufficiently tight. the right thickness then with the fuzee in your chain up by the rivet if it is in tight enough. left hand, and chain in your right, fasten the Cut off the end, and file it square with a fine round hook to the pin in the fuzee, and carefully file, and nearly down to the chain, leaving just wind the chain around it. If the chain goes down enough projecting so that you can perceive it cut off the other end and to the bottom of the groove easily, and yet fills with an eye-glass if it does not serve it in the same way, then lay the chain on it, it is of the proper thickness broach and depress
it
as
;
;
;
;
;
and try the anvil of your vice, and carefully rivet it again. Another important requisite is, to have together with a few light blows of the hammer. Sometimes a chain will " turn " on the barit of the proper length to determine which you
fill
these conditions select another one,
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
59
some recomI am frequently astonished to see how a watch changing ends. can possibly run and keep anything approximaThis method I consider a mere make-shift for ting tolerable good time, when I take it to pieces the time being. We should try and discover and see its condition. Not only the plates " turnand
rel,
mend
persist in lying flat
reversing the chain,
;
e.,
i.
the cause of this trouble, and then apply the
proper remedy.
See
and true and
the arbor
the fuzee
is
if
if
also upright
the barrel
and
may be
its
it
and
well,
arbor
fits
if
well
some one or more of them
the cause of the difficulty.
Again, a
very frequent cause will be found in the mainspring
chain
;
it
being entirely
may be
too strong,
a very inferior one.
manner.
will be very apt to act in this
times the chain or
it
cause
is
ed out," but the pivots too small and irregular
upright in shape, the staff looking as
If these conditions
in the holes in the plate.
are not all fulfilled,
fits
is
or the
If
so, it
;
—
—
know
that the " tinkers "
who do such work making
their blowing, in
trons believe
them
may be it
thing will
bend them and sometimes I have seen a watch running and doing tolerably well "only she stops sometimes," the owner would say that had a pivot soft-soldered on to the staff; no hole drilled into the staff, but simply had a pivot stuck on its end with soft solder. And then to
Some- succeed, by
not thick or strong enough,
had been
if it
filed up, pivots so soft that the least
to
their pa-
be the best workmen in
too long, which will sometimes that part of the country " I now Sometimes a watch will very annoying. turn." to
is,
to
say the
have
least,
one of these
and upon examination we chaps in my mind, who is as ignorant as a an extent that horse-block whose father and several broththe chain rubs against the pottance, or it may ers are icatch-breakers, and probably as ignoOne I know to be and he turn down on its flat side on this account. As rant as himself. the barrel in this condition becomes a truncated frequently tells his customers that his whole cone, consequently the strain on the two sides family were " born watchmakers." I can only of the chain are very unequal. Now it is not say that, if they were "born so," they have an uncommon thing, by any means, to find certainly outgrown their natural or born condiwhere some one has tried to remedy the tion, and at the expense of the public. If such " spread " of a barrel by hammering out the lid men could only be induced to read the Hokolountil it fits the barrel, then bringing the Uni- gical Journal occasionally, they might become the file) into re- a little more modest in their pretensions. versal Lathe (or still worse I did intend to take up the fuzee in this artiquisition to turn out the pottance. The Universal Lathe is an invaluable tool, cle, but to do so would make it much longer than but it is made the means of covering the gross desirable. My experience and observation go ignorance of some so-called watchmakers, who to show that short articles are more generally never seem to be at ease when repairing a read and do more good than long ones. watch until they can get it up in the lathe, and turn out the, pottance, barrel bridge, lower The reader will please refer to the preceding plate for centre wheel, and both upper and number of the Journal, and make the following lower plates for fuzee, and then, in case the corrections in article 2d on " Watch Repairwatch fails to "go," attribute the cause to ing." 1st, on page 25, second column, 25th the man who made it, feeling, no doubt, line from the bottom where I speak of obtainthat he had done all that any one could do for ing a new barrel from a material dealer, the "such a watch." If these workmen would types make me say that "it is not an easy stop occasionally,
—
find the barrel spread to such
:
—
confine their art of disfiguration to common matter to fit a new one." Now just erase the watches no one would care much but, no, a word not and you will have what I intended to Frodsham, Hoddel, Tobias, E. D. Johnson or say. other fine watches are all put through " a regular 2d. On page 36, second column, the sentence ;
course."
It is a great pity that the public gen-
erally are not competent to
of watch work
we
but we have
to
it
at the 19th fine
from the bottom
there appears has no sense to
take the public as read thus
:
it
;
it
should
" After having selected the spring
it, and it may be for the best, as we are that you intend to put in, break it off full long, by good men, that all things are for the best. try it in, and if on a radical line the space oc-
find
told
;
commencing
judge of the quality as
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
60
cupledby the spring equals the open space be- image instead of which, they form circles of tween the spring and the arbor, then the spring diversion upon it, which gives to distant objects ;
of the right length, provided the strength
is
is
correct."
an
indistinct
and blurred appearance. Persons
thus afflicted will be observed to remedy this
I would be obliged,
if
each and every reader defect by means of narrowing the opening be-
of this Journal would take the trouble to get tween the eyelids, and the
August number, and make the actual
rections as above indicated.
I
am
cor-
in hopes to
obtain the proof in time hereafter to have the
necessary corrections
goes to press readers
made
— obviating
making them
by this means prevent some of the outer circle of rays from entering the eye, which diminishes the circles of diffusion,
thus causing the object to gain somewhat
before the Journal in distinctness of outline.
It also produces a
amount of pressure upon the eyeball, thus rendering it a little less convex, and conse-
the necessity of the certain
for themselves.
quently less myopic.
The
action of the concave lens
tant or parallel rays
Concave Lenses.
is to
upon the
dis-
render them divergent
before entering the eye, an effect which is also produced by bringing the distant object itself optical with the jeweller's business, among the near the eye because those divergent rays watchmakers in small towns, makes it proper which proceed from the distant object are not
The almost universal combination of the
;
and expedient to give that class of readers of received by the eye, but which do enter it when the Journal such useful hints as may come to brought near their divergence at a certain dishand with regard to every department of their tance, being exactly compensated for by the business. Probably no branch of the optical excess of refractive power in the lenses of the department presents so many difficulties to the eye, and, as a consequence, the image is formed seller of spectacles as that of fitting those eyes
properly which require concave lenses.
upon the
This the case
retina instead of in front of
when
it,
as
is
seen only by means of parallel
from two reasons, one of which is that and convergent rays. As an approximate rule for getting at the refor such glasses is not so universal as for convex, and in consequence not as much quirements of a near-sighted eye, Prof. Youarises
the
demand
experience and knowledge
is
accumulated upon mans gives the following rule
the subject of myopia, and another
is
:
Multiply the
that there distance in inches at which the person
is
able
naked eye by the diseyes affected by this disease than others. Near- tance in inches which he wishes to read, and divide the product by the difference between sightedness is, for the most part, congenital only in exceptional instances does it occur from the two. subsequent causes, and in that respect it essenExample. Four inches being the distance tially differs from presbyopia, which, except on of distinct vision by the unaided eye twelve rare occasions, is a gradual acquirement conse- inches, the distance at which it is desirable to quent upon the lapse of time which entails a to read, and the mean of the two distances be4 + 12 natural deterioration of some of the peculiar are
more
idiosyncrasies of structure in those to read easily with the
;
organs of the eye tion of the
organ
in those eyes
itself; is
consequently malforma-
;
Near-sightedness, as all are aware
refractive
who have is
power in the
lenses of the eye, or the axis of the eyeball too long, so that the rays of Hght
is
emanating from
defiance, and the final adjustment in all cases must be by actual trial by the person who is to
use them.
ones,
and the
it,
Near-sighted eyes are not sound
make
which in and in others
peculiarities of vision
certain respects resemble myopia,
distant objects, called parallel rays, are brought do not, to
6
the pecularities of myopic eyes set all rules at
given the subject even a slight investigation,
an excess of
X 12'= 48 — — — =
not usually to be expected inches, the required focus. This will be about but, as was before stated, is defective simply the lens required
where vision
from old age.
either
ing twelve, gives 4
it
highly proper, in fact almost
a focus in front of the retina, and not upon imperative upon the ordinary dealer, to refer as they should be in order to form a distinct all patients who are not readily suited with
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
61
concave glasses to the professional oculist for from the surface, a large share of them being a diagnosis. Weak-sighted persons often sup- transmitted through the lens. For short foci, this pose themselves near-sighted because they can- method does very well, but for concaves of long
not distinctly see small objects without bringing focus the feeble light reflected
amplyopic
;
is
dispersed over
and yet they are simply so large a surface that the image is nearly inand concave glasses in such cases visible unless formed in a camera, or dark
them near the eye
;
impair instead of improving distant vision. chamber. This will give the correct focus for Again, patients may suppose themselves my- only plano-concave lenses, and such of the opic
because distant objects are imperfectly double concave as have both concave surfaces when, in fact, they are suffering from ground to the same curve,' for if the curve upon
defined,
that which
hypermetropia, and require convex lenses in- the side opposite
These
met with
is
measured be of
another form, the true focus of the lens
stead of concave. lenses, as all are aware, are ordinarily
in three forms
:
double concave, plane
and concave convex, or negative periIn these latter the concavity exceeds scopic. There is some confuthe circle of convexity. sion in the method of numbering the concave The French and Gerlenses of different foci. mans number them as they do the convex the higher the power the lower the number the numbers corresponding to the focus of the convex lens which is required to neutralize tho reconcave,
— —
correctly indicated
by
reflection
stance,
a lens,
Suppose,
for
in-
you measure the concave focus of such which has its convex surface ground on
circle concentric
with the concave one,
at once be seen that such a glass has is
not
This will be readily understood by study-
face.
ing a concave periscopico.
a
is
from the sur-
it
will
no focub,
quite noutral, instead of being, as measure-
ment
may
indicates, four or
six inches as the case
be.
The more exact way of determining
the foci
a 6-inch concave requiring & 6-inch of such lenses is by neutralization, that is, ap convex to convert both, when placed upon each plying to them a convex lens of such power as
fraction;
—
The English mostly to reduce both to a plain glass that objects other, into plain glass. use an opposite scale and give most concave seen through both when placed together, shall glass the highest numbers. With us in this have their natural appearance, shall suffer country the French method
is
most in
very properly, for tho convenience
it
use,
and no
affords in
determining the focus.
distortion.
The
any
true focus of
con-
cave lens, will be the focus of such a convex
one as will exactly neutralize
its
refraction.
In the replacement of a broken glass, the focus And by having a set of convex lenses set for not being known, the selection of a lens to match trial, the foci of which are known and marked, is often tedious and perplexing, and frequently the concaves are easily measured or, by havnot correctly arrived at, and in consequence the ing a set of concaves that are correctcdly markwearer is inconvenienced, if not absolutely in- ed, the focus of an odd glass is easily determinjured thereby. The usual make-shift in such ed with almost mathematics! precision by case3 is to compare the appearance of a distant placing the unknown focrns above or below a object through tho glass to be matched, with the known one in the same vertical plane, and obsame object as seen through a lens, the focus serving, through them, any parallel vertical of which is known, and put in a glass of cor- lines at a little distance away, as a narrow up responding number. This is an uncertain and and down stripe on wall paper, or two up and ;
inexact way, giving, except by an accident, only
down sash bars, or even the two edges of a Another floor-board, and noticing whether each lens dimany errors, minishes the width of the space between the
approximate results in correctness.
mode
is bettor,
but
still
liable
to
by measuring by means of a focus box, ihe number of inches from the concave surface at which the image of objects is formed as reflected from that surface, making the lens in i'act an imperfect concave mirror. This gives an indistinct image, owing to the fact that but which
is
two lines equally if they do, the lines as seen through each lens will be continuous if, on the contrary, one is more concave than the other, the lines as seen through them will not coincide, and the known focus must be changed till ;
;
one
is
found, which
a small part of the rays of light are reflected This method
is
makes them
coincident.
very convenient in practice as
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
62
the exact correspondence of two lenses in focus guard pin put into his clocks for this purpose, can be detected in a moment, and that without which, he maintained, was an unworkmanlike any instrument except the ordinary surround- manner of correcting an error that had no busi-
ings at the moment.
and that if a rack and snail mowas properly constructed it required no
ness to exist tion
;
guard pin, nor could it ever get out of order under any combination of circumstances. He Reminiscences of an Apprentice*
then took a pretty good sized pinch of
and was studying out A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS—MY
XADY's
WATCH—
our minister's CLOCK.
correct
my
tell
a
secret concern-
little
ing one of his personal habits. their little weaknesses,
men
All
men have
and the very best of
will indulge in little habits of self-gratifi-
cation ter "
tra-
of that most excellent man,
Maister," if I
;
the peculiar weakness of "
was a custom he had of using
do not know
why he
Our MaisI
snuff.
contracted the habit un-
was for the benefit of his eyes, which were always weak but although he indulged in this practice there was nothing in his personal appearance which betrayed that he was less it
;
addicted to the custom, and
was only those
it
who were in close business or social relations with him that knew any thing about it. One day I was making the rack and snail motion
for the striking part
clock.
It
was the
first
of an eight-day
one that I had made
all
through without any supervision, and, thinking that I had done very well, I took it to the " Maister " to be examined
;
but, as usual,
he had some fault to find. The teeth in the rack were well cut, and were just the shape to suit
him
;
the tumbler, or gathering pallet,
exactly the shape that he
wanted
worked into the rack warning part was right,
it
it
to be,
was and
him; the and he had no
to please too,
fault to find with the equality of the divisions
in the snail
please him.
;
but the work, as a whole, did not
He
to
one of the aristocratic families in the neighbor-
be considered as
will not
memory
ducing the
"Our
it
snuff,
way for me
botched work, when the carriage of
hood drove up
I hope that
the easiest
said that if ever the clock
was
allowed to run down, and the striking part to stop before the time part, that the clock,
when
and our old friend and a lady alighted. The lady was one of the very finest, and could not come to our town to do business with any of the tradesmen without an escort of some one connected with the nobility, however remote that connection might be. The lady desired to have her watch examined, which had been going very irregular previously. It was the prettiest little watch which, at that time, I had ever seen, and "Our Maister" took it and looked over it, but not seeing any thing wrong, he sat down at his bench, put on his eye-glass, and for a minute or two was earnestly engaged examining the watch, when a large drop of water and snuff imperceptibly collected on the tip of his nose, and, before he was aware, it fell right in between the frames of the watch. Now here was a nice fix for the "Maister" to get into, with such a nice watch and so fine a lady, too and I must confess that I felt an inward satisfaction at the occurrence, for, at the time, I was angry with him for finding fault with my work, and I eagerly watched to see how he was going to get out of the scrape, and how he would but, with that act under the circumstances candor and decision of character that was so characteristic of the man, he rose Up and told the people just exactly what had happened. I need hardly add that the watch was cleaned and put in perfect order without losing a moment's time, and after being tried for a few days and regulated, it was returned to its owner, who expressed herself pleased at the happy to the door,
the half-pay officer
;
was wound up again, would continue to strike termination of the accident. on without stopping till the weight ran down a This occurrence was the means of postponing second time. I suggested that, in the frame the lesson I was to receive in making the rack of clocks which I had cleaned, I had seen a and snail motion of the striking part of a clock guard pin put in to prevent the teeth of the and one Sabbath morning, shortly after, there rack from ever getting beyond the reach of the was a great commotion took place at our tumbler: but "Our Maister" would have no minister's house. The minister himself had
it
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
G3
gone from home the day previous, and, contrary dividual, forgetting the sanctity of the mornhad neglected to wind the ing, tried to perpetrate a joke on this being a
to his usual custom,
and on Sabbath morning very strong and striking example of the evil consequences that may result from doing any This attempt " to concluded that it required winding, and took the work oil. the Sabbath day. key from the top of the head and wound up both improve the occasion " was speedilj' put down, weights but she had no sooner done this than as it deserved to be, and, putting them alclock before leaving,
his housekeeper, not hearing the clock strike,
;
make amends for its late together, these wiseacres made a greater dissome other reason, commenced turbance than the clock, although it did its best At this to strike on continually, thereby seriously inter- to keep the lead in the noisy clamor. fering with the usual quiet and decorum of that juncture " Our Maister " appeared on the scene secluded neighborhood. All the shaking, or of noise and gossip, and asked why I had not hugging, or entreating, the poor woman could stopped the striking of the clock and I told do would not make the clock resume its usual him that everything Avas locked up and I could respectable behavior, and she came running not get into it, when, without saying a word, he over to our house to see what I could do to- took the end of his walking stick and knocked wards making the erratic clock keep quiet, and in a sounding board on one side of the case, restore peace to the neighborhood. Of course and putting his hand in the hole he tried to I went over, but the head of the clock case was reach the rack and push it into action with the barred from the inside, the door of the case was tumbler again. The hole was too small, and he locked, and the minister had the key on his could not reach the rack, but he managed, with the clock, in order to
silence, or for
.
;
ring
;
consequently I could do nothing because the aid of his walking
I could not get into the inside.
The hammer lum.
He
stick, to stop
the pendu-
then opened the door at the front of
the meantime continued to clang, clang, the dial and set the minute hand to about two against the bell incessantly, while the face of minutes or so from the hour, which placed the the clock seemed to look at us defiantly, and mechanism of the clock in the warning posiin
the usual quiet and decorum of the Sabbath tion, and stopped all motion of the striking part, morning continued to be seriously disturbed. when, as a consequence, quiet was immediately A number of the neighbors collected in the restored in the clock, and in this disabled hallway of the minister's house to stare at the condition it was allowed to stand till Monday lunatic clock, and, although the minister him- morning, in order that it might reflect on self had commenced to dance a jig in the pul- the impropriety of its conduct, and late pit, it would not have created greater conster- form resolutions for a better behavior in the nation than the change that had come over future. the usual staid and sober old clock, which The following day " Our Maister" took me was the very personification of regularity and along with him to the minister's house, when gravity.
we picked
Rut something had
the lock of the clock case and cor-
it to strike the hours usual on such occasions, there was no lack of and tell the time as usual. On coming home advice. One proposed to pour water on the " Our Maister " took special pains to impress on
clock,
and
in that
way
to
be done
disable
it,
and, as
is
rected the clock, causing
and make
it
my mind
;
that I
was the cause of
all
the dis-
another thought that to burn turbance of the previous morning that I had paper underneath the clock would burn the neglected to follow out his instructions when cords the weights were suspended from, and putting new cords on the clock a few weeks stop
striking
;
;
manner restore silence in the house previous that I had left the striking cord shorter while another thought that laying the clock on than the other one, and when the clock was its back might perhaps soothe it and make it neglected to be wound at the usual time, the in that
;
;
peaceable again
;
but, although
this proposal
was a reasonable one, nothing short of an earthquake could put it into practice, because the strong heavy case of the clock was firmly bolted to a stone wall. Ono unthinking in-
time twelve o'clock passed, the rack not being gathered up by the usual striking of the
first
hours,
its
arm rode over
the snail,
and
finally
the rack- spring pushed the teeth of the rack
out of reach of the tumbler, and the
first
time
AMERICAN IIOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
64
the clock
nothing till
was wound up afterwards there was
to stop the
motion of the striking part
the weight had run
down a second time. I
not like to be blamed for
all
did
to
tell
M.
Guetlier, in his
Heat the
1st.
the "Maister" that a short
and Solders.
work on
Metallic Alloys,
gives these directions for melting.
the disturbance of
the previous morning, and thought it unjust, and
ventured
Alloys
and some-
crucible to a red
times a white heat, and melt in
it
the least
time
component of the alloy. After fusion increase the heat somewhat, so that it will bear
get out of order under any combination of cir" Yes," he answered, " that is cumstances.
much
ago he told me if a rack and snail motion was correctly made it could never
just the point I wish to speak to you about.
There
is
wrong
no necessity for these clocks ever going
in the striking.
Yet, although
it
may
fusible
the addition of the next fusible one without too
reduction of temperature.
2c?.
Introduce the metals into the pot in the
strict
order of their fusibility, each being fully
melted before the next 3e7.
is
added.
When some of the components are fusible
be so easily prevented, very few take the pre- and some refractory, the alloy should be covered caution to avoid accidents of this kind. Simply with charcoal, or if rich in tin it must be coverleaving a few more teeth in the rack than is ed with a layer of sand. necessary to strike the hours, or making the snail of such a size that the twelfth step will
be
near the socket of the wheel it is carried on, will
make
a clock safe against
kind.
not
all
troubles of this
I knew, however, that this clock was
made with
warned you
that precaution,
new
to leave the
therefore I
if
while pouring, with a white wood
stick.
hth. to the
Always add a small portion of old alloy if at hand, and in all cases use clean
new,
crucibles.
cords of such a
length that the clock would always stop going
thoroughly before casting, and
4th. Stir
possible,
Plastic Metallic Alloy.
amalgam adheres to glass or but you, not attend- porcelain, uniting them firmly in 10 or 12 hours. ing to my warning, and the minister neglecting In preparing this alloy, finely divided copper is to wind the clock, produced all the commotion produced by reducing the sulphate by metallic of yesterday morning." I was quite willing to 30 copper powder take
before
it
stopped striking
This alloy or
;
zinc.
stand any amount of blame
if the
minister was
parts,
Of
20, 30,
this
according
to
the
hardness
me, and so allowed the Moisten this with sulphuric acid Sp. further discussion of the subject to drop on that To a porcelain or cast-iron mortar. in the fault along with
occasion.
Clocks and watches, like
required gr. 1.85 in
this paste
add 70 parts of mercury by weight, the mass individuals, have being kept agitated or stirred. When com-
all some weak point in their composition, which sometimes causes those apparently the best and most regular to go temporarily astray and perform the most eccentric kind of actions. However, clocks and watches, like individuals, may be guided and humored, although I admit that some subjects are more difficult to manage
mostly
amalgamated, the composition must be in hot water to remove all trace of acid, then be left to cool. In 10 or 12 hours it will become hard enough to scratch tin. When required to be used, it can be rendered plastic by a temperature of 375° O, working it in an iron
pletely
washed
mortar until it is as ductile as wax. If in this After this occurrence with the state it is placed between two surfaces free from minister's clock, at any time when I had to oxidation, it will unite them perfectly; it is
than others.
make the rack and snail motion for the striking especially useful as solder, in such places as part of a clock, I always took the precaution to preclude the use of heat for that purpose. construct it so that the rack would never get Metallic Alloy for the Formation of Small into such a position as to be out of reach of the Figures. tumbler or gathering pallet. When putting new Which melts at low temperature and when cords to a clock of this kind I never forgot, nor moulded, possesses considerable hardness, and do I yet forget, to leave the striking cord a little is not brittle.
when I am not fully aware of the exact manner in which the rack and snail motion is constructed.
the longest of the two
Zinc
6 3
Lead
13
Bismuth
.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. They are
melted in a crucible or
first
Solder for Iron
ladle,
and then remelted. It takes the mould with great sharpness, and if the figures produced are bitten in by dilute nitric acid, washed with water, and polished with a woollen rag, the elevated portion becomes bright and the depressions a dark gray antique lustre. In poured
out,
100 parts there are
and Brass,
expansibility as brass.
Tin Copper
3 -
1% German
German
Silver Solder.
silver
5
Zinc
4
Bismuth Lead Tin Homberg's Bismuth Lead Tin
13 04. .
Alloy for Small Casts. 6 3
13
are melted in an iron ladle,
and
Coins 5
,
2 1
alloy fusible at 122 C.
3 3
3
Pose's alloy melts at 93 C.
and re-melted before used.
Bismuth Tin Lead
&
Kaft's alloy melts at 104 C.
59.09.
Bismuth Tin Lead
89J^
Zinc
27.27.
cast into ingots,
same
said to have the
Alloy for Obtaining Casts of Medals
Bismuth Lead Tin
The metals
65
Bismuth , Lead Tin
3 1
2 2 2
1
Is harder without being brittle or presenting
Amalgam for
Varnishing Plastic Casts.
Tin Mercury Bismuth
a crystalline fracture. If the casts are wet with dilute nitric acid, then rinsed in water and rub-
1 1 1
bed with a woollen rag, the prominent parts beThe mercury is added to the tin and biscome bright, and the cavities have the dark muth (melted), and stirred into combination, gray color of antiques it takes the finest lines pounded with the white of an egg, and forms ;
perfectly.
a liquid mass, applied with a brush.
Hard Gold 18
k.
-fiftfe
Solder for Gold.
Cement 18
fine
Silver....
10
Pure copper
10
Hard
Solder for Silver. 66 23 16
Copper Zinc
Solder for Platinum. cent, of alloy of
to
Fasten Rubber
to
Wood or
Metal.
a cement by soaking pulverized shellac
in ten times
its
weight of strong ammonia
;
this
gives a stringy mass, which in three or four
Silver
Pure gold with J per
Make
days will become liquid without the aid of hot This cement softens the rubber, which,
water.
after the volatilization of the
hard and impenetrable platinum and
to
ammonia, becomes
gas or liquids.
o
irridium.
Hard Gold
Solder for
Aluminum
Friction.
Bronze. 88.88
Silver
468
Copper
6.41
Ed. Horological Journal: I
now
advise
you
to
have the word Friction
stereotyped as a permanent heading for your
Medalling Hard Solder for Aluminum Bronze. columns. Gold
54.04
Silver
27.
The
which has been expressed on me more than anything Copper 18.06 If I supelse that this is not an exact science. White Brass. posed that I was the only one of your readers This metallic alloy may be turned, filed, or who holds such peculiar opinions on this subbored, and when cast does not adhere to moulds, ject, I would say to you candidly that your and retains its lustre for a long time in the open valuable columns might be filled to better adair. vantage and to your correspondents, my opinion Cast iron 10 (which no doubt agrees with their own), that Copper 10 their time might be better employed. The perZino 80 interest
this subject convinces
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
66
sistency of
me that many who are, perhaps, theories, or who are, at least,
your correspondents assure
ly,
I have since then applied a pulley
to
each end
they think there are
of the mandrel, and divided the weight between
opposed
the two, and I have not observed any material
to their
difference between this and the former experiby ments. There is certainly a difference of opinion beHe confesses ''Clyde" did not do it justice. that he did not understand part of it. The mo- tween Clyde and myself as to whether the surtive which he assigns for the second part was as face of the holes was good enough for a fair far from the true one as the poles are apart. I test. He thinks it was not, because the results will, however, take the blame upon myself. I of the experiments were not of the nature he should have entitled the article "Experiments," anticipated. I thought the surface was good The one thing I enough, and made up my mind that the results for there were three of them. cannot comprehend is, that the " generosity," or would indicate the truth, before I tried it, and ideas of generosity of any one, no matter how when I was very anxious and perhaps doubtful able or how insignificant, has anything to do (after all that has been written on the other with an argument in mechanics. On the con- side) about the results. That I am not wrong in
doubt concerning them. The analysis of my experiment in
friction
appears to me that any allusions of in guessing the basis of Clyde's opinion in this such a character, whether in good faith or sar- respect, I refer the reader to his extravagant casm, are rather out of place in this discussion. claim that the results of a more perfect experitrary, it
My reason
for using Babbitt
because I could attain
with brass.
I
made
my
metal was simply ment, and which he declares almost impossible to execute, will be likely to carry out his views.
object easier than
the hole in
it
in the usual I
know very
well that every particle of the
box with the man- bearings and mandrel did not touch each other, drel in its place, and afterwards working it till and of course made no claim to such a state of I am willing to abide by Clyde's adthe object being to compare the things. it fitted easily mission that they probably fitted without shake, I thought, and still conthree experiments. perceptibly bind. did Even under and not tend, that it was a very fair way of testing the manner, by casting
it
in a
;
these circumstances the surfaces in contact in
matter.
The almost impossible and ideal perfection the
first
experiment were enormously greater
think that I claimed for than in the third. which Clyde seems If the careful reader will make every allowI intended to convey the model, I repudiate. the idea that my lathe is one of the best, and ance for the quality and kind of metal, temperto
superior to most of the philosophical models atures (of which there was no change), etc., he and the allusions to my lan- will, I think, still find a large balance in his
that I have seen,
were mere quibbles. By calculations which can be allowed only to the selecting a tool familiar to all watchmakers, I differences in friction. The authorities cited seem to be mostly in hoped to appeal to their judgment in the qualregard to flat surfaces, and if I could see no ity of the workmanship, and the fairness of the difference between the friction of such surfaces test.
guage in
The
this respect
objection which Clyde urges as fatal to
the experiment, in case the force
was not
ap-
plied in the direction of the centre of motion, is
and that of pivots in sider
the
subject
their holes,
of
no
I should con-
great
importance.
Clyde's second proposition tends this way, but
more seeming than real. Although the hole in he immediately refutes it by interposing an obthe tailstock was 2* inches, the mandrel was jection of his own. On another point a question of fact, not of much longer. I did not feel rich enough to I join issue with Clyde. In this resacrifice my lathe. in order to conduct the experi- opinion
—
—
I carefully spect he is mistaken. Parker's Philosophy, balanced the mandrel, pulley and weight but 1859, pages 98 and 99, does most explicitly even if the pressure was down on one end and deny the theory, that friction is not increased
ment
in
a particular manner.
;
other, it was equally so in all the ex- or decreased by increasing or decreasing the surperiments, so that the conditions remained the faces in contact. I have quoted already, verbasame. In order to test this objection thorough- tim, Parker's very clear statement in this case,
up on the
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOUKNAL. and I assure your
readers, after a careful study
of his work, that I in
know
of nothing in
it
any way modifies the letter or the spirit of quotation. In a preface to his book, Parto nearly
the board," I cannot
how
see
their surface
that could touch the board, unless the bricks bent
my
ker admits his obligations
67
every work
also.
And
yet Clyde thinks that this was a but that my experiment was not.
fair trial,
I dislike exceedingly
to notice personal al-
which has been referred to on both sides in lusions. It seems hardly necessary to remind this discussion and yet, after having made ex- your readers that they prove nothing. Mr. tracts from, and consulted all these works Gribi seems particularly moved by a statement (many of which I am, unfortunately, unable to of mine to which he gives prominence by subreach), Parker concludes " that friction in- stituting italics, thereby leading a casual reader ;
creases as the extent of the surfaces in contact to suppose that I laid more stress upon it than are increased ; " and that " friction may be di- upon other parts of the context. At the time I
minished by lessening the surface of homoge- made the assertion there was no work on philosneous bodies in contact with each other." Also ophy within my reach that made the statesee page 81. " There are two ways in which the ment at first alluded to and now that I have wheel and axle is supported, namely first on found it, I do not believe it. If there is one pivots projecting into the extremities of the thing I like to do more than another, it is to axle, and secondly, with the extremities of the read. But I had made up my mind, even be;
:
axle resting on gudgeons.
a is
less extensive
in
many
I
am
quite
area
is
As by
cases to be preferred.."' man " myself
the
contrary
—but
be
to believe everything
fact,
it
was
it
was printed
book or paper.
in a
Within a year, an editorial in that paper stated upon some points Moran's experiments were not satisfactory, and that they had not been carried far enough. In order to have something really practical, I would ask Clyde to describe the model in the Cooper Union which illustrates the friction upon long and short pivots, and upon their ends, and the results of a trial of this model also the same thing in Moran's experiments with the results and, finally, if not asking too much, to analyze that
;
I
hope, for Mr. G.'s sake, that he has since then
men. that
bold
useless trying
I happened to read, just
of the come to the same conclusion.
the editors
American must
it
because
—in
not a " bold
Scientific
the former fore last November, that
subjected to friction,
my
much more
I should be
for criticism,
how
If I .supposed
or words were a fair subject
talents
careful
I could not have
I expressed myself.
at-
tacked either Mr. Gribi or his principles, as I entered the discussion before him, and at that
time had good reason for believing that I was
humble follower
but an
in his doctrines of
friction.
In making those few experiments on watches, it likely that I may have cut away parts of the pivots that never
I confess that I do think touched the jewels at
I also think
all.
it
just
Keid's statement, that the balance will vibrate about as likely that, in the case of the chronomthat eter mentioned on page 135, vol. iii., that the be made to vibrate jewels were ground away where they did not the same in either position, and that, also, in touch the pivots. I think it strange that so little has been his opinion Ernshaw's shallow holes and flat heard from "Horologist " in this matter. I pivot ends should come very near that object.
twice as long in one position as the other
;
in his opinion they could
I will take
this opportunity to notice
No.
one or
like
my
his
writings,
views,
he
I knew very well that there was some- misleading
me.
two points in Mr. Gribi's thing wrong in the
first
article,
in the
June
brick experiment, and your
readers
and
if
I
am
misled
in
had a share in I would beg him to favor
certainly
with,
at
least,
a
partial
ac-
was not surprised when he admitted count of the experience and authorities which be the case. I imagine that neither he impressed him with the opinions I still hold to.
therefore
such to
any advantage in theory combined settle it. I more under the pressure of all the bricks on am sure such an able writer is an able workman, the edge of one, than when they were distrib- therefore I would like to ask him, for the boneuted on their flat sides over a greater area of fit of us all, if his manner of adjusting watches, nor Clyde appreciates the
mission.
full force
of the ad- If there
If the "thin pine board bent a
little
is
with practice, his experience ought to
AMEBICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
68
before " he
saw the error of his ways," was alto- from inquiries similar to the one your corregether wrong where he obtained such good re- spondent has made, and attempt to solve the sults ; and if not wrong, were they adjusted ac- more difficult problems connected with the cording to his expressed principles which he highest branches of Horological Art, your Jour-
now
regards as false theory. I wish to point nal becomes a valuable medium for the dissemiout to your readers, that if "Horologist," work- nation of useful knowledge. ing upon a certain theory, can properly adjust a A. W. Gorgas.
Hudson City, JV. J. and Mr. Gribi, who I am ceran able workman, can do the same tiling, working upon directly opposite principles, then it matters very little whether either Mechanical Science. or which of them is right, and that the subject of friction in this respect has attained a Ed. Horological Journal: Is there any treatise published upon the subprominence to which it is not entitled. ject of mathematical mechanics that gives such B. F. H. Sag Harbor. instruction as practical mechanics require, and no more ? I mean arithmetical, geometric, and possibly algebraic for I must confess myself so Long and Short Screw-Drivers. ignorant as not to know whether algebra is essential to the education of the practical meEd. Horological Journal: In the last number of the Horological chanic. I know plenty of works that treat on Journal, E. H., of Hartford, Conn., wishes to these subjects separately and so profoundly that watch
to position,
tain is also
;
long screw-driver has more power they intimidate by their formidable appearance, than a short one," and says, " he can see noth- and by the fact that in glancing through them ing that explains this strange fact in any the ordinary mechanic sees no practical use for
know
"
why a
work on natural philosophy." His screw-driv- the philosophy there taught and yet he knows ers have handles of the same length and enough to know that there are within it con;
diameter, the pqints are alike, but the point of cealed valuable facts which those of his profesone is one and a half inches from the handle, sion who are fully educated can apply in its
Then, again, there are other works
practice.
the other four inches.
Your reply does not appear to fully answer that give a smattering of the question, and as you are willing to receive equally inapplicable to any other solution that may be given, I submit the following one The screw-driver may be said to represent one of the three ways in which the lever can be used, wherein the fulcrum is between the weight or resistance and the power. In using the large screw-driver of which E.
What who
I should
like,
all
is
purposes.
— and I know many others — some work that
are equally anxious,
will give
which
science,
practical
is
me what of science is
a work in which the useful
is
really necessary
selected out
from
the theoretical, or in which the theoretical applied to the practical
by
illustration
ample in every-day operations
;
is
and ex-
in other words,
H. makes mention, the hand reaches down farther, the handle comes in contact with more muscular surface, and consequently more power can be exerted upon the screw. This increase of power is illustrated in the turning of a button or a top, that can be whirled more rapidly with
the rudimental works on such subjects only
the resistance of the air.
ing precious time in learning such things as in
give principles,
and the complete
treatises
such profound depths that a laboring
go to
man
has
them even if he has the inclination. In geometry and mathematics we wish to be taught what a mechanic ordinarily requires to know, and the correct method of a long pin than with a short one. applying that knowledge to the various meThat power only can be transmitted which is chanic arts, and we should like to avoid spendproduced, minus the friction of machinery and
A
not time to master
research with the aid of science our ignorance we imagine to be necessary, only transforms the " strange facts" found in me- to find out at last that they are not needed, or little
chanics into simple truth, and
when we
turn that w'e
still
lack the proper knowledge to apply
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. them
in practice.
there
is
Now
there
must
and
classified
an
by
thoroughly practical mechanic, that
ought
quent
loss
by
this
cramming
not there ought to be, some work so would have been useful
arranged adapted
be, or if
to
the want I have
educated, it
shall
and much that
69
is
is
retained
much
that
irrecoverably
lost,
process,
is
almost useless.
be This method of teaching has compelled book-
If makers to compress science ints the smallest and possible compass, as bales of cotton are pressed taught to the for shipment, and consequently its beauty and
described.
to give simple practical illustrations,
the application of the principles
in a word, it usefulness are as effectually concealed from the on the one hand, not a superficial recipient as are the snowy flocculent beauties of instructor, nor, on the other, too abstruse, but native cotton within the impenetrable parallelhave the absolutely essential culled out of the ogram of stuff the hydraulic press makes of it. whole and put in a form adaptable by those who Cannot we mechanics make some " strike" wish to become intelligent mechanics, and who against this system of popular education, some have not time to be wholly scientific. combination that shall give us a chance to got I suspect such a compilation a difficult thing a little more actual knowledge with a little to do, or we should have plenty of books of that less study? sort. It might be necessary to give to each of Pardon me, dear Jottrnax, for allowing the the various mechanical operations its especial train to run down in the way I have the fact treatise. The tailor would not probably require is, that as soon as I get the escapement out I much of algebra, and yet there are principles can't " stop her" till the spring is all uncoiled. in some departments of mathematics that he What I started out to say was, that I know would need to qualify him for a master in his there are thousands of intelligent watchmakers business. The cook would not need to spend that would gladly buy a book that would give his time in the study of geometry, but there are them, in a practical form, all the scientific principles all through chemical science emi- knowledge that is applicable to our art, divested nently adapted to make him an expert in his art. wholly of science, as such. And if there is The architect would require but a short chapter none ready made, can you not induce some upon geology, but geometry and its sister scientific watchmaker to issue such a work ? sciences would be absolutely essential to success There is surely somebody in the world capable, in his art. Such an epitome of all that was and if a beginning was once made it seems to necessary to each profession would not oblige me that the benefits of such a compilation would an artisan to wade imperfectly through the be so apparent that every profession would whole circle of the sciences to find a few ap- soon have its scientific text-book, which would
various mechanical operations
ought
;
to be,
—
;
plications to his
It
own
wonderful
facilities for
era times have
be as essential and peculiar as the
special wants.
has sometimes seemed
to
me
education in these mod-
had an
tools
with
that the which each particular artisan wrought.
Cycloid.
Boston, 3fass.
effect quite contrary to
the general supposition and that, instead of The want which "Cycloid" expresses as knowing more, mechanics know less really than being felt, is a plant of as recent growth as the heretofore in attempting to grasp all, nearly cramming system of education of which he all is lost. A jug cannot be filled by a deluge complains. Until very recently there has not been of water poured over it the little goes in, the a thousand watchmakers in the whole world much is wasted. The fashionable necessity for who cared a pin for the science of the art, and ;
;
;
being educated
—the
disgrace (almost) of not the author or publisher
—has
knowing something about every thing
who ventured
to issue
on the subject would have made it indispensable that every child, as soon had only his losses for his profit. If any one asABC is acquired, shall take a place under could publish a method by which two dollars an educational funnel, and have poured into its could be made out of one honestly (or otheropen mouth a deluge of knowledge, the major wise), purchasers would be numerous. The part of which will subsequently be of not the tradesman or mechanic who can get the most slightest practical use, even if remembered, money for the least work gets rich fastest, and which is doubtful. In the overflow and conse- his " method" is copied, if it can be found out, a
scientific treatise
AMERICAN HOROLOOICAL JOURNAL.
70
by
all
aspirants for a like position.
this stato of things is slowly passing
talent
among mechanics
Happily, be useful in measuring holes of other kinds
away, and within
If " Trades Unions" do not
preciated.
B. F. H.
its limit.
Sag Harbor.
beginning to be ap-
is
become
we hope to see the day workman can maintain the
a power in the land,
when a
skilful
Answers
to Correspondents.
dignity of his profession and be adequately paid for his labor in exact proportion to his skill,
J.
Canada
N., Ingersol,
West.
—The
an-
without the aid of a horde of slipshod and rag- noyance of which you complain appears to be ged helpers. When that day arrives science inseparably connected, not only with our busiwill
come
honor and the ness, but also with
in for her share of the
all businesses which refrom customers bo varied in their characters and dispositions. To a young man like yourself, newly started in business, aiming to do his work in a thorough man-
ceive their support
profit.
A
Standard Ring Scale.
ner and at a moderate price, Ed. Horological Journal:
vexatious to be blamed,
as
it
is
exceedingly
you have been;
I have lately made a ring scale which I find but you are not alone in this respect instances more useful than the old style. Perhaps a of this kind occur frequently in all parts of the notice of it may lead some makers, like Brown country in large cities as well as small towns. & Sharpe, to make a scale that will meet with A case came under our observation a short general approval. time ago, which, although of not such an agThe scale is made of fiat sheet brass, thick gravated character as the one you describe, is enough to be durable, 5 inches long, 1 inch somewhat similar. One hot evening in the wide at one end, \ inch at the other. One fiat middle of summer, while passing along one of ;
—
side is divided into 25
apart.
These
and may be
sizes are
sizes,
each 2-10 inch the leading avenues in the
subdivided into halves,
Therefore each size and skilful
into quarters.
city, we dropped Mr. Spitzka, an experienced workman, in order to rest a few
into the store of
of ring will vary in diameter, only 2-10Q of an minutes and enjoy a horological conversation.
and half sizes only 1-100. The sizes are numbered from 1 to 25 also, on the outer The ciredges, in decimal parts of an inch. cumference is calculated for each size and laid inch,
;
talk
was interrupted occasionally by
cus-
tomers calling on business, and once, a middle-
aged individual, carrying something wrapped up in a white towel, came into the store and Any jeweller can placed his bundle on a chair that stood conIn calculating the venient in the middle of the floor. The new-
out on the reverse side.
make one
Our
in a short time.
circumference, multiply the diameter in deci- comer's appearance indicated, and his speech mals by 3.14. This will give the inside size of betrayed him to be " an exile of Erin," and
the ring.
In cutting a
strip
make
to
a ring,
the outside should be the thickness of the metal
longer than the inside.
and generally adopted, convenience to the trade. its
If
it is
will
it
made
for sale
prove a great
Its merit consists in
forming no arbitrary standard, as the meas-
urements are
now
all in
common
use.
So that even
I should order a ring .77 diameter I should be very likely to get it, as the dealer if
would know exactly what I wanted. If the ring is not quite round the size can be taken better than by a round stick, by trying the scale in two directions and averaging them. It will take the exact size of a seal ring by applying to the cross section
of the shank.
it
It will also
was evident from his anxious looks that some trouble weighed on his mind more than the wrongs of his country. The bundle he carried, on being opened, proved to contain an old thirty-hour weight Yankee clock, which he said had been cleaned at that shop in the month of April last he paid a dollar to get it done, and the clock was warranted at that time to run for twelve months. Mr. Spitzka answered him good-naturedly, and proceeded to open the clock to see what was the matter, and on the dial being removed a lively scene presented itself, for the inside literally swarmed with cockroaches, and some of them had got caught by the treacherous motion of the wheels it
1
;
AMEEICAN HQROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
71
and were crushed between the leaves of the and if you know the number of teeth that are and stopped the clock. Our Hiber- in the wheels and leaves that are in the pinions nian friend protested his innocence of all of the clock, you must first find out how many knowledge of the cockroaches using his clock vibrations the desired pendulum is required to as a habitation, and could not account for the make in a minute to suit the number of teeth in fact of their being there. On seeing the true the wheels and leaves in the pinions. This you state of affairs, the proprietor of the store or- can easily accomplish by finding out the numdered the clock to be removed from that part ber of turns and fractional parts of a turn the of his premises and taken to the back yard, scape-wheol makes for one revolution of the and that he would see to the cleaning of it in wheel that carries the minute hand. Divide the morning. The customer could not be made the number by 60, and the product will be the to understand why the clock needed cleaning, turns or fractional parts of a turn the scapeThen multiply seeing that it was done so recently, and, sus- wheel will make in a minute. pecting that there would be a demand made this quantity by twice the number of teeth that upon him for the price of cleaning the clock are in the scape-wheel, and the number obtainthe second time, he reminded the watchmaker ed will be the number of vibrations the desired that he had warranted his work for a year. pendulum will have to make in a minute. You Mr. Spitzka did not consider cockroaches were must now divide the number 1,411,200 by the included in his warranty, and claimed a second square of the square of the number of vibradollar if he cleaned the clock a second time. tions the pendulum is required to make in a To this the Hibernian objected, and remarked minute, and the product will be the length of the that a man was no man unless he respected pendulum in inches. To explain everything his bargain, and if he had to pay a dollar he connected with this question would occupy more pinions,
would
no more space than we can at present devote to the subWe now have given you all the informaject. of that watchmaker's hand. tion necessary for any practical purpose, and in Mr. Spitzka, although courteous and re- some future number of the present volume we of his
paj' it to
some other person,
money would
for
ever again tickle the palm
spectful to his unreasonable customer, did not intend to
make
this question the subject of a
somewhere else, comprehensive and exhaustive article. and after he had been gone for a few minutes A. M., St. Louis. —It would be no easy task, he returned a second time and offered fifty and probably it would be impossible to ascertain cents to get his clock made right but the with any degree of accuracy, the entire producwatchmaker did not consider that a fair re- tion of plated silver ware in the country, or compense for killing cockroaches, although he even that of spoons and forks alone. We only was getting an order to do such a large quantity, know that there are a large number of manuand he refused the offer. The Hibernian never facturers, and that some of them have not appeared to think that he was violating the been able to keep up with their orders. rules of propriety in bringing a clock in that Rogers & Bro. have this season added a 200condition into a respectable store and finally horse power Corliss engine to their already exhe left, thinking himself an ill-used individual, tensive water-power at Waterbury, to meet the but consoled himself with the revenge he constantly increasing demand upon them. would have on the watchmaker, and the damWe fail to see " that the almost universal age that he would do his business by causing his use of plated ware instead of solid silver, is ansons and daughters to go somewhere else to other evidence of the growing tendency of the get their watches and jewelry repaired, where age to substitute the shadow for the substance." they would be honestly dealt with. For all practical purposes a well plated spoon or H, New York City. A query similar to fork, or any other article for daily use, is equalyours was answered on page 48, second volume ly as good as the same article in sterling silver, of the Journal, but we answer you more ex- while the cost is but trifling in comparison. In plicitly than was done on that occasion. If you fact the interest of the money on the cost of the wish to make a new pendulum rod for a clock, latter would almost keep one supplied for a lifeto supply the place of one that has been lost, time with ware of equal beauty of design and object to his taking the clock
;
;
—
AMERICAN HOROLOGIGAL JOURNAL.
72
finish,
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
and with the additional advantage of frestill more and more beautiful
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
quent changes, as
designs are pro'duced. All risk of being cheated in quality can
For
Few branches of industry have made more rapid strides during the past ten years than this, and still fewer that have
well-known dealers.
done more
educate the public taste for a love
to
Sidereal
H. E. W., Richfield Springs.
—Acids,
of
Day
Day
of the
of
Week.
Your
can gold.
wish, probably,
to color gold, as in
the
know
Thursday
may
process, or the following
poses
serve your pur-
2 oz. yellow ocre, 1^ oz. verdi-
1^ oz. copperas, ^ oz. white vitriol, ^ oz. BoAll to be reduced to impalpable powder
gris,
rax.
and mixed intimately with 5
in a mortar,
2
.
....
3 4
......
6 7
8 9
.
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
of the
:
2 1 oz. crocus,
.
Va-
having a formula of his own, which he thinks In the 2d Wednesday superior to that of his neighbor.
made
Sunday Tuesday Wednesday Friday
in
The
dwts. alum.
an old crucible and
.
22 23
.
24 2b 26 27 28 29 30 31
articles to
ingredients to be put
set over the fire,
be colored boiled in
Sunday
and the Monday on trial, Tuesday VV ednesday .
it until,
....
they are found to have acquired the desired color.
The
class of
beautiful satin finish
Roman
goods called
is
gold,
given to the
by
carefully
scratching the dead gold surface with a scratch brush made from spun glass. H., Phoenix, JV. Y. Much has been said in previous numbers of the Journal on the sub-
—
The process has been often described, and yet new inquirers are constantly asking, " how to do it." Eor you, except you wish to experiment for the pleasure of it, the most economical way by half, is to and
ject of refining gold
send your scraps at once
who
will, for
silver
a
silver.
and gold pure. it
On
return you the
a small scale
except at a pecuniary
AT
$1 50
)
©
24.95*
42 66 0.00 16.96 33.50 49.62 5.31 20.52 35.24 49.48 3.20 16.37 28.96 40.98 52.40 3.19 13.34 22.82 31.62 39.71 47.08 53.73 59.64 4.79 9 16 12.77 15.60 17.64
0.787 0.774 0.760 0.745 0.730 0.714 0.698 681 663 0.643 623 0.602 582 0.560 0.537 0.513 0.489 0.462 0.435 0.407 0.379 0.350 0.321 0.291 0.262 0.230 0.198 0.166 0.133 0.100 067
may
2
FirstQuarter
9
(
O
Moon
16
P- O.
6715,
NewTork.
14
14 14 14 14 14 14
5 45.22 9 41.77 38.32 34.88 31.43 27.98 24.54 21.09 17.65 14.20 10.75 7.31 3.86 57 0.42 56.97 4 53.52 8 50.08 12 46.63 16 43.19 20 39.74 24 36.30 28 32.85 32 29.41 36 25.96 40 22.52
13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53
H. M.
3 30.7 9
3.9
3 34.7
31 17 28.2
Perigee
i
Apogee o
D.
H.
12
7.4
24
8.9
/
II
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
42 22 48.1
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
H. m. s. 4 44 29 05 4 56 0.15 5 24 20.572 .
Savannah Exchange Hudson, Ohio
5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory
5 37 58 . 062
Point Conception
8
APPARENT
APPARENT R. >.
.
Jupiter
Box
14 14
148.6t
23 20 53.7
(
Venus
MILLER,
13 13 13 13 13 13 14 14
S.
5.90 2.45 59.00 55.56 52.11
Last Quarter
T.,
communications should be addressed,
13
42 46 49 53 57
New Moon
it is
loss.
12 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13
be found by sub-
New Moon Full
PER YEAR, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.
G. B.
11 11 12 12 12 \i 13 13 13 IS 14 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16
H. M.
S.
S.
10 29.76 10 48.48 11 6.88
D.
%
MILLER. Maiden JV.
of
Mean Sun.
PHASES OF THE MOON.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BT
Lane,
or
Right Ascension
The Semidiameter for mean noon may be assumed the same a3 that for apparent noon
G. B. All
Hour.
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing tracting 0.18s. from the sidereal time.
AMERICAN H0E0L0GICAL JOUKNAL, 37
Apparent Time.
to a professional refiner,
trifling charge,
not possible to do
65.74 65.84 65.94 66.04 66.14 66.25 66.35 66 46 66.57 66.68 66.79 66.91
21
Friday
2-*-
65 65
20
oz.
yellow beeswax, or 20 dwts. saltpetre, 20 dwts. Wednesday common salt, 2^ dwts. copperas, 2*- dwts. white vitriol,
from
M.
64.38 64.43 64.48 64.53 64.59 64 65 64.70 64.77 64.84 64 91 64 98 65.05 65.13 65.21 66.29 65 38 65.47 65 56
1
Wednesday
rious chemicals are used, each manufacturer Sunday
is
for
One
Meridian
Etruscan jewelry.
volume of the JotTRUAL mention
Time
Diff.
direct-
to
is
Sidereal
of to he
Time
the Semi- Subtracted
diameter Mon. Passing
are not used for the manufacture of Etrus-
how
Equation
Time
of the beautiful in the articles of daily use.
ly,
October, 1872.
be obviated by purchasing of
Saturn
L .
L
DECLINATION.
ASCENSION.
142.64 MERrD. PASSAGE.
M
H. M. S. ii i O 13 49 57.57.. ,.-10 50 24.3
H.
9 43 59.11. ..+14 22 43.9 ..-22 32 40 5 19 4 10.02
20 59 1
.
17
8
6 21.0
AMERICAN
Horoloffical Journal. NEW YORK, OCTOBER,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS.
1872.
No.
the impression as though taste
Essay, etc. (Concluded),
Transmitting Time by Electricity, "Watch Repairing, No. 4
....
had a
4.
principal
share in their construction. 73 75 Winding wheels of proportionate thickness
79 81 83 86 88
Theory and Practice, The Story of a Watch, Robert Hooke, Rogers Bro.,
may, without fear of breakage, have the common shape of tooth. Certainly the teeth ought not to be too fine, and the flanks and bottom
.
.
...
[Entered according to Act of Congress, by G. B. Miller, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.]
must
the best conditions of strength.
offer
Therefore they must be short, and
may be
so,
since they have only to lead through a very
small angle, after which they are relieved in
The
the gear by the next tooth.
diverge
slightly,
breadth
to the
bottom ought 164.
The
sides
ought
to
thus giving an increase of
lower part of the tooth, and the to
size
be hollow. of teeth
is,
with the keyless
mechanisms of the rocking bar category, essentially prescribed by the toothing of the motion work, and in consequence of it, most of CONSTRUCTION OF A SIMPLE AND MECHANIthese mechanisms have finer toothed wheels CALLY PERFECT WATCH.
A
than desirable.
BY MORRITZ GROSSMANN.
CHAPTER
trically
the
XI I.— [Concluded.]
The form of the teeth of the winding wheels and pinions, as usually made, may be classified into two kinds. The one is the usual form of wheel teeth, and the other 163.
one,
much
in favor with
the
same
relieve
Swiss makers,
little
extra wheel, concen-
adjusted upon the setting wheel, and of size teeth
from
with the minute wheel, will
all restriction
and enable the con-
structor to use teeth of the proper size.
the
mechanisms of the other
teeth
is
165.
With
class, the size
of
quite optional.
As a
material for the winding parts,
used and for the pinions no has a ratchet- like tooth, both for the flat other known metal would prove suitable. With and angular gear. This latter form, if prop- respect to the wheels, and especially the large erly made, is by no means objectionable, since ones, I always thought steel, when hardened, steel is generally
;
these wheels always act in but one direction, might not be sufficiently reliable, since nobody that the shape of that side of the tooth can know whether there is not a tendency to not called into action is of no consequence, and break in some part of it. For these reasons I
so
the only consideration for
it
must be
made them of aluminium bronze for a time, but The I had to give it up, not that they had given any
to give it
the greatest possible degree of strength.
very thin wheels generally used in Swiss key- reason of complaint, but only because customers less watches fully justified this way of shaping seemed to prefer the look of steel wheels. the teeth
but then the natural character of the
The casing of keyless movements resome extra work as compared with that side, with a hollow back just affording the ne- of key winders. The fixing pin, contrary to cessary room for the tooth of the other wlieel to the general rule (90), must here be near the pass freely. Most wheels of this kind, however, pendant, because, if not, the movement could ;
166.
tooth ought to be an epicycloid on the acting quires
have so strangely-shaped teeth that they make not be put
in.
In the keyless watches with the
u
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. on the winding
setting parts
good plan it
to
have
this axis
axis, I find it
a into the pocket, and by some chance presses
removable, and have against the push-piece.
Another objection
may
secured by a bridge fixed at the edge of the the apprehension that dust
pillar plate.
The inner
pivot of the axis moves,
find
is,
way
its
through the opening for the push-piece. This however, of no great consequence, for a
as usual, in a brass stud riveted into the pillar
is,
plate.
push-piece fitted in a careful and judicious
The pinion and the
setting
cannon must way
will not allow
much
dust to penetrate
in.
have just the necessary freedom in the sinks The projecting push-pieces have also been obmade for them in the pillar plate, so that they jected to on the ground of good taste, which
remain in their places when the axis is drawn will not suffer any unsymmetrical protuberout, lest they should make the reinsertion of ance. This argument is not of great weight. the axis rather
168.
difficult.
This arrangement greatly
and has
facilitates the cas-
The combined
influence of these cir-
cumstances has created a desire
to invent
some
advantage that means for setting the hands without any exterthe action of the winding pinion and contrate nal push-piece, or, when keeping this latter, at
ing,
also the additional
—the
wheel can be verified without the movement
least avoiding its principal defect
being in the case.
of being pressed inwardly by casualties not
The winding knob
is
fixed to the outer ex-
tremity of the axis in the the axis
is
held in
its
place
under the control of the wearer.
common way, and
The former category of devices have already by a screw going been described and treated (136-143). In the the purpose
through one half of the pendant, the inner end
latter direction,
projecting into a notch turned into the axis.
tained
The head of the screw
Some have- the external common kind a small pin
is
sunk
into the outside
of the pendant.
With
this
a movement,
is
very well
by some contrivances of recent
at-
date.
push-piece of the
;
disposition,
liability
fastened into the
after push-piece, vertical to the direction of its
move-
taking out the axis, can be taken out of the ment, which projects from the rim of the case case and put into it with the same ease as a and reaches into a corresponding notch or hole simple movement. tle
For hunting watches a
allowance must be
made
for a small
of the axis in the direction of
its
lit- of the rim of the front cover (hunting case). motion This prevents any displacement as long as the
length, for the
case
is
If the front cover
shut.
is
open, the
purpose of opening the front cover of the case. setting wheel can be pushed in and comes out For effecting this the shutting spring has a afterwards by self-action, and is again secured hole through
which the axis passes
by shutting the front cover. Other watches have a round push-piece with inward by a pressure on the knob. a head, and this latter is prevented from being 167. The push-piece in many keyless pushed in by a part of the rim of the front watches projects from the periphery of the rim cover which it overlaps slightly. This obstacle If such is the case it ought to be is removed with the opening of the front cover of the case. freely,
while a shoulder of the same pushes the spring
adjusted in a
way
opening in the
case.
as to
completely shut the as with the before-mentioned one. a head Another contrivance of a similar kind
A round pin with
outside generally answers very well,
and
so
following
:
A
pipe
does also a round disc of about half the thick- the case so that ness of the rim, and
projecting a
than the push-piece
little less
is
it
is
is
the
soldered into the rim of
projects a
little
outside,
a piece of round wire
and
fitting
into it, with its outer end flush with the end of its surface (Fig. 36). These projecting push-pieces, however, have the pipe. A slit is cut across the pipe just the been much- objected to from several points of width to allow the nail of the thumb to peneview. The first and most serious objection was, trate into it and push the piece inward, wliich, that any accidental pressure might push the by any other touch, could not be done. motion work into gear, and thus alter the position 169. The form of the winding knob is sub-
half
of hands or arresting their course.
With
the ject to
many
influences of taste.
The watches,
large-linked heavy chains worn now, it is not a the setting of which is done by pulling the rare occurrence that a part of the chain gets knob out, must have such a form as to prevent
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
75
any pulling out when winding. But for all owners either for further experiment or as a These failures were also in a great the other keyless mechanisms a form of knob curiosity. should be chosen which allows of applying measure due to the lack of experience and This general imperfections which always accompany the force on its greatest diameter. not only utilizes the most favorable leverage, the first application of agents for new purposes. but also the place where the rifling of the knob Since that period, however, the application of both circumstances facilitating the electricity to clocks has been greatly improved, is deepest
—
and the necessary experience has been gained and manipulating the subtile electric fluid, and electric clocks and dials of many different plans of construction have gradually Transmitting Time by Electricity. come into use in many of the principal cities of Europe and North America, and some of these NECESSITY FOB. GREATER UNIFORMITY IN THE TIME are of a very reliable character. clocks INDICATED BY CLOCKS IN GENERAL HOW ADVANTAGE TO BE USED for a greater uniformity in the The necessity MIGHT ELECTRICITY CAUSES OF PREVIOUS FAILURES EXPLAINED time shown by clocks is apparent to all, and SECONDARY DIALS A SUCCESS, ETC. many people at some tinae or other have sufferDuring the first flush of excitement that ex- ed personal inconvenience from these discrepan-
winding operation.
in controlling
isted over the successful application of electric-
cies.
It
would be
difficult to find
ten clocks in
telegraph purposes, Mr. Bain, of Edin- a town that indicate the same time. Uniformburgh, a practical clockmaker and a skilful ity in the time shown by clocks has now become ity for
who was
early associated with the a necessity at all our public offices, at stock exform of the electric telegraph, changes, the various banking houses, railroad invention of one also invented an electric clock with a system of depots, large manufactories, and in every situasecondary dials, and conceived the following tion where it is desirable that the movements of He proposed to the large bodies of people should be guided by one original and brilliant idea. electrician,
Edinburgh to lay wires along their uniform standard, so that their various appointthus joining the principal houses in one ments may be kept with precision. Even in electrical circuit, and by placing secondary dials ordinary dwelling-houses a greater uniformity
citzens of streets,
in
the
circuit to
distribute
time like gas or in the time shown by the clocks in different
water, from one central point to
the
factories, shops, or dwellings
the inhabi- readers
tants
who
of
all
offices,
chose to avail themselves of his
offer.
apartments
is
often desirable.
who have had
Those of our
the charge of a
number
of ordinary clocks in a large building will have
Mr. Bain fixed the total yearly expense at seven experienced the extreme difficulty there is in shillings and sixpence for each dial used, while regulating them so that the hands of each clock When a the regular price charged by watch and clock- will always show the same time. makers for winding and regulating ordinary number of clocks of the class we generally meet clocks was ten shillings and sixpence for each with in public offices, or in private dwellings, clock,
independent of the usual expenses of have to be regulated to keep time so that at the
cleaning and repairs.
At a
later period pro-
were made by parties in Berlin
end of each week there
will be little or
no varia-
shown by each clock, people have electrical dials placed in prominent posi- who have not had experience in this kind of tions in Unter den Linden and other promi- work can form but little idea of the difficulty nent thoroughfares of that city, but, like there is, even for a skilful and careful workman
positions
all
new schemes
to
of a revolutionary character,
met with much opposition and ridicule from watch and clockmakers as well as the general public and, for want of sufficient encouragement and support, electric clocks and dials failed at that time to be introthese
proposals
;
duced into general use, although clocks
were made, and
preserved
tion in the time
to
accomplish the desired end. All timekeepers
will
vary more or
less, it
being impossible
to
some variation, and this variation must be checked by altering the regulating screw, or by some other means
make one
that will run without
but when we attempt to make a small alteration often make a larger one than is desired, and
many such we by
their
sometimes
it
may be
in the opposite direction
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
76
from what we intended, on account of the screw, creases in proportion. The same remarks apply In many instances truth. When it is practicable to do so, a mark all the accommodation the architect of a buildmay be made on the pendulum rod at the top ing seems to think a clock requires is simply of the ball, and by the aid of an eyeglass we places for the dials and instead of that part or the face of the regulating nut being out of also to our public clocks.
;
can see
how much
the position of the ball has of the building being built to accommodate the
been altered independent of the amount the screw has been turned but this precaution cannot always be practised, for it often happens that, owing to the situation of the pendulum, we aL'e obliged to turn the regulating nut at ;
random.
constructed to suit the building instances,
or perhaps even greater difficulty
experienced with clocks that regulate from
the front of the dial
When
with a key.
;
which, in some
the fundamental cause of the un-
is
reliable character of our public clocks.
keepers for cipally
The same, is
requirements of the clock, the clock has to be
little
show a uniformly regular
to
In clocks
Time-
purposes are required prin-
scientific
rate.
for terrestrial or celestial surveys a
losing or a
little
gaining
is
not of
much
by turning a small square consequence, so long as the variation is always small corrections have to regular, and the amount known. Por the
be made, the annoyance to all concerned is ordinary puposes of life, however, the unioften most vexatious, and frequently tries the formity of time is perhaps a greater considerapatience of the most amiable of dispositions. tion in clocks than the absolute regularity of
In the best constructed regulating apparatus
their rates
;
and
it is
our purpose at the present
of this class, each turn, or small portion of a time to ascertain if this object could not be turn, that
is
given to the regulator, cannot
al-
ways be depended upon to have the same effect on the rate of the clock. In these remarks we are to be understood as referring to making small corrections for example, two ordinary clocks have to be kept to the same time, and one loses one minute in a week, and the other one, from some cause, gains one minute, which makes the two clocks differ two minutes, and before they can be brought to the same rate it ;
is
often necessary to
their regulators,
make many
and
alterations of
by bringing
better accomplished
our
aid,
separate clock
pendulum and regulator
for each pendulum, placed in some regulating the motion of the
— one standard
favorable position,
hands on any given number of Electric clocks tinct classes. is
electricity to
thus dispensing with the necessity of a
may
dials.
be divided into two
First, those
where the
dis-
electricity
used simply as a substitute for a weight or where each clock is regulated by its
spring
own
;
individual pendulum, and subject to the
same variation from that source as ordinary To this class belong those pendulum clocks. than different mechanical combinations whereby
occasionally, during the
operation of regulating, a wider difference will exist in the time
when
first
shown by the
we commenced
clocks
regulating
them. motion of the clock
is
maintained, either by the
upon the People who are annoyed at this difference, but have no knowledge of the real cause, often re- pendulum itself, or through the intervening compense the best efforts of the most careful agency of a small spring or weight, which the workman by blaming him for spoiling the electrical current winds up at stated intervals. clocks, and consider him the author of this Another plan is to use the electrical current to direct action of the electrical current
petty annoyance.
raise small gravity arms, or small balls, which,
In primitive days, when people were willing falling against the pendulum, maintain its viWe gave a description of a a clock on to have clocks with tall cases, which gave room bration. for a long pendulum, it was a comparatively this plan in the August number of the Jotjexal, easy task to keep a number of well-made clocks which, in the application of electricity to mainso that they would show nearly the same time. tain the motion of a pendulum, possesses many Public taste has changed, however, in this re- decided advantages over other clocks of the In the present spect, and clock cases of designs that will not construction we now speak of. article it is our aim to direct attention to the pendulums are made shorter, the other class of electric clocks, commonly known those that are not reguof making the clocks run regular in- as secondary clocks
admit of a long pendulum are in popular favor;
and
as the
difficulty
:
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
77
by independent pendulums, but which and the hands on the secondary dials stopped, and are controlled by one to the great annoyance of those depending upon standard clock or pendulum, either in the im- them for time, and much to the discredit of elec-
lated
follow the motion
tric clocks in general. These difficulties need not mediate vicinity or at a distance. We take for granted that the reader possesses at the present day interfere with the success of
a knowledge of the electro magnet,
electric current passes
through the
and the secondary dials, because insulated wire can now the be had at a comparatively cheap rate which
When
magnetic system of telegraphing.
coil
of wire effectually protects the current from
all outside
Improved batteries have also magnetic and attracts the armature and when been constructed which give a regular and conthe current ceases the iron loses its magnetic stant supply of electricity for many months force, and the spring on the armature pulls it without attention, and one adjustment of the This motion is armature and its spring in relation to the force back to its original position. produced by breaking the connection at inter- of the magnet, is sufficient for a long time, bevals, or by closing the connection when a move- cause a current of perfectly uniform strength The spring can now be maintained at a cheap rate and ment of the armature is desired. that pulls the armature from the magnet when even when it does vary slightly, contrivances the current ceases is attached to a a small silk have been made that prevent it having any thread which winds on a spring tight roller, effect on the regular motion of the hands. and by turning the roller backward or forward The construction of the mechanism for movthe spring is made stronger or weaker to suit ing the hands of secondary clocks have been This mechanism is usually the varying force of the electric current and greatly improved. These moved by the action of an electro magnet movthe consequent power of the magnet. disturbances in the power of the electric current ing once in a minute. In some forms of meare caused either by the irregular action of the chanism, although the magnet and armature elements which compose the battery, or by the worked perfectly, the hands would not always imperfect conducting power or isolation of the move regularly. Sometimes they would not wires when in the open air, during thunder- move at all, and at others they would move storms, or when the atmosphere is heavily two or three minutes at once, which circumthat surrounds the soft iron, the iron becomes
disturbances.
;
;
electricity, for then a portion is stance, although it should occur only once in be communicated to the wires, and the ten thousand times, which is about the number current is immediately disturbed and when the of minutes there are in a week, rendered seatmosphere is filled with moisture the regular condary clocks unreliable as standards of time. electric current is also disturbed, for the moisture This obstacle has also been overcome by a dissipates some portion of the electricity. In simple mechanism so constructed that, under
charged with liable to
;
addition to adjusting the
power of the arma- any combination of circumstances, it will work moving the hands one minute at
ture spring to suit the varying strength of the with certainty, electric current,
the face of the armature has a time for every motion of the armature as
also to be adjusted,
by means of screws,
to
stand at a suitable distance from the face of the
magnet. Some of our readers may have noticed telegraph operators making these adjustments on their instruments, and which, by the way, is considered to be one of the most diffielectro
cult things to acquire in telegraphy, as these
adjustments require constant attention to get their instrument to
work with
certainty.
In.
secondary dials there are no skilful operators
it is
by the magnet. There was an arrangement for secondary clocks brought out in England a number of years ago, which we examined critically at the World's Fair, in LonThis plan was to construct a don, in 1862. clock with weights and a train of wheels, and with escapement and pendulum as in ordinary The weight gave motion to the clock, clocks. and the vibrations of the pendulum were controlled by the action of electro magnets placed either at the side of the pendulum or in the attracted
stationed at each magnet to make these adjustments and for want of a proper adjustment of centre of its ball. Clocks on this principle are the armature spring to suit the varying force of in operation in the United States, but it has althe current the magnets often ceased to work, ways seemed to us that this plan for working ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
78
secondary dials was too complicated for the ing the metals that composed the points of conactual benefits derived, dials.
posed
When
more
especially in small
the action of the wind,
to
and
tact,
if
the oxide
was allowed to
electric current
and when an from
any cause whatever, the
necessity be
made with weights
;
but,
pendulum by magnets, we consider it a superior plan to dispense with the pendulum altogether, and to release a suitably constructed escapement, at stated intervals, by means of an electro magnet, and an electric circuit that is controlled by the vibration of a standard pendulum placed in a favorable position. the
A most vital point in the is
its
been
more readily
if
the batteries are very strong
wires,
and the elements which compose the
battery have also great influence on the rapidity
with which decomposition or oxidization takes place.
Although
this liability to oxidization in
the points of contact cannot be entirely over-
come, there are certain metals used for the
successful action of extreme points of contact that are less liable
is
decompose than
others.
Many
*
different
the heart of the kinds of mechanical arrangements have been
some of which have been adopted,
action sends a pulsation to every proposed,
clock or dial in the circuit. cuit
It has
in proportion to the diameter of the conducting
the act of closing or breaking to
the electric circuit, which
system, and
cur-
found that the points of contact are decomposed
instead of attempting to control the motion of the
secondary dials
electric
cannot conveniently be made rent could not be completed, and there was no
powerful enough to remove them, the clocks longer power in the magnets.
must of
and
collect
the hands on large dials are ex- remain, or the points of contact became dirty
for
Originally the cir- keeping the points of contact always bright and
was closed or broken by the pendulum of
clean,
and some which we have seen are
effec-
the standard clock, acting against a spring at tive in their action.
In these remarks we have referred altogether the end of each vibration (which plan made a motion of the electro magnet once a second), or to the use of electro-magnetism as a motive by means of a wheel revolving in the clock, power for secondary clocks. Of late years constructed of a certain
number :
;
that the quantity of electricity that remains in
the wires
is
exactly in proportion to the sudden-
ness with which the current
is
experiments have been made in Boston with a view of applying magneto-elec-
of conducting extensive
and nonconducting substances. These plans were all subject to two defects they disturbed the rate of the primary clock, and the action of closing or breaking the circuit was not sudden enough. In electro magnets there is a certain amount of electricity remaining in the wire after the current is broken, and which somewhat interferes with the regular action of the armature and its spring. It has been noticed that when the circuit is broken slowly, more olectricity remains in the wires than when it is broken instantly and, in fact, it has been determined
broken.
tricity,
is
the reverse or counterpart of
This plan
has decided advantages over the electro-magnetic system, because in
only produced ficulty
of
when
making
it is
or
it
the magnetism
required and the
closing
the
is
dif-
circuit
is
no expense or trouble required in maintaining batteries, and we would judge that for short circuits, such as would be required for a number of clocks inside avoided, and, in addition, there
is
of one building, this plan would
From
dials
we have
work
the foregoing observations
seen that, although in
Mech- ary
anism has now been constructed that breaks or closes the circuit in a most rapid manner, while the shock in no way reaches the standard pendulum, or interferes with the regularity of its
which
electro-magnetism, for this purpose.
may have
many
it
well.
will be
instances second-
in the past proved a failure,
pointed out the primary causes of
some of the means by This which the difficulties may be overcome branch of our art has been enriched by a vibrations. Independent of the bad effects of gradual accumulation of experience, and we can the slowness of the original methods of break- see no good reason why the benefits of this ing or closing the circuit, there was another plan should not be more generally taken difficulty in
these failures, as well as
connection with the operation of far advantage of than
it is
at
the present time.
more importance than tho one we have just There must be a limit to the application of mentioned. The act of closing or breaking the every agency but with skilful and experienced circuit had the effect of decomposing or oxidiz- men at the head of. the enterprise, we believe it ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. to
be quite practicable at the present day
carry out Bain's original idea, that in
all
to
and trying them.
a large town or section of a city could be some one, or a
made
to follow the lead of
This
the dials fact that the depth
one standard clock.
constructed, be kept constantly in motion,
and
"We
is
necessary from the
may have been changed by
new main wheel or centre
may have been
This standard might be the best that could be proper
79
pinion
put in that were not of the
size.
Take
will suppose the depthing correct.
regulated to be always within one or two seconds the fuzee apart, remove the old ratchet and of mean time. J3y the adoption of this system the pins that held it on, clean off the oil, file the inconveniences of winding clocks that re-
up the square, then stone it with a piece of flat steel wire and oil-stone powder until you have would be avoided and, most important of all, made each side of the square flat, and removed the difficulties connected with keeping clocks all the file marks then polish with crocus and to show uniform time would be reduced to oil on a bell-metal polisher lastly with Vienna a simple mechanical arrangement, like the lime and alcohol on box- wood or lignum vitse. index of a gas or water meter, and the annoy- Put a brass chuck up in your lathe, which ances arising from clocks showing different should be not less than \ of an inch in diameter, time would be entirely obviated. and say about an inch in length make a deep quire to be placed in out of the
way
situations
;
;
;
;
and cement the fuzee up true, with the upper pivot out, and true it up by such portions of the pivot as have not been worn. "When the shellac is cold see if the centre with a graver,
Watch Repairing.— No.
4.
BY JAMES EBICKEB, AMEBICUS,
pivot
GA.
still
runs true
;
then, with a sharp graver,
carefully turn the pivot
down
until
it is
true
In our last article we treated of the chain, and straight, removing as little metal as you can and as it connects with the fuzee, we will deal and yet accomplish the object also turn up with that, and all those parts that belong to it, a square shoulder, and at this time face up the end of the square with the graver if it is rusty. in this article. The fuzee receives too little attention at the Next take a piece of square steel wire, say \ hands of the majority of workmen. I have inch square, and file about three inches of one known workmen who would polish the balance side (from the end back) perfectly flat, using pivots, bush the small holes, etc., who would about a No. 5 Baumel file for this purpose, never seem to give the fuzee a thought. It is which side will be used for the pivots the side not my intention to enumerate the many different that will rest against the shoulder must be so make- shifts adopted by some to make the fuzee filed as to form an angle of about 85 degrees answer for the time being, but to give such prac- with the other side, and describe an arc of a ;
;
tical directions for
putting in a
new
when when it
one,
needed, or of repairing the old one,
circle
;
file
away
the top to a gradual taper for
three inches from the end.
The file marks should
all run at nearly right angles to the length of answer the purpose of anew one. Charge your polisher with oilpolisher. the Let us suppose that the pivots are worn so and oil, and while the lathe is powder stone that they have too much side shake, the corners rapidly your polisher on the pivot, running place of the square are rounded, and the fuzee ratchet well keeping it up to the shoulder, and move it repairs are frequently These three is worn out. then to be made on one and the same fuzee, so we briskly back and forth for a few seconds will put them together and deal separately with remove it, and clean off the pivot, and see if all
will
;
the other difficulties
or
such as putting in a new the graver marks are eradicated if not, proceed As soon as you have got all the fuzee as before. graver marks out, and have a good surface, ;
;
new maintaining power spring, new great wheel, new fuzee arbor, etc.
click,
Having that
we
satisfied ourselves
intend to make,
first
thoroughly preparatory to polishing. will by this time have seen the necessity
with the repairs clean see if the depth-
ing of the great wheel and centre pinion
is
You
it
of having your polisher
made with
the
side
correct before taking the fuzee apart, by putting resting against the shoulder of the pivot, and the centre wheel and fuzee in the lower plate with a slight curve instead of straight, as it
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
80
is
impossible to
move your hand back and
forth
depth was concerned
;
bore a hole
straight
through the upper plate (through the old hole), polisher, you would round the shoulders, but then bore another about half way through, slightly larger than the hole that goes clear with a curved one you can keep them square and furthermore, it being filed so as to form an through the smallest one must be one or two angle of a little less than 90 degrees with the lines larger than the old hole. (In this case, in parallel lines
;
consequently, with a straight
;
side resting to a
on the
pivot,
you can grind down we have supposed that the fuzee was not jewel-
sharp corner.
Make
led.)
and with crocus and
of brass wire in the lathe large
oil for
proceed as with the steel pivot,
After taking the plates apart, put a piece
enough for the an abrasive powder, largest part of the hole in the upper plate, polisher clean off the and fit a bush to it that will fit both sides. To
a bell metal polisher, like the steel one,
and then use a
;
finer article of crocus or
do
this
fit
the wire to the large part of the hole
and finish with first, then turn down for the smaller part put Vienna lime and alcohol on boxwood. Serve the plate on this wire, after having slightly the end of the square in the same manner, and countersunk the lower side of the hole, and rub your upper pivot and square are finished. It it in with a burnisher, using considerable pressometimes happens that the square is very much sure. Next drill a hole in the end and bore it out of true, in which case you will have to turn out with a cutter to nearly the right size, then a centre on the end of it if you have to polish face it off, cut off the wire on the other side with a saw, reverse the plate, cement it upon a brass the lower pivot. Take off your fuzee and reverse it, and turn chuck, or put it in the universal lathe, and down and polish the lower pivot take it off finish up the other end of the bush, leaving it again, and select a brass ratchet of the proper projecting as much above the plate as the other size one that is large enough for both clicks parts will allow. The reasons for this are made to rest in the bottom of the spaces between the apparent in the articles on "Friction" in late In finishing up the Select or make a brass chuck, with a numbers of the Jotjenal. teeth. deep hole in it, larger than the fuzee arbor; face upper end of the bush, if you will use a graver it off, cement your ratchet up on this, and or cutter with not only a sharp edge, but ono true it up by the outside / bore out the hole to that is polished, and then turn the lathe very fit the lower end of fuzee arbor, take it off, and slow, and take off a very slight chi you will put it on the arbor where it belongs having produce & polished cut; then if you ./ill take a first drilled two holes for the pins near its outer little Vienna lime, wet with alcohol, on the end edge, and countersunk them on both sides, drill of a piece of pegwood, and run the lathe fast, for one of the pins in the fuzee, and force a pin you can put such a gloss on it as will not only in, and rivet it down drill for the other, and fit look beautiful, but will not tarnish in a long a pin to it. Now the ratchet is fast and true, time. Having satisfied yourself as to the end-shake put the fuzee up in your lathe again, and face off the ratchet, and turn out the centre to allow of the fuzee, you will then bush the lower hole. Of course you will have fitted the fuzee pivot to the shoulder of the main wheel plenty of room put the maintaining wheel on to the main wheel, its hole by broaching it out slightly (as it was and try it on to the fuzee to see if the ratchet bored nearly large enough), and then polishing has been turned out enough, also to see if you the hole with a round broach, which not only have faced it down thin enough after which polishes the hole, but hardens its surface. Retake it off and boil out in alcohol to get the move the fuzee bridge and broach out the hole, rouge
;
again clean
off the pivot,
;
;
—
,
;
;
;
shellac
them
off,
then clean the other parts and put
file
up a piece of wire
to fit
it,
longer than the hole, and rivet
together.
cut it
it
off
well
a
in,
little
being
screw it back to bush up both holes in careful not to deface the bridge put the plates together with again, and put the plates together. Sometimes screws or pins, as the case may be, then put it is as well to bush the upper hole in the same them up in the universal lathe, getting the way. Centre in the universal lathe by the centre from the lower hole, which was found to upper hole centre and drill for the lower hole,
You
are
the plates.
now ready
',
First,
;
be correct in the
first
examination so far as and finish the outside of
it
while
it is
up
in the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. lathe fit
;
take
it
out and take the plates apart, and
To
the lower pivot, and try the end-shake.
give
enough put the lower
it
back in the
plate
make it go very
81
slow, keeping the cutter against
the fuzee until you wish to run out at the snail.
By repeating this
process several times, you will
universal lathe and face off the bridge, or bush get the fuzee into a tolerable condition, at least
you get it right or if you choose you can cement the bridge upon your brass chuck in another lathe, which at times is a very rather, until
convenient
;
way
If the fuzee
bush
of doing.
is
fit
good as
ever.
You
can make a cutter out of an old thick graver. Draw the temper, then file the end
up square
'
jewelled top and bottom,
so as to hold the chain as
;
then
file
away
the metal on the
a right-hand side of the graver (when the cutting
into the hole in the plate (supposing the
end
pointing from you) for about a quarter
is
party did not wish to pay for a jewel), and of an inch back from the end, leaving a thin set- cutter on the left about the thickness of the and it will look chain now temper and sharpen it, having cut very well or make a brass bush just the shape away the lower side enough to give the edge a of a jewel, and fit it into the steel setting, good cutting angle, which for brass, can be very which also looks well. We frequently put obtuse. This little tool, with a little practice, them in either way. If the lower bridge has a will enable you to improve many an old fuzee jewel screwed in, proceed same as with the that you would otherwise have to replace by upper bush. If it was rubbed in, shape the putting in a new one, and last as long as the bush so as to rub it in also. To do this knock bal ance of the watch. Some one may have a out the old setting and turn up a bush just like better plan of renovating an old fuzee than this, the old setting, only making it solid drill a but certainly not a more expeditious one, as it hole through the centre, or, better still, have it will not take three minutes to make the old solid next cement the bridge upon a brass groove quite passable in this way. This subject (the fuzee) has taken up more chuck, and then put the bush into it, having chamfered off its outer edge cut a slight space than was expected, consequently we will groove around the hole in the bridge, and with have to continue it in our next. a burnisher rub in the bush, screw the bridge in, put the plates together, and put up in the universal lathe and drill the hole in the lower Theory and Practice. bush, and then fit the pivot and get the end-
give
ting,
a shape similar to a jewel with steel
it
and polish
it
up
nicely,
;
;
;
;
;
shake as before described. trouble,
done
it
to the
but will
it
is
All this
be a satisfaction
to
you
some
Thousands and thousands of inventions come well from the fertile brains of inventors that are enand of value tirely useless to the practical world. The crude
quickly done, and
is
when
watch.
thought is put in form by a draftsman, the patsometimes find the groove in the fuzee ent obtained perhaps, and the machine conso worn from having carried a chain that was structed of working size, only to prove a par-
We
not the proper thickness, or that has been filed
by some
tial,
or perhaps total failure.
Points that were
one, so that the chain will at plausible in the plan, or perhaps that
were not on practical applicaof it, the old groove can be recut so as to make tion, conditions altogether unlooked for, and it answer a very good purpose where the owner repeated failures must ever be the precedent of of the watch will not pay for a new fuzee. perfection. This well-known fact should not Without taking the fuzee apart, put it up in deter inventors from diligently prosecuting intimes slip
when winding.
When
it
will
admit thought
essential, develop,
the lathe with a spring chuck, or cement it vestigation, but it should caution them not to upon a brass one if you choose. If you use ce- bring to public notice crude attempts. ment you had better take the fuzee apart As an example of this class, we produce the fasten your rest a little below the centre and drawings of a little poHshing tool, or "wig '
parallel to the spindle, then with the cutter in
your right hand commence at the largest part of the fuzee and take a light cut, carefully turning the lathe with your
left
hand
so as to
—
wag," for the convenience of watchmakers, to all appearance an excellent arrangement, only, like some other things, "it won't work."
In the drawing,
A
is
a brass column, to be
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
S2
The ma- square head of
fastened upon the rear of the bench.
The
tho supporting column.
be actuated by a band from the live end of the arbor % projects through the cock Through the square head of sufficiently to allow to be slipped upon it the spindle lathe. to this column is the hollow bar b, secured in short tubular collar m, with its set screw Through this hollow the front end of this collar is secured a rightplace by the set screw c. chine
is to
;
bar extends the mandrel
d,
having upon one angled
arm, represented in perspective
slitted
end a cone of pulleys e, and the other a metal at Fig. 2. In the slit of this arm, which lies collar or disk/} from the face of which a steel in front of the disk /, the stud g moves freely stud g projects, being inserted near the periph- as the mandrel d is revolved, changing, in a To the top of tha bar is fast- very simple manner, the rotary into reciprocatery of the disk. ened a cock h, which carries one end of the ing' motion the stud at each revolution traverssteel arbor i, the other end being pivoted in the ing the entire length of the slit. ;
The arbor which
has upon
i
it
a tubular collar
k,
m any desired position by the set screw
fastened
nearly three-fourths of a revolution to carry
m
arm
the slitted
from one extreme
to the
upward, form- other, or from 1 to 2, while for the other ing a rocking bar, to which motion is imparted stroke it only travels from 2 to 1. But that is by the stud in the revolving disk f, the length not all. The near approach which the stud g of stroke depending upon the place upon the makes to the centre of revolution of the arm bar I from which the motion is taken the greatwhile passing from 2 to 1, moves it with a
/,
is
indefinitely prolonged
m
;
from
er the distance
centre of motion, the
its
By
greater the length of stroke.
a jointed
rapidity proportioned to the diameter of the two
tends forward to the lathe, and upon
it is
be seen
that,
when
this
the stroke of the polisher in one direction
made ter of
so
suddenly as
to
is
is
which the near and
its
account of the very short radius of
3,
the journey of the polisher
arm
m is increased, for the relative parts of the
circle of revolution travelled
rotation
when
the machine
This will be better spoken of
is
f,
pulsatory as
be seen that the disk stud
g,
must
travel
pivots
;
is
arm m,
slowly revolved the error
not apparent, but
by which
eccentric
till,
were it extended to infinity, the difference would become infinitely small. The inventor was evidently led into this mistake by the necessity of
high speed which
will
over by g at each
gradually approximate equality,
3,
it
really
This difference diminishes as the length of the
understood by consulting the diagram Fig. the
is
performed in an inappreciable space of time.
passage over the with as small an eccentric as possible, and
nearly, if not quite, as rapid
as the pivot's revolution.
carrying
far points
partake of the charac- giving a large arc of vibration to the
a blow or jerk, and
revolving pivot
On
the circle
machine is actuated by a band from the cone upon the lathe, rapid vibratory motion is communicated to the polisher. And it seems simple and effective, but it does not work well. The reason for this defect is found in the fact, which the maker overlooked in his construction, that It will at once
4,
m describe in making the journey back and
the forth.
usual square polishing block.
and
circles 3
connection with this rocking bar a pitman ex- of
to
when run
at the
becomes so become dangerous to minute
in fact will
is
intended,
jump
it
entirely off the pivot,
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. unless
kept
down by a
detrimental
One
pres-
placed
sure.
The change of
evening, after
me
being attained in the middle of the stroke.
duty,
owner had wound and
in the usual position for the night,
he remarked
direction of impulse in the
polisher should be gradual, the highest speed watch I
my
83
was
or in
;
what an excellent had never failed to do my a single instance led him astray his wife
to
that I
me as a marriage present ago and that I was the best watch chines for the purpose, where they are carried that was ever made, and he would not part by an eccentric, or by a crank and pitman, as with me for a hundred pounds. Little did he a since he had received
This removes the tendency to jump, and
is
condition beautifully fulfilled in factory
ma-
fifteen years
;
shown at Fig. 4, f being the circle of revolution, suspect, when he made that remark, how and as little did I g the stud carrying the pitman h to which the soon he was to lose me polishing block is attached. The quiescent think, while basking in the sunshine of his points, being in the line 1, 2, gradually increas- praises, what terrible adversity was in store for Early the next morning, as my hands ing in speed till in the position indicated by the me. drawing, and gradually diminishing to the sec- were between one and two o'clock, a man wearond quiescent point, and repeated identically ing a mask cautiously opened the door of the during the second half revolution. room, and I saw at once that his visit meant Should the inventor succeed in remedying mischief. After glancing hurriedly around he this defect in the little machine, it will be a very came to the dressing table, took all the jewelry useful and much to be desired adjunct to the that was laying around, snatched me and my repairer's machines for perfect work. owner's wife's watch from our pockets, and took us and some silver plate found in another part of the house to quarters in London where stolen goods were received, and before the sun The Story of a Watch. rose that morning my cases were a shapeless mass of gold, and my works locked up in a BY THE AUTHOR OF " REMINISCENCES OP AN drawer with a quantity of miscellanous moveAPPRENTICE." ments of all grades, from the finest pocket chroI was made in London about the year Queen nometer to the cheapest class of Liverpool or Victoria was born, at an establishment where Coventry duffers, and in a few days we were all the proprietor had a theoretical and practical packed up together and sent to New York. knowledge of the business, and every workman In New York I got new gold cases and by had to be a complete master of the branch of some means was smuggled into the channels of business he professed. The caliper from legitimate trade, and was soon bought by a which I was made was one of the best, and all steamboat captain who wanted a good reliable my different parts were arranged with a view London made watch. For over a year I gave to general utility, combined with strength where my new owner the best of satisfaction he strength was required. I had no patent im- was loud in his praise when he had occasion to provement whatever, and contained no com- talk about me, and once when boasting about plex arrangement to counteract the evil effects my regular running to a grain merchant the of faults that had no business to exist. To sum proposal was made to purchase me. He said up my various properties, I was a sound, well- he had tried a great many different kinds of made lever watch, adjusted to positions and watches, and he never could get one to run moderate changes of temperature, had heavy near as well as I was said to, and finally a bargold cases, and cost £30. My owner used me gain was concluded, and I was sold for more The grain dealer well, was regular in his habits, and every than twice my actual value. eighteen months or so left me at the shop had occasion to travel considerably in the Westwhere I was made, to be cleaned and looked ern States, and somehow I could not run to over. The watchmaker charged his own price please him any better than any of the watches for his trouble, and my owner paid it cheerfully he had carried previously. He regulated me at and for several years the most perfect satisfac- every town he came to, and attributed my apparent variation to the shaking I had received tion prevailed among all concerned. ;
;
I
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
84
when he was
He
travelling.
certainly
did also polished and blued the heads of those that
many rough roads, but I was were damaged, and, as far as he was able, reto stand it all without changing my rate stored me to my original condition. When my much. The real cause of the trouble was owner called to get me, and when the bill was
travel over a great
able
very
the difference of the time
acknowledged
to
shown by what was presented
to
him, he flew into a great passion,
be the standard clocks in the and instead of only thinking
this really
honest
and when watchmaker to be an impostor, he now believed his watch did not show the same time as the him to be one in reality, because he was chargclocks, he concluded the watch was wrong, and ing three dollars for what my owner considered and in this way he to be the same work as the man who had regulated it accordingly kept constantly shifting my hands and poking " shined me up good " had done so expeditiously, and charged only a dollar and a half. If the at my regulator. Now, I do not think that a watch acts any watch-wearing public only knew a little more worse than a human being when placed in a about their watches, how much better and If a watch is constituted pleasanter it would be for all concerned. position of this kind. different
towns and
he
cities
visited
;
;
to
pursue a certain line of conduct,
help doing so
if
people will only
it
let it
cannot alone
;
After this double cleaning the natural inference would be, that I would be sure to run well
my
but any unnecessary interference, however well but I did not please
meant it may be, always works mischief. I was doing my best to please him and could not do it and he was under the pleasant delusion that he was helping me to run regular, while his actions were the very thing that prevented me from doing so. One evening he forgot to wind me, and, as a natural consequence, I stop-
owner any
better,
and
the primary cause of the whole trouble was, he
kept continually altering the position of
my
hands and regulator. At last he came across a watchmaker in a large city who thoroughly understood what was the matter. He said that I was not properly compensated for heat and cold, which was invariably the disease that ped. He concluded at once that I needed clean- afflicted every watch that came into his hands. ing, and took me to a watchmaker, remarking Now this was the most scientific man that had that he was to be sure and clean me well, as I ever handled me. He had an oven constructed had never run right since he got me. " Oh, according to his own ideas, and which differed yes," says the watchmaker, "I will shine it up from every other contrivance of the kind for good ;" and he kept his word, too, for the scrub- testing the rates of watches in various temperabing he gave me with chalk and a hard brush tures. His arrangement for producing cold was perfectly fearful, causing irreparable dam- was equally peculiar, and he was altogether so age to my fine gilding. It was the first time very scientific that he could use nothing but chalk had ever been used to clean me, and the Reaumur's thermometer to mark the different watchmaker left much of it in my pinions, pivot degrees of heat and cold. I was first put through holes, and other places, and when he handed the stereotyped process of cleaning, but the me back to my owner I was in a far worse con- owner of the establishment did not attend to dition than before I was cleaned. In the course that personally, leaving it to be executed by a of a very few weeks I stopped again, from being subordinate. After I had been cleaned, and so choked up with chalk and hairs from the when he was putting me together he bent one Avatchmaker's brush, and my owner took me to of my third wheel pivots slightly, and it was another watchmaker, who, of course, told him with some difficulty that I managed to keep that I required cleaning. My owner could not moving. To persons possessed of minds of such understand how it was that I required to be a high scientific order as the owner of this cleaned so soon, and evidently regarded this establishment, the train of 'a watch is of little watchmaker as an impostor but as -there was consequence it is in the adjustments where all no other in the town, and I had to be made to the science comes in consequently he saved all run somehow, he left me with him. Now this his energies to use in that direction. Now, the watchmaker treated me very well cleaned out ordinary adjusters of watches to heat and cold all the particles of chalk, polished my pivots, ar- are content if they can get us to run regular in ranged my screws in their proper places, and moderate changes of temperature but this idea ;
;
;
;
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. would not
now
85
man whose clutches I had my owner maintained that it could not be posHe argued that if a rope had to sible, as I had been cleaned but two days behundred pounds weight it would be fore. This man wanted a job, and was not satisfy the
got into.
sustain a
have it made to bear the strain of two hundred pounds, which, of course, is agreeable to common sense as well as science and consequently it must also be safer for a watch that safer to
;
usually runs in a given
number
of degrees of
means he used to get it, and under the pretence of examining me and trying the power that was on my different
particular about the
wheels, with the point of a peg, dexterously re-
moved a
portion of the dirt from under the nail
heat or cold to be tested in double that number. of his thumb, and showed it to my owner as havThis also appears common sense, but it was not ing been taken out of my works. Of course this the science practised by my maker, who, for ex- was conclusive proof that I needed cleaning, treme degrees of temperature, considered a and I was put through the process once more secondary compensation was necessary. This but my third wheel pivot was not straightened
and of course I continued to My owner was now under his charge. He tried me in a tempera- thoroughly disgusted with both me and the ture below the freezing point, and then in watchmakers, but was induced to try another another temperature which nearly melted the one, who was recommended by a particular shellac that held the jewels in my pallets, and friend as being a mechanical genius. This individual belonged to the family of in this manner continued to persecute me for nearly a month but being originally a good " born watchmakers," and was one of those few watch I was able to stand it all, and was not who are possessed with that amount of knowlmuch the worse. At last this professor of baking edge of watches, and skill in correcting their and freezing examined his book, added up the errors, that only those inspired by nature can figures in the different columns of the page de- be expected to enjoy: He conversed freely voted to my record, and I was pronounced to about watches in general, and was very severe be perfect. My owner cheerfully paid the large in his denunciations of regular watchmakers in When my owner handed me to bill that had been incurred, and it was con- particular. sidered morally certain that I would run regu- him, and told the whole story of my bad belittle
omission, however,
was of no consequence that time
me
whatever to the professor who now had
either,
stop running at intervals.
;
havior, the natural genius looked at
lar this time.
How man
little
dependence
calculations.
Our
is to
be placed on hu-
izingly,
poked
my
me
patron-
wheels with the point of a
fondest hopes, which piece of wire quite regardless as to whether he
to-day seem on the point of being fully realized, are to-morrow shattered to pieces.
The
clocks
was scratching them or
not, then became absorbed in deep meditation for a few minutes.
my At
my gears (as he run deep enough into each continued to show different time, and of course other, and that they had too much back lash. I was still considered to be running bad in pro- My owner was astonished to hear of such a portion to the amount I varied from the dif- radical defect in my construction, and appeared ferent clocks. Besides, I had a bent third wheel a little incredulous at first, for he naturally pivot now, which sometimes caused me to stop wondered why the regular watchmakers had altogether. In the course of a year I was at not discovered this defect before but the Natuhalf a dozen different watchmakers, who all ral watchmaker clinched his argument by givsaid that I needed to be cleaned, and they all ing him the pieco of wire and the eye-glass to in the towns of the different States that
owner
visited in the course of his business still
last
he pronounced that
called them) did not
;
cleaned fall into
me
thoroughly
my
;
but I was not fortunate enough
to
try for himself;
who examined me play what was the cause of and
the hands of one to see really
stopping.
One day I stopped
after being
and sure enough therw was a
or shake between the teeth of
the leaves of
my
pinions,
watchmaker convinced him that
my
wheels
and the born this
shake pre-
only two days out of a watchmaker's hands. vented the wheels from acting constantly on
My a
owner
number
tried another
When the watch was being carried and especially if he was wearing it when be cleaned; but riding on horseback, or in a railroad car the play
watchmaker
of miles distant,
usual story, that I needed to
who
told
in a
town each
him
other.
the about,
3
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. in the gears was sure to allow the wheels to move greatly improved, and that another laurel had backward and forward, and consequently they been added to the many already won by this could not move regular, and when the wheels natural watchmaker. [to be continued.] did not move regular how could the watch be regular expected to run ? My owner soon saw the point of this sensible argument, and when he did make the discovery he became perfectly Robert Hooke. frantic with joy, and nearly made himself as conspicuous in the neighborhood as that anThis celebrated natural philosopher and incient philosopher did, who, regardless of ordi- ventor was born in the Isle of Wight, England, nary toilet arrangements, ran through the on the 18th of July, 1635, and for the first streets of his town shouting " Eureka." seven years of his life was in very infirm health. Of course it was immediately decided that His father, who was minister of the Parish of my wheels were to be made to run deeper into Freshwater, educated him under his own roof, each other the natural watchmaker was em- as he had been such a sickly child that he was powered to do the work, and in a few days the not expected to live. He was at first intended vandalism was completed. My destroyer first for the church but, after beginning the Latin proposed to hammer my wheels and stretch Grammar his health became so weak, and he them enough to prevent shake in the teeth, but was so much subjected to headache, that his finally abandoned that idea and bushed up the parents despaired of making him a scholar. pivot holes and run the wheels in anew. My Being thus left to the direction of his own frames were fearfully abused in this operation genius, he amused himself in the formation of not one of my pivot holes were straight or pro- toys, and he even succeeded in the construction perly fitted, and not one of my wheels was up- of a wooden clock that exhibited, in a rough right, but the wheels all worked as deep into manner, the hours of the day. This circum;
;
;
the pinions as they could possibly be
and
made
my
to
owner superintended the alteration in person. After this alteration was completed another one was found to be necessary. My mainspring was too weak and a stronger one had to be put in, which was so thick that the mainspring box could not hold the usual number of turns and give the necessary freedom for the spring to work. The accurate adjustment of the fuzee was entirely destroyed, but this defect was never thought to be of any consequence. At last I was put together, but it was awful hard work for me to keep moving and were it not for the wide pivot holes I never would have been able to run at all. The points run,
;
of the teeth of
my
original cause of
him apprentice
owing
to
to the death, of his
a
watchmaker, but
father, in 1648, the
plan was not put into execution.
He was
placed for a short time under Sir Peter Sely, the celebrated painter, but remained under his
and was then where he made Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and
instruction for only a short time,
sent to Westminster School,
great progress in
other Oriental languages.
He
also
siderable progress in Euclid, and, as
made
con-
Wood
in-
forms us, he invented thirty different methods of flying in the
air.
In the year 1650 or 1653, he went to Christ's Church, Oxford. In 1655 he was introduced wheels butted against the to the Philosophical Society there, and was
backs of the leaves of third wheel pivot,
stance led his parents to the resolution of putting
my
which
my
and was bent
in
pinions
;
the bent employed to assist Dr. Willis in his chemical
was the experiments, and afterwards labored for several was never ob- years in the same capacity with Mr. Boyle.
reality
stopping,
but the wide pivot He received instructions in astronomy from Dr. holes accommodated, in a certain degree, all Seth Ward, Savilian Professor of that science these defects. I managed to keep moving, and in Oxford, and was henceforth distinguished served,
still
;
went regular enough to please my owner, who for the invention of various astronomical and was now settled in one place, and compared me mechanical instruments, and particularly for with one clock all the time. Although I was the air-pump which he contrived for Mr. not going one half as regular as before, he firm- Boyle. ly believed that my construction had been In consequence of perusing Ricciolus's Al-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. magest, which Dr.
he was
led,
Ward
put into his hands,
in the years 1656, 1657, 1658, to
the invention of the balance or
pendulum
upon him £30 a year
87
for
life,
for his labors as
curator of experiments, and in the
same year
he Was appointed to succeed Dr. Dacres as proone of the greatest improvements that has been fessor of geometry in Gresham College. In made in the art of Horology. Some consider 1665, at one of the first meetings of the Royal
Abbe
Hautefeuille and
Huygens
to
spring,
be the
ventors of the balance spring for watches
;
in-
Society,
Dr.
Hooke produced a very small
but quadrant for observing the minutes and sec-
was not
till 1674 that Huygens claimed the onds by means of an arm moved with a screw and the Abbe Hautefeuille had mere- along the limb of the quadrant. His explanaly suggested the idea about this date, and there tion of the inflection of a direct into a curvilinis no doubt but what Hooke invented it four- eal motion was read before the Royal Society teen years previous to these gentlemen. Dr. in the year 1666. In the same year he laid Hooke mentioned his discovery to Mr. Boyle, before the Society a plan and model for rewho showed it to several other prominent gen- building the city of London, which was detlemen of the day, who so readily approved of stroyed by the great fire and though his plan it that they formed themselves into a company was not executed, he was appointed one of the to take out a patent for the invention. The surveyors under the act of Parliament a situpapers were actually drawn up about 1663, by ation in which he realized a considerable sum which it was provided that out of the first of money, which was found after his death in a £6,000 of profit Dr. Hooke was to have three- large iron chest, that appeared to have been fourths, of the next £4,000 two-thirds, and of shut up for thirty years. the rest one-half; but the other partners in the In the year 1687 he suffered a severe loss by patent veiy improperly insisted upon the inser- the death of his brother's daughter, Mrs. Grace tion of a clause in the agreement, giving to any Hooke, who had lived several years with him of themselves the sole benefit of whatever im- and the distress of his mind was still further provements they might make upon his inven- increased by a Chancery suit with Sir John In 1691 ArchCutler respecting his salary. tion. him in contriving Tillotson employed About the same time Hooke contrived the bishop plan near Hoxton, founded the of the hospital conical pendulum, circular or which was shown to the Royal Society in 1663, and which was by Robert Ash, and out of gratitude for his
it
invention,
;
—
;
afterwards claimed by Huygens.
The
estab-
lishment of the Royal Society afforded to Dr.
Hooke numerous
opportunities of extending
services that distinguished prelate obtained for
him
the degree of
When
M.D.
the Chancery suit with Sir John Cut-
He published, in 1650, a small ler was determined in his favor in 1696, he was on the ascent of water in small tubes by so overjoyed that he left an account of his feelcapillary attraction, in which he showed that ings in his diary, expressed in the following his reputation. tract
the height of the water was in a certain pro- manner:
A
portion to their bores.
debate arose on the
1635, and
"I was born on the 18th of July, God has given me a new birth. May
while he subject in the Royal Society in April, 1661, but I never forget his mercies to me Dr. Hooke's replies were considered so satis- gives me breath may I praise him." In addition to the inventions we have already factory, and raised him so high in the estimation of the Society, that in 1662 he was ap- mentioned, Dr. Hooke invented the areometer, pointed curator of experiments to that distin- the spirit level, a recoiling escapement for ;,
guished body.
In 1663 he drew up a
inquiries for the use of those
list
of clocks,
who might have
and
also applied the screw for dividing
astronomical
instruments,
and invented the
Those clockmaker's cutting engine. He also inventin respect to Iceland are numerous and inter- ed the marine barometer and sea gauge, and esting, and one is particularly deserving of no- the method of supplying air to the diving bell, " Whether spirits appear in what shape a quadrant by reflection, and a clock for registice what they say and do anything of that kind tering the weather. In addition to these and occasion to visit Iceland or Greenland.
:
;
;
;
very remarkable and of good credit,"
etc.
In January, 1664, the Royal Society
settled
numerous other inventions, Dr.
Hooke
pro-
posed a steam engine on Newcomen's principle,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
88
and a pendulum or a drop of water He was the first
standard of measure.
goods,
is to
buy them of the makers
;
secondary vibrations
Bro.'s
or of
first-
of
threw water into waves at four points, and that the fundamental sound was accompanied by its harmonies. In order to induce him to complete
&
a safe way for those that want Rogers
sounding class jobbers, who fill orders with the genuine that a glass touched with a fiddle bow goods, stamped " R&gers & J3ro."
serve the
bodies
as
to ob-
some of
his
Friction.
unfinished inventions, the
Royal Society requested him, in 1696, to repeat most of his experiments at their expense but the infirm state of his health prevented him from complying with their request. During the last two or three years of his life he is said to have sat night and day at a table, so much engrossed with his inventions and studies that he never undressed himself or went to bed. Emaciated with the gradual approach of old age, he died at Gresham College on the 3d
Ed. Horological Journal: It was my intention to remain a
silent ob-
;
server in the pending controversy on the above subject; but in response to closing remarks of B. F.
of the Journal, I
H.
the request and
in the last
would respectfully
number
my
state
position with regard to the subject of friction
and tion.
its
bearing upon the adjustments
am well
I
aware of the
to posi-
difficulty of
mak-
ing a public confession, but I shall do this the
of March, 1702, in the eighty-seventh year of more conscientiously inasmuch as he charges his age, and was buried in St. Helen's Church, me with a share in the cause, if he is misled
To be brief and candid, I would outset that I am thoroughly at the mention by all the members of the Royal Society who having been in error in my views of convinced were then in London. Bishopgate
street, his
funeral being attended in his views.
concerning friction at the time of writing first
Rogers
&
article
on adjustments.
In
then, I cannot feel particularly flattered
Bro.
am
my
this respect,
by
his
him
for his
before writing the article above
named
eulogies,
though I
obliged to
good opinion.
In answer
number
to
a correspondent in the
of the Journal,
we
stated the fact that I
had recently added considerably to the
this firm
productive power of their factory, but a more
extended notice was justly due them. the
commencement
Long
last
From
their business has steadily
had been
position,
i.
in the habit of adjusting watches to e.
equal arcs in
causing the balance to describe
by simply flattening more or less. This I did,
all positions
the ends of the pivots
not with any fixed idea as to the principles un-
knew from exmeet their orders with that perience that this operation would have the dedegree of promptness satisfactory to the cus- sired effect. I was not then as familiar with tomer. In addition to the engine spoken of, giv- the subject and laws of friction taught in meing them an increase of about two hundred horse chanical philosophy as I have since become, power, they have made extensive additions to and feeling no particular need of knowing the their machinery, much of it of entirely new and whys and wherefores, my mind was not led to improved designs, enabling them to largely in- reason about it until I wrote the article on adincreased from year to year, rendering
them
sible for
it
impos- derlying, but simply because I
to
crease the production of their goods.
justments,
when
I thought
it
necessary to ex-
Their salesrooms at 203 Broadway have also plain the phenomenon. Then it was when I undergone extensive improvement, as well as made the mistake that, instead of going to work considerable addition in extent, which, together and studying
with the
many new and
tasteful designs in
self,
up the subject of
friction for
my-
I was rather led by the remarks of other
goods added to their stock, render their estab- writers on the subject of adjustments to conlishment well worthy the attention of the trade. ceive the view that friction is proportional to
up a reputation the surfaces in contact, and thus fell into an marks have error, the consequences of which I little dreamed been extensively counterfeited and the only of when I made those statements. But "be-
who have
Like
all
on a
specialty, they find their trade
others
built
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
89
how great a matter a little fire kindleth." mistakably teach and demonstrate the contrary. When, however, my attention was called to It is very evident that the laws of friction are hold
the subject,
much
nor
it
did not take
was wrong
that I
my
in
me
very long
to see
ideas about friction,
;
but respecting this par-
ticular characteristic of
longer to find the true solution for mously agree, and I am.
the adjustment to position.
And now
am
I
truly sorry if I have been the innocent cause
of Brother B. F. H.'s mistake .
not an exact science
but
;
it
will
B. F. H.
is
they must
it
humbly
all
unani-
of opinion that
quite alone in the world of intelli-
gent mechanics
who
be experiment with the
hold a contrary view. tail
His
stock of a universal
lathe, I am free to state my belief, would not remarks on stand one moment's test before the scientific adjustment, and solely on his own responsibil- world, because it is subject to compound or Still, I would ask his pardon, and recom- binding friction, which he does not distinguish ity.
seen from his articles that he carried the mis-
take
much beyond
mend him if
the scope of
my
to carefully reconsider his premises,
perchance he also
may
" see the error of his
ways." It is not
my
from simple or free friction. I would advise is an expert in casting metal, to cast a model of brass or iron somewhat in
him, as I see he
object here to review anything the shape of a Swiss Jacot lathe
;
then bore the
which has been said in this controversy on holes for the broaches straight, and consideraeither side, but I would say in reply to B. F. bly larger than the shaft intended to be used H.'s inquiry addressed to myself, that he seems then make cylindrical bushings of different to overlook the fact that the principles of fric- lengths, the holes of which must be straight tion, as they have been discussed in the con- and parallel, fitting the shaft accurately but troversy, have nothing at all to do with the ad- free, and cut them longitudinally in two, makjustment of a watch or rather, that the ad- ing thus of each two half holes then cut also justment of a watch is accomplished independ- the top of the model so that only one-half of ently of whether friction is proportional to the bore remains, which will enable him to pressure or to surfaces, as shown in Mr. Gribi's place conveniently bearings of different length ;
;
;
page 134, present volume. The fact into it make a shaft of equal diameter in its differed in theory at one time did not length, and this, with a pulley in the middle prevent either of us from adjusting to position between the bearings, and a small string, with by the same means that of flattening the a scale to receive weights wound around it, article,
that
;
we
—
ends of the pivots. In my article on adjust- should give the best results possible ments I simply gave a wrong explanation of tained.
to
be ob-
As regards the making of experiments to test known fact. "We a often build the doctrines of friction in a watch, or even in upon false ory But the fact that a clock, I believe it is impossible to obtain sattheories upon known facts. Newton's emanation theory concerning light was isfactory results within the compass of so small a false one does not prove that the sun did not a mechanism at least such experiments are shine just as radiantly in Newton's days so too difficult, and too much subject to variations the two antagonistical theories concerning ad- for which we are not able to account besides, justment to position do not disprove the fact of we are all, or at least most of us, obliged to work for our daily bread, and under such cirthe adjustment. the phenomenon, thus having built a false the-
;
;
;
As regards versy,
the real questions of the contro- cumstances
whether
friction is proportional to press-
work
;
we
naturally avoid
unprofitable
but, to say the least, experimenting for
independent of the extent of surfaces in the benefit of others, even when the results are contact, or not, I am obliged to bow to the over- satisfactory enough, is plainly not only unprofwhelming testimony in favor of the former. itable, but a thankless job. Too many of our ure,
There
is
here and there a minor authority, such brethren
as Parker
and
others,
friction is increased
who seem
by increasing the
but without any demonstration at
all
;
— and,
it
must be said with regret, even
— are singularly
of the better class of
workmen
surfaces,
unwilling to learn
some,
while
incapable of reasoning correctly, others plainly
to teach that
all
;
it
would seem, are
the best German, French, and English authors think they don't need any information, and thus on mechanical philosophy positively and un- reject and oppose everything they hear. Bet-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
90
ter to
if they could take good advice, plane action as compared with the Swiss and everything they hear, show a American " club teeth" area of contact. Exup treasure
would
it
be
who
disposition to be grateful to those to
are able perience teaches that the pressure on inclined
impart knowledge, remembering that
know
is
derived from external sources
all
we
of infor-
Hoeologist.
mation.. o
Laws
of Friction
planes
is
too large for dry rub to give satisfac-
tion in the rate of the
;
we
are then
being but, with the employment of a lubricant several additional causes of error come into power such as colgrindlecting and retaining particles of sand isfaction for the time
Under
watch
forced to the expedient of oiling, and take sat;
—
Difficulties.
En. Horological Journal:
;
I will not take part in the friction question, ing away the polish where smoothness of surface is wonderfully important adulterating the but because " Clyde," as an outsider or looker and oil with metal as well as other dust, etc. sides with the stronger party, I must re;
;
on,
mind him of the well-known
fact,
that the laws
of nature cannot always be followed with ad-
Even
vantage.
correct science for the theory
cannot always give the result which
is
expect-
The trouble with us all is, not one and the same time. As thought at enough ed, in practice.
regards a certain law in
friction,
lubrication
to
cap the climax in these direct and indirect
which come in with the necessity of watch is alternately heated in the pocket and cooled over night. Cold after heat always leaves the oil inferior to what it was before cooling deteriorates it by inches, as it were, even were it not ruined with foreign obstacles
lubrication, the
;
must be dispensed with before advantage can matter. Now, as the balance pivots in some degree be had from it. Nature makes timepieces without friction, and with this power or advan- share in these circumstances, it is best to retage gains several others cle to
contend with, as
There
is
—having no
man
oil
obsta-
duce the areas of contact in the vertical position as
has.
nothing so bad in the mensuration
much
as is consistent with durability,
for the purpose of
improving the rate power
;
of time as pressure and lubrication (one neces- but to make this suspension resistance equal, effort to substitute the sitates the other), whether from large force in is an absurd attempt or with equality in the extent of isochronism effect the escape-wheel direct, or from inclined planes,
This resistance to the balor both causes meeting, as they generally do. of the vibrations. to exercise its normal ecallowed be must ance " or dead Neither inclined planes, club teeth," watch must be made indethe and centricity, power is where rate beat, should be tolerated to
The pendent of its influence on the motio?i of the can be such (so superior or balance, instead of making the resistance equal remains fluid, is wrong the under all the circumstances of position, wear,
be a leading feature in a timekeeper.
idea that watch perfect) that
it
oil
:
best does not long remain, in the very nature dirty
of things, worthy the name, no matter
how
oil,
cold, etc.,
which
is
not only impossi-
ble, but a useless waste of genius,
a
la perpet-
good when applied, as will hereafter appear. ual motion making. Pivot friction would not Dame Nature, as said before, has vacuo for her even remain the same resistance to the balance balances to vibrate in, and has no gravity to in the same position of the watch, but would
showing that from only two obstacles increase as the areas of contact were larger, come our troubles as regards rate power. coarser, and dirtier. Constancy in friction is Why man persists in competing with her, un- impracticable, and we expose our ignorance when we expect it, even in the one positioned der such odds, is past my calculation. Unfortunately, then, with man oil, and con- marine chronometer, with chronometer escapeoppose
;
all
sequently dirt also, are necessary (I say neces- ment. sary because they cannot be avoided) in the tion,
wearing departments of an escapement
;
hence ure
the smaller the areas of contact in the rubbing
All that
is to
oil is
much
man
can do, in his best direcIn small pressideal.
approach the not required
;
or, if it
smaller percentage
(in
were, there
is
a
small friction) of
Many watchmakers will say, the inconstancy. ;" " but theso things can be made to smaller will be the resistance called friction. Nonsense This is proved in the English lever inclined tell their own stories much better than I tell surfaces,
other
conditions
being
equal,
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL. them
I do not make imaginary causes
here.
of variation
;
91
Differences of Temperature in Clock Cases.
I only try to remember some of
Ed. Horological Journal: Next, I hear, probably, " MatThe remarks of your correspondent " Clyde" ters need not to be so curiously considered ;" in reference to the different metals in their rebut the property known as time is curious also, lations to latent and sensible heat are undoubtto say the least. edly true. Allowing for that difference, there There is much to be learned but these mysare errors still which the ordinary construction terious ghosts (causes of error that lie below of the mercurial pendulum cannot correct the surface) can be made to speak, or squeak small, I grant, yet still sensible and affecting and their lank witches (languages), and to us unfavorably the rate of the clock. Suppose the real ones.
;
—
;
worse dial acts
(dialects),
A
be interpreted.
balance clock, with the cylinder escapement, compensation, horizontal position, going barrel motor, isochronal vibrations (so far as motor
is
concerned), tells the changes in the resistance
the difference in the properties of mercury and
tween the top and bottom of the pendulum, yet
balance nearly as exact as a thermome-
to the
it
ter does those of
more
temperature
loss in the rate
;
;
more
friction,
and, in continued going
compensate for one
steel in these respects will
or two degrees of variation of temperature be-
when
the difference
cannot do
either greater or less,
is
it.
made my
I have not
observations with
suffi-
them to you for pubof the machine, the phenomenon goes on in an but they are accurate enough to show lication accelerating ratio, and represents the antithesis a decidedly variable and unequal condition of of what is known as " acceleration." The lever temperature at the top and bottom of the penescapement cannot be used with success for such dulum. I will give you a few days record in cient connectedness to give ;
a
friction
the
lift
same
measurer, because the resistance to
August.
pallet (jewel pin) decreases in about the
accelerating ratio as
frictions increase
;
some of the other
nism
between two
of
ghosts
— acceleration
and the
watch begins
Top.
The
reverse.
it,
and are balanced
to alter its rate
times not occur in a year
may
;
;
the
as one gets the
may some-
ascendancy over the other, which ure the scale
12
M.
9
P.
M. 1
the above-mentioned
man who can make deductions will see that when the lever watch keeps its rate, these two Mon .... ghosts are hard at
M.
7 A.
thus establishing an antago-
72.5
71
81
80 81.5
77
2 33
4 5
78.
76
77
75
78
74
2.66
4
82 82
78
2.17
4
82
78
2.33
4
74 79
75
2 5
4
74
2.17
4
Wednes. 73.5 72 83 Thurs.
.
77 5
76 79.5
72.5
71
76
72.
71
80.5 79
78
while in large pressFriday
turn in a month.
.
It is ne-
cessary to state that this article has only to do
with rate-power, variation, and some of causes.
Tues..
BotBotBotMean Top. Top. Extreme tom tom. Difference. tom.
J.
Sat
78
its
This table
Muma.
is
Hanover, Pa.
about a
fair
sample of the
summer weather but
tuations for
;
fluc-
the winter
shows much larger.
From my
limited experience
it
would seem
no subject at present, in which the desirable to have the temperature within the readers of the Journal are more deeply inter- clock case as little liable to change or fluctuaested than that of friction, and everything tend- tion as possible. [There
is
Where expense does not prevent, I would sugmade on the principle of
ing to elucidate any points in the controversy will
be read with
interest.
Our correspondent,
Mr. Muma, has a method of expressing himself that is peculiarly his own, and, from its quaintness, to the careless reader his meaning may at first seem a little obscure; but his communication will well repay a careful and thoughtful consideration.]
gest that the case be
is, with an inner and outer some other equally good nonconducting material, enclosed between them, making the case roomy and as nearly air-tight
the ice-chest
case,
as
with
;
air,
that or
may be. By this construction
the temperature at the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
92
top and bottom of the case equal,
and
Would be nearer
Long and Short Screw Drivers.
less subject to outside changes.
Weymouth,
Fairbanks.
Jfass:
[The above table of the variation of temperature inside Fairbanks' clock case for six
Ed. Horological Journal
I
my
am
:
greatly indebted to you for publishing
inquiries regarding the cause' of the extra
days in the month of August shows that there power we obtain when turning a screw with was a decided difference between the top and a long screw-driver over what we experience the bottom, and, most important of all, the when turning the same screw with a shorter difference was not always uniform. We would screw-driver. The remarks made on this subexpress a hope that Fairbanks will continue his ject by Mr. Gorgas, of Hudson City, in your take this opportunity of last issue, attributing the cause of this pheour readers interested in this nomenon to leverage, I think is scarcely a corquestion to make similar observations so far as rect explanation. At one time, I thought myself they may have opportunities for doing so, as has that leverage might have something to do with experiments, and
reminding
we
all
already been suggested in the columns of the this question, but on studying the actions of Journal, and send the results of their experi- the different orders of levers that I am ac-
us about the month of January for quainted with, none of them appears to be analogous to the action of a screw- driver. I publication.
ments
to
The idea
of
making a
clock case on the
same do not want
to
put myself too
much
forward,
principle as an ice-chest has already been put or to contradict the opinions of men having into practice without improving the steadiness greater experience in the trade than I have,
of the rate of the clock to that extent such a or to appear to be unreasonably inquisitive reasonable alteration in the construction of the but will Mr. Gorgas please explain a little more minutely how a screw-driver acts as a lever in case would be supposed to produce.] ;
turning a screw
I have an impression that a
?
lever is powerless unless used in conjunction
with a fulcrum.
Automatic Watch Pocket. Ed. Horological Journal
"What constitutes the fulcrum
in the action of a screw-driver turning a screw,
and
:
am
at
what point
is
the fulcrum placed
?
I
obliged for the explanation which you gave
In the August number I observe a comit a J. Muma, Hanover, Pa., en- on this question, and although I consider more on like to learn would I one, reasonable titled Neuchatel Observatory Trials, in which E. D. he refers to an automatic watch pocket which this subject. Hartford, Conn. he has used occasionally ever since 1862, when munication from
This pocket he says is kept by mechanism so contrived that it
testing watches.
in motion
produces
and
all
the different changes of position,
also the usual shaking
watches are subjected
to
by
Ring Gauges.
and jerking that different classes of Ed.
Horological Journal
:
is also claimed to be better adaptI notice in the last number of your journal a ed for testing the running of watches than the communication in relation to a " Standard Ring natural wear of the watch in the owner's pocket. Scale," and from it I infer that " B. F. H." is As a description of such a contrivance would be not aware there is already a standard gauge
wearers, and
of great interest to
many
belonging to the in use, and fast being introduced throughout
much who have
Horological profession, and would be of
members of our
the States.
I refer, of course, to Allen's Standard Gauge, which was adopted by the manufacturers and press the hope that Mr. Muma will tell us a jobbers more than a year ago, and has been little more about his automatic watch pocket, if sold by them and tool dealers ever since. It he can do so without compromising any of his is justly regarded as much the best thing of own individual interests in the matter. the kind ever made, and I am glad to know New York City. R. C. that several thousands have already been sold, service to those
trade
occasion to adjust fine watches, I
would
ex-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. and that
their introduction
is
being extended and simply transmits
throughout the Union.
93
the
to
Before
screw.
considering any learned argument on the sub-
The advantages of this gauge over a thin ject I should require more facts than I have as suggested by "B. F. H." are very ever yet seen or heard of, to prove that the asobvious, and is not only more accurate in tak- sertion of there being more force in a long ing measurements, but is more simple and con- handle than a short one was true. scale,
venient, it
and besides the
has one for cutting
to
R.
scale for sizing rings,
Cleveland,
lengths and altering
0.
sizes.
Its universal use will
the trade, and, as
be a great benefit
now made,
Answers
to
L. O. Gk, Halifax,
will ever be needed.
E. F. o
Ed. Horological Journal:
C—The
JST.
and unsatisfactory
The
is
in a
condition.
entire absence of apprenticeship laws, or
wherever they do
exist, the
their execution, leaves the
total disregard of
whole country in a
while somebody asks anew the condition of anarchy on this
little
subject of
apprenticeship about which you inquire
very uncertain
Long and Short Screw-Drivers.
Every
to Correspondents.
are as perfect as
The
subject.
a long handle screw-driver rules and regulations with regard to apprentices has more power than a short handle one." I which the Trade Unions have endeavored to en-
why
old question, "
Journal has not escaped that question. force upon many of the handicrafts, still further On the principle that asking questions is the interfere both with the legal and natural condimost direct way of obtaining information, good tions which would otherwise prevail. The submay come of it. For myself I do not see how, division of labor into distinct branches, and the in this case, any principle of mechanics or introduction of machines into all the trades, philosophy can be very extensively developed have greatly modified the old apprenticesee the
or illustrated
by
this experiment,
In the olden time a
and I have ship regulations.
silver-
never heard the question asked without retort- smith was expected to take the coin and with I have his own hands turn out the dozen finished heard very ignorant philosophical discussions spoons. Now the silversmith of modern progot up by some one asserting that a vessel of duction is not expected to do that he must be ing,
"
how do you know
it
is
so ?"
;
water weighs no more
if
a live fish be added to an adept in some special branch of the busi-
the water, so I view the screw-driver contro-
ness,
and may
be,
and probably
fancy,
which grew up naturally and easily. Every stoning, polishing,
more easily moved than with a small one, and of course large screw-drivers commonly have long handles. A screw-driver with long handle affords an opportunity to apply more force, although the point and handle are of the same diameter, either by the addition of force from the other hand, or it may be by the peculiar position of the screw operated upon allowing more pressure to be applied in the direction of the axis of the screw-driver, either from additional weight imparted by the body of the operator, or by the more favorable position allowing greater pressure upon the tool by the hand and arm alone in which case it is ;
A
in fact
it
receives from
each
watchmaker of the
olden times was expected to do every thing in the ;
now
the
more of the ler's, is
jewelry, and silversmith modern watchmaker knows no
watch,
clock,
line
jeweller's art than of the enamel-
not even required to be able to
wheel or pinion only need to be
;
they can
fitted.
the
all
make a
be bought, and
This state of things has
number
of trades, and at same time diminished the amount of knowl-
vastly increased the
edge required
An
sans.
how
to
to perfect
architect
use the
each of these class
now has no need
chisel, auger,
and
to
arti-
know
mallet.
goes from school into an architect's
office
He and
studies the principles of construction, orders the
easy to give the long handle credit for power construction to go on, and
which
Burnishing,
raising, planishing, are
one knows that with a large screw-driver screws distinct departments. are
quite igno-
is,
versy as being based upon a popular fallacy, or rant of any other department.
it
goes on, while his
some other source hands are as white, and the skin as
thin, as the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
94
The carpenter, on the contrary, no thought to principles; he takes the plans and specifications, follows the measurements implicitly, only being required to learn the use of tools, to hew and mortise, and merchant's.
suitable instruction
gives
The prevalent
and advancement
in the art.
desire to be rich before the age
many a good mechanic he can't spend his time for nothing, but must be making money. This is really the reeking unhealthy of thirty spoils
;
soil out of which grows such a prolific crop of and the tramp for another half perfected workmen these impart to another definite period, which alone entitled a me- crop of the same sort a portion of what they chanic to call himself master, are not re- know, and so the quality goes down, down, quired, and in consequence the rules for down, till the title " mechanic," which should be apprentices which did obtain are now mostly an appellation of honor, becomes the synonym In our own business, there seems no for ignorant labor. obsolete. J. M., Eufala, Ala. The necesfixed time, terms, or conditions. Jewellers' rolls are sities and wishes of the parties themselves form hardened as any other piece of steel, being the basis. If a watchmaker needs the assist- carefully heated up to a cherry red, and ance of a boy he gets one on the best terms he quenched in a cistern of tepid water. The imcan. If a boy wishes a place he does the same mersion should be vertically that is, the roll thing. Free trade is in this matter eminently plunged endwise into the water, and moved Probably three years is as little time about until cool. This plan gives the fewest the rule. They may then as any master can take a boy for, and remune- chances for warping the roll. rate himself for the trouble, loss and bother be tempered to the color desired, after which which are incident to boyhood and the gratui- replaced in the lathe, and the journals and face tous labor of three years is more than most boys turned perfectly true with a diamond tool. are nowadays willing to give except in rare They are then put in place in the frame, and a instances, where the love of the occupation is in copper plate charged with emery and oil interexcess of the love of clothing, billiards, tobacco, posed between them and revolved in opposite whiskey, and fast trotters. directions, while the plate is shifted back and One great difficulty which ambitious young forth longitudinally until the surfaces are permen experience who are really anxious to get on fectly true and parallel-. An improved method
square and bore; so that the old seven years apprenticeship,
;
—
—
—
in the profession,
the scarcity of competent of grinding consists of grinding three rolls to-
is
instructors, particularly in places
remote from gether, the surfaces of such, a good
all
three being kept in
and each revolving at a plan now seems to be, to make the best ar- different speed, one of them being constantly rangement possible with the best local talent in shifted back and forth longitudinally, which the business for primary instruction, say one or insures parallelism between all three surfaces. two, years then in larger cities there are always A very good test of the parallelisms of the surhigher class workmen who will take under in- face of rolls, is to run through them under great commercial
centres
;
for
contact
by
pressure,
;
struction
such partially educated mechanics, pressure a strip of writing paper
and give them trade This will about pay or two more, during
ought
to
price for all
work they
do.
without being distorted from the
living expenses for a year
good.
which time such proficiency
light
to make work for the command a salary which
be attained as
trade remunerative or
Another good
test
is
;
if it
flat,
passes
they are
the passage of
bright day-light will pass through a
;
crack so narrow as to be water-tight; line of light seen
through between the
if
the
rolls is
It is not possible to an- of continuous width and brightness as they are swer your question positively as to " what is revolved, they may be assumed to be correct. just and equitable between master and appren- The surest proof, however, is in the use of them tice" for the circumstances are as various as upon thin metal. Good rolls are a precious shall be satisfactory.
—
are the cases. the for
It
is,
perhaps, safe to say that
young man who gets economical living and
first
his ordinary expense clothing, paid for the
four years' services, ought to be well satis-
fied to lose that
much
tool,
and should be treasured as the apple of
the 6ye.
The new
lathe
you inquire about
is
not yet
produced, the parties interested preferring to
time in consideration of have
it
as near perfect as possible rather than
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. introduce
it
The fault even if the flame should go out altogether, it will chucks does not remain very near that temperature for hours.
a crude condition.
in
you speak of regarding
split
pertain to the chuck, but to the improper use of it
;
used as
ought
it
95
to be,
they will maintain
For valuable sugyou are referred to an
The is
their truth almost forever.
gestions on that subject
case
may
be made of any
wood
soft
—pine
as good as anything.
\The oven from which this drawing was tak-
was made by Mr. J. M. Bell, of Hudson City, No. 11, Vol. III., on the subject. No for his own use, and almost any watchmaker better proof of the utility and truth of the split can make one for himself, of course getting a chuck is needed than the fact that they are the en,
article in
tinsmith to
make
most of the lathe work in the Americessary to get can watch factories. basis of
R. F., Chicago, of
wood
to
—You can have the ring
seen
ably not exceed
the reservoir
;
or, if it
was ne-
made, the expense would probfive or six dollars.
—
H. F., Savannah. Holes may be bored made by through glass as easily as through soft steel 371 Pearl street, New York city. by using an ordinaiy-shaped drill, made fireat his factory in a lathe Long
go round your large
G. Autenrieth,
We have
III.
it
dial
hard, and wetted with spirits of turpentine, in is specially constructed for turning such rings, from the smallest size up to the same manner as oil is used in boring steel but the motion of the drill should be a little twelve feet in diameter.
Island City, that
S.
Richards,
Jr.,
South Paris, Me.
following diagram will enable you to
—The
make
for
yourself an oven that will answer your purpose.
slower than
may be
when
being bored.
steel is
Holes
readily pierced in the centre of Aneroid
barometer glasses and similar work by simply
The reservoir may be made of tin or copper, turning the drill with the forefinger and thumb. and with a space of two inches on the bottom For larger holes the drill must be turned slowly by some similar means. Great must be exercised when the point of the drill is coming through the glass, because it is at this juncture that the most of the danger of in a lathe, or
care
breaking the glass
Just before the point
exists.
of the drill comes through, the drill should bo
sharpened, for by doing so the risk of breaking the glass
nered
and one inch on the two room below the reservoir
sides,
with
to allow
sufficient
of a lamp.
is
drill
A
three-cor-
stands better than an
ordinary-
materially reduced.
shaped one when large holes have to be bored. After the point of the drill has come through, bore from the opposite side, and at short intervals bore from each side, for by so doing there will bo but very few chips made on the edge of the hole.
Of the many
different
methods of
oven six inches square is large enough for boring glass, we have found the above to be the In this your purpose, and should have a glass shelf most reliable, and also the quickest. the holes in many bored have manner we in the middle for receiving the movement. It
An
more even w' ;h dozens of glass dials, and seldom met with an If the edge of the hole requires to be the reservoir only on two sides, and of courso it accident. as sometimes happens in perfectly smooth, is easier to make. On the top and in the door winding holes, they must be ground of the case is a double glass having an air chamber beemery and water on a piece of with afterwards tween, which prevents the condensation of moisture, thus at all timos affording a clear view of lead running in the lathe, and shaped like a the movements, as well as the thermometer sus- male centre. is
found that the temperature
pended on the back of the water ture
is sufficiently
of tho
flamo will be
is
caso.
When
the
G. A.
I.,
Ct.
heated to raise the tempera- good one, but
chamber
to
sufficient to
—Your idea
is
for
a caliper
is
a
already anticipated in the in-
100°, a
very small vention of Mr. F. Waaser, of the firm of Waas-
keep
there
it
;
and
ser
&
Danziger, a
full
description of which,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
96
with diagram, was given in No. 7, Vol. III. of the Journal. This firm are now having them
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
v
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
manufactured in Europe, and in some respects are superior to those first put on the marThe ".Essence Lentoine" is a cleaning ket.
For November, 1872.
Sidereal
recommended by the Society of Watchmakers, Paris, and is for sale by the same fluid
of
Day
Day of the
firm.
—The receipt you send
show by many.
cleaning silver plate,
for
good, and
same
is
in use
member
to
it
the Meridian
s.
used the
67.02 67.14 67.25 67.37 67.49 67.61 67.73 67.85 67.97 68 09 68.20 68.32 68.44
1
2 3
Sunday
in print.
4 5
Eill a bottle two-thirds full of
add
nia;
make
aqua ammo- Wednesday is to
Fridav
8
9
be Sunday
10
better to add prepared chalk in- Monday.
cleaned,
it is
stead of
common
11 12 13
.
Tuesday
whiting, which often contains Wednesday.
Apply
impurities that scratch a fine surface. it
to
sufficient
If fine silver ware
a thin paste.
6
.
7
common whiting
to it
When
with a sponge or soft rag.
.
.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Friday
dry, pol-
ish off with chamois skin or a soft cloth.
Mr.
Tuesday
Spatjlding, of San. Francisco, has sent Wednesday
us a sample of lathe belt which he has had in
many
.
.
Friday
years,
.
;
The Semidiameter
all
others he has tried.
from
One
Apparent Time.
Hour.
had he
" subscribed before " as
regrets he did not."
in
You
he
"
now
can draw the tem-
it by heating which prevents contact with the air.
oil,
of
Mean Sun.
68 56
68.69 68 80 68 92
69.03 69.14 69.25 69.36 69.47 69.58 69.68 69.78 69.88 69 98 70.08 70.17 70.26
for
H. M. S. 44 19.07 48 15.63 52 12.18
s.
M. S. 16 18.87 16 19.29 16 18.90 16 17.71 16 15.71 16 12.90 16 9.26 16 4.80 15 59.50 15 53.37 15 46.42 15 38.63 15 30.00 15 20.53 15 10.23 14 59.09 14 47 11 14 34.28 14 20.63 14 6.15 13 50.84 13 34.72 13 17.79 13 0.07 12 41 58 12 22.32 12 2.32 11 41.59 11 20 15 10 58.05
0.034 0.000 0.034 068 0.102 0.136 0.170 205 0.239 0.274 0.308 0.343 378 0.413 0.448 0.483 0.518 0.552 0.587 0.621 0.655 0.689 0.722 0.755 0.788 0.820 0.850 0.879 0.907 0.935
14 14 14 14 15
56
8.74 5.29
15 4 1.85 15 7 58.40 15 11 54.96 15 15 51.52 15 19 48.07 15 23 44.63 15 27 41.19 15 31 37.74 15 35 34.30 15 39 30.85 15 43 27.41 15 47 23.97 15 15 15 16 16 16 1'5
16 16 16 16 16 16
51 20 52 55 17.08 59 13 64 3 10 20 7 6.75 11 3.31 14 59.87 18 56.42 22 52.98 26 49.54 30 46.10 34 42.65 38 39.21
be found by sub-
mean noon may be assumed
tbe same as
PHASES OF THE MOON. D.
First Quarter
>
© ( A
per from steel without discoloring it
Right Ascension
that for apparent noon.
" Subscriber," Minneapolis, would have found the question he asked about adjustments, answered in previous numbers of the Journal,
or
for
and which he finds answers an Sunday ...... excellent purpose. It is cut from thin pliable Monday Tuesday calfskin, a full 16th of an inch wide, and twisted Wednesday.. into a round cord, the ends fastened by a figure Friday 8 hook he says it runs perfectly smooth, never Saturday wears out, and is easily shortened, to secure the requisite tension, by unhooking the ends and Mean time of the Semidiameter passing may tracting Os.19. from the sidereal time. giving it a few more twists. He prefers it to use
Time
Diff.
cases, etc., is
We
thirty years ago, but, like you, do not re-
have seen
Sidereal
of to be
Time
the Semi- Subtracted
of diameter Mori. Passing
Week.
E. S. K., Findley, 0.
Equation
Time
H. M.
7 15 51.2
FullMoon
14 17
Last Quarter
22 17 45.3
New Moon.
30
(
Perigee
(
Apogee
8.5
6 34.7
6 9.1
21
5.9
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
42 22 48.1
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
4 44 29. 05
AMERICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL, PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
G. B.
MILLER.
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Savannah Exchange Hudson, Ohio
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Point Conception
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R.
ASCENSION'.
1 42 64
DECLINATION.
D.
H. M.
Venus.
1
16 22 51.32. ...-22 31
1.6
Jupiter.
1
10
+12 48
0.5
Saturn
1
19 10 15.28 ...-22 25 32 8....
S.
3 10.07....
/
//
.
MER1P. PASSAGE. H. M.
138
6
19 16 2
4 25 3
AMERICAN
Horolosrical Journal NEW YOKE, NOVEMBER,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS.
1872.
No.
They
those which have been well lacquered.
kind of dirty white appearance, 97 possess a 101 which is as unpleasant to the eye as a piece of 104 polished silver that has become dirty, and con107 109 trasts as unfavorably with a well-lacquered
Finishing and Lacquering Brass Surfaces. Reminiscences of an Apprentice Watch Repairing, No. 5, The Story of a Watch (Concluded), Robert Houdin, Mechanical and Metallurgical Operations in the Bank of England, Overton's Compensation Balance, Temperature Experiments,
.... .
.
.
.... .
.
112 114 115 Ii5 116 116 117 118 119 119 119 120
.
......
American Institute Fair, Mr. Bell's Experiences, Reply to R. C,
...
The Friction Question
in a Fog, Standard Ring Scale," Bench Keys, Long and Short Screw-Drivers, Answers to Correspondents, Equation of Time Table,
....
"A
.
.
.
5.
.
box as a piece of polished
silver that
has been
finger-marked does with a finely polished piece of gold.
But, while advocating a more ex-
tended and judicious use of lacquer,
we
are
not to be considered to be unfavorable to the
use of nickel in instances where the white color is
not considered objectionable.
Lacquering,
although an exceedingly simple operation,
seldom executed in a proper manner, and
is
it is
our object at the present time to give some Finishing and Lacquering Brass Surfaces.
plain, practical directions that will enable any-
one, after having a little practice, to finish HOW FINE LACQUER NECESSITY FOR USING LACaUER. HOW BRASS SURFACES ARE PREPARED brass surfaces in the most approved, manner, IS MADE. and cover them with a pleasing and lasting AND POLISHED. USE OF POLISHING STONES. HINTS ON MAKING EMEKY STICKS AND STEEL protection. SCRAPERS. METHOD OP LAYING ON THE LACThe base of all lacquers is a resinous subQUER. DIFFERENT KINDS OF BRUSHES, ETC.
stance, known in commerce as stick-lac, and The custom of lacquering the brass work of which can be purchased at almost any store our larger, and also moderately-sized time- where dye stuffs are sold. Stick-lac is in the keepers and machines, or instruments of a form of small rough brown-colored lumps, about
similar character, cannot be too highly recom-
mended, and
may many of
this practice
with great benefit to
also be applied
the size of the point of the thumb,
and
is
found
attached to the branches of a certain kind of
the brass tools tree that grows in Assam, in the East Indies, properly exe- and when bought at the stores a small piece of cuted, these brass surfaces are coated with a the wood of the tree is found in the centre pf
When
in use in our business.
—
thin covering of a substance nearly as hard the lump, from which it derives its name stick and smooth as polished glass, which prevents lac. Seed-lac is the stick-lac broken up oxidation and tarnish, and renders any dirt into small pieces, and appears in a granulated
or other foreign matter which
may
collect on form. Lump-lac is seed-lac liquefied and and expedi- formed into cakes. Shellac is the purified tiously removed. Of late years it has become lac, which is made by heating seed-lac in common to plate many articles connected with strong canvas bags. The pure liquefied lac our business with nickel, and for steel articles drops through the pores of the canvas on to a it has proved to be very suitable. So far as flat surface which produces the familiar sub-
the lacquered surface to be easily
protecting the surfaces
is
concerned,
known as shellac, while the twigs of wood and all the larger lumps of insoluble Nickel-plated matter are left inside the canvas bag. In makit
as good for brass, but the white color
is
just stance
which
it
is not always desirable. marine chronometer boxes which have been in ing good lacquer it is best to use the stickuse for a short time never look so clean as lac as it comes from the tree, because in its
gives
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
98
other forms
frequently adulterated with
back frame and pendulum bobs of old English
and cheaper kinds of gums color, and which is very injurious to the lacquer, rendering it soft and easily rubbed off. The stick-lac should be broken into as small pieces as possible and then dis-
spring clocks, and on old astronomical instru-
some of the of the same
is
it
softer
ments,
is
due
made from
was was taken from the
to the fact that the lacquer
stick-lac as it
and any of the softer gums necessary was used but sparingly.
tree,
for
coloring
The preparation of
solved in 95 per cent, alcohol in a well-corked
surfaces previous to lay-
and ing on the lacquer is one of much importance, after a few days strain the liquid through a fine for any defect in the finish of the surfaces will The show through the lacquering. In the common linen cloth or some similar substance. liquid strained off will be of a deep red color, brass-finishing business, and also in Yankee but in this state it will be found to be unsuit- clock-making, much of the brass work is preable for many purposes owing to the darkness of pared for lacquering by dipping it into a mixits color, as in many instances it is not desirable ture of nitric and sulphuric or other acids but to change the color of the work being lacquered. we do not consider the question of dipping to Although a very slow and tiresome process, come within the scope of the present article, as occasionally
bottle,
shaking
the
bottle,
;
way
the best
and
quer,
hardness,
to take the color out of the lac-
same time
at the is to
to retain its original
only very fine surfaces
it is
In
with.
expose the bottle containing the whether
it
all
be
we propose
to deal
kinds of work of this flat
or circular, the
main
class,
object
liquid to the rays of the sun for a sufficient in view should be to
length of time.
purchased that it
White lac can sometimes be has had the color taken out of
by a chemical
poses this
process,
does very well
it
white lac
is
;
and
for
many
pur-
but lacquer made from
never so hard,
so well as lacquer that has been
nor stands
made from
have the grain of the Eine polishing is best and quickest done by using bluestone, or What is known in the United States as Scotch stone. Bluestone is imported from Germany, and Scotch stone from Scotland, and both kinds may be had at almost any of the material or tool stores. There are various polish as regular as possible.
and the some qualities of the Scotch stone, but those pieces instances, however, it is desirable to change the that are of a dirty white color, and having color of the brass a little, and the deep red- yellow or blue speckled marks through it, are Either colored liquid will be found to be suitable for the softest and cut the smoothest. stick-lac
dissolved in strong alcohol,
color taken out
by the rays of the
some purposes,
either alone or
sun. In
ing a yellow, and the latter
mixed with a bluestone or Scotch stone can be cut into by means of a an orange color. saw, and ground perfectly flat afterwards on a
In order
color,
decoction of gamboge or annatto, the former giv- strips of the necessary shape
parts of
to
produce a golden
gamboge
about two piece of sandstone with water. With one of these pieces, and a plentiful supply of water,
are added to one of annatto
may be
separ- all the file marks should be polished out of the and the brass, and the stone should be handled precolor required may be adjusted by mixing the cisely in the same manner as a smooth file is two sclutions in different proportions. There used and if any small particles of brass should are sundry other materials from which a due adhere to the stone, it must be rubbed off by mixture will produce like colors, such as tur- means of another piece of stone, else the brass
but these coloring substances
ately dissolved in the tincture of lac,
;
meric,
saffron,
consider
dragon's blood,
gamboge
etc.,
but we particles will be found
or annatto to be the best col-
Of
late
oring for the lacquer required in our business. brass
Some kinds
years
to
work without using
of the cheap prepared lacquers are become quite
scratch the work.
the practice of polishing fine
polishing stones has
common among
a certain class
almost entirely composed of coloring substances, of workmen; and probably the necessity for with very little lac for a basis, and this is one using water with the stone is one reason
becomes in why it is omitted; a short time dull and streaked in appearance. any other method The main secret of the fine hard lacquer could do first-class which we see on some old clock dials, on the flatter, than by a reason
why work
lacquered with
it
but we have never tried of polishing by which
work
quicker,
better,
we or
judicious use of polishing
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. stones
99
prepare the surface for the final brass tube revolving in a frame, or even rolling
to
the roller on a flat, clean bench, will do. The can be emery sticks should be used dry, with no oil used very advantageously in polishing. In cir- put on them, as in this kind of work oil has a cular work the planishing tool is a familiar ex- tendency to cloud the polish. On very large
finish.
.,
.
In certain instances a
ample. These
tools,
fine scraper
whether they are intended
such as large clock frames, dials,
surfaces,
emery paper pasted on wood will not be ground with a perfectly square cutting edge; found suitable, and the emery paper should be that is to say, they should not be ground to an wrapped tightly round a large piece of flat
for
flat,
round, or hollow surfaces, should be
common
angle, like
sometimes ground, square they cut
turning
because
much
sooner.
tools, as
when
etc.,
they are cork, the work being first prepared in such a are manner that only a very little rubbing with the
they
The cutting edge emery paper
will
To
be necessary.
those
who
should be of the smoothest and finest descrip- have been in the habit of using oil on emery tion, because it communicates, in a great meas- paper for the last finish, we would ask them to
same quality to the surfaces of the try the veiy finest quality of paper without oil, work smoothed with it. Small, short, or hol- and notice the difference it will make in the low circular surfaces can be finished in a good smoothness and regularity of the finish, and the lathe by this method quicker and better than by quickness with which the work is accomplished, any other method whatever. The same prin- over the method of using oil. As a general ciple is also applied to very thin, flat surfaces. rule, the polish left by emery paper, employed ure, the
A piece
of hard sheet steel, having a square as above, represents the best surface for lacand smooth cutting edge, is better adapt- quering but it has sometimes a pleasing effect ;
ed for this purpose than the three-cornered to polish the thin edges or hollows in certain The practice of scraper ordinarily used, and it can also be used classes of work, very bright. " " or swirling," spotting" is never surfaces, with good effect where surfaces are large in
many stone.
instances previous to using a polishing resorted to in fine work, but it is very convenient, and has a pleasing effect on surfaces
After the surfaces have been smoothed with a which have not been evenly and polishing stone, all that is to
make
for small
emery flat all
pieces is
necessary to be done as
the grain of the polish straight, and
work
this
sticks of fine
that
is
hides these defects.
It
is
flatly polished,
also a quick
way
of giving a pleasing appearance to cheap work,
can be done best by using and is very suitable for work that requires to emery paper, pasted on to be handled a great deal, because marks or
of wood, and two or three rubs
necessary to
for lacquering.
it
The
make
is
scratches do
not show as readily on spotted
the surface ready surfaces as on plain ones.
general use
of emery marks
it
will
be seen that
From all
the above re-
that
is
necessary
paper wrapped round a file is a slovenly and for preparing fine work for eitheir pale or colorwasteful manner of using the paper. One sheet ed lacquering, is a skilful use of the polishing of paper cut up into strips and pasted on to stone, or the scraper, and fine dry emery fasten-
smooth strips of wood, will do ten times more ed on paper or wood in the manner already work than when it is used wrapped round a described. and it will do flat work much better. file, Assuming that the lacquer has been made Emery sticks are made by mixing glue with according to any of the methods described in emery, and spreading it on flat strips of wood, the second paragraph of this article, and that but it is more convenient to use emerj paper, the surfaces have been prepared and cleaned, and instead of gluing the paper on to the which will be no difficult matter, when they wood to fasten it on with ordinary beeswax. have been polished by the dry method, the The beeswax holds it firm enough for use, next step is to lay on the lacquer but before while it admits of its being easily removed laying it on, a cup must be provided to contain when it becomes necessary to put on a fresh a little of the lacquer when it is poured out of A piece of wire should be fastened piece of emery paper. The paper may be spread the bottle. on to the stick very conveniently and smoothly, across the centre of the mouth of the cup, so by pressing it over a smooth roller, or a piece of that when we dip the brush into the lacquer we ;
American horological journal.
100
can
prest,
the brush against
it,
and the super- ture, precisely the same The followed as in lacquering
fluous lacquer will drop back into the cup.
directions
are to be
but one in this kind of work the great danger to be of the smallest size generally used by painters avoided is the lacquer collecting on the edges in laying on varnishes. The brush should not and spreading in irregular quantities. The
brush best adapted for ordinary lacquering
be too long, and for most purposes be moderately
stiff
;
it is
circular surfaces
;
is
best to benefits of
at least beginners will find
first
coating the
work with
alcohol,
or very thin lacquer, becomes greater in this
this kinc of brush best suited for them. The kind of work, causing the lacquer, when it is work to be lacquered should first be heated by applied, to flow more easily and regular. The means of an alcohol lamp, 01 a gas stove, to brush must be laid on to the work very light, about a blood heat, and brushed over with alco- and with a slight curved motion at the begin-
This causes the
hol or very thin lacquer.
lowing coatings of lacquer
to flow
more
fol-
easily
ning of the stroke, so that it will miss the sharp edge of the work by which a portion of the lac-
and spread more readily over the surface of the quer would be pressed out and flow irregularly The work should then be heated again over the edge. The brush must then be drawn to such a degree that it can be touched with straight and with equal pressure along the surthe back of the hand without causing pain, and face of the brass, and lifted off at the instant it then the brush applied to it and covered with a reaches the other edge. In moderately broad Circular work is the easi- surfaces a brush the full breadth of the work coating of lacquer. work.
This work, should be used but in very large surfaces, and est for beginners to practise on. whether it is revolved in a lathe or between the especially where there are a number of large finger and thumb, should be turned slowly and holes in the work, an ordinary brush is not The best kind of a brush for this the brush pressed gently against it, gradually suitable. moving it from one end of the work to the purpose is one made in the following manner Heat is again applied, and the opera- Take a piece of wood a little broader than the other. ;
tion repeated again
of lacquer
is
and again
till
er the lacquer
is
work to be lacquered, and make it into the Wheth- shape of an ordinary whitewash brush handle. brass or Then cut a slit into it lengthwise with a thick
the coating
of the desired thickness.
intended to color the
made very thin with alcohol saw; next take a narrow strip of clean flannel, and the brass coated over with it at least half a as long as the wood is broad, and fold it the dozen or more times, heating it between each longest way then take a piece of white nancoating to that degree of heat that the back of keen cloth and fold it round the outside of the the hand cannot be long held on it without flannel, and put them both in the slit cut in the not,
it
should be
;
If the metal be too hot the lac- wood, with their folded edge outward, and fastquer will be burned, and have a rough brown en the cloth to the wood by means of screws appearance and if it be too cold it will present passing through the side. Before fastening
causing pain.
;
a dull, dead look. gloss
which
is
The
art of obtaining the fine
so pleasing to the eye,
and
evidence that the work will wear well,
is
tight,
however, a piece of straight wire, about
an a quarter of an inch thick, must be put through in a the bow of the folded cloth and the cloth pulled
is
tight against the wire so as to make it smooth judge of the exact quantity of heat to give the and straight. After the cloth is fastened tight metal while being lacquered. If any of the to the wood the wire is pulled out and it is fit The woollen coatings of lacquer are burned, or if they are to be used as a lacquer brush. put on unevenly, the lacquer must all be rubbed cloth holds the lacquer, while the nankeen cloth off the work by means of a cloth and alcohol, prevents it from flowing too freely, and preand the operation commenced anew. Common sents a smooth surface to the metal that is to lacquering is generally accomplished by one or be lacquered, while it also prevents any partitwo strokes of the brush, but good lacquering, cles coming off the woollen cloth on to the lac-
great measure due to the operator being able to
designed to stand for a length of time, slow process, and requires
In lacquering
flat,
much
is
patience.
but a quered surface. This kind of a brush must not be dipped into a bowl of lacquer, but the
irregular formed surfaces,
it by means of a common manner large flat surfaces are
lacquer put on to
such as cocks, bridges, or work of a similar na- brush.
In
this
AMERICAN HOROLOGTCAL JOURNAL. lacquered very beautiful.
When work
ly lacquered the lacquer is soft,
ought
is
and the
new- Central
work neyman
101
Africa, I feel assured that " our jour" would have believed all about it,
a gentle heat for a short and probably would have told us all about the evaporate the alcohol and harden the great things he used to see done in London, be exposed
to
time to
to
Small gas cooking stoves are very which were nearly as wonderful but the fact and it will be found of such an achievement being accomplished so
lacquer.
;
suitable for this purpose,
that after newly lacquered work has been near to our own doors was too much for his baked a little, any little unevenness in the lay- credulity, and before he even heard the paraing on of the lacquer will be much improved. graph read he pronounced the whole story to Such is a full exposition of the elements and be only an invention to fill up the newspapers. principal details of the art of lacquering brass After he had relieved himself and subsided instruments for horological, astronomical, or into silence, I went on to read about this pecufor other purposes, and any of our readers who liar kind of a clock, which was described as may have occasion to use lacquer, will, after a being moved by electricity. Telegraph wires little experience, be able to practise the art by connected the two cities, and the vibrations of carefully attending to the above instructions. a pendulum in one city were made to close the electrical circuit
momentarilv, and, through the
agency of an electro magnet, a ture
Reminiscences of an Apprentice*
this
arma-
soft iron
was attracted at stated intervals, and by means the hands of the clock were moved
in the other city, forty five miles distant.
OUR ELECTRIC CLOCK.
In the course of a few weeks
"Our Maistor" I do not the
know whether
year of
first
my
it
was
that,
apprenticeship,
during making an
my
time
man"
intimated
electric
clock,
his
after
this,
intention
of
but " our journey-
ridiculed the proposed innovation in our
was not considered to be of much value, or business, and prophesied that a complete failure whether it was because "Our Maister" could would be the only result. " Our Maister" was not be troubled all the time watching me and not a man that was frightened by any croaking showing me the way to do things properly, but of this kind. When he had made up hi« mind and after occasionally he would set me on a high chair to do anything he generally did it and make me read the newspapers aloud while communicating with some friends who knew he and " our journeyman " were busy with something about the workings of the electric I rather liked this part of the telegraph, and advising with others who had their work. business in fact at that period it was about studied the subject of electricity, he corazienced the only part of it that I did like and to me making his clock, which he intended, when it was a welcome relief from the usual work finished, to stand on the end of the show-case of making pins and screws, polishing clock- on the counter, and be covered with £ glass frames, and other abominations of a like nature. shade, so that the working of all the me il .anism ;
;
;
On
the heading of
read as follows
lum
my eye could be easily seen. He decided to make a paragraph which the clock on tae plan of those electru clocks Clock with its Pendu- now known as secondary dials. It o: J y con-
one of these reading occasions
caught in
:
"A
Edinburgh, and
"What!"
its
Dial in Glasgow
"Our Maister;"
!
which
tained one wh( el between the framet
was Pendulum in an electro magi .et fastened on the fra..u in a Edinburgh, and its Dial in Glasgow," when I convenient posi tion, made from a piece c f soft, was interrupted from reading further by a loud round iron abox.t half an inch in diamete bent exclaimed
read again, "
A
Clock with
so
I had ratchet-sha ped teeth cut in
it.
Tl
:e
its
)
:,
and
who
derisive
laugh from " our journeyman," nearly in the shape of a horseshoe,
stopped work and seemed to be greatly two ends
filed f at.
a:
This bent piece of ir
d the
was
kind between two an i three inches long, and round being done for the first time outside of London. its two legs v as wound a quantity of small If I had read about a clock with its pendulum copper wire smeared over with sealin; '-wax, in London, and its dial in Patagonia, or in and the ends of the iron that protruded
amused with the idea Of anything of
this
s
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
102
through these
of wire and
sealing-wax the end of every minute the two ends of the Then there wires would be connected for an instant. This was a piece of soft, flat iron of an oblong shape was accomplished by fastening a plain wheel, which he called an armature, and which was with a notch cut in it, on to the scape- wheel fastened on the end of a short brass lever, pinion, and isolated from the steel by a collar of coils
he called the poles of the magnet.
which was attached to an arbor pivoted into a frame, and arranged so that the armature would stand exactly before the poles of the electro magnet, and be attracted by it when the power of attraction was in the magnet and there was also a spring which pulled the armature back a short distance from the poles of the electro magnet when it lost its magnetic power. Attached to the armature there was another short arm which had a click fastened This click worked into the wheel with to it. ;
the ratchet-shaped teeth previously mentioned,
A. small
ivory.
what
like a
steel
shaped some-
spring,
Swiss ratchet
click,
a piece of ivory placed
was fastened
One end of the spring
frames.
to
between the clock rested on the
plain wheel on the scape- wheel arbor,
and
at
every revolution of the scape-wheel this spring
would drop
into the notch
and would immedi-
ately be lifted out again as the scape-wheel re-
volved.
battery
One of the wires leading from the was fastened to this spring, and in a
convenient place in the spring a small piece of
was fixed, which was in reality the end and every motion of the armature turned the of this wire. The other wire leading from the wheel round one tooth, while another click pre- battery was led directly to the magnet of the vented it from turning more than one tooth at electric clock, or secondary dial, and fastened a time. There were sixty teeth, in the wheel, to one of its coils. Another wire was atconsequently each tooth represented a minute. tached to the other coil of the magnet and led The minute-hand was fastened to the end of back to the clock that was designed to close the the axis of this wheel, and, of course, there electrical circuit, and the wire fastened to anwere the usual motion wheels
for
platina
the hour- other piece of platina fixed to the ivory before
hand.
mentioned and near
to the first piece of platina,
movement was completed, a battery and this platina was also the end of the second had to be made. This battery was constructed wire leading from the battery. The action of in the simplest manner in which a Daniels bat- the clock and battery was as follows When After the
:
tery can be made. tight
It consisted of a water-
the scape- wheel of the clock which closed the
copper vessel, in the centre of which circuit turned round, the spring,
fell into
the
stood the porous cup, and in the inside of this notch cut on the edge of the plain wheel fascup was placed a piece of zinc of a shape that tened on to the scaper wheel arbor, and the two
would present the greatest amount of surface the action of the liquid that surrounded
it.
to
The
pieces
of platina were momentarily brought
into contact with each other, the electric cir-
porous cup was
filled with water mixed with a cuit was closed, chemical action commenced in few drops of sulphuric acid the copper vessel the battery, electricity was generated which was also filled with water, and a small quantity pervaded the entire length of the wires and of sulphate of copper being added, completed gave power to the electro-magnet, which immeA wire was attached to the copper diately attracted the soft iron armature placed the battery. ;
vessel
and one
to
the piece of zinc, and when their before
it.
The next
vibration of the
pendulum
ends were connected the chemical action took allowed the scape- wheel to move forward anplace
among
the elements which composed the other tooth, the spring
was
lifted
up out of the
notch, the two pieces of platina were separated,
and electricity was produced and when the two ends of the wire were not in contact, chemical action in the battery ceased, there was there was no chemical action in the battery, no electricity in the wires, the electro magnet and consequently there was no electricity gen- for a time lost its power, a spring pulled the erated no matter how long or how short the armature back from the poles of the magnet to wires were, the effect was the same. its original position, and the hands of the The next thing that had to be done was to electrical clock were moved forward one minconstruct some mechanical arrangement and ute. attach it to a clock in such a manner that at The progress in making the clock was very
battery,
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
103
Being a new thing, " Our Maister" had then appeared in the clock at irrep.Jar
slow.
in-
study a great deal on it, and many altera- tervals, and after the armature spi ng had " Our journeyman" did been adjusted, and other vital points slightly tions had to be made. to
not believe in this manner of making clocks at corrected, the hands of our all,
and when
this
one commenced
to take its
commenced
to
move and
new
electric clock
of the
to follow those
he said the more that he saw of it standard clock with the greatest amount of At first we looked at the more he was disgusted, and his disgust was precision and regularity. all because there were so few wheels, no escape- it through the glass cover; all of us would start ment, and no pendulum to the clock. How back involuntarily when we saw the armature could it be possible, he argued, for a clock to and the hands move without any visible cause, final shape,
and and " our journeyman" was utterly confoundHe seemed ed, and appeared as if he thought that his Satespecially without an escapement. to think that there was some mysterious prop- anic Majesty had come to the rescue. One day a customer called to see tin clock. erty inherent to wheels and escapements which, in themselves, caused watches and clocks to He was pleased with the simplicity of its arrun regular; but, as for me,, with the unso- rangement, and its apparently regular action, phisticated innocence I was possessed of at that but expressed his opinion to " our journeyman," time, I thought a few wheels less, or even the who waited upon him, that it would be liable absence of an escapement, was of little conse- to be influenced by a thuuder-storm. He said cpaence and so far as I was concerned, I did that thunder-storms had been found to interfere not care, although the entire works were done with the working of the electric telegraph, and away with at least the pins, screws, and all he had lately read in a newspaper about a telegraph operator who had been seriously injured parts that I had anything to do with making. When the clock was completed, it could not during a thunder-storm while standing near his Now this was a piece of news at first be made to go at all, and every attempt instrument. " which exactly suited " our journeyman" and his fruitless. Our motion journeywas to set it in man" was sure that this would be the inevita- prejudices, and he was greatly delighted that ble result, and thought himself to be very wise at last he had found a strong argument against in predicting it from the beginning. Now there the reliability of electric clocks, and their posiis nothing easier in this world than to prophesy tive danger to human life during the progress " Our Maister," who was the failure of an enterprise and to do so it is of a thunder-storm. go and
tell
the time with so few wheels,
;
;
;
not always necessary either that one should un- greatly elated with the success of his experi-
derstand anything about the scheme he dis- ment, scouted the idea of any danger from that trusts so
much.
If the enterprise does
fail,
of source, and laughed at every proposal made by " our journeyman " to have the thing removed
course he naturally gets the credit of a more
profound knowledge of the thing than he is to a place of safety. A short time after this entitled to ; and if it succeeds, he was only a " our journeyman " and myself were laft in The new electric clock could charge of the shop, and during the time a terrilittle mistaken. not be
made
means.
"
to
move, or
life
Our Maister" was
it by any ble thunder-storm broke over the town, and the and moody, lightning was either terrible or magnificent,
put into silent
and appeared to be a little crestfallen, while just as different people regard lightning in " our journeyman" was a little more noisy than thunder-storms. " Our journeyman " looked at usual, and advised that this nonsensical kind of the electric clock and rose up from his bench a clock should at once be consigned to the and went into an apartment at the rear of the brass-founder's melting-pot, and no more time shop and shoutad to me to follow him, but I nove lost with it. Matters continued in this condition remained at my work and would not for a number of weeks, when the tables were not that I was more courageous or more devoIt was discovered that the wires wrap- ted to duty tha;i he was, but it was a b issful turned. ped round the electro magnet were in some state of ignoran e of danger that made me stay instances touching each other, whereas it was while he, with a little knowledge of the possi:
necessary that they should be perfectly in- bility of dangei got into a terrible state .
sulated
This defect was remedied, and
life
citement,
and expected every minute
<
'f
ex-
to s >e the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
104
whole building blown up.
I suggested to
the propriety of gathering
him from expressing
his tools together
on the subject, and town thought that he should know all about it, after having had two years' experience in London. There was some-
many
his views
people of our
and save them and himself by going home but it was raining torrents outside and he could not allow himself to get wet so, standing between two thing truly fascinating in looking at this clock dangers, he at last shut the door of the apart- and seeing the magnet work and the hands ment he took refuge in and looked through the move without any apparent cause. It was also keyhole, momentarily expecting the explosion to curious to notice the remarks different people There was one old gentleman, a After a time the thunder-storm made about it. take place. passed away and no damage was done, and the noted character about our town, who had many He was a regular little innocent electric clock continued to show eccentric ways about him. When the "Maister" visitor to our shop, and one afternoon he was correct time as usual. came home, "our journeyman" told him plain- earnestly engaged watching the electric clock, ly that unless the electric clock was removed to when the parish minister came in, and after a a place of safety, that he could not continue to few words of conversation, he asked him what work in the shop any longer but " Our Mais- he thought of the new kind of clock. " Oh, sir," ter" looked at him as if he regarded him as a he replied, with the greatest amount of fervor, " Why," says he, "you are as bad as " I just think that God has kept nothing from lunatic. ;
;
;
the old
women who
think
placed in cellars that they
gas
may be
meters are less
that He knows himself."* The last time we visited that quarter, the elec-
man
danger-
ous should they happen to explode. What tric clock, although a primitive construction, connection has my clock with thunder-storms ? was still in motion, but its novelty had entirely The wires do not go outside the building, and passed away. During the past few years these they are as harmless as the wires of my door clocks have been greatly improved, and while we and if they did require to be placed in would freely bestow all credit and praise upon the open air I could use insulated wire, which those who have brought them to their present
bell
;
would protect them from the influence of at- state of perfection, we must not forget that mospheric electricity, and in the battery con- much of the success attained at the present day nected with the clock there is not as much is due to the experience that has been derived electricity generated as would kill a house-fly." from the labors of such men as " Our Maister" " Our journeyman " was perfectly satisfied with and his contemporaries. the explanation, and we heard no more about the danger of eleotric clocks during thunderstorms.
Watch Repairing,—No.
Although " our journeyman" was appeased on the danger of thunder-storms and atmospheric electricty affecting the clock, he still retained a
bitter prejudice against
it.
He
BY JAMES FRICKER, AMERICTTS, GA.
We
could not
for there the clock was,
5.
will again take
"belongings" in this
up the fuzee and
its
article.
it now, It frequently happens that the square of the performing satisfactorily before his eyes bui fuzee has become so worn that either a new appeared any customer that any on waited if he way sceptical concerning it, he would embrace square or a new fuzee must be put in and of opportunity to pucker up his lips and make of course, in this case, the best plan is to put in
openly condemn
;
;
the
which he considered would betray the greatest amount of scientific knowledge, and remark that he was afraid the electricity would magnetize the works in a It happened, however, that what short time. works there were in the clock were nearly all
his face into that shape
and beyond the influence of either electricity or magnetism; but this little circumstance did not prevent "our journeyman"
brass,
a
new
one.
Select one of the proper size
thickness, being careful to see that
it
and
will give
number of turns, and the and of the proper width for Put a brass chuck about an inch the chain. long in the lathe, make a deep centre in the end of it, heat it with the lamp until it is hot the chain the proper
groove
*
all perfect,
A remark made in the -writer's hearing.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. enough to melt shellac, then apply plenty of it end of the chuck, holding the lamp so that the flame will strike the chuck and the cement at the same time warm the fuzee, and place the lower pivot in the coment and true it up by the upper pivot. If the watch is a plain to the
;
fore applying the finer one.
105
It will take
time and considerable pressure
to
some
bring up
the " hollow" so as to produce that beautiful
black polish usually seen on the steel work of
English watches. Lastly, use Vienna lime and alcohol on boxwood. The upper pivot proone that is, not jewelled broach out the old per, shoulder and hollow, being finished, take hole just sufficient to make the hole round, then the fuzee down and again cement it up in the polish it with a round broach. If the fuzee hole lathe, this time with the lower pivot out. is jewelled, examine it to see if it is well polishGet the length of arbor and pivot from the ed if it is not, it must be polished with dia- old one, turn down the arbor to fit the hole in mond powder or tripoli, directions for which the main wheel, and the pivot to fit its hole, will be given when we come to speak of jewel- leaving just sufficient excess of metal to enable ling. you to grind and polish out all the marks made Now turn down the pivot so that it will al- with the graver, and make the pivot the proper most enter the hole, leaving the shoulder the length and finish up the end of it. Now, while same height above the body of the snail as the it is still up in the lathe, put on the main and old one. Turn out the hollow and mark on the maintaining wheels and washer, crowd them pivot with the graver, by turning out a small up close to the fuzee, and with a sharp-pointed groove for the bottom of the square, and make graver mark on the fuzee arbor, through the a good centre on the end of it. It is now ready hole in the washer, for the pin while the lathe for the grinding process. Take them off and take down the First, grind out the is running. hollow with oil-stone powder and oil on the end fuzee, select a brass ratchet of the proper size of a nail filed up the proper shape, using con- and fit it to the fuzee arbor as described in the siderable pressure, and file up the end of the last article. Before putting the fuzee back in the nail frequently, as it soon wears smooth. The lathe again, drill a hole in its arbor for the pin, oil-stone only cuts the steel, while the grinder is using a very hard drill, to make which, either rough. I say use a nail, from the fact that iron turn (the best way), or file up a piece of steel is better for this purpose than steel, and nails wire to the proper size. If turned up in your are always to be had, and are of about the right lathe, give it a slight taper back from the point, length and size say an 8 or 10 penny. Con- leaving the end just the right size if filed
—
fine
—
;
—
;
tinue grinding until every sign of the graver
is
up,
make
that
mind
it
will enter the hole easily,
that
it
must be turned
little
a
little
smaller than the hole
is in-
and then spread the end of with the hammer, filing both sides
removed, then with a steel polisher, such as tended described in the last article, grind the pivot so
it
to be,
it
a
flat
bearing in and slightly tapering towards the point, and making the end the proper shape, only leaving
so near the size
somewhat thicker than is needed, hardening and brightening with emery fully clean off every particle of oil-stone powder, then take the drill by its extreme point with a and for this purpose nothing is better than fresh, pair of plyers or tweezers and carefully draw soft, light bread, which should be worked with the temper from the body of the drill until The part immediatethe fingers so as to make it more compact than brought down to a blue. when just taken from the loaf this is what is ly in front of the plyers will be a straw color, used by all jewel-makers and " finishers." (A and the extreme point and cutting edges will "finisher" is one who fits and polishes up all not be " drawn" at all. With such a drill you wanted as
to require only just sufficient grind-
it
ing to eliminate the marks of the graver. Care-
it
in oil or water,
;
work
hand-made chronometers and can
through a fuzee arbor, much, or the end will crumhol and a brush, then pith. Before commencing to drill, sharpen ble off. Next use from two to three different grades the drill on an oil-stone and reduce the end to a of crocus or rouge, on bell metal polishers, proper thickness. In heating steel red hot you shaped like the iron and steel ones, cleaning off are apt to burn the extreme outer surface more every particle of the coarser grades of each be- or less, and for that reason, always leave any the steel
watches.)
in
If bread
is
easily drill a hole
not convenient, use alco- not crowding
it
too
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
106
down
wanted, so as to be ground
than while
larger
cutting tool slightly thicker or
to the
it
soft,
is
otherwise you can wait until
proper after you have put
it
in the fuzee.
File
up the
and riveted on square while it is soft, then harden in oil or your brass ratchet, again cement the fuzee up water, brighten with emery, and draw it down apply some soft-soldering solution to in the lathe and finish the ratchet, as directed to a blue in article No. 4, then take it down and file up the arbor where it is to fit in the brass, drive it the square to a proper size. In doing this it is to its place in the fuzee, and apply some soft
Having
size.
drilled this hole
;
usual to take the chuck out of the lathe while solder to both sides, heating it just sufficiently If the arbor fits tight the fuzee is cemented on the end of it, which to make the solder flow. enables us to hold could, or else
we
it
file
better than it
up before
lower pivot, in which case pin vice
and
;
it
we otherwise a very little finishing the was riveted
one side with a
the groove cut for a guide
;
in.
Now
can be held in the you were putting in a
lay the upper pivot on the
flatten
solder will
file,
turn
file
filing
block
down
over and
it
to
file
all
make
it
as strong as if
proceed the same as
new
fuzee,
it
if
going through
the various processes of fitting and polishing
that
you did in that
case.
I would advise this
only in such cases as above indicated, and the
the opposite side, getting these two sides paral- charge should be fully as
much
as for putting in
man- a new fuzee. Of course the lower hole for the ner. Next grind each side with oil-stone powder fuzee pivot should be examined and treated in and oil on a steel grinder, and finish up as di- the same way as you did the upper hole. The principal cau;-:e of the rapid wear of a rected in article No. 4, cutting off the fuzee square to a proper length, and finishing up the fuzee square is from the use of the common iron keys, most of which are only square just at end as directed in the same article. It sometimes happens that you have no fuzees the end a fact that is easily ascertained by in stock, and that your customer can not wait filing off the end, when you will find that inuntil you can send to your material dealer for stead of a square hole you have a round one. a new one, in which case you must turn him The small silver key, with a tempered steel away or elae put in a new arbor. It is useless pipe, is the best key that has been in use for lel,
then
file
up the other two
sides in like
—
to
attempt to put a
new square on
the old one,
would soon get loose. You can make a good job by putting in a new arbor, although it is more work and takes longer to do it than Put the old fuzee up in to put in a new fuzee. pivot out, and with a sharpthe lathe, upper as
it
many years, but few
will
they are too expensive and but
buy them on that
patent key
is
a
first-rate
account.
Birch's
thing, except for ex-
sizes, and here again the an objection with the masses, although most any one who will give ten cents for a key pointed graver cut through the snail just far will be willing to pay twenty-five cents, and for enough from the arbor to clear it take it out this price a man ought to get a good key but of the lathe, place it on a hollow stake, and with the only kind we have been able to obtain a hammer drive out' the old arbor, cement the that we could sell at that price which by the fuzee up on a chuck, the face of which is as way is a first-rate article so far as our observalarge or larger than the fuzee, true it up and tion goes are those made by F. E. Allen, bore out the hole very slightly, and make a Keene, N. H., costing $12.50 a gross. They shoulder in the upper part, but not very deep are about half as long as a bench key, the next turn down a piece of steel wire to fit the handle is large enough to be convenient, and hole in the fuzee very tight, leaving a shoulder each key is stamped on the end with its numon it to correspond with the shoulder in the ber or size. I think if he would bring them fuzee next turn down for the lower part of the to the notice of the trade by advertising he arbor and pivot, leaving it a little larger than would find it a paying investment. is needed. If a new main or fuzee wheel is wanted, seYou can also shape the other end without removing it from the lathe, cutting it lect one of the proper size, and to do this, a off, and making a good centre on the end cut good wheel gauge should always be found on off, and centring the lower pivot before it is every watchmaker's bench. Put the wheel up cut off. If you are careful and get the meas- in the lathe on a brass chuck, with cement urements properly, it is easy to drill for the pin (shellac is always meant when speaking of ce-
treme large or small
price
is
;
;
—
—
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. ment), true
it
up by the outside or periphery,
so
much
trouble and brought
Now my
with the lower side of the wheel against the disgrace.
chuck fit
fit
;
on the
107
me
into deeper
depths, before this altera-
the hole to the fuzee arbor and then tion, were as good as could be made. steel
maintaining wheel
;
After
next turn twenty-five years of constant use they showed
out the groove for the maintaining spring, no signs of wear whatever, which was about as reverse the wheel and turn out for the steel good proof as could be
washer
;
drill
had that
the holes for the pins of the main- were well sized, the leaves well
taining spring, filing one of
them out
so as to
my
pinions
shaped, and
were of the
also that the teeth of the wheels
give sufficient play for the pin in the end of the proper form, and acted at a suitable depth on spring, polish the
wheel while in the lathe with the leaves of the pinions.
Scotch stone, and then with Vienna lime, or a take
it off
and polish
it
on a
flat
wood, using Vienna lime for the
The
little
block of box- proper and necessary
last polish.
worn or broken so For these use that new ones have to be put in. the click wire for sale by all material dealers, holding it in the pin vice and making a tit on the end of it, being careful to get a square shoulder cut it off the proper length and finish up both sides with a fine file. The end will need a little work on it to give the proper shape to work into the ratchet, having it so that it works free and fits well in the ratchet teeth then harden, brighten it up on all sides with emery paper, draw it down to a blue, put it in where it belongs, and rivet it in tight enough to Sometimes hold, and yet have it work easy. clicks are frequently
;
Of course
ral genius
who
;
common work,
if ex-
was
but at one time this natu-
me had
repaired
something
to
do with some special kind of mechanism where play in the teeth of the wheels was undesirable
mechanism was used for, and he thought that the " back lash'' in the teeth of my wheels was a serious error, ind that I had been made by workmen that did not know any better, and convinced my owner that his was the cause of all the irregularities that ie complained of My owner still thought lat my construction had been greatly improve^ by this natural watchmaker, but ho was dL atisfied with me on account of my chain brec ring so often and the natural watchmaker, to get rid for the purposes the
n
1
;
of this difficulty, proposed to do
away w ith my
they are put in without being tempered, but fuzee and substitute a going barrel in this is only excusable in
there
shake between them, which was both
He
its
place.
said that fuzee watches were played out
now any way and after complimenting my fine have gone over about every- strong works, he said that all that was now thing that a watchmaker has to do with a fuzee necessary to make me a reliable watch was to and its appurtenances. Any one who can do what put in a going barrel, and he brought out a has been explained in these articles can easily copy of a jeweller and watchmaker's paper cusable at
all.
;
We believe we
put in a new maintaining wheel, or put on a which had something in it that supported his new steel washer, without any definite instruc- opinion. My owner consented to this proposal tions.
In the next
article
centre wheel, pinion,
we
shall consider the
etc.
of taking out
my
the alterations
made but
fuzee, ;
and I was
left to
haye
fortunately the genius
was busy with other work, and could not find it while my owner remained in the and he concluded to give me another trial place, The Story of a Watch. as I was. (concluded.) On a certain occasion my owner was sojournI have already related how I fell into the ing in a town in Northern Ohio that beo rs the hands of a " natural watchmaker," and how he name of the author of the Declaration of Inaltered all my depths, and run them so deep dependence, where he was introduced to a that there was no shake between the teeth of watchmaker who had the reputation of b 3ing a and very intelligent gentleman, as well as a skilful the wheels and the leaves of the pinions I have also told that afterwards a much stronger mechanic, which in reality he was. I was mainspring was necessary to make me run in shown to him, and my owner related all the this new condition, and how the strong main- trouble he had to get me to run regular. " Oh," spring broke my chain so often, which caused says he, " I see what is the matter ; the pivot time to do
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
108
this done, telling
harm, broke both of my altered balance staff pivots and my beautiful balance staff, so artis-
would be
tically
holes all require to be inchased
persuaded
him
Now
of
my
what
owner
have
lasting benefit
man had
this
to
it
;"
and he
easily
to
recently purchased a
me.
;
new by
made
in every particular,
was replaced
another watchmaker with a piece of round
universal lathe, which at that time
was his steel with pivots that looked like long centres on and every watch that was each end of it. In this condition I continued brought to him had either to have the pivot to run, but much worse than ever I did before, holes inchased or some other work done to it and at length my owner came to the town Even where the " natural watchmaker" resided and that required the use of the new lathe. fitted, the bezel had to I was again submitted to his tender mercies. if only a glass was to be be put up in the universal lathe and the groove He had made a new discovery since my owner I got my pivot holes inchased, and, was there before, which he was now practising undercut. although I was not in any way damaged, the extensively with great success. With referreal cause of my irregularities was never look- ence to my fuzee he admitted that so long as ed into, and practically I was no better than my chain was not breaking, the fuzee did no My owner, however, had received a harm, but he said that my " eyesockerism" was before. vast amount of information on every conceiva- in bad condition that I would have to be "eyeble subject on which he chose to "start a sliver," sockerised" and then every thing would be right. and went away well pleased with himself To make a long story short, my beautiful hardand everybody else, and with the assurance ened and tempered balance spring, that had its that he was possessed of an excellent watch, curves formed with the greatest possible amount of skill, so as to cause the long and short vibrawhich was now in perfect order. One day my owner was in New York city tions of the balance to be made in the same and he took me to a place where they advised length of time, was bent and twisted about by a new chain to be put in, and as large and as this wretch most fearfully, and I was handed thick a one as my fuzee would admit of was se- back to my owner with my balance spring comlected and put on, and after this I continued to pletely ruined, and he cheerfully paid a large run for quite a long time without it breaking, price for the supposed improvement. In a month or so after this I stopped one day, but my running gave my owner no better satisfaction, for the clocks in the different towns and my next experience was with a watchmaker which he visited still continued to show different who said that my pivot holes were all too wide, time from each other, and if by accident my and that I needed a new balance staff, which hands agreed with one clock it was sure to vary was all true enough, but as regarded my pivot with the next, and I got the blame of running holes he did not take the state of th.e depths irregular and was regulated accordingly. Dur- into consideration, and although the pivot holes ing his travels my owner met with a watch- had been undesignedly left so wide by the maker who said that I was not adjusted to posi- " natural watchmaker," they helped me very that if I was only adjusted to positions I much to run when my depths were so deep. tions could not help but run regular for ever after. It was very difficult to persuade my owner that Now this was exactly what my owner wanted, these faults were in me, for he had the greatest The plan of amount of confidence in the workmanship of so I was adjusted to positions. obtaining this adjustment was one that is fol- the "natural watchmaker " who had made some lowed by some watchmakers in London, and it of the alterations, but after he had been shown especial
hobby,
.
;
;
consisted of turning
away a part of my balance
the wide condition of the pivot holes he finally
ends nearest to the shoulder, empowered the watchmaker to make whatever so that there would be a less amount of the alterations he considered to be necessary to surface of my pivots bearing upon the jewels. make me run well. Now this watchmaker put
staff pivots at the
know whether this alteration would a very good new balance staff in me, and he have had the anticipated effect or not, for the also brushed the pivot holes, and the workvery same day that my owner got me back he manship was very good. The pivots holes were was jumping off his wagon and the sudden all nicely polished, and my bent third wheel, ehake, which never before used to do me any which had been in that condition ever since I
I do not
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. had been cleaned preparatory to being comcold, was made straight. The pivot holes were very accurately fitted to the pivots, which were nicely polished, and particular attention was paid to making good countersinks to hold the oil. However, when I was set running again, the tightness of my pivot pensated for heat and
ed, the
109
customer being simply charged for
dinary cleaning
but a
;
whims concerning
man who
is
or-
full
of
and bushes, pitchings, escapements, etc., which have no foundation in natural philosophy, is the most dangerous pivots
If the watch-
of persons to repair a watch.
wearing public could only be made to underholes neutralized all the good effects of the fine stand that their watches are made much worse workmanship, and I stopped running easier for passing through the hands of careless and
My owner was again ignorant workmen, although they may by and became thoroughly disgusted. chance run well for a time after, than they are I had cost him a large sum of money in the from the ordinary wear of a lifetime, I will first instance, and he had paid nearly as much not consider this narrative of my life and suffermore to watchmakers for cleaning and repair- ings has been written in vain. ing, and now having lost all hope that I could ever be made to run well, he sold me to a pedler for a mere trifle. This peddler sold me Robert Huudin. than ever I did before.
disappointed,
again to a second-hand dealer in watches in
New York
city,
praised for
my good
and
I,
who used
to
Whatever
be so much
situation in
life,
under whatever
running, and considered so circumstances, or however ignoble the cause in
and so trustworthy previous to being which it is shown, unusual talent is sure to combought by my late owner, was now, from no mand admiration. The successful burglar finds
reliable
fault of
my own,
completely discarded and laid admirers of his misdirected talent, as appreciative
aside as worthless.
and
far
After I had been in the second-hand store tation of
a number of months, an old Englishman one day to buy some second-hand watches. He took me up and looked at me took me out of my case, took off my hands and dial, when he saw some private marks on my frame which showed that I was a watch that he had a hand in making when he was a young man. He immediately bought me, took me home, and at his leisure hours restored me as for
called
;
near to
my
original condition as
it
mechanical skill in is
more
it
enthusiastic in their manifes-
than does the inventor of the combinations which frustrate his
The dexterous matadore
the lock-pick.
greeted with thunders of applause for the
skilful thrust that
ing to his death
;
sends the enraged bull
while the surgeon
a wound, extracts a
ball,
and saves the
the shrieking victim of an assassin,
and now I can run again without the ning prestidigitator, who so cleverly effort on my part, and as well as the ma- blazing pudding from an empty hat,
My troubles
jority of the best of watches.
nearly over now, but there
haunts early
am
me
life,
and that dread
about as
is
one dread
was unconscious of
that I
much
is
are cipent. of golden applause still
in
they
often detects
watchmakers.
;
of
extracts a is
the re-
while the
oculist,
Wiho dexterously removes a cataract from the
crystalline lens, admitting light and joy to a I sightless orb, but earns a paltry " fee." Un-
afraid of falling into the fortunately public admiration
little
life
greeted
my
hands of those workmen that are possessed of on'y a little knowledge, which is often so dangerous, as I am of those " born watchmakers" who have been specially endowed by nature. A watch is always improved by passing through the hands of a careful and thorough workman.
He
is
by exclamations of horror, and his skill rewarded, perhaps, by blame for the suffering he was possible necessarily inflicts upon the patient. The cun-
to do,
least
reel-
who probes
awarded
to those
not so surely
is
whose genius
is
devoted to
the development of productions peculiarly useful to society, as to those
who
are brilliantly
successful in subverting good order
and honesty,
or in ministering to the follies of mankind.
tendency of public appreciation
is
The
not toward a
most generous reward to those who devote the on the highest order of talent to the beneficences of educated life on the contrary, they announce the plati-
faults which, although
may have no immediate
running of the watch, his
influence
critically
;
eye cannot allow to pass, and they are correct- tude that " virtue
is its
own reward," and
con-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
110
sequently needs no other incentive to extra-
ordinary exertion.
The
One evening, on going
to
a bookseller's
to
buy
instances in which this Berthoud's "Treatise on Clock Making," the
public estimation has diverted uncommon talent tradesman,
by mistake, handed him a volume more which, on opening after he had arrived home, remunerative either in wealth or fame, are proved to be " Scientific Amusements," which The loss detailed the way to perform tricks with cards, numerous in the memory of all. which art, science and the manufactures have to cut off a pigeon's head, restore it to fife, etc. The perusal of this work filled him with the suffered from this cause can never be known and so long as uncommon manual or mental idea that fame and wealth lay in that direction. ability are better paid and better appreciated In his leisure hours he diligently practised the in other than useful occupations, so long will sleight of hand tricks described in the work which chance had placed in his hand. From they continue to absorb the best ability. Probably of all the millions who have heard Paris he made an engagement with M. Noriet at of Robert Houdin, the greatest of mechanical Tours, who was by intuition a sculptor, and " magicians," very few know of him as an ex- who was anxious to leave to his 'workmen the pert horologist, over whose mind mechanical " shoe-black" part of the trade, and who was so inspiration held such control as to force him fortunate as afterward to gain some distinction from the profession of the law, where his father as a sculptor. M. Houdin again met with one of those had placed him, back into his shop as a watchmaker. He says that his father's experience had fatuities which so often change the current of proved that a fortune was rarely to be made in life. Being seriously injured by the overturn that occupation, for after thirty-five years' unre- of the Diligence between Tours and Blois, he mitting attention to business, he had hardly was taken up in an insensible condition, and on made provision for old age. Yet the fascina- returning to consciousness found himself an tions of the profession of mechanism made the invalid in the charge of Torrini, a conjurer, struggle a hard one between the longing of the who chanced to be passing at the moment with This artist, a Prench father to make the son famous, and the desire his portable theatre. of the son to follow his mechanical predilections. nobleman, Count do Grisy, who had assumed At the time this amicable contest was going on the Italian name Torrini for certain reasons, between father and son, an accident, he says, was a most skilful performer, and, during brought into the shop a mechanical curiosity Houdin's convalescence, a mutual friendship in the form of a snuff-box. The top of the box re- sprung up, which was continued to the mutual presented a landscape, and on pressing a spring benefit of both. a hare made its appearance and went toward His first mechanical labor while with Tora tuft of grass, which it began to crop. Soon rini, was the almost entire reconstruction of a after a sportsman emerged from a thicket ac- mechanical harlequin, which was supposed to companied by a pointer. At the sight of the leap out of the box in which it was confined, game the hunter stopped, shouldered his gun perform some evolutions, and return to prison and fired, and the hare disappeared, apparently at the word of command, which labor had to wounded, into the thicket pursued by the dog. be performed as the theatre was journeying from This beautiful mechanism so excited his curios- place to place. Sleight-of-hand descriptions did mechanical automata ity that he made drawings of the various parts not satisfy his ambition without his father's knowledge, and by working were still his ambition, and his search for inforupon it over hours, at last had the pleasure of mation only brought him descriptions of meshowing him the completed toy; but who in chanical toys far less ingenious than those of his undisguised admiration still insisted "that it own time. Search through musty volumes only was a pity he could not profit by his turn for brought him such knowledge as that " Albertus mechanism." Magnus, at Cologne, constructed a brass man The small provincial town failed to afford which he worked at continually for thirty years, scope for the son's genius, and he soon found which work was performed under various conhis way to Paris and into the shop of a relative, stellations, and according to the laws of perwhere his skill and diligence were appreciated. spective." from
useful, industrial pursuits, to those
;
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL. The only
authentic account of these mechan-
Ill
he had of his mehim to offer to repair this of Sciences, of Vancauson's mechanical duck, instrument. In making this offer he had two which he afterwards saw exhibited in 1844, that objects in view one was to procure an interisms was a description, in the Royal
Academy
that the flattering opinion
chanical abilities led
;
drank, dabbled with
its bill, eat,
quacked, and esting object of mechanical study, and another
This celebrated to gratify an ambition to accomplish what no automaton afterward came into Houdin's hands other mechanician dared undertake. A mefor repairs, when, to his surprise, he found that chanic will partially understand the difficulties, the digestion so pompously announced was only when it is known that he had never seen the digested like a living duck.
a trick of juggling.
A
vase containing seeds componium in operation.
steeped in water was placed before the bird the motion of the bill in dabbling crushed
them
so as to facilitate their introduction into a pipe
placed beneath the lower
bill
—the water
and
seed thus swallowed facing into a box under the bird's stomach. tion
The other part of
diges-
was by bread crumbs, colored green, being by a force pump, and being caught on
expelled
a
silver salver
The prospect was by no means cheering, when all the parts of this machine were spread out upon the floor, a perfect chaos of wheels, and levers, and pinions, and screws, and pipes, and covered with rust and dust it would take a volume to describe all the trials, studies, failures and successes; and a whole year was consumed in solving this problem, but at last the componium arose ;
were exhibited as evidence of completed. The fame
this achievement brought was not Vancauson was a nobleman by birth, but, adequate compensation for the brain fever like Houdin, the taste for mechanism drove which followed this intense study and constant him to these constructions. Besides his flute- labor, and nearly five years elapsed before he This long illness, and player, duck, and tamborine-player, he invent- was entirely recovered. ed a chain which still bears his name, and the slow, wearisome progress of combining through spite at some silk weavers of Lyons automatic movements the countless hindrances who had stoned him for attempting to simplify and discomfitures that, at unexpected moments,
digestion.
—
their looms,
he constructed a loom on which a
donkey worked cloth. At the time of his death, 1782, he was perfecting his endless chain, and so anxious was he for its completion that he was constantly urging his workmen not to lose a moment least he should not live long enough to explain his idea thoroughly.
Houdin's ician
was
first
eminent success as a mechan-
in the entire reconstruction of the
musical instrument exhibited at Paris, in 1829, by a Prussian named Koppen. This " com-
ponium" was a
perfect mechanical orchestra,
playing operas and oratorios with the most re-
markable precision and
effect,
and
also execut-
ing charming variations without repeating
itself.
foil
the best conceived plans
—wasted the small
had gleaned in former years. His completed mechanical curiosities were few, and the specimens he had in hand still required years of study and labor, and the great conjurer again resumed his original trade for while at this ordinary occupation he could meditate upon mechanical combinations. One result of these cogitations was an alarm which rang a peal at any desired hour, and at the same time a lighted candle came out of a small box. This was the first invention which brought him any proThis alarm was so popular that he was fit. obliged to employ several workmen, and the success encouraged him to the production of fortune he
;
—
This instrument met with unparalleled success other toys among others the " mysterious in Paris, and was finally taken to London at clock," with a transparent dial, which indicated
an unfortunate time, and did not prove success- the hour without any apparent mechanism. The owner had it taken to pieces, packed Singing birds, tight-rope dancers, the conjurer and reshipped to Prance, but owing to some and cups were successively produced. informalities with the Custon House it was About this time he entered into a contract stopped, and before the arrangements for its to make a life-size "writing and drawing" release had all been completed the parts had automaton which should answer in writing, or lain a year in the damp warerooms and were in emblematic designs, any questions proposed but masses of rust and verdigris. Houdin says by the spectators. The price for this was
ful.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
112
5,000 francs, the half of which was paid in that he adopted the motto, " To popularize advance, on the condition of its completion in electric clocks by malting them as simple and
would be
lost
much
Foreseeing that
eighteen months.
" friends,
by
time exact as possible."
customers, bores,
of the day
when
And he says, he "dreamed
the electric wires, issuing from
family dinners, and evening parties," he resolv- a single regulator,
'will
radiate
through the
ed to exile himself, and rented a room at Bell- whole of France and bear the precise time to ville, a little out of Paris, furnished it with a the largest towns and the most modest vila few chairs, and his precious tools. lages." This dream now bids fair to be soon Twelve weary months of laborious exile saw the realized. At the Universal Exhibition of 1855 automaton drawing towards completion doubts he received a medal of the first class for new and difficulties gradually faded away under the electrical applications. persistent efforts of genius, and the first quesbed,
;
tion
propounded
"Who
to
the
soulless
figure was,
"I the author of your being?" pressed the spring," said he, " and the clock work is
Mechanical and Metallurgic Operations in the Bank of England.
began acting I hardly dared breathe, through ;
The autoits operations. maton bowed to me, and I could not refrain from smiling upon it as my own son. The arm, a few seconds before dumb and lifeless, began to move and trace my signature in a firm hand writing. The tears started to my eyes, and I fervently thanked Heaven for granting me such fear of disturbing
The Quarterly Journal of Science contains an interesting article on the practices in the Bank of England, a synopsis of which may not be devoid of interest to readers of the Journal. Coin may be regarded as one of the products of the highest development of mechanical and metallurgic
science.
Positive
exactness
in
—
produced by the action of the finest Following this was his mechanical nightin- machines, determined to almost an absurd gale, and other less notable productions, with minuteness by balances that cannot be surweight,
success."
which he made successive tours through
On
the principal countries of Europe.
all
exhibit-
passed for delicacy of indication, and the quality of the
composition carefully tested by a sys-
ing his mechanical productions at the Exposition tem of assays which are the practical result of in
1844,
one of the
regret that Mons.
Jurors
the the highest chemical knowledge,
expressed
Houdin did not apply
his
in
all
—these combine
the necessary operations
which
to
produce a
weigh within 1.6 In his memoir Houdin says " This criticism in a thousand, 123.27447 grains, and which wounded me the more, because at this period must contain -j^cr3 nne gold- and 8f^54 of I considered nothing superior to my works, and copper. The perfection of modern machinery in my fairest dreams of the future I desired no confines the products within the prescribed greater glory than that attained by the skilful limits in a wonderful degree, and the tabular inventor of the automaton duck. Sir,' I re- report of assays, from time to time, of coin plied, in a tone that betrayed my pique, I taken at random from large masses, do not know no works more serious than those that vary T1)2 -o from the legal standard. The comgive a man an honest livelihood. At the mercial regulations of the Bank require them period when I devoted myself to chronometers to take from any one gold of the standard fineI hardly earned enough to live upon at present ness and to return to them the same weight in I have four workmen assisting me, the least coin. Tho gold so " imported," as it is techniskilful of whom earns six francs a day; ought cally called, must be accompanied by a " trade I therefore to return to my old trade ?' " The assay report" stating its degree of purity, and jury granted him a silver medal for Automata. the importer or his agent must be present with During the succeeding ten years Mons. Houdin an officer of the Mint to witness its correct devoted much time and study to the application weight. The bullion is then assayed at the of electricity to mechanisms, and a lingering Mint, and if the importer makes no objection to talent to serious labors instead of fancy objects.
coin (sovereign)
shall
:
'
'
;
love
for
his
early
profession gave
to
those
the results of the assay,
studies such a chronometro-electrical direction proper
it is
melted with the
proportion of alloy, and then coined.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. Practically the
Bank
of England
the only bubbles being caught in the cast ingot and
is
importer of bullion, because the owners of in- rolled out with the plate. gots can readily realize the value of
ing
it
at once to the
113
it
by
sell-
Bank, and thus save the as
time necessarily consumed in coining.
Besides,
The sound blanks
are then placed in copper tubes, the ends luted before,
and annealed in the reverberatory
furnace, quenched in cold water, dried off in
bought by the Bank, the notes can be taken sawdust, and sent to the coining press. One in a purse, but to carry the coin may re- blow gives the effigy upon both sides, and mills quire a sack. The law compels the Bank to the edges. purchase ingots at £3 17s. 9d. the ounce, which One of the most ingenious automatic maif
away
fight, heavy, and same time depositing lit of £2,000 on each million. each in a separate receptacle. During all these From reliable bankers of unquestionable processes the most rigid system of inspection of reputation, the Bank receives gold ingots size, weight, and composition, is maintained, as weighing 200 ounces, bearing the brand of the each coin must conform to the law in all these Notwithstanding all the careful banker presenting it. The mechanical opera- particulars. tions of the Mint are, first to melt the ingots in scrutiny which the highest skill can bestow, it crucibles of a mixture of blacklead and Stour- occasionally happens that the gold will prove bridge clay, 9^ inches deep and 7 inches interior brittle to such a degree as to interfere with its This difficulty is generally diameter, and about 1,200 ounces are sufficient successful working. for one melt. A cover is luted on the crucible, due to minute quantities of lead, antimony, through which is a funnel-shaped opening, arsenic, or bismuth. The addition to fine gold which are placed in the furnace and surrounded of 0.05 per cent, of antimony, and arsenic equal with fuel. When red hot the ingots are added to 0.1, will destroy its ductility. The most and the fire increased till they are melted. The simple and efficient remedy for this is the alloy necessary is then added through the fun- method now universally adopted, of sending nel and the foreman agitates the mass with a through the molten mass a stream of chlorine is
three half-pence less than
and
its
value in coin,
this three half- pence gives the
rod of plumbago and clay
till
Bank
a pro-
he feels that
has reached the proper degree of viscosity
work under the
rolls.
The melting
chines
it
gas.
to
ides,
pots are
is
medium
away
by the heat and pass Only three to four minutes are their elimination, leaving the mass volatilized
in vapor.
fire and the precious con- required 24 inches long, 1.375 inches entirely
for
free
\
at the
This forms, with the baser metals, chlor-
tents cast into bars
and
and
which are
then raised from the broad,
determining
for
coin,
The Watt & Boul-
and perfectly malleable.
inch thick. These bars, containing noisy old atmospheric presses of
still in use, and that they are efficient shown by the quality pf work they do but reduced to a ribbon nearly of the proper thick- they must ere long give place to more modern ness, and cut into lengths of 20 inches. The machinery. At the present time the control of rolling so compresses and hardens the metal the British Mint devolves upon the Chancellor that it must be annealed, which is done by of the Exchequer, who appoints the chemist The uniformity placing these strips in a copper tube, the open and other operative officers. end luted with clay, and subject to a red heat of the British coin attests the capability and in a muffle for about 20 minutes, and are then fidelity of the Mint officials, o plunged into cold water and rapidly cooled. This method of annealing prevents the oxidaWe have already spoken at length Cohals. tion of the copper, and makes the strips soft on this subject, giving a description of the enough to permit their being drawn through a method of obtaining the coral, as well as manufixed orifice to produce a positively uniform facture but only by actual inspection can one thickness. Erom these strips the coin blanks realize into what exquisitely beautiful forms Mr. Andrea are then punched, and the waste sent back to this material can be wrought. be again melted. These blanks are then Errico, No. 19 John Street, has recently added " rung" by boys, to ascertain whether there to his stock some of the most beautiful speciexist any flaws, which sometimes occur by air mens ever imported into this country.
above 180 ounces Troy, are assayed to verify their ton are
composition, then go to the rolling mill
and are
is
;
—
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
114
Overton's Compensation Balance.
difficult to
of
In the
May number of the
apply the auxiliary with any certainty
its action.)
Now we
have merely
to
change
British Ilorologi- this divergence from the inside of the balance
cal Journal, Mr. John Overton thus describes
to the outside
and make the weights to move we have ho further use
Geometrical Compensation Balance, with in a proper curve, and
his
which he proposes
to
overcome the necessity of for an auxiliary compensation. The way in which I propose
auxiliary compensation
Some time
since,
:
I was about
to write
an be understood from diagram No.
to
do
2.
this will
Let
A be
account of chronometer balances, and had part
prepared the necessary drawings, but just at that time I
came
to the conclusion
(from read-
ing the Horological Journal), that a perfect
compensation balance had been, contrived by However, better and abler hands than mine. a few days since, while studying the tables on rating, I
was much struck with the number
of chronometers that had auxiliary compensa-
and the use of these proved to me that a By a perfect perfect balance was still wanting. tions,
compensating balance I mean one that shall require no auxiliary, yet shall be comparatively the ordinary compensation balance with two easy of adjustment to the various temperatures small circular slots in the bar just outside the
a balance, in short, in which the main weights staff shall move in a constantly and uniformly de- B C creasing ratio as the temperature changes from the
120°
to
32°
;
and, on the contrary, shall
collet, is
as
shown by the
a loose steel bar,
staff-collet,
dotted lines at B.
fitted friction-tight
and fastened
to the balance
move two small screws passing through the
in a constantly increasing ratio while the tem-
on
by
slots in
the balance bar, the ends of the taps showing
at B. C D is a lever rod working freely withperature changes from 32° to 120°. out side shake on a screw at C, on which the In order to make myself perfectly understood, weight E is firmly screwed, the side of the rod scientific readers, I must claim the patience of
while I recall to their minds the causes of error near the screw e being slightly flattened to in the balance which have led to the use of insure parallelism in moving the weights on the rod, in order to obtain the right curve.
auxiliary compensations.
In diagram No. 1 VA represents the ordinary Diagram 3
is
a side view of the rod, with a weight E, and rim of the
section of the bar B,
balance A.
Diagram 4
is
an enlarged view on is a ruby
the underside of the weight E.
E
pin sunk into the weight and the side laid bare in the groove that
fits
over the balance rim, as
shown in Figures 3 and 4. S
balance,
E
the weight,
The curved
line
is
X Z the line oi
is
a spring screwed
centres.
an approximation
to
the
which the weights will move under change of temperature. In passing from E to direction in
32°
it
tres
;
let it
runs. directly parallel to the line of cen-
but fromE
to
120°
it is
be borne in mind that
divergent.
this curve will
(And vary
in different balances according to the expansibility of the
metals employed, and thus
make
it
to the
weight and bent around and under
may be found most this
:
—the
convenient.
balance rim
is
The
it
as
action
is
gripped between the
ruby pin and spring, and, consequently, the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. weight moves with
it
115
as formerly, but in the to the Office of the Journal about the end of
C J). The January, accompanied by such explanations rebar of the balance permit the bar garding the method by which the room was and weights to be moved for the main adjust- heated and ventilated, the size of the room, and curve as controlled by the lever
slots in the
ment and, as I said before, the curve they are the height of the ceiling, and such remarks as made to take will supersede the necessity for may be considered necessary to give the reader an auxiliary adjustment. In making the draw- a clear idea of the circumstances under which ing I have merely striven to clearly illustrate the experiment was tried. ;
the principle, but in practice better to continue the bar
B
it
might be found
as far as possible
without actual contact with the balance rim, as
by that means you obtain a better set of curves American Institute Fair. and the lever is more nearly concentric. If any one should think well to apply a balIt is much to be regretted that, with the ance of this construction, and should place it upon trial, perhaps they would kindly describe abundant material in this city, there should be it
as the geometrical balance, that I
able to compare
its
may be
performance with others.
John Overton. Percy
St.,
Coventry, Feb. 12th, 1872.
Temperature Experiments*
so
very slight a display in the Horological
Department of the Fair. Of the Watch Factories, only two are represented the United States and the American. The United States Watch Company, in addition to their former display of finished work and the parts of a watch in every stage of completion, exhibit models of the new f -plate movements soon to be introduced to the trade a description of which we shall give hereafter. The American Watch Company are represented by Howard & Co., exhibiting every variety of movement and style of case manufactured at Waltham.
—
—
We
beg leave
to direct the special attention
of the readers of the Journal to the experi-
ments
at present in progress to determine the
average temperature of the atmosphere of those
in. Messrs. Autenrieth & Himmer, 371 Pearl number of our readers are street, New York, Factory Long Island City, making such experiments, but in make a fine display of electric clocks of the
apartments fine clocks are usually placed
We
know
engaged in
that a
order that they
may be as varied
as possible,
and
special construction they
that the controversy on the subject should be In addition to a satisfactorily settled,
we
call
have
number of
upon every reader the parlor or business
office,
lately patented.
clocks suitable for
they exhibit three
of the Journal to try the experiment for a few fine regulators, constructed on the same plan as
weeks under the special circumstances in which his clock may be surrounded. It is not necessary that the experiment be tried on a fine clock any clock having a long case will be suitable, and when convenient the two thermometers should be suspended in the inside of the case but when that cannot be done easily, ;
;
the outside will do.
know
All that
is
desired
is to
their
electric
clock described in
number of the Journal.
They
the
August two
also exhibit
dials, one twenty inches in diameter, and the other six feet. The mechanism that works the hands of the six-foot dial is no larger or stronger than an ordinary French clock. As the construction of the mechanism of Mr. Himmer's secondary dials contains some fea-
secondary
the difference in the temperature of the tures of special merit,
we
propose to give a
atmosphere at each end of the pendulum, and drawing and a detailed description of it in the without any regard to the regular running of next number of the Journal. the clock. It is proposed that the thermometers The manufacture of clocks is one of the most be compared three times a day,
morning as
possible, at noon,
evening as
may
The
—as early in the
and as
late in the
this country,
but none of the numerous clock
companies make an exhibition of their goods.
be convenient.
results obtained are requested to
important branches of the mechanic arts in
be sent
We are at a loss
to
account for the slight inter-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
116
est manifested
Reply to R. C.
by the manufacturers of Horo-
logical instruments,
but
Adams, Hallock &
such, is the fact.
make a
Co.
fine display
of their goods, the Cryptochylon Ice Pitcher,
and Communion Service ware
hibition of plated usual.
The Kings County
;
but the general exmuch less than his wish granted, less the description of the mechanism, which I do not as yet consider per-
make a very
as
it
held fect enough for publication. The difficulties show of apparent in complicated schemes only strike us It could when we look at them as a whole. When they
first)
fine
the industrial pursuits of Brooklyn.
not be expected there would be Horological department,
:
Your correspondent R. O, in the October number of the Horological Journal, shall have
is
Exhibition, (the
in the Brooklyn Rink,
Ed. Horological Journal
much
in the
can be pulled to pieces thoy lose their formid-
was purely a able
The external motions
character.
to
which
local affair. The different manufacturers of watches are subjected when worn in our pockets plated ware were represented. The Webster on all occasions, must be divided or separated Manufacturing Co., the Wilcox Silver Plate into classes as, for instance, a motion purely ;
Co.,
W.
make
and the Manhattan
J. Miller,
fine displays.
The only
Co., all
circular is one, while 'perfect
specialty in that circular influences is another
fine is the Coffee Percolator of the
Manhattan
exemption
and very
from
different
on the rate of a watch; espewhere the balance staff is short, as in fullplate watches, per same thickness of movement class in its effect cially
Plate Co.
as the three-quarter plate ones.
make a machine
It is easy to
Mr. Bell's Experiences.
for only one
class of motions or shakes. It is only necessary
Mr.
J.
W. Bell,
in speaking of his experience
movements had
that the motion of the pocket does not percep-
Second, that the watch which been put up in the grey. On examination the is to be tested is not shaken more than in the mainsprings were found to be rusty, and they natural (man's) pocket. Third, that watches were ordered to be sprung over. On putting in with the chro IOmeter escapement are never new hair-springs the adjustment for tempera- shaken circularly, no matter how small the ture was found to be not in the slightest degree shakes may be, especially when the machine disturbed, proving that changing the hair- has the same number of vibrations per second in adjusting, says that a lot of
spring did not affect the adjustment in the least.
tibly accelerate.
as the
watch h£»s, because the motions or vibra-
Again, in adjusting balances to temperature he tions of the michine (I use this word often, to
make the thing' simpler and easier understood, and tautology or nc c) are regular, and not as in the that by ordering the balance-maker to thus natural pocket, namely, often broken, and their Eourth, that the watch to place the screws, they all come to his hand al- direction changed. most perfect, and they could be sprung and be tried remau is as long in the automaton as timed at once with but little further attention. usually in the pocket, say from twelve to eightHe has also repeatedly adjusted a watch to een hours at a ime. temperature, and then removed a full turn of Although a separate contrivance for each the hair-spring, and yet the adjustment remain- class of such e: :ternal motions as we may choose ed undisturbed, showing that the shortening of to interest qui 3elves in, may be expensive to the hair-spring an inch had not affected the com- the general ratchmaker, yet, where many pensation, although the rate, of course, was watches have t be tested at the same time, one greatly accelerated. Have any of the readers machine answers for them all, if it is made of the Journal had similar experience ? large enough. Mr. Bell's experience, as above, was in the The advantage over nature comes from the adjusting department of an American Watch power of isolation, as for instance a man wishEactory, and of course the springs and balances ed to know the effect a certain class of shakes, were more uniform than would be the case not in the least adulterated with other classes found
that,
holes, the
by placing the screws
in
certain
adjustment was nearly correct
;
'>
with material used in ordinary repairing.
(that
he may understand the cause
if his
watch
American horological journal. varies therein), lie could not find
117
out in the are two forms of the
it
compound
;
and one of
way by any means that he might adopt them, you can imagine, is made by working the he had to make a device of some kind that pro- two separated simple classes of this article by duced the motions which he wanted we all are one machine instead of two; nature can do this obliged to see this. If we do not care what but nature cannot make the " simple shakes," usual
;
our watches do under certain circumstances, and here is where we can get ahead of her, that is quite another thing, and one that my nice enough.
While I am speaking of these things, and but we must not expect compete with the parties who might care. have given directions, R. 0. may have more exHaving now corrected the effect of a particu- perience in these things than I have had, from
theory does not reach to
lar
;
we can
of shakes,
class
only undertake the fact that he considered
Avorth mentioning.
it
another class by making another contrivance, I never could get pocket chronometer makers and one that may be as different from the pre- interested in so apparently novel a thing as vious machine as the
pendulum
is
from the wearing delicate pocket chronometers by steam
balance and spring.
The classes
power.
two classes above explained are simple or, effects
;
each of them.
J-
Muma.
Hanover, Pa.
that have only one cause to
This
article, therefore,
only re-
two simple classes of external motions that can only be had perfect and pure by artificial means. Every compound class has two fers to
causes of variation, and one effect ; the latter the
same as in a simple
cause of error
is
class
is
where only one
a controlling agent. The
effect
The
Friction Question in a Fog:.
Ed. Horological Jouenal
:
I have been a constant reader of the Journal since the issue of
its
first
am
number, and I
of a compound class is very eccentric, because sure that you must be congratulated on your Horological it is produced by two causes, as before stated, successful efforts in catering for the
which sometimes counteract, and even occasion- public and laying before them, from month
to
each other and, in the latter month, a liberal supply of Horological literacase, no effect whatever is produced, so far as ture, fresh and sparkling, embracing much that external motion is concerned; but when the is scientific and practical and occasionally a ally neutralize
;
on the rate little humorous. I consider the communication simple classes of Mr. Muma, in your last issue, eclipses the (the two causes in a compound ?lass have only best efforts of your usual contributors, containthe same power as the "one" cause in the sim- ing, as it does, within one single communication ple class and then they must act or pull a few plain practical hints, much of the scien-
two causes act in concert, the of the watch
is
the same as
effect ill
;
classes," in this article, is diversion; but I will
and incomprehensible, not a little of the sublime, and also a little sprinkling of that
make
quality that
together).
All that
is
said ab<
a few remarks to
>ut
"
compound
show what a compli-
tific
cated thing the motion of the natural pocket seeing that is,
as regards
its
effect
on a watch balance.
is
it is
needless for so close a
me
neighbor
to mention, to the sub-
lime.
Mr. Thus the two causes in a compound class differ so much in power at times, according to cir- do in
Muma his
tells
us that "
best direction
is
all
to
that
man
can
approach the
a self-evident truth which one may be represented by 99, and the other those who appear to Mr. Muma as tempting little by 1 when they are balanced they are 50 each Providence would do well to consider a " all us with trouble The while the cause in the simple class is 100 in more particularly. same the and one at thought of power, and never alters as long as the class re- is, not enough
cumstances that cannot be gone into here, that ideal," and
this
is
;
of mains non-adulterated. It will be seen that time." What does friend "Clyde" think confriction the outsider in an called being the compound merges into the simple 99 is This near it but as long as 100 is not reached, the troversy, siding with the stronger party ? arguments the of rid getting of short a is way "compound." class must be known by the name Next prepare for another curious fact there of "Clyde," but what will he say when he
—
;
:
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
118
hears "that the laws of nature cannot always ments of it, and then average them all to get be followed with advantage?" Mr. Muma's the correct size, and but few will take the remarks on the influence of oil on pivots show trouble to do this. What is wanted is somea little blue sky through the cloudy atmosphere, thing that, for a given ring, will register the and it would be well for those in favor of the same size, no matter who measures it. A round idea that friction
is
independent of the extent taper mandrel or gauge, the same as those
of the surfaces in contact, to consider
it
well,
now
in use, I consider fulfils these conditions.
As nearly every manufacturing jeweller has watch balance a ring gauge of his own, the divisions or numbers of which are arbitrary, it has been a source pivots. The description of the opposing forces which of great annoyance both to the retailer and the come into action in a watch as is described by manufacturer, and I am glad to see that there the two ghosts " squeaking in their lank is great probability of " Allen's Standard Ring witches (languages), and worse dial acts (dia- Gauge" being made the standard not because lects) and struggling to get the ascendancy it is Allen's, but because it is the best gauge I over each other," representing the "antithesis have ever seen, and has been endorsed by many and see
if this is
not the key to the whole con-
troversy, so far as
it
relates to
;
of what is known as acceleration," is one of the most unique illustrations in the annals of HoroI have always had an idea logical literature. that, practically, acceleration in a new watch lay
a great measure,
in
balance spring.
Mr.
if
not entirely, in the
Muma,
however, presents
of the leading houses in
New
York.
sizes,
these again subdivided into \ and \ sizes, the small end a separate gauge for cutting off
gold to the proper length for every size ring
wanted. The gauge proper
is
made
of metal, in
another theory, and one connected with friction the form of a hollow cylinder, into which too.
will for
I hope that on some early occasion
hear more from Mr.
he
notions
is
Muma
on
this point,
some original
certainly possessed of
concerning
we
the cause
of
errors
watches, which evidently are the result of
in
much
study of the various forces which impel and control the motions of a watch.
Boston, Mass.
J. 0.
who obtains one of them. These made by F. E. Allen, Keene, N. H. I wish that we had a standard gauge
ler will
Geneva Geneva from
glasses.
-jL to yg-
the Journal, and I think the trade generally
for
different so-
differs in size
in size from the other, so that ap-
may have
a complete assortment
some particumade and sized in Europe, it is doubtful if any standard gauge will be adopted then for some time to come, unless some one or more men over there like Mr. Grossmann, who are such noble lights in
lar
I notice an article with the above caption signed " B. F. H." in the September number of
on
as each kind
of glasses and yet be unable to
En. Horological Journal:
are
I have three different kinds of
glasses, evidently sized
parently one
Scale."
is fitted
wooden mandrel, which allows of its being light and firm. The divisions and figures are all plainly stamped in the metal. I have laid aside all my old wooden gauges, as every jevrela
called standards,
" A Standard Rin?
some and and on
It is
10 or 12 inches long, divided into 13
watch.
As
fit
these glasses are
will agree with him as to the great necessity of having some standard ring gauge one that the Horological world, will agitate the matter can be so endorsed by the trade generally -the to such an extent as to get the manufacturers same as Dennison's mainspring gauge is now. interested in the convenience and welfare of The flat gauge suggested by " B. F. H." I con- the thousands of watchmakers and jewellers sider objectionable from the fact that, unless a who are obliged to keep a stock on hand. Speaking of Mr. Grossmann, I wish that he ring is very thick, it will, in the hands of one
—
—
from what it would give us a treatise or a series of articles and further- on the chronometer, duplex and cylinder escapemore, if the ring (say one of the ordinary ments. He has the happy faculty of being able weight or a light one) is irregular in shape, one to write so as to be understood by those who must be very careful to get several measure- lay no claims to a scientific education, and that
person indicate
would
in the
a different
size
hands of another
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
119
means the great majority of watchmakers. His short one was true." Now I am not referring treatise on the Detached Lever Escapement is a to long handles merely, but long screw-drivers; valuable work, and should be in the hands of and I will mention a circumstance which I think every watchmaker, and no one will ever regret goes a long way to prove that there is more power in a long screw-driver than in a shorter the small outlay necessary to obtain it. Jas. Fricker.
one.
A few days
Ga
Americus,
to
make some
ago I was helping the gas-fitter alterations on the gas fixtures of
store, and in the course of these alterations was necessary to remove an old coupling from the end of a piece of iron pipe. I placed the coupling in my bench vice and fastened a large
our
it
Bench Keys. Ed. Horological Journal:
hand-vice on to the pipe, but all the force that I I have lately noticed in the Journal one or could apply would not start the screw. I then
two communications in relation to Ring Gauges, put the same hand- vice on the extreme end of and desire to inform your readers that I am the pipe and was able to screw it out of the making both forms of the gauge the round coupling at once. and the flat each corresponding with the other I do not know whether this is an old ques-
—
—
in graduation of sizes or numbers,
round gauge much the ring
and
best,
not perfectly round, or
is
however, for if
that tion or not ; all I .
know
if
a than be laughed
at.
not very heavy writing to you about
so as not to spring any,
stiff,
so
that
is
new
it is
to
me,
I regard the and I would rather have the question answered
dealers can have their choice.
it
I it
felt
at
some diffidence in and before I did
first,
can not be so made sure that I was correct in my opinion I wish and I still maintain that there is more power
accurately measured on thejlat gauge. also to
have
known
it
that I
am now making
obtained by a long screw- driver than by a short E. D.
the round ones stronger than formerly, and the one.
wood
them
fitted in
is
their whole length.
Hartford, Conn.
so that they are solid
I also make them of rounding up, etc.
steel,
to use at the bench, in
Herewith I send you samples of Watch that I am making, the pipes of which are tempered, and have perfectly square holes their whole depth. I know they are the best key
Answers
Keys
to Correspondents*
—
G. A. M., Philadelphia. We have comwith the author of " Reminiscences municated I can put dealers' names on the handles, when desired, for a trifle of an Apprentice," regarding your query as to in advance of the regular price. The Bench how the ministar's housekeeper could wind up
ever offered to the trade.
Keys I
sell for
$2 per
set,
Kecne,
when the case was locked, and the home with the key in his pocket, was described in the September number of
instead of $2.25, as the clock
minister from
advertised.
F. E. Allen.
JV. II.
as
the Journal.
He writes us as follows
Long and Short Screw-Drivers. Ed. Horological Journal:
having more power than a shorter one. He says, " I should require more facts than I have seen or heard there being
of, to
more
prove that the assertion of
force in a long handle than a
"Different
pleasure.
Some
different
fastened a piece of stout wire,
In your October number there appears a bent to a right angle, on communication from Cleveland in which the holds the glass, and when writer ridicules the idea of a long screw-driver
:
methods for securing their cases, but they nearly all used locks on the door of the body of the case, leaving the glass door in front of the dial to be opened at
makers employed
to the
frame that
was shut a bar fastened in the inside of the case was pushed into the corner of the bent wire, which prevented the glass from being opened, and at the same time secured the head of the case from being pulled off. In the better class of cases it
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
120
a piece of iron with an oblong hole in it was used instead of the bent wire. Another method occasionally used for fastening these cases was, to have a bar in the inside simply for the purpose of fastening the head, while the frame that holds the glass was secured by
means of a lock and key.
There
however,
are,
thousands of this class of clock cases in exist-
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE. GREENWICH MEAN TIME. For December, 1872.
Sidereal
Time of
Day
Day the Semi
of the
diameter Mod. Passing the
Week.
its
Meridian.
.
70.35 70.43 70.51 70.58 70.64 70 73 70.81 70.87 70 93 70.98 71.03
.
from being opened at pleasure. Wednesday Thursday This was the manner in which the minister's Friday. T.. Saturday. clock case was fastened, and I have no doubt Sunday that many of your readers on this side of the Monday. .. Tuesday Atlantic have seen old clock cases in various Wednesday. Thursday parts of the United States, and in the Dominion Friday Saturday.. of Canada, secured in a similar manner." it
.
.
.
.
71 08
.
hour
Leavenworth, Jfansas.
S.,
—When
71.12 71 16 71.19 71.23
Sunday the Monday.... Tuesday
.
71 25
.
divided into twenty- Wednesday four parts, the ordinary numeral figures are Thursday circle
of a clock dial
is
71.27 71.28 71.29 71.30 71.30 71.30 71.29 71.28 71.26 71.25 71 22 71.19 71.15 71.11
.
Friday Saturday. .
up to 23, Sunday The reason Monday
used, beginning with 1 and running
and the 24th for
this
is,
is
usually
marked
that clocks
0.
or
for
from
One
added to Apparent Time.
Hour.
M.
J.
Time
Diff
Right Ascension of
Mean Sun.
body
secured by a lock, but have no fastening what- Sunday .... Monday ever on the glass door on the front of the dial Tuesday to prevent
Sidereal
of to be Subtracted
of
ence that have the head of the case fastened by
a bar from the inside, and the door on
Equation
Time
.
.
with such dials are Tuesday....
generally used for measuring sidereal time, and
Wednesday. Thursday.
.
as a sidereal day contains only 23 hours and Friday
Saturday
.
.
S.
S.
10 35.29 10 11.91 9 47.91 9 23.35 8 58 25 8 32.64 8 6.53 7 39 97 7 12.98 6 45 69 6 17.82 5 49.72 5 21.29 4 52.t>6 4 23.57 3 54.35 3 24 92 2 55.32 2 25.58 1 55.72 1 25.77 55.78 25.77
1 1
2 2 3 3
4".2f 34.15 3.99 33.71 3 26 32 62 1.73 30.56
0.961 0.986 1.010 1 035 1 058 1.079 1.098 1 116 1 134 1.150 1.164 1.178 1 190 1.203 1 213 1.222 1.230 1.237 1.242 1.246 1.250 1.252 1.251
H. M. S. 42 35.77 46 32.33 50 28.89 54 25.44 58 22.00 17 2 18.56 17 6 15.12 17 10 11.68 17 14 8.23 17 18 4.79 17 22 1.35 17 25 57.91 17 29 54.47 17 33 51.02 17 37 47.58 17 41 44.14 17 45 40.70 17 49 37.26 17 53 33.82 17 57 30.38 18 1 26.94
16 16 16 16 16
5 23.50
18 18
9 20.05
1.25d 18 13 1.247 18 17 1.242| 18 21 1.2361 18 25 1.228 18 29 1.218 18 32 1.208 18 36 1.1961 18 40
16.^1
13 17 9.73 6.29 2.85 59.40 55.96 52.52
some odd minutes and seconds of ordinary time, Sunday Monday it is not necessary to have the 24th hour. We Tuesday. will describe the manner of measuring tenths Mean tim of the Semidiameter passing may be fouDd by suband hundredths of a second in an article which tracting Os.19. from the sidereal time. The Semidiameter for mean noon may be assumed tbe same as will appear in an early number of the ,
. .
|
1
?
that for apparent noon
Journal.
PHASES OF THE MOON. D.
New
Watchmaker's Lathe.
the firm of Ballou,
—Mr. Ballou, of
Whitcomb &
Co., 18
Harvard
Place, Boston, favored us with an examination
New
of their
An
t
©
FuUMoon
14
Last Quarter
22 14 11.9
New Moon
29 18 36 1
9 44.1
D.
Lathe, which
is
superior to any-
extended description of
given in the December
it
Number of the
will
be
Journal.
<(
d
Apogee
19
Perigee
31
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
Q. B. AT
$1.50
JRT.
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Ail communications should be addressed,
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MILLER,
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Point Conception
8
>.
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Cincinnati Observatory
RATES OF ADVERTISES. 1 page
-
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MILLER.
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42 22 48.1
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
.
AMERICAN H0E0L0GICAL JOURNAL,
H.
2 23:9
Perigee
(
thing of the kind ever before offered to the trade.
©
H. M.
6 23 36.2
FirstQuarter
J
Saturn.
.
.
APPARENT
APPARENT
E. AyCfc'NSIOX.
DECLINATION.
H. M. 19
3
3 57.60.
10 13 51.62. 19 21 17.19.
1 42.64
MERID. PASSAGE. H- M.
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AMERICAN
Horoloffical Journal. NEW YORK, DECEMBER,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS. Whitcomb & Co.'s New
Ballou,
Watch
Repairing.
—No.
.
G,
....
121
By
times.
Essays for the Burdett Coutts Prize, Treatise on the Isochronal Properties of the Balance Spring, Japanese Metal "Working, A Few "Words About Friction, Long and Short Screw-Drivers, Answers to Correspondents, Equation of Time Table,
of the
observations of the sun's altitude,
125
shrewd guesses, and a doubtful reliance upon the
128
watch, an average was arrived at as to the proba-
131
ble time of
day quite accurate enough
for those
Now all is changed exact 132 slow-moving times. 134 requirement of time compels carefully construc135 ted timepieces, and these will not admit of carePivots and their must be round, wheels and balances must
construction or repair.
less
137
holes
139
140
not be out of truth in their circumference, nor
....
141
out of
.......
142
much
flat
in staking on their pinions
Co.'s
New
144 fling error in depthing be allowed
Lathe.
is
so tri-
indeed, the
;
far in excess of the ability
hand
of the eye to detect and the
An
by
as a hair's breadth, nor will the most
exactness required
Whitcomb &
demand
6.
;
.
N. B. Sherwood,
Ballon,
No.
paired very well satisfied the
Lathe,
Rounding up Cones, The Cryptochylon Ice Pitcher, Narrow Escape of a Renowned Horological Establishment,
1872.
eccentricity in a small pinion,
to execute.
which no eye
With the wonderful increase in the sale and use of a better class of watches than were for- can see, maybe so large a proportion of its exmerly required by the public, has sprung up an ceedingly minute diameter as to vitiate its cormore skilled labor, both rect performance. How then is this exact nicety to be attained? and repair. The average watchmaker of the past would hardly be tolera- Evidently not by the hand and eye, but by ma"But," says an objector, " the mated in the present. His rude workmanship, and chinery. chine must be made by hand, and how can the effect be more perfect than the cause ? How can the work which the machine turns out be more exact than tho machine itself?" Very increased
demand
for
in their construction
true,
it
cannot; but within certain limits the
hand and eye are adequate within those limits.
when a
to detect errors
which
will be
eter
neither
is
easy to see
quite
disk of ten inches in
volving in a lathe,
;
It is
diameter, re-
one inch out of centre,
an error of one-tenth of is
it
difficult to see
its
diam-
an error of
still more rude tools, applied to the fine watches one-tenth of an inch, which would be only the of the present day, would be the death of their one-hundredth of its diameter but no human ;
correct performance.
The constant advance
in
eye could detect a want of truth in a staff
mechanical skill has necessitated an equal ad- pivot of one-tenth of its diameter, much less vance in the construction of the tools and ma- the one-hundredth. So, also, it is easy to place chines of the artisan. We remember the time tho points of compasses upon the inch marks when a "natural-born watchmaker,' who could of a scale but what eye could place them put in a verge with a pin vise and a few small accurately on so minute divisions as the one-hun1
;
was looked upon as a mechanical prodigy, dredth of an inch yet the one-hundredth of an and the performance of the machines thus re- inch can be accurately measured by the eye by files,
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
122
the intervention of a machine.
To
illustrate
So with a lathe mandrel of an inch in diame-
take the proportional dividers or compass whose ter
if it has an eccentricity of one-tenth of an one inch from one end, and inch, the eye could at once detect it, and all the nine inches from the other if the long legs are products of that lathe would have the game oneopened one-tenth of an inch, as they may be by tenth eccentricity but were the mandrel only
point of revolution
;
is
;
;
the eye with considerable accuracy, the short one-tenth of an inch in diameter, the error would legs will be opened one-tenth of that,
which
give one-hundredth, which will be
absolutely this process that errors
accurate to servation
—
will
then be too small for the eye to detect.
It
is
by
minute for visual within one-tenth of the error of ob- detection are eliminated; and it is made pos-
upon the long
too
sible to construct tools of the requisite perfec-
legs.
and machines sufficiently exact to which would even now be highly creditable to be relied upon for producing the most delicate more pretentious instruments. To these efforts of Mr. Bottom are due the general introduction modern horological instruments. more machine is simple no purpose of the practice and practicability of chucking For this and no machine lathe, of form with cement. Later than this, the necessities of than some in use has had more need of improvement. For the the watch factories compelled further advances tion
tools
hundred years everything in the way of in the same direction, the result of which has work was done on the "dead been the very general adoption of the split The advent of machine-made chuck in various forms, and a multiplicity of watches has given an impulse to improvements self-centring chucks, which are features of the
last
accurate lathe centre " lathe.
modern lathe. As has been shown, the perfecThere tion of workmanship done upon the lathe dea great degree of perfection. was, however, a pioneer in advance of the watch pends upon the condition of the lathe itself, factories in bringing into notice the capabilities which, among the earlier ones introduced into
in live spindle lathes that bids fair to bring
them
to
The wonder and ad- market, was not favorable to perfection. Mr. Mr. Bottom wrought Bottom's was better than very many which sucout with -his lathe are yet in the memory of ceeded it, because he seems better to have commany an old watchmaker. He was the first, prehended the true principle of their, action, of the live spindle lathe. miration which the
if
the writer's
duced
to
the
results
memory
is correct,
who
intro-
and
to
general trade the live spindle which
have given much care
many
to its construction
of his successors did not
;
his im-
seeming to think that anything which about from place to place, producing and exhib- revolved, and upon which chucking could be iting specimens of skilful manipulation upon it done with cement, was all that was required
lathe.
This he did by personal
effort,
going
itators
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. apparently placing more reliance on
it
than on them.
123
This faulty execution of an excellent
The same may be said of many of principle has been the father of immeasurable the self-centring lathes now in market more prejudice against the use of live spindles for dependence seeming to be placed upon the fact fine work; objectors who did not look below that split chucks are used, than upon the perfec- the surface jumped at once to the conclusion tion of the chucks and the arbor that carries that that style of lathe was useless, and consethe lathe.
;
quently condemned them as a class
—condemned
the principle because the badly constructed
chines did not properly illustrate
ma-
The modern demand
duces.
for fine machinery mechanic arts has
in all departments of the
brought about the construction of some most exquisite work; consequently the facilities for
it
producing
fine lathes are constantly increasing.
The growing demand
for
such instruments
is
Each successive competitor for public favor must possess more good points than its predecessor. One of the latest has just been brought out by Messrs. Ballou, Whitcomb & Co., of Boston, which, in its general features, resembles the American also stimulating their production.
,
lathe, so
however,
long and favorably known.
some
which cannot
peculiarities
fail to
commend
ble consideration of the trade
any novelty which
it
;
It has,
of
construction
it
to the favora-
not so
much
dent care which has been bestowed upon sential parts. ities for this
have stinted
for
possesses, as for the eviits es-
The makers possess ample facilclass of work, and seem not to themselves in the use of them in
producing' this lathe.
We give
description, because
the duty of the JoTrasrAL
to give
it is
place to a
whatever of encouragement
it
full
may
to
every effort to promote advancement in our fa-
Our predecessors were not wholly blamable
vorite art, not only in its science
and
practice,
the character of the machines they pro- but in the all-important accessories of tools and duced, for, as has been shown, the more perfect machines ; and knowing that good work requires
for
the machine the
more
perfect the
work
it
pro-
good
tools as well as
skill,
every advance in
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
124
their construction will be chronicled with pride
very short, and have a bearing at the rear or
and pleasure.
inner end,
As
e,
Fig.
1,
which insures
their being
be seen by the perspective view, this in line with the centre of the spindle. In lathe resembles the American, with the excep- favor of the short chucks this advantage is will
The cone of claimed
tion that the tail stock is solid.
—that the long
chuck
pulleys and hand- wheel for drawing in the out of truth, and especially
chucks are of hard, black rubber, which con- piece
with
beautifully
trasts
the
The
of the whole lathe.
is
plating chuck
nickel
counter-shaft
also
is
is easily
is this
held by the extreme front end
springing between the
mouth
spindle (or front bearing of the chuck)
any work-bench. Where so much of the value of a lathe depends upon its truth, it is always of the utmost importance that the spindle (or arbor) and its bearings should not only be true, but so made that
being
this truth will be maintained, if possible, during
that being the firmest part of
an ornament
to
be done by having the parts so
and of material
other,
inner bearing
;
best satisfaction, holds
and
split,
fitted
to
also
its
the
and
its
shape better while
when being tempered, and
the inner bearing comes
more nearly in the mandrel
centre of the front bearing of the
each nary forms, which
so permanent, as to suf-
;
of the
that the short chuck gives the
This can only The cone of pulleys
the existence of the machine.
sprung
the case if a
it
allows the
is
the
spindle.
the reverse of ordi-
an improvement, as support which the spindle to have addi-
is
principal
amount of
abrasion. In headstock gives the have had proper tional strength at its front end. The brass attention. The spindle A, Fig. 1, and steel caps, c, Fig. 1, the makers claim protect bush b, Fig. 4, are hardened so that it is impossible to make, any impression upo n them. fer the least possible this lathe this point
seems
to
x
with a file. They are then ground with an emery lap to nearly a
and finished with
fit,
a lap charged with diamond dust.
After this
are run in their
is
done they the journals from dust, and we think them bearings, equally useful in protecting the workman from and mouth grease for in use the oil is constantly working
own
and the inner chuck bearing e, Fig. 1, of the spindle ct, Fig. 1, are ground
;
a stand- out of the journals, besmearing the lathe and ard by a diamond lap, making about 10,000 the hands these caps prevent that, besides revolutions per minute
—the
to
;
lap and spindle giving to the lathe a finished appearance.-
revolving in opposite directions.
The
holes in the tail stock spindle, which
taper Fig.
H,
the wedge-shaped binding screw which
also
secures the
This
Figure 2
is
hardened, are done by the same process.
1, is
head stock in is
position.
a sectional view of the tail stock.
method of
finish will produce a journal and It has but one standard, with a long bearing bearing that, with proper care, will be good an surface for the mandrel, which gives it great ordinary life-time. firmness, and is secured upon the lathe bed by
Another peculiar feature is in having the male cone of the mandrel very short, its terior
being cut away so as
to
and ground, and the taper hole in which they fit ground to gauge. The T rest is decidedly commendable for its convenience, and the smoothness and ease with which it is shiftable. The column which carries it is split at a, Fig. 3, and drawn together upon it by the arm screw b. The pleasant, easy motion of the rest carried upon its flat seat E, and also of E upon the lathe bed, is accomplished by being both held gently down by a spiral spring, B, enclosed between the washer, c, and the nut, D. The plate E also prevents
bring the pres-
to the article to
shown
1.
at
cZ,
Fig.
be held, as
This gives great firmness to
the grasp of the chuck, and tends to prevent
any untruth in the grasp. The chuck pin, f, Fig. 1, prevents the chuck from revolving when being drawn in, and it also precludes the
possible
twisting
by overturning •bucks
in this
the
of
the
draw-in
split
chucks
spindle.
tapers in the mandrel,
the binding nut, a.
sure upon the chucks at the very outer end, as
near as possible
The
fe-
in-
The
lathe (both split and solid) are
b,
are all hardened
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. the dirt and turnings from lodging
125
Tho makers furnish with the
under the
lathe six split
chucks, two step chucks, ono taper, ono screw,
sole of the rest.
Figure 5 gives a very clear view of tho chuck and one saw chuck. The largest split chuck showing its points of contact with the in all the different sizes of lathes will take tho
in place, spindlo,
and
also the guide pin.
Figure C gives a view of the counter-shaft and The pulleys and cone pillars that support it. are hard rubber, and the pillars nickel-plated.
and at the same bed is 8 inches, No. 2 lathe bed is 12
chucks at any time that will timo bo true.
The No.
fit,
wire which tho tapers are it
to pass
mado from, allowing Tho chucks are
through the chuck.
made to a standard gauge, and aro interchangeable, which allows any one to order extra all
Watch Repairing.—No.
6.
1 lathe
BY JAMES PRICKER, AMERICUS, GA.
and swings 3 inches. inches, and swings 4f inches. We have now arrived at the centre wheel, Messrs. Ballou and Whitcomb have each spent and will have a few remarks to make on that about eight years in the construction of lathes and its pinion, pivot holes, etc. No doubt there in the principal American Watch Factories, are some, if not many, who aro in their "toens," and fully comprehend the requirements of this so far as watch work is concerned, but may be old in years, that will wonder what any ono can most useful tool. Taking it all in all, it is by all odds tho bost find to talk or write about concerning the cenlatho yet offered to the trade, and shows a tre wheel and pinion, as they evidently never and as for tho centro progress which in all probability will not stop do anything to them There is no good reason to holes, why, a few taps with the hammor on a at this point. doubt but that the same advancement will be round punch will close up tho holes, and if it mado in watchmakers' lathes as has been made does throw it out of upright, and make it rub in those in use in first-class machine shops. against tho lower side of the barrel or fuzoo, it There certainly is no end to tho uses to which can be filed off, or, if it rubs the lower plato, they may be applied even now work can be that can be remedied by turning out the plate done on them that a few years ago would on the Universal Lathe or, in the absence of have been pronounced impossible, Consequent- that indispensable took it can be scraped with a ly we speak of this as a praiseworthy step on- graver, or the lower side of the wheel filed sufward and upward. ficient to allow it to " go," and as for the lower ;
;
;
•.••,.
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
J26
made very
hole being
thin
by
this
punching
process, that is nothing.
If such people did not exist, certainly so
many watches would
It sometimes happens, by turning out the worn portion of the lower pivot, that all the
shoulder for the cannon pinion
is
turned
off,
and the cannon pinion will go down to the and watchmakers would not be .accused of shoulder. It would certainly not do to leave it " stealing out the jewels " quite so often for if in this condition, for the cannon pinion would but you can a man's watch performs well after being re- then bind against the plate paired, its owner very naturally concludes that drill a hole in a piece of steel wire and cut off a his watchmaker is one of the honest, good piece just a little longer than the old pivot, and fit it on tight, being careful to have it come workmen. The centre pivots, especially the lower ones, tight up against the shoulder, then temper it, are usually the first that begin to show any and, if necessary, use a very small piece of soft The pressure on the lower pivot solder to hold it fast. If acid is used to make signs of wear. the solder hold, wash the pinion in clean water, is great, and its hole is usually made too thin consequently the pressure is exerted on a very then in alcohol to get rid of every trace of the small surface, the oil is all forced out, and small acid, otherwise the watch may stop in a few particles of dust get forced into the brass, if a days, and which, on inspection, will reveal a not
tell
the
same
tale,
;
;
plain watch,
The
which
acts as a
"grinder" on the rusty
and rusty, small particles of steel become imbedded in the hole also, and last, but not least, the rust also, which is the oxide of iron, the same thing as crocus or "polishing stuff," only made somewhat differ"What watchmaker would think of ently. leaving a particle of this on a pivot when he put the watch together ? And yet some will apply a little oil to a rusty pivot and say that pivot.
there
New
is
pivot soon gets dry
Having got
pivot.
the collar fastened on,
turn up a pivot to the proper size and polish
it
as directed for the fuzee pivots.
is
neatly done, no one would ever discover
new
will save putting in a
If the upper pivot
be put
and
Hold
in.
is
oil will
broken, a
new one must
direct a sharp flame
from the alcohol lamp,
with the blow-pipe, against the extreme end of the staff of the pinion and bring
a blue, however, you it
and
the pinion in a pair of plyers
up immersing
to
it
down
to
a
discolor the
If you do get them to
not cure such a complaint, but the leaves of the pinion.
Shellac the pinion up in the lathe, true
it,
pinion.
nothing the matter with the watch. light blue, being careful not
following process will.
If the job
may remove
tho color by
the pinion in diluted sulphuric acid,
by the old pivot where it is not worn, turn out washing immediately in clean water, then in every sign of a groove, and get the pivot straight alcohol. Cement the pinion up in the lathe and true; then grind and polish, same as for and true it up by the outside of the staff part the fuzee pivots then broach out the centre of the pinion, then with a hard drill, a trifle larhole, file up a piece of hard brass wire to fit it, ger than the pivot to be made, drill a hole in then rivet it in; the holes should be slight- the end, revolve the lathe very slow, working ly chamfered on both sides, and in riveting in the drill back and forth all the time, which will the bush do not hammer it so hard as to stretch prevent its becoming " choked," and have a ;
the plate
up
;
pin or screw the plates together, put less tendency to "polish" the bottom of the
lathe and centre from the hole. In the latter case, use a little sulphuric upper hole. By this means you will get the acid in the hole to roughen it so that the drill wheel in upright, which is a very important will "bite" again. Drill the hole once and a thing. Centre and drill a hole a very little half as deep as the pivot is to be in length, then smaller than is required, then true out the hole get a paper of the best needles, select one and in the universal
with a cutter, for the
round
hole,
and may get
drill will it
down
a
little
not
make a draw
it
down
to
a deep blue,
out of cen- hole, and cut off enough to
file
make
it
to
the
fit
the pivot,
al-
drive it in tight and having finished lowing for depth of hole the lower end of the hole, broach it to fit, and then turn down to the proper size, and grind polish with the round broach. The upper pivot and polish as directed for fuzee pivots.
tre
;
and
take the plates
its
after
hole can be treated in the
necessary.
;
same way,
if
In case one of the leaves of the pinion ken, or
if
the pinion
is
is
bro-
badly worn, or too large
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
127
new one must be put in. As we and true, with a shoulder on the other end, we will defer each one of which should just fit into tho hole directions for putting in a new one until in the plate of the tool, projecting above the
or too small, a
will devote one article to pinions,
giving
we come
to that subject,
and
will then give di-
plate about one-fourth of
an inch cut off the end of one of the centres, or rather both ends, too and drill a hole in one end of it, and bore it out ;
rections for putting in the centre, third, fourth,
and scape loose,
pinions.
If the cannon pinion
never resort to the very
is
common but
per-
nicious practice of putting in a hair or piece of
method will throw the cannon pinion to one side, and have a tendency to make the hands lock. The best plan is to
pinion, then
place that portion of the centre pinion staff that
and
goes in the cannon pinion between two
also
tissue paper, as this
about half an inch
slightly taper for
make a dozen or more punches making a round end and flat end size, drilling
holes in the ends temper and polish
them a
stakes, leaving
make two
to to
it,
one of each
to suit all
then
;
into
fit
any
size
the punches
light straw color
a very small hole back and forth a few times, in the one for fine pivots, and then chamfer the using considerable pressure, which will raise a corners of the hole, and in the other drill a larvery even, file-like surface on the staff, increas- ger hole and chamfer in the same way. If it is files,
it
ing
diameter by means of the roughness suf- necessary
its
make
If this process will
;
drill
carefully
rolling
ficient to
for staffs
be best
to
the cannon pinion hold tight. fails to
tighten
it sufficiently, it
put on a new cannon pinion.
to drive
out or
in,
a pallet
staff,
for
instance, put a stake in the hole in the plate
that will freely admit the
on
it
staff,
with the large end of the
lay the pallets
staff
down,
se-
centre wheel will frequently be found to lect a punch that will admit the pivot, but not have several teeth soldered in, or the teeth may the staff (two sizes will do for all), put it in the be worn so as to cause the watch to stop, in old centre, which now answers for the handle to
The
which case a new wheel must be put in. Select one of the proper size, and number of teeth and stone it up flat and of the proper thickness. It may be necessary to file it some on one or both sides before stoning, after which polish it on boxwood with Vienna lime and alcohol, or gild it as may be required, using a scratch brush to remove tho burr from the teeth. Remove the old wheel and put the pinion up in the lathe, and turn off the points of the leaves that held the old wheel on take down the pinion and put up the wheel, using a hollow chuck true up the wheel by the outside, as it frequently happens that the hole is not in the cen;
the punch, and then put
and bring
tool
it
it
down on
in the hole of the
the pallets so that
the pivot will enter, and a slight blow on the
end will drive out the staff, and will never break or bend a pivot, neither will it in putting the staff into the pallets. This we have found to
be a valuable
tool.
For riveting in the centre wheel, staff
select
a
that will just freely admit the upper
stake
of the pinion, and place
select a
round punch that
it
in the plate
will just pass over
the shoulder of the lower pivot and put piston
;
it
in the
place the pinion in the stake, lay the
wheel on it and proceed to rivet it down, turning your punch at every stroke of the hammer. With a cutter, tre. turn out the hole to fit the pinion, take it down, and after having cleaned it When firmly riveted on, take out the round punch and put in a flat one, giving it a few and the pinion of shellac by boiling in alcohol,
For this purpose, every watchmaker should have a good staking tool, of which there arc several in the market but, not having used them all, cannot speak of their respective merits, and in these articles shall speak of no tool only from actual experience. Some years ago we made a staking tool, which any one can make, as follows. Take an old " upright tool " and fit a dozen rivet
it
on.
taps.
If the punches are well polished, the
pinion will not be disfigured any,
and a
littlo
;
if
a
fine watch,
but very
and
if
little, if
up right, an ordinary one, no pol-
polishing will bring
ishing will be required.
With
it
this tool
a nice
job can be done, and done quickly.
Wo take pleasure in calling
the attention of
each one with a the trade to Kelley's Soldering Kit as being different sized hole, so as to accommodate any one of the most convenient and useful adsized pinion make the upper end perfectly flat juncts to the watch bench ever offered to them. small hollow "stakes" to
;
it,
AMERICAN HOBOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
128
with infinitely small parts, inaccessible
to deal
Rounding up Cones.
by compass or any
The following
is
linear
measurement
;
or,
in
a translation from the French other words, no practical tool has been made,
of a pamphlet describing a
new instrument
for
easily
managed, rapid and economical, as the
we
giving to the teeth of wheels the proper epicy- one which
shall presently describe.
Still,
For the repairer it would appear it is but due to state, that the road toward the to be just what is needed to enable him to cor- solution of the problem has been cut by men as rect bad gearing, resulting from improperly eminent in science as they were skilful, and shaped teeth, as well as for replacing a new that several apparatuses are existing, which we Avheel, and which is a tool simple, inexpensive, shall here review. But first, let us state the rapid, and theoretically correct as to the work problem to be solved. Having given a pinion done by it. We are unable to say who is the driven by a wheel, to give to the teeth of the inventor of it, as his name is not made known, latter a shape such that, at every point of connor the place where they are made but cer- tact with the leaves of the pinion, the form of tainly such an instrument is desired by every the rounding of the teeth be exactly that which watchmaker. We give the details in full of Les the leaves of the pinion would give them had Cones Aekondisseurs, or Rounding Up Cones. they the faculty of abrading them by the sim"It is sufficient to have been occupied some- ple contact of rotation. In other words, having what with mechanical horology, to appreciate given a wheel, the teeth of which are not the importance or effects of a good or bad gear- rounded up, to apply to it a tool identical in The quality of action desirable ing. awheel shape with its pinion, and able to round up its and pinion is expressed in the following three teeth according to the form required by the points Uniform transmission, proportionally pinion. " There exist four different kinds of tools to equal velocity, and an action free from friction. cloidal form.
;
m
:
This triple desideratum in a gearing can be ob- accomplish this result tained only on condition of combining the
"
ma-
thematical relations of the diameters with a correct
form of the
braces theoretically
teeth. all
The foregoing em-
—
The ordinary rounding-up
fraise.
sion.
" 3d. Ingold's fraise.
the points in question,
and it may be mentioned that practical solutions have been found for nearly all these problems, with more or less degree of accuracy for the last mentioned " the good form of the teeth." In this short treatise we shall occupy ourselves only with this last question, which of itself deserves the attention of the most scientific minds.
1st.
" 2d. Saunier's rounding-up tools of preci-
" 4th. " 1st.
The rounding up cones C. J. B. Z. The ordinary fraise, particularly
the
one called an endless screw, is a very ingenious invention, and of very expeditive application, but nothing which guarantees exactitude or good
In fact, how are these tools so generally employed made that are to give to the teeth of It is needless to here recall the theory of the wheels their proper shape ? At the hazard of epicycloid, according to which the configura- the hand, according to the notions of the worktion of the teeth of wheels and pinions ought man, of a shape to satisfy the eye, but in no to be. The reader must be already familiar degree on geometrical principles. By their with it besides, there exist special treatises to means production is rapid, but the market is which he may refer. What is certain is, that also stocked with an abundance of defective work.
;
is in watches and mechanisms, the curves or rounding of the teeth ought to be made with extreme geometrical precision, without which their functions will be worse in proportion as the motive power is weaker. " Up to this day we have sought in vain for the mechanical means of giving to the teeth of wheels their proper shape, as prescribed by
in fine
other
gearing, such as
accurate
mathematics, owing
to the
fact that
we have
wheels. " 2d. Saunier's rounding up tool of precision
an admirable instrument, realizing, so to say, dream of a geometrician it takes hold of the tooth, guides it to the fraise, and carries it
is
the
;
the
before retical
which
.
is
with the is
latter
curve
too little
the
of
according the
dividing
rounding
up
known, and
if
to
the
theo-
rounding
necessary,
machine
identified
tool.
This invention
manufacturers would
AMEBICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. make more
use of
it,
there wotild be nothing
Notwithstanding
but perfect teeth in wheels. its
incontestable merit, this machine
metre and a half
But
tres.
this is
129
to the pitch of four millime-
An
an exceptional number.
does not assortment of five cones plainly suffices for
all
usual work. Besides this double assortment, enter into the usual work. " 3d. Ingold's fraise is an idea exactly in con- satisfying more than abundantly all the requireformity with the demands of the problem enun- ments of practical horology, cones of special
This tool
ciated above.
pinion, the spaces
which are
and
form by
size
and teeth can be made as
of the leaves of the exceptional merit of this
cut like a
finely
gear with a wheel to be their
nothing else than a
is
sides
Placed into under
file.
cut, it gives to the teeth
all
But
desired.
new
tool
is,
that
imaginable hypotheses, the number of
pieces comprising
an assortment
is
exceedingly
hunted, and consequently very economical. " If we consider that, in order to possess a This would appear to solve the
filing
retical curve.
them according
to the theo-
After this invention we might have rounding-up tool approximately complete, it thought that there was no need of seeking for was necessary to spend at least one hundred another and the question arises, why this tool and fifty or two hundred francs, and for an Proba- assortment of Ingold fraises from three to four is not in the hands of every workman.
problem.
;
bly the greatest obstacle to rally
used is the
sortment.
For every
separate fraise
its
is
becoming gene- hundred francs, and that by using the roundingup cones, by which the same result can be ob-
get a complete as-
difficulty to
dimension
of the dimensions of teeth
of
teeth
a tained, a
and as the number
necessary,
is infinite, it
that this tool cannot be completed
;
—
it
follows made,
at least,
it
sum
of about
fifty francs is sufficient,
cannot be denied that progress has been
and that the introduction of
this tool is
a great advantage. " To better understand the
tool, and the manwould become enormously expensive. " Ath. The rounding up cone C. J. B. Z. is a ner in which it is used, the following descripThe accompanying cut repretool of the same kind as the preceding one. tion will suffice. This is the new instrument which we would sents a depthing tool made especially for the
present to the reader. "
As
its
name
indicates,
it
consists of a small
cone of steel toothed similar to a pinion, and drilled
through
;
in order to
be placed opposite
The taper of the cone is onea loose arbor. twentieth (J D ) of a millimetre for every millimetre of length
;
or for a length of twenty mil-
one millimetre difference between the diameters of the large and small purpose, but any other depthing tool ends. This proportion, perfectly suitable for used with equal satisfaction besides limetre there
is
;
reduced to appendage
may
be
this,
an
made, called a cone carrier, one-half in the cones destined for the larger which may be used in the place of the T rest of work of clocks, so that the taper of the cone is any ordinary Swiss bow lathe, without any prethe thin wheels used in watches,
is
is
also
The tool represented in the only one-fortieth (^) for every millimetre in vious preparation. Eight cones form a complete assort- cut may thus be dispensed with, although it
length.
ment, comprising, without the least exception, costs but one half of an ordinary depthing tool all the sizes of teeth existing from the smallest only, as it is especially made for the purpose,
In other words, this the work in question may perhaps he done with assortment of eight pieces represents, without greater accuracy. The following is the manner to the largest watches.
any interruption,
all
the imaginable dimensions in which it is used. " The cone being placed
of teeth from a pitch of one-tenth of a millime-
upon a
loose arbor
running between the centres of the depthing " For the larger work of. clocks ten cones tool, or cone carrier, is set in gear with the will form a complete assortment, realizing all wheel to be rounded up, just like a pinion with the conditions enumerated, and comprising all its wheel these are simply set in motion with the sizes of teeth from the pitch of one milli- a string bow, and it is immaterial whether the tre to that
of two millimetres.
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
130
bow
is
applied to the wheel or to the
thus the work proceeds. tion is
cone
;
yet
it
seemed necessary
Naturally the opera- chances of trouble in the
to
point out these
way
of a precaution-
begun with a shallow depth, and as the ary admonition. " When the work is brought by degrees, making the gearing
tool is closed
deeper,
little
pieces are seen to fly
as neatly as if a cutter were
bow
a few strokes with the
off,
cut just mentioned, if
work
to
the point above
desired to obtain the highest
After degree of perfection, the wheel
employed. the
it is
is
com- turning
is
replaced,
end for end between the centres of (lathe or depthing tool), and it is set in
it
and the teeth will appear brilliant, reg- the tool and polished in the highest degree. motion anew with the cone at the exact place " An essential point is the choice of the proper where it was before. This short operation cone, but nothing is more simple. The opera- consists of two or three strokes of the bow aftion is commenced by putting the cone and the ter this, the wheel is brought a little towards wheel together at a point where their depth is the larger end of the cone, about to the place good that is to say, like that of a good pinion where the operation was commenced, and a and a good wheel well set in other words, a few drops of oil put to the teeth of it then pleted, ular,
;
;
;
point in the gearing
is
;
chosen where, the teeth give about
five or six
light strokes
with the
and those of the wheel being equal, bow, guiding the motion of the wheel with the no butting or full, neither at the en- end of the finger, and the whole work is done. trance of the teeth, nor at their exit. There is The wheel is to be stoned off on both sides, hardly a workman who will not instantly com- washed and cleaned, and then with the glass it prehend these details. This being done, the can be verified that no polish with rouge wheel is moved a little towards the small end equals that on the rounded up teeth done by of the cone there
is
of the cone, so
This polish
that there will be a butting this process.
is
the
more
perfect,
against the sharp angles of the teeth of the as the acting surfaces are cut lengthwise in the
cone
(which will become progressively smaller teeth, which
with respect
work
to those of of the wheel),
begins.
It is
by
this
colliding
is
and the nary rounding of the
sity,
an improvement on the ordiwhich leaves, of neces-
cutters,
the lines cut crosswise.
"Recent improvements have added an imporrounded portions of the teeth of the wheel that tant property to these cones, which permits of the former gives to the latter the desired shape. varying the form of the teeth according to the " After the first few strokes, if it is desired to desire of the operator. The sides of the leaves obtain a still more perfect result, i. e., a more of all the cones are very delicately cut longitusharp cutting angles of the cone with the un-
decided curve,
it
will
the wheel
a
little
still
be only necessary
to
bring dinally like a
file,
so that they abrade like exte-
further towards the small rior sharp angles, and thus act upon the teeth.
end of the cone, setting them in motion anew, This enables the operator to operate only with and closing the depth progressively. Care the sides of the leaves, as for instance, when it must be had to cease immediately upon the dis- is desired to re-touch a wheel which has alappearance of the last vestiges of the flat at the ready been rounded up, and thus to make with points of the teeth of the wheel.
If the opera- certainty re-touches of infinite delicacy without
were continued, the teeth would become running the chance of overdoing it, even should disfigured, and instead of an epicycloidal curve the operator be entirely a novice in the managethere would be but a rough and uneven sur- ment of the tool. For this purpose the cone face. This is evident, that in overstepping the and the wheel must be put together precisely proper limits a bad result would be obtained, at the place where there is no butting or collike that of a wheel in gear with too small a liding, nor fall, and where their gearing is that of a good wheel and pinion properly set, as bepinion. " For similar reasons, but diametrically oppo- fore explained then, after having put a drop site ones, if a cone were used at a place where of oil to the points of contact, they are set in its teeth would be larger than those of the motion, and the work is being accomplished as wheel, instead of rounding them up it would the depth is closed by degrees. " If it is desired to obtain a less oval shape disfigure them. It is scarcely to be feared that any workman will commit these extreme errors, of the teeth, such as is required for the pinions tion
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
131
It has already been adopted by many of it will suffice to bring the ket. wheel successively toward the smaller end of the leading houses in the country, and when the cone, being careful that it be not overdone, the new styles which are now being brought so that the outer sharp corners of the cones out are completed, so that all tastes may be commence to cut. Thus is realized the power suited by every variety of form and finish, it of proportioning the form of the teeth to the must occupy a still more prominent one. A few words as to the method of constructnumber of leaves in the pinions employed.
of low numbers,
The use of these cones in the most celebrated ing ice pitchers, and the material of which houses in France and abroad has given the they are usually we might almost say uni-
—
—
In the house of Breguet versally made, will be of interest to our readtrains of telegraph apparatuses have been ers, many of whom are sellers, and most of brought to working perfection unheard of. If whom are users of these useful articles. Prenecessary, it will operate on and round up vious to the introduction of the Cryptochylon, wheels of a thickness of yV* n °^ a millimetre, all ice pitchers have been constructed with a and the pitch of which is from three to four double wall that is, with an inner vessel susmillimetres. This is certainly the maximum of pended from the upper edge of an outer one, In the same house an extreme leaving a space of from one-half to three-fourths large work. sensibility has been obtained for anaroid bar- of an inch to be occupied by a column of air ometers. The teeth of a wheel to be rounded which acted as a non-conducting medium. For up were those of one not exceeding three milli- a time this space was filled with various mametres in diameter, and the pitch of which was terials, such as plaster of Paris, charcoal, etc., 3 of a millimetre. This was incontestably but they were found to be objectionable in use, ^ -ths minimum of small and delicate work. It and were abandoned, leaving the space bethe need hardly be said that all these operations tween the walls entirely vacant. The metal used in their construction is commust be performed with a care and delicacy usual in practical horology. Generally it is pref- monly known to the trade as white metal but erable to apply the bow to the pulley on the it is far different in quality and character cone, with the precaution to make the bow as from the albata, or white metal, of which long as possible, and string with horse-hair plated spoons and forks are made. This is This silk cord, particularly nickel silver, as it is now termed, and is identior a fine silk cord. when well waxed, is of great flexibility, and cal with German silver, although many have All the sci- supposed there was a difference between them. lasts five times as long as a gut. ence of the rounding up cones is contained in It is a hard, ringing metal, composed of On the main, to studious copper, nickel and spelter, more stiff and inthe preceding lines. artists, intelligent and skilful as watchmakers tractable than solid silver, harder to work, and generally are, a short acquaintance with them more durable when completed. The white will demonstrate all the advantages and facili- metal, of which ice pitchers and other articles very best results.
—
;
ties this
new
tool offers."
of hollow ware are made, rent composition,
its
tin instead of copper,
The Cryptochylon Ice Titcher.
ly soft
and
ductile.
is
of an entirely
diffe-
principal ingredient being
and the metal consequentWhite metal is identical
with britannia, a designation rather too oldto apply to plated ware nowadays.
In the third volume of the Journal, we gave fashioned ft
short description of the Cryptochylon, or solid It
is
capable of taking on a brilliant finish
made its when plated, but is entirely market, commending it for stiffness required for a vessel
walled Ice Pitcher, which had just then
lacking in the
appearance in the
subject to the
pitcher necessarily reits points of excellence, which seemed to us to treatment which an ice which disfigure bruises and dents The give it a position in advance of any other ceives. testisideboards many so pitcher on the ice The repitcher which had yet been produced. it imposmakes wall double and the this, fy to corsult of a year's experience has proved the rectness of our opinion, and justified our predic- sible to get at them for repairing without taking extions of the position it would take in the mar- the pitcher to pieces and involving much
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
132 If nickel silver
pense.
is
used the cost is so many of the higher branches of our profession. is beyond the In addition to the ordinary business of manu-
greatly enhanced that the article
reach of any but the wealthy. " Cryptochylon "
The
Ice Pitcher
is
(or
facturing
and repairing marine chronometers
concealed wood) and fine watches, the proprietors devoted
made by turning a
much
vessel of of their attention to the application of electrici-
wood of the shape required and then covering ty for the purpose of recording astronomical wood with metal by the process of spinning, observations with greater accuracy and prethus producing what would be more accurately cision than had previously been accomplished, described as a pitcher of wood clothed with metal. and also to the improvement and manufacture The wood, which is one of the best non con- of time-measuring instruments suitable for the ductors of heat, makes of the pitcher an equally requirements of modern astronomy and navigathe
good it
if
ice preserver,
and
at the
same time gives
much more solidity and resisting power than made of the hardest metal which can be
used for such purposes by the old method, and without adding
to the
weight or
cost.
So that
tion.
About
sixty years ago
Mr. William Bond,
the founder of the business, constructed the first
chronometer made on the American conIn those days materials were not to be
tinent.
can be manufactured at a price which had so conveniently as at the present day, and places it within the reach of every family, it is during the war of 181 2-' 14, the time this as beautiful, and at the same time more du- chronometer was made, no suitable materials while
it
could be imported from Europe, neither could which are within the reach of the wealthy they be procured here but this circumstance was not sufficient to stop Mr. Bond in his work, only. The use of ice, once considered a luxury, is and from such materials as could be obtained in
rable than those constructed of nickel silver,
;
becoming an absolute necossity for comfort the blacksmiths' shops and brass foundries, he and we gladly no- made every part of this chronometer, which, tice and commend the production of a cheap, for a time, did good service in the United beautiful, and durable vessel to economize, fa- States Navy, and we believe is still in a good cilitate, and universalize its use. The advan- state of preservation. Pully twenty years ago, when the application tages possessed by this new invention, over any fast
in all civilized communities,
now in use, must be apparent of electricity for the purpose of recording astronomical observations was proposed and was in who will give the subject consideration. The manufacturers, Messrs. Adams, Hallock, the course of being put into practice, a me-
other Ice Pitcher to all .
&
Co.,
room
have recently opened an in the
Waltham
which will be a
street,
office
and
sales-
chanical difficulty presented
itself,
their customers.
o-
.
Narrow Escape of a Renowned Horologieal Establishment.
with the necessary accuracy, and lutely necessary that
it
cape
for a
it
was abso-
should revolve with a
steady continuous motion precisely once in a
minute, or sixty times in an hour. It
which
Bond time threatened the success of the whole undergreat convenience to taking. The cylinder or drum on which the paper is fastened could not be made to revolve
Building, No. 1
The motion
with pleasure that we record the es- of this cylinder could be regulated by means of of the premises occupied by Messrs. the vibrations of a pendulum so as to give the ne-
is
William Bond & Son, from the ravages of the cessary number of turns with the greatest cerlate conflagration in Boston. To the student of tainty but of course the cylinder would move in Horological subjects this house presents an in- jumps, which rendered it entirely unsuitable terest which is not associated with any similar for the purpose required. Some astronomers building on this continent. There some of the used a conical pendulum in order to produce a most difficult questions connected with our regular and continuous motion but, although profession have from time to time been practi- very beautiful in theory, it was impossible in cally investigated in the most thorough and practice to make it work with the necessary exhaustive manner, and what the laboratory is precision. A fly was also unsuitable for the to the chemist, this establishment has been to purpose, for, although it produced a smooth mo;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. tion of the cylinder, it could not •
be made
to
133
ner the seconds of time as they are measured
by the clock. The difficulties to be obviated in perfecting a and the great benefits which promised One difficulty to arise from the plan of recording astronomi- break circuit were twofold. cal observations by the aid of electricity at one was mechanical, the other was chemical. The time, from the above causes, stood in danger of working of the various break circuits- all disturn once in a minute with, the necessary pre-
cision,
turbed the accuracy of the standard clock in a
not being fully realized.
Mr. R. F. Bond, greater or less degree. The action of the eleca grandson of Mr. Wm. Bond, the chronometer trical current on the metal from which the maker, and son of Professor W. C. Bond, of points of contact were made, decomposed the Harvard University, undertook to construct a metal and a fine powder was deposited on the
About
this period, the late
mechanism which would produce a continuous surface of the points of contact. The electric and regular motion of the cylinder, and in this fluid can only be conveyed from one piece of effort he was eminently successful. By an in- metal to another when they touch each other, genious arrangement which he called a " spring and when the points of contact ai'e absolutely governor," working in combination with the clean. As already stated, the natural action of the electricity has a tendency to make these duced a uniformly regular, circular motion, points of contact dirty, and hence the apparentand constructed the instrument known in as- ly unsurmountable difficulty to be overcome in tronomical circles as a chronograph. This in- improving a break circuit. Mr. R. F. Bond, vibrations of a half-seconds pendulum, he pro-
strument was immediately adopted by the U. however, arranged the points of contact in his S. Coast Survey, and one of them, exhibited by new break circuit in such a manner that any Messrs. Wm. Bond & Son at the World's Fair dust or dirt was prevented from collecting on
Grand Council Medal, the points of contact. When any dust or oxide and these chronographs are now to be found in was formed by the natural action of the elecall the principal astronomical observatories in tricity on the points of contact, it was immedithe United States and elsewhere. This method ately removed by the mechanical action of the of obtaining a continuous uniform motion is break circuit itself, and in this manner the also used in constructing the driving clocks of trouble occasioned by the products of the chemiof 1851, received the
equatorial
mounted
telescopes.
All of the large cal decomposition of the points of contact were
& Sons overcome. The construction and improvement of a bethave clock-work regulated by Bond's Spring Governor. ter class of clocks, with gravity escapements, made by
telescopes
Messrs. Alvin Clark
After the chronograph had been completed a suitable for the highest purposes of astromcmy, difficulty outside of
to
the chronograph itself had
be overcome before the
new method
full benefits
of the
a specialty which has been carried on more
extensively
by
of registering astronomical ob- firm or private
by the means of electricity, could be fully realized. The usual appliances for causing the standard clock to close and break the electrical circuit, and register the passing secservations,
is
this
firm than
individual
in
by any other the
country.
Their experience in this branch of the business has been very great.
It would occupy an entire volume of this Journal to give an account of their labors in this direction, and onds of time on to the paper fastened on the the valuable deductions that can be made from revolving cylinder of the chronograph, by means many of these experiments. of a pen worked by an electro magnet, did not We congratulate a firm whose members In ordinary tele- have accomplished so much in improving high always work with certainty. graphy, if the operator's key fails to produce class horological instruments, upon the narrow the desired signal, the operation can be repeat- escape of theii business premises, which, from ed two or three times till the required signal is cellar to roof, they have occupied so long for produced but for the purposes of a chrono- the accommodation of the various branches of graph any imperfect action of this part leaves a their business, and where they have earned so record of the failure on the revolving paper, in- much renown and experienced so much substead of marking in a certain and legible man- stantial prosperity. For a time it seemed im;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
134
possible for that block of buildings,
and
all
those
on the south side of State street and immediate
had abundant opportunity tive
genius into play in
to
bring his inven-
new
originating
tools
but the fury of the devouring and improving old ones. Being placed in charge of the jewelling, he element was checked at a stage when buildings a few feet distant were in flames, and its pro- soon made a complete revolution in that depart-
vicinity, to escape,
We hope in due time to ment. Heretofore each watch was jewelled by Bond, of the fourth generation, suc- itself, as was practised in England at that time, ceed to the same position so long occupied by and is generally to-day. He invented what are his forefathers in the chronometer business. known as "End-shake tools," ''Counter-sinker was stopped.
gress see
Wm.
head tool" for jewel screws, the "Truing-up tools," and the "Opener." The first named are truly wonderful tools, being self-measuring, and so constructed that no matter to what depth the shoulder was cut in the upper plates, by putting the plate against one end of one of the tools, and the jewel with its setting in a spring chuck, the tool would cut a shoulder on the setting that would bring the face of each and every jewel exactly flush with the under side of the plate when the setting The jewels were then reversed was put in. and put into another chuck, and the top of the setting cut down by this magic tool until it would come exactly flush with the top of the plate, or rather leave just enough projecting above to allow for polishing. After the jewel settings were " stripped" and polished, they were put into the plates where they belonged, never to be removed again. As the plate was or screw
N. B. Sherwood,
Died
—In New York, Oct., 1872, of consumption, N.
B. Sherwood, aged 49 years.
Napoleon Bonapaete Shekwood, the subject of the present sketch, was personally
many bim
known
to
of our readers, and all are indebted to
for
many
valuable articles in the
of the Jouknal, to which he contributor, since
was a
which time the
first vol.
principal
state
of his
health has incapacitated him for either physical or mental labor.
In many respects he was a
remarkable man.
With
a passionate love of
—especially
in the
higher branches of
study
mathematics,
astronomy
and
chemistry
—
highly retentive memory, and perceptive powers that
seemed almost
intuitive,
he was easily en-
abled to grasp any subject brought to his notice,
and a peculiarly happy faculty of imparting information made him an interesting companion as well as valuable writer and instructor. After graduating with high honors from the Albany Academy, under the late Prof. Beck, he decided upon the practice of medicine as a profession, and entered upon that with the same zeal that characterized his other studies, and no young man ever gave more brilliant promise of becoming eminent in that profession but a natural taste for mechanics gradually led him into more ;
already gilded, next the holes for the screws
were tapped out and the holes bored for each screw-head on the screw-head tool, that would leave the head of the screw exactly flush with the top of the plate and not raise any burr.
The end-shake
tool
was
of self-measuring tools.
was cut on the
certainly the perfection
By
it
shoulder
the
setting of the lower holes (the
holes in the plate being first bored out with a shoulder), so as to give each pinion
the exact
amount of end-shake
and
staff
required.
He
congenial pursuits, affording greater scope for could, with his end-shake tool, truing-up tool, face plates and countersinking tool, do nicer his inventive faculties. It
was during the
earliest part of his career
work than was ever done before on a watch
al-
as a horologist that he located in Jefferson, ready gilded, and more of it than five men coul'd He found it was imposOhio, in 1852, where our acquaintance with in the ordinary way. him commenced. Gravitating naturally to sible to open a jewel hole by hand so that the New York, he engaged in jewelling watches hole would be perfectly round. It is a fact not
and chronometers for the trade, which was the means of bringing him to the notice of Mr. E. Howard, at that time connected with the Watch Factory at Waltham (then in its infancy), and resulted in his removal to that place, where he
generally known, that all the jewels
made and
opened by hand have holes in them that are not round, which can easily be proven by inserting a round broach (which is never perfectly round), and carefully turning
it
around, as some
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
135
place will be found where the broach will not for man, as yet,
He
turn.
also
knows no way to replace the life. Honor to all that him — and peace to his broken
invented a tool that would broken mainspring of
open a round hole, one in which a round broach would not stick. Such are a few of the wonderful inventions He could go into the maof his fertile brain. chine shop and do more work on a planer, or a lathe, or at the vice, than the best of the maIn fact he usually not only invented chinists. his tools, but he made drawings of them that showed him to be an expert draughtsman, and then went into the machine shop and made them himself. Mr. Howard, the superintendent, consulted him upon every contemplated improvement in any department of the factory, and after the old factory was sold out, and Mr. Howard started his new factory in Roxbury, he found the ever fertile brain of Mr. Sherwood to be of incalculable advantage to him. New machinery of all kinds had to be constructed, and every improvement made on the old that could be devised. There being no "jewelling department" until new tools could be made, and no jewelling could be done until the other parts of the watch were ready for the jewels, he was
was good parts
in
!
Essays for the Harriett Coutts Prize.
We have
the pleasure of laying before
our
readers two of the Essays offered in competition for the
Burdett Coutts Prize, for which we are
indebted to the British Horological Journal,
and hope soon to be able to offer the two which took the premium, as well as the other one which was selected as worthy of especial commendation, offered by Mr. Ernest Sandoz, of this We have omitted, for want of space, country. the historical part of Mr. Ulrich's Essay, giving only that part relating to the Isochronism of the
The Prize was awarded equally between Mr. Henry Phillips Palmer and Mr. Morritz Immisch. balance spring.
OX THE
APPLICATION
AND a
It is
THE
OF
BALANCE
SPRING
ITS ADJUSTMENTS.
very general practice, for what
is
termed an eleven-turn spring, to use only ten devising new tools and making improvements and three quarters, but I find it the safest way besides which he was such an efficient hand in to leave it a little longer, so as to have some the machine shop that he was truly invaluable, through the stud to spare in case of necessity, and his knowledge of chemistry was of value and to coil the ends at the stud and collet nearso situated as to be of the greatest assistance in ;
in the gilding department, all
which was closed
to
ly
midway between
and
outsiders except him.
would be impossible to enumerate all the improvements that were made through his advice in the factory. Mr. Howard acknowledged the vahie of his services by paying him nearly double the wages he paid the best of his other employees. He never patented any of his tools, for, like all great mechanical geniuses, he invented a tool, or method of doing anything, for It
its
centre
;
and
the diameter of the spring if requisite,
the case, a smaller collet the stud
made
to
as
is
frequently
must be made, and
approach nearer
to the centre
of the balance.
The spring
will then
have
less
dominion over
the balance by not being put in tension so
but if it gains in the short vibrations, shows that the collet is too large, and that it has too much dominion over the balance, which the thing itself, with no thought of deriving is to be remedied by uncoiling the upper end any pecuniary advantage therefrom. Had he and bringing the stud farther from the centre, patented all his inventions he could have real- or by a smaller collet. ized a handsome sum, as they are used in all of If the collet is too small it will lose in the The quickest way to alter the watch factories in this country. short vibrations. Alas his train has run down the vibrations that is to make a larger one. of his heart have stopped his hands have ceased TO TRY THE ISOCHRONAL PROPERTIES OF THE BALto move his face, blanched as a silver dial, only ANCE SPRING. shows the time that has been his case, which Place four pins about a quarter of an inch once contained all the moving mechanism of a man, now lies tarnished and corroded we search long, equidistant from each other, and allow !
quickly
;
it
;
;
;
;
;
in vain for the
means
to
again put
all in
motion,
the spring to be retained in tension
a quarter
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
136
of a turn by one of the pins resting against a giving the balance a quicker motion than what temporary detent placed on the cock (as nearly is generally done even with a train of 18,000, as possible) at
angles to the
right
may be
quiescent which
effected
by increasing the
arcs of
vibration at least to one turn and a half instead
point.
Then
weight
a
place
that the spring
upon the
pin of the usual quantity of one turn.
first
another quarter of a
turn the balance round
The
which
will just sustain, after
way
difficulty that
has presented
itself in the
of that most essential point of increased vi-
and place double the weight upon the bration, has been the want of a safe escapeand if the spring sustains that weight ment, such as could not get the ruby impulse If it does not sustain that pallet broken off, which is frequently done isochronal.
turn,
next pin it is
•
weight, it shows that it will be too slow on the (with the finest finished watches of the ordinalong vibrations, and be gaining in the short ry construction) in the act of winding, by givRecourse must then be had to closing ing the watch a rapid circular motion with the ones.
by which the left hand while the key is being turned with by being rapidly increased in tension, the right. To make a double spring, coil up twice as have more dominion, and render the long
the cycloidal cheek at the stud, spring, will
A
vibrations quicker.
cycloidal cheek
duced by leaving the pin longer than usual.
pro-
is
and a
at the stud flat,
little
The same
object
may
be achieved by alter-
ing the formation of the upper curve or eye of the spring, uncoiling
it
and increasing the
dis-
it
wire as
is
requisite for the helical part of
be made.
to
To make a double spring there is not so much trouble as many persons suppose, and when done it will amply requite the artist for After
his trouble.
it is
hardened, tempered, and
What is not requisite for the helical portion, draw it out straight, and turn it up as usual for the flat spring, either by a spring winder or by hand, as has long been polished, uncoil
tance of the pinning in from the centre.
ON SPHERICAL SPRINGS.
Much
much
has been said on the Continent in famuch done practised.
vor of spherical springs, but not
with them (at least in this country). They are much more troublesome
than the
and
helical,
and are very
to
difficult to
set true.
Another kind of double spring, generally as the Breguet spring, has been found adjust to answer the purpose extremely well, and is by no means difficult to make or render isochro-
make known
nal.
on'
balance springs for pocket chronometers.
One
obstacle that
ed the more
had
for
many
general introduction of
chronometers was the want of for a
Take a full length flat spring, and after making an elbow at the outer coil, turn it by pocket hand over the ot >.er coils; and form an eye or
years imped-
proper length of balance
sufficient
room curve similar to that of a helical spring. in Another method of springing either box or pocket chronometers, is by the use of two
as
spi'ing,
was too much strain. To obviate which, a very ingenious contriv- springs either flat or helical, one above the balance has been introduced in the shape of a ance and the other below it, and in contrary didouble spring, a helical in conjunction with a rections, so that while one is coiling up the short springs there
flat .
spring
;
but for a pocket watch
to
stand any other
chance of obtaining the reputation of being de-
name
serving the
of a time-keeper, a very
rent plan must be adopted to
been done
what has
diffe-
hitherto
and no person can for a moment is more elasticity and vivacity
is
This
uncoiling.
introduces a most
extraordinary and
valuable improvement to the chronometer,
asmuch
as
it
in-
takes off (nearly) the whole of the
from the balance pivots, which is the varying fluidity of in two thin springs than in one thick one. which frequently occasions such unaccountable The motion of the body in walking tends discrepancies in the performances of chronome;
doubt that there
side friction
so destructive to the oil
;
.
and by the balance holes getting worn
greatly to disturb the vibrations of the balance,
ters;
which
sooner than the others, the pivots
is
the divider of the time.
To' diminish this
evil,
recourse must be had to
cut
off.
get entirely
AMERICAN HOROLOGrlCAL JOURNAL. Isochronism
is
a subject upon which a most culation
;
137
which might be most
efficiently effect-
by mathemati- ed by a few adjusting screws, but which is now cal demonstration) might be written, but wheth- done by hand, by bending and torturing the er the practical portion of the trade would feel springs by sight and guess with the pliers, disposed to devote the necessary time to read whereas, by proper tools, an alteration might be and enter fully into the spirit of it is doubtful. made upon them to an absolute degree of cerelaborate treatise (accompanied
I have, therefore, endeavored to condense the matter, and convey the particulars of the whole
than the ten-thousandth part of
tainty, to less
an inch;
by a screw with 100 few words as possible to render threads to the inch, moved the 120th part of a them intelligible, and for further information (to turn round, which is very easy to be done. those who desire it) refer them to the valuable The improvements that I propose are firstwritings of Ferdinand Berthoud, Juhen and ly, the annealing of the wire secondly, the use Peter Le Roy, Paris, 1733 and 1773; George of round instead of flattened wire thirdly, the for instance,
secrets in as
:
;
;
Attwood, Esq., in the Philosophical Transac- application of two springs coiling and uncoiling Mr. William Har- in opposite directions, to avoid the side friction tions, 1794, Royal Society ;
in the Transactions of the Society of Arts,
dy,
of the balance pivots
;
adjusting for
fourthly,
and Charles Frodsham, Esq., in the Ho- length of wire and form of curves, by means of rological Journal-, Nos. 159 and 160, vol. xiv., fine screws of 100 threads to the inch, with 1807
;
November 1st, 1871. The few memorable words
large heads divided into 120, or an index dividauthor of ed into the same number, and operated upon chronometer springs (Dr. Robert Hooke), viz.: by a pronged screw-driver with a pointer near " Ut tensio sic vis," in English " As is the its end fifthly, the permanently setting of the
of the
;
tension so
is
the force," contains the whole se-
ments
cret.
The
springs by great heat after the
which I
particulars of
will explain in as
the
use
few words as possible, consistently with ren- at
made
are
of
an
pin
the
adjustable in
large-headed
dering the matter intelligible.
them
to
the
screws
or point of rest to the extent of
much
vibrations,
and
its
vibration, ac-
does not
it
will loso,
less
of
sixthly,
or
several
of
front
comes
cheek the
in tension,
than a cycloidal
an improved block to make and the springs upon, whereby they can be harden-
tension, it will gain in the long
if it
being neither more nor
the it
final adjust-
cycloidal
stud,
in
If the balance, in moving from the quiescent cock, to touch against as
quires too
;
cheek
;
seventhly,
ed with the curves turned into their proper
Consequently gain in the short arcs.
To acquire the proper amount of tension
is
ure while
fig-
soft.
If the proposed improvements which I sub-
the subject for consideration.
mit for consideration are deemed worthy of becurves commonly called the eyes, and of their ing put to the test of further experiment, I relative position to each other, pinning into the shall be most happy to apply the greatest portion
The
secret consists in the formation of the
stud and collet opposite to each other as nearly of what
By
my
ment of the
as possible.
essay
may produce,
to the
science of Horology,
advance-
and the pro-
opening or closing of the upper curve, duction of such models as are roquisite it larger or smaller, the equalizing of date the matter clearly.
to eluci-
making
John G. Ulkich.
the vibrations can generally be obtained after a
and experiments. To obtain a good chronometer at a tolerably cheap rate, recourse must be had to some new method of manufacture quicker than at presfew
trials
ent employed,
particulai'ly as regards the
ing• ,
There
.
now much
tim-
Treatise
1st.
on the Isochronal Properties Balance Spring.
—Different
the
forms of springs at different
times have been used
time wasted in equaliz- keepers.
of
for
regulating
time-
In the year 1832 I purchased an ing the vibrations by isochronisihg the balance old watch with a vertical escapement, with springs, and adjusting them for change of tem- a fusee and piece of catgut instead of chain perature, through the want of the means of cal T to wind it up to regulate the vibrations of is
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
138
the balance it had a turn and half of horse- detent chronometer escapement, as I before hair and no curb pins, hence the term hair- observed, differs more than any other in the springs used to this day it was a twelve-hour long and short arcs hence the great difficulty ;
;
would of the springer is to set the turns of the spring be six minutes in twelve hours. Various forms and adjust the difference, and it can only be of springs have been used for marine chronome- done effectually by the unison of two springs, ters, double and single conical springs, double by which means the arcs of vibration are equalA Mr. ized. Another important advantage gained is and single cylindrical springs, etc. Simmons had one with three cylindrical springs by keeping the chronometer balanced in the The volute or flat spring same position in all temperatures consequently, for pocket watches. is most commonly used, and also the Breguet the error caused by the expansion and conspring, which I believe is an improvement on traction in different temperatures on the old the flat spring, where there is room sufficient principle, by which the rate of the chronometer The late Mr. John Dent was materially affected by the alterations of the for it to act freely. tried many different forms of springs he used beat, in my principle is totally eradicated, and a glass cylindrical spring, that being liable to which error no compensating balance could break in sudden changes of temperature did totally correct, and the chronometer, if properly not answer; he also used gold springs, both made in other parts, becomes nearly a perfect cylindrical and volute, also steel springs, coated instrument. with gold they were liable to corrode. 3d. As regards the tools used for making 2d. As regards the best method of obtaining springs, originally the flat springs were turned isochronal properties, it requires a double up by hand after the wire had been properly spring, made and pinned in a peculiar way, by prepared as to strength and size. Some eightwhich means the arcs of vibration become and-twenty years since, tools were made with In 1846, after many years of ex- which to turn up the springs. equalized. I need not here perience, and a large amount of money spent, describe them, as they are known by all, and I patented the duometrical or double cylindrical very few flat springs are turned up by hand. spring for marine chronometers, and double Much more is required to make a cylindrical I will now describe my own method volute springs for pocket watches, and other spring. time-keepers. The Astronomer Royal, seeing having obtained a piece of good brass, I turned the action of the spring in a chronometer going, it perfectly true, with a hole through it, making my wire being prepared the said, he considered the alteration a great ad- it a hollow tube vantage, the beautiful properties of isochronism proper size and width, I have a groove cut the were wonderfully developed with the double number of turns which 1 require for my spring; spring, and must be essential to the chronome- I then bind the wire tightly in the groove of the ter in keeping a good rate. All scientific men tool, making it fast at each end with a screw it is then put in the fire and brought to nearly a who have seen it admit the same. Different escapements are more or less af- white heat, care should be taken not to burn it > fected by the long and short arcs of vibration. I always first rub it over with common soap, The detent chronometer escapement, more than which prevents its scaling, and when quenched any other, though considered the best for cor- comes out nearly a white color. I quench it in rect time, I do not, from experience, admit it to oil or water, then draw it down to a light blue, be so. I chose my own patent escapement, it and take it off the tool and polish it inside and being not so expensive, much less liable to out with fine emery I then put it on another derangement, and quite as correct for measure- tool, taking care to put it on perfectly tight. ment of time having little or no rubbing I then bring it to a good color, when cold surface, it requires no oil. The principle of take it off the tool it is then finished. my escapement is to give the impulse as near 4th. The method of pinning the common the line of centres as it is possible to give it- spring, I need not here explain. I consider watch
;
the nearest time I could get
to
it
;
;
—
;
—
;
;
;
;
;
—
The first patent taken out, 1838, called the springing it over the balance much the best diamond lever escapement the last great seal principle, with springs turned up by tools. obtained, January, 1871. The vibration of the They are often much too close to get freedom ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. of action
;
in that case, if the spring be placed
in a small tool covered with a piece of bright
139
marked the index on the brass by
setting the
balance at rest in each temperature.
Now,
it
on the top of it, and gently heated is quite impossible to eradicate this great error until the piece of steel becomes blue, when cold except by the arrangement of making the spring and taken off the tool it will be found to have counteract its own faults. True, a good comsteel laid
expanded
to
duometrical
I
my
take
pin
my
spring,
say
To
the size required. spring,
may materially assist, and we can, in adjusting the weight, obtain the mean but with the duometrical spring, much pensating balance
in two equal parts between the balance labor and time will be spared in rating the and top pivot, I place a stud with two holes, I chronometer, and a uniform rate obtained in then put one end of each spring in the opposite all temperatures.
thirteen turns, breaking
on the middle of
my
it
;
;
staff,
make a stud to fix I had forgotten to name the method of I pin the other ends of the timing watches in different positions, but have
direction to the other, I also
on the frame
plate.
springs in the stud, care being taken that each fully described
spring
is
pinned perfectly
true,
it in a paper published in the both horizontally Horological Journal for March. The speci-
and vertically. Isochronal properties
in balance
essential zontal,
qualities.
and
With
the
But
G. C. Philcox.
escape-
again, your lever escapement
many parts
very imperfect one, having so
is
in
a
it.
measurement of time, you to check any sudden oscillation that may arise from change of posiI make these remarks to tion or other causes. show correct time-keeping depends materially on the quality and trueness of the escapement, even more than the isochronal properties of the balance-spring, though both are essential to make a good instrument.
To obtain
are in the library of the British Horological
lever escapements, the vibrations Institute.
are nearly equal, not so with a dead
ment.
hori-
vertical,
46 and 52, with diagrams, showing manner of pinning the duometrical springs,
fications of
springs as far as they can be obtained are very the
true
Japanese Metal Working.
should have a rest or stay
To" adjust the balance for different tures, the screws or
mean
;
skill to
produce.
More general
intercourse with
of the two these nations has begot a better acquaintance
with their methods, and a more thorough apof their mechanical abilities. In
extremes.
With
a few years the Chinese, the
the light of barbarians the mass of mechanics and artists little appreciating the fact that those same barbarians were, in many things, far in advance of our present skill, and that productions apparently in general and common use tempera- among them were beyond the power of our
weight of the balance are
altered until you obtain the
Until within
Japanese, and East Indians were regarded in
the single spring, the expansion and preciation
contraction in different temperatures will alter
the position of the balance
;
metal working they have shown an aptitude,
the effect will be an and an appreciation of the capabilities of
ma-
ought to make us blush for our tion of the rate if the chronometer be put in egotistical assumption and superiority. Mr. John A. Audsley, who has studied beat at a temperature of 60° at 100° it will be found if set at rest, the arm of the balance Japanese art carefully, has given, in a recent pointing to 100° at lower temperature, say 20°, lecture, some very interesting facts in regard to alteration of the beat, consequently
an
altera-
terial,
that
;
;
They are arm would point to 20°. If a their artistic use of the metals. chrononometer maker doubts this statement, I particularly expert in casting, carving, damaswould recommend him to try and test it. I keening, engraving, weaving, and tempering the balance
some ten months in my trials to error. Having taken a brass plate, I planted two staffs, with a balance on each I then put a single cylinder on the one, and a double one on the other, and according to the different degree of heat and cold, I sacrificed
acertain
;
the
In many of these departments are shown specimens comparable to any produced In the most characteristic of their in Europe. metallurgic works there is an association of numerous metal alloys producing designs in metals.
colors
through the agency of the various colored
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
140
metals
;
by
white being represented
yellow by gold, black by platina,
silver,
tonished, then, at one of the controversialists
shades of changing sides in the course of the discussion,
all
by copper and its alloys, brown by nor would I be astonished if in the course of and blue by steel. To represent a red time, in the pursuit of his investigations, he garment, embroidered with gold, and clasped should find himself back on the side from with silver, it would be executed in red copper, which he took the "departure." The prininlaid with gold, and furnished with a silver ciples which underlie friction must be underThe sword in the hand of a warrior stood before the results' can be arranged under broach. dull red
bronze,
would be of polished steel, and, if bloody, Avould specific laws. Friction is a result of other forces. be inlaid with red copper. These instances Here I am not so sure but that I am on ground In illustrate their mode of producing colored de- which, to science, is a terra incognita. all human productions there must be imperby the exclusive use of metal. The Japanese have also brought bronze fections, because tho producing power is imThey perfect. I mean by that that there are limits casting to a great degree of perfection. produced highly finished polished bronze work to our powers on all sides and in all Avays the in relief, which is produced by cutting the sur- mind itself being alike unfitted for tho contemrounding metal away, and tho relieved objects plation of the infinitesimal and the infinitely are then engraved and richly damaskeened with great. The point of the finest cambric needle gold and silver. Even in bell founding, art is displays under the microscope a rough, jagged, never neglected in their designs. Flat silver uneven surface. The sting of a bee, on the wire, woven into various patterns, is a favorite contrary, still tapers out to an imperceptible material for covering uniform surfaces, and is point. To the watchmaker this imperfection generally applied by Japanese artists in a very of mechanism is perfectly plain, for this reaeffective manner, and they have been quite as son, that he is almost constantly adding to his appreciative as Western silversmiths in the cor- powers. His eyes are helped by glasses, and In a group of the senses of touch and sight are magnified by rect method of working metals. storks every feather is a thin plato of metal, micrometrical gauges and calipers. Science carefully engraved, tho legs, tails, necks, and and art are furnishing multiplying aids. Brains
signs
;
certainly will command a higher premium tomodelled with accu- day than in the palmiest days of Berthoud and racy, and the vegetation truthfully rendered. Hook, Harrison and Graham. The ideas of Often the highest recommendation of our artists American mechanics are machines which em-
heads of the birds being in their natural colors tho rock they stand on
is
that
their
pounds of "
;
is
productions
contain
so
many
solid silver."
A Few Words
Each idea
is
born a
and seems to have a hundred heads as well as a hundred arms. But what, To produce finin horology, is all this for ? ished mechanism. Why all the work employed in stoning and polishing the pivots and jewels To reduce friction. of watches ? There are certain conditions, then, which increase friction proper, and this may assist us in our investigation. Tho greatest friction is produced by the most uneven or rough surfaces, as these rough surfaces are the obstructions in If in a circle, the path of a moving body. "Briareus,"
About Friction.
Ed. Horological Journal
ploy a thousand hands.
:
This subject, which has been so fully discussed
by some of your ablest contributors, did seem to me to bo waning in interest until a short time since a friend of mine in Baltimore, who, by the by, is a first-class workman, astonished me by producing a rather ingenious instrument for the solution of the problem. I muttered as I left the store, the last words of Daniel Webster, it "isn't dead yet." In fact, the laws of friction have never been completely discovered. The results have been classified, so far as we have the means of judging them, but they are necessarily inaccurate.
I
am
they are
protuberances
over the line
of a
on a plane, protuberIf these ances over a mathematical circle. obstructions are removed by the moving body, we call it abrasion if not, the body is forced mathematical
circle;
if
;
out of
its
true course,
and the body
is lifted
not as- pushed up inclined planes of various -
or
angles
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. This
according to the material. '
is to
is
the chief
The great aim of polishing
difficulty in friction.
all,
141
we
the whole frame of nature, and, so far as
are concerned, all time, should be held together
reduce these protuberances or obstructions by electricity
?
my
I think I should emblazon
But, suppose the pro- Horological banner with "Electricity Forever."
in the course of pivots.
cess of polishing could be carried to such a But these electrical influences do affect friction degree of perfection that the primary atoms more or less. In long pivots these poles, being
only remain to present these obstructions or more numerous, would present more obstruc-
protuberances beyond the mathematical line or tions in the breaking of the connections circle
;
there would be friction, for these
still
cannot be changed.
Oil
lessens
friction
by
but
;
again, the compression of these cushions of air, oil, etc.,
would bring them in
closer contact in
own globules, which, being round proportion to the shortness of the bearings, the or oval, and not being so much affected by weights being equal. There are other constituents another force, which I will mention, move freely which go to make up the sum total which we
introducing
its
on each other.
serves this purpose
Oil
better, the less liable it is to
change
;
the
the char-
call friction,
but these are the leading points.
For myself, not being yet
fully decided in re-
by evaporation, be- gard to all the points involved, I can not say whether I am for the long or the short pivots. coming solid by cold or viscid by use. Various metals produce different friction by During the controversy, as I took up the subthe different character of the atoms or crystals ject for a little change of thought, first I would forming their composition. Now, the question be on one side, then some new point would be Whether a long bear- evolved and I would be on the other side and in dispute is really this ing, engaging more of these points or protuber- it was a little amusing to think that, when one ances, with the weight equally distributed among of your correspondents, wishing to save his meall, will present more obstruction to the true chanical reputation, came out very penitently circle or plane, than a short bearing with the and confessed his sins, I had just changed to same weight equally distributed among its pro- the place he left. I said to myself, " Change tuberances that is, whether it will take more off." I think the best plan is to make pivots power to carry 1,000 pounds over one hill, than neither too long nor too short and I think the it will take to carry 500 pounds over two hills. hollowing or curving the ends of pivots, for the There are other circumstances, however, which purposes of adjustment, will be used successaffect these results. This view alone would fully for a long time yet, for there are other give us no difl^rence between a long and a short laws involved that I have not enumerated. bearing. In each one of the cavities formed, J. C. Hagey. Abingdon, Md. will be a small increment of air, which, in acter of these
globules,
:
;
;
;
themselves, will not affect, the result
just shown,
under different pressures, purposes, regular.
by
their elasticity,
the
since
These
is,
to
all
elasticity,
practical
now En. Horological Journal:
ever, themselves subject to the principle I state,
but will
make a
variable result in the
influence of molecular polarity
Long and Short Screw-Drivei's.
how-
particles are,
Although an investigator
in the
region,
of'
has pure, and not of applied science, I take the libbeen determined that the ultimate particles of erty of adding a few romarks to the articles all matter have electrical poles, and are in- which have already appeared in the Journal, ;
since
it
variably arranged north and south.
discussing the relative efficiencies of long and
I have been led to think that attraction of co-
short screw-drivers, and I hope that I will not hesion proper was, in great part, the result of thereby " darken counsel with words."
arrangement of the atoms espeThe fact that a long screw-driver will force has been discovered that the attrac- a screw with greater effect than a short one, I
this eloctrical cially since it
;
.
by the derangement consider as established by all experience, and or vibration of these poles by the application of readily proved by the following method Take tion of cohesion is lessened
:
heat, in proportion to the degree of that heat.
two
By
diameter and with their noses of the same
the way, would
it
not bo singular
if,
after
drivers,
having their handles of the same
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
142
breadth, but of different lengths
of
wood
;
into a block
force a screw with the short driver
no further effort will turn it. Now take the long driver and hold its length exactly in a line with the axis of the screw, and endeavor to drive the screw deeper. It will be found that it is not, in this position, more powerful until
than the short driver.
away from
long driver
But now
volution to 60
by means of a
a very
stop, is
cam hand separately. The sweep-second from the centre, and the minutehand revolving in a separate small circle, both slip spring-tight upon their respective pivots by means of a long socket, upon the lower end of simple use of a heart-shaped eccentric
which
is
attached to each
incline the which, under the dial, there is fixed a small,
the axis of the screw,
heart-shaped cam of course, these cams reand the driver will move the screw, for you volve with the hand when left free. To have now added to the radius of the handle return the hand to 60', there is a branched arm the half diameter of the circle the handle of secured by a repose screw to the plate of the the driver describes when you cause it to ro- movement, and lying in the same horizontal tate when inclined to the axis of the screw. plane as the cams this arm has the end of If any one will notice carefuly the motion of each branch so shaped, that when pushed into his hand and wrist when he uses a driver, he contact with the cams, they are forced to revolve will observe that in making it rotate he natu- about the pivot till in such position that the ;
;
rally swings the driver out
of line with the point of each
and thus unconsciously increases the leverage which the handle gives axis of the screw,
when held alone in the axis of the With a long driver this inclination can generally
is,
screw. be,
heart, the to 60'
rests in the notch of the
so long as the
position
;
and the whole
greater than with a short one
arm
hand being the
moment
starts
upon
contact with the pivot
so fixed that
it
cams are held
arm
the
its
which
withdrawn,
is
revolution
points
in that
by
carries
frictional
it.
for in the latter case a slight inclination causes From the peculiar shape of this cam, it is the nose of the driver to slip out of the screw- evident that the return of the hand to 60' may head. be either direct or reverse, depending upon the The following experiment will convince any position of the point of the heart at the instant is at least worthy the arm is brought into action. This same Place a block of wood on the principle is susceptible of many useful and floor and in it drive a screw until it is steady ingenious modifications, and is much used in now take a long driver, incline it away from the various forms of stop-seconds, chronographs
one that the above explanation of respect.
the screw and walk around the screw, keeping and^other time-marking instruments. the driver always inclined, and you will force Your experience J. P. "W., Bradford, Ont.
—
the screw with great effect without ever turn-
upon main- springs is differing the handle in your hand. ent from the majority of the trade, and we do This experiment on the drivers were made and not see why any oil should have " a tendency confirmed by myself and by two mechanics in- to break main-springs." Of course all the dependently of each other. I merely told them subtle, unseen influences of nature are not how to operate the drivers, and their reports known to us mortals; but from what we do corresponded with
my experience.
Stevens' Institute
Hooolcen, N. J.
of Technology
Phusis.
with Kelley's
oil
know, we can see ho reasonable connection between this cause and effect. Are you quite sure that your suspicions have been confirmed
by carefully observed facts ? It is possible that some such process of refining as that used for petroleum, would leave traces of the acid used, which might corrode the steel of the spring so Answers tj Correspondents. but such a condition as to cause breakage The mechanical device you would be shown by the general appearance of T. B., Mass. Prom what inquire about is, like every other " mystery," the spring on its whole surface. simple enough when understood. The "horse we know of Mr. Kelley's method of purifying ;
—
on which you saw the second and his oils, such a result is not possible. The minute hand return from any part of their re- best artisans use by preference clock oil for timer,"
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. main-springs, for the reason that
it
has rather miner, and thus yielding a more profitable return for the capital employed in diamond min-
more body than the limpid watch oil, and better withstands the pressure of coil upon coil. The fault is more frequently committed by using too much oil upon main-springs than too little in fact, the least possible amount of oil is the best, drawing the spring through an oiled rag being amply sufficient. We suspect that were you to select some other oil than Kelley's, and use it alternately upon new springs, keeping a memorandum upon your watch-book of the kind used, you would find quite as many of one sort return broken as of the other. The experiment is worth trial by others as well as yourself. ;
E. L. M., Defiance,
0.
sium dissolved in water
is
cleaning tarnished brass.
instantaneous dip,
—Cyanide
143
of potas-
ing in this region than in the mines of Brazil. It
would probably be more proper to speak of diamond fields rather than dia-
this locality as
mond mines. The majority of stones found
are " off color,"
and the market value "has been considerable extent stones
is
;
affected to a
but as the number of
fine
so small in proportion to inferior qual-
the former command as high a price as the favorite " old mine" diamonds. It would
ities
be
difficult to
describe the peculiarities of the
African diamonds, but experts claim to be able to detect
them
at a glance.
Many
of
them have
We
a perceptible tinge of green. have seen, the usual method of in the stock of Messrs. Randel, Baremore & Give the article an
wash with
clean water, then
Co.,
the well-known diamond importers, bril-
from the deep water, and of too long, the high polished surface becomes a brilliancy equal to any diamonds known. Chronometer deadened, and loses its gloss. The Arizona mines are, as you have probably balances are thus instantaneously cleaned. already learned, a fraud. They may be dipped in the bath just as they are, without removing the hair-spring, and if M. B., Luzerne Co Pa. There is no way carefully washed and dried off by alcohol no by which you can restore the red color of alloyThe plates and ed gold, which has been changed by heat, exdanger need bo apprehended. Avheels of French clocks and music boxes are cept by repolishing use rotten-stone and oil, quickly done in the same way; in fact, any then finish with rouge. The yellow color you Never mind, Brother complain of is a thin film of fine gold on the tarnished brass work. M., you are not the only one at whom empty surface, from which the alloy has been removed heads are wagged; those who will tell you by oxidation in the fire and by the process of nothing, because they know nothing worth the pickling or boiling out, to remove the oxide. with alcohol.
If the article remains in the bath
liants of every
shade of
color,
yellow to the finest white, or
first
—
,
;
to somewhat prevent by protecting the article from contact with (guide or crutch) has no more power to move a the air, by a coating of paste made of yellow pendulum than a short one. In the class of ochre and water. electric clocks you speak of, where the pendulum W. P. F., Wisconsin*-—You will often be gives motion to the movement, it meets with ablo to got an obstinate joint pin out of abroach the same resistance from the back fork whether by setting the end of the joint.upon the square telling.
F.
S.,
Something can be done
Long Island
City.
—A long back fork
this
be a long or a short one, but a long back corner of a lead block, giving the pin a smart If its centre of mo- blow with punch and hammer; if the first attempt tion is not on a line with the centre of motion does not start it, set it on a fresh spot and try it
fork has this advantage
of the pendulum, there the point
:
is less
where the fork
acts
sliding friction at
upon the pendu-
again.
This lead block
have upon the bench.
is
a most useful stake
A
cube two inches and will be in almost conis short. stant use for punching holes, driving on hands, G. M. A., Kan as, The African diamond and the thousand and one little jobs that remines have produced great quantities of stones, quire a firm and solid, but yet yielding support. of which the majority have been large ones, Of course they soon get battered up, but can and have generally been found on the surface be reformed by casting in a paper box, and the of the ground, giving but little trouble to the corners and faces are again fair and square.
lum when the
fork
is
a long one than
—
when
it
to
square
is easily cast,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
144
It is possible that the trouble
you can adopt no surer way of effectually out with a punch a
little
rounded on the
be perfectly square, and the
no practice is more than the use of one or two punches
of the pin
neither is
made
it
For January, 1873.
it
face. Sidereal
full size
reprehensible
;
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
;
rivet-
ing in the joint pin, than to attempt to drive It should
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
you have ex-
perienced arises from the use of a bad punch
for all jobs;
waste
broaches,
files,
Day of tue
of
of
diameter Mod. Passing the Meridian
Week.
litter
Time or
for
Right Ascension
One
Apparent Time.
3 4 5
6
7 8 9
driven out.
Friday
10 11 12
—
York City. The inflation of the Sunday and the consequent abundance of Tuewlay money during the early years of the war, had Wednesday
13 14 15 16
currency,
the effect of creating a great demand for watches,
.
.
Friday
and doubtless gave a great impetus to the de- Sunday ... Monday velopment and establishment of watch manu- Tuesday .... facture in this country. It is an open question Wednesday... as to whether the high protective tariff advocated Friday Saturday by the late Horace Greeley tended to produce similar results. Mr. Greeley was certainly a great and a good man, but it is not within the Wednesday... .
province of this journal to enter into the dis-
M.
s.
71.05 71 01 70.96 70.91 70 85 70.79 70.72 70 65 70.58 70.50 70 42 70.34 70.25 70.16 70.07 69.97 69 88 69.78 69 68 69.57 69.46 69.35 69.24 69 13 69.02 68.91 68 80 68.68 68.57 68.45 68.34
1 2
.
;
New
Sidereal Din*,
to be added to
Hour.
of
Mean Sun.
that
etc.,
up the bench.
There is no Wednesday need to tell how one should be made, except to say that only the extreme end should be tempered, and it should be kept perfectly fiat on Sunday Monday. the face with such a punch of the proper size Tuesday for the job in hand, almost anything can be Wednesday
J. S.,
Equation
of
Day the Semi- Time
excusable, because they are so easily
of
otherwise
Time
Friday
17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
S.
3 59.08 4 27.25 4 55 03 5 22.41 5 49.35 6 15.78 6 41.73 7 7.14 7 32.02 7 56.30 8 19.99 8 43.06 9 5.49 9 27.27 9 48 40 10 8.86 10 28.62 10 47.67 11 6.01 11 23.64 11 40.51 11 56.63 12 12.00 12 26.59 12 40.39 12 53.41 13 5.62 13 17.02 13 27.59 13 37.34 13 46.28
-
S. H. M. S 1 182 18 44 49 08 1.167 18 48 45.64 1.150 18 52 42.20 1.132 18 56 38.76 35.31 1.113 19 1 093 19 4 31.87 1.071 19 8 28.43 1.048 19 12 24.99 1.024 19 16 21.53 0.999 19 20 18.11 0.975 19 24 14.66 0.949 19 28 11.21 0.922 19 32 7.78 0.895 19 36 4.34 867 19 40 0.89 0.838 19 43 57.45 0.809 19 47 54.01 0.770 19 5150.57 0.749 19 55 47.12 0.719 19 59 43.68 0.6^8 20 3 40.24 0.6J6 20 7 36.80 624 20 11 33.35 0.592 20 15 29.91 0.559 20 19 26.47 0.520 20 23 23.02 0.492 20 27 19.58 0.459 20 31 16.14 0.424 20 35 12.69 0.389 20 39 9.25
0.354 20 43
5.8J
cussion of questions of political economy.
O.
Boston.
L.,
— The discussion on the
friction
by no means exhausted. Our correspondents manifest as lively an interest in the subject as ever. The late silence on the subject is ominous of further controversy. Our question
is
Mean time of the Semidiameter passing tracting 0s. 19. from the sidereal time. The Semidiameter for tbat for apparent uoon.
as
n. m.
D.
5
9 27.5
13
4 23.0
21
8 30.8
First Quarter
©
Full
Moon
Last Quarter
Clyde,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
mean uoon maybe assumed tbe same
PHASES OF THE MOON.
has promised a communication on the subject for the January number.
correspondent,
faay be found by sub-
.".
New Moon
5 27.2
2S
D.
H.
Apogee
15 ia.8
Peruree
28 13.4 42 22 48.1
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
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Point Conception
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AyCKNSION'.
H. M.
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4.05.
Saturn.
19 35 54.69.
1 42.61
APPARENT
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2 55 3
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51
AMERICAN
Horolosical Journal. NEW YOBK, JANUAKY,
Vol. IV.
watchmaker
CONTENTS.
1873. will
first
plans of constructing 145
Watchmakers' Regulator,
Watch
Repairing. —No.
7,
......
.
148
Mr. Ulrich's Essay on the Balance Spring, Reminiscences of an Apprentice,
150
Spectrum Analysis, "Clyde" on the Friction Question,.
156
.... .
.
153
Compensation Balances and Springs,
reflect
all
7.
on the various
the various details of
an accurate time-keeper, and
select the
plan
which, in his opinion, or in the opinion of those
whom
he
may
consult on the subject, will best
accomplish the object he has in view.
motive and regulating power.
159
163
Church Clocks,
No.
Two primary
and which must be
questions,
166
decided at the very beginning, are whether to
Answers to Correspondents,
167
use a weight, a spring, or
Equation op Time Table,
168
tive
.
.
power
;
and whether
a mo-
electricity, as
to
use a pendulum or
a balance in conjunction with a spring to regulate the
H
I
fcl3
fc^
motion of the time-keeper.
If the proposed regulator requires to be a
J-
-C2k_
portable one, like a chronometer, then the use
o.v
WATCHMAKERS' REGULATORS, WITH PRACTI- of a spring and spring P RETAILS FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION. i.uown. j piece of g
>
BY HENEY
oxtjt
for a regulating one,
imperative necessity. special object to
J.
N. SMITH.
I.
introduction.
If,
be gained in making the time-
keeper a portable one, and
make
CHAPTEE
and a balance becomes an however, there is no
for a motive power,
it
if it
be decided
stationary, then in such a case
it
to
must
be admitted that a weight has advantages over a spring as a motive power, and that a pendu-
lum
is
superior to a balance as a regulating
by a watchmaker medium. Ever since the introduction of the electric in the prosecution of his business, there is probably none more important than his regula- •telegraph, electricity has been used in various Its purpose is to divide time into seconds, ways as the motive power to maintain the vitor. The greatest and it is the standard by which the practical re- bration of clock pendulums. the guide which advantage gained by using electricity for this sults of his labors are tested all the other time-keepers in his possession are purpose is that the clock requires no winding. made to follow, and the arbitrator which settles For clocks placed in unaccessible positions this all disputes regarding the performance of his is a great benefit, and it is also a convenience in several other respects watches. but a watchmaker's No regulator has yet been constructed that regulator is generally placed in a position that contains within itself every element for produc- is easy of access, and the watchmaker himself ing absolutely accurate time-keeping. At in- is always in attendance to wind up other clocks tervals they must all be corrected from some ex- and watches which may be in his possession, ternal source, such as comparison with another therefore it is neither a trouble nor an inconvetime-keeper, the error of which is known, or by nience for him to wind his own clock; and the motion of the heavenly bodies when instru- for the object we have at present in view, ments for that purpose are available. Before we should use a weight, to be wound up by beginning to make a regulator, the prudent hand at stated intervals, as being the most
Of
all
the instruments used
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
146
simple and reliable method of
obtaining
a modation to use a pendulum and a weight to advantage.
motive power. If desirable,
we can
use electricity with great DEFECTS IK KEGELATOE CASES.
advantage, in conjunction with our regulator,
move the hands of a secondary
to
in a
dial,
window, or on the front of a
any other
situation.
With
parts properly constructed,
placed
In former years a regulator case was made
or in
with the sole object of accommodating the re-
store,
the different quirements of the regulator, and every detail
all
the hands of the in the construction of the case
was made subThe
secondary dial will follow those of the regulator servient to the necessities of the clock.
with the greatest precision, while the rate of plain, well-made cases of former years are the standard time-keeper will not be disturbed almost discarded for those of in the least degree.
design. taste
tension versus geavity.
We
are aware that the advocates of the use
if
If the general change in the public
demands
objection.
now
more pretentious
so
much
display, there can be
no
It is perfectly harmless to the clock
the designers and makers of the cases would
remember that narrow waists or narrow necks on a case, although part of an elegant power, have some good arguments to support design, do not afford the necessary room for of a spring as a motive power, and a balance,
only
in conjunction with a spring, as a regulating
The
their views. is
strongest of these arguments
Dr. Hooke's pithy remark regarding springs,
which has now become a proverb.
"As
the weight and freedom of the the doors
and other openings
the be constructed with a view to
pendulum
;
that
must exclude dust, and
in the case
that the back should be made of thick, welland we believe that the truth of this seasoned wood, so as to afford the means of familiar remark of his regarding springs can- obtaining as firm a support for the pendulum not be contradicted, and from which we must as possible. infer that the strength of a balance- spring When a regulator case is known to have or a main-spring is always equal to their ten- been made by an inexperienced person, which sion. There is, however, considerable difficulty sometimes happens, it is always the safest tension, so is the force," said this great philoso-
pher
;
making a spring that will always retain the course for those who are intrusted to make same tension; and when the tension does hap- the clock to examine the case personally and pen to vary, the strength must also vary, see the exact accommodation there is for the agreeably to Dr. Hooke's rule. Sometimes, when we know beforehand, clock. Natural Philosophy teaches us that the power we can, without violating any principle, vary obtained by falling weights varies in proportion the construction of the clock a little, so as to to the size and density of the weights, and the make the weight to clear the woodwork of the length of the space through which they falb inside of the case, and in other respects comHowever, a weight of a given size and density, plete the regulator in a more workmanlike falling through a given amount of space in a manner by making the necessary alterations in
in
given latitude, will always exercise the same the clock at the beginning of its construction, amount of force under every variety of circum- instead of after it has been once finished agreestances.
From
these well-known
laws
we
ably to some stereotyped arrangement.
learn that the force of a weight cannot vary,
while the force of a spring, being equal to
AEEANGING THE HANDS ON THE DIAL.
tension, will sometimes vary, because the Another primary question which must be devalue of the tension will sometimes vary. The cided at this stage is, how shall we arrange the action of gravity on a pendulum is precisely hands on the dial ? Figure 1 represents the
its
the
same as
most familiar method of making a dial for an minute, and seconds hand. The hour simplicity, we would prefer a weight for the and minutes hand move round the large cirmotive power, and a pendulum for the regulating cle, and the seconds hand on the smaller one. medium, for all stationary clocks, when the In clocks for ordinary use, where reading the it
is
on a weight
;
and
for this
reason, as also on the ground of cheapness and hour,
design of their cases affords sufficient accom- hours and minutes
is
of chief importance, this
AMERICA^ HOROLOGlCAli JOURNAL. style of dial is probably the best
;
but in a
gulator the distinct reading of the
hand
re-
ranged
to
147
be as as large as possible, while the
seconds minute and hour hands have separate
of greater importance, and this style of and which are engraved in such a
is
dial is not so well suited for that purpose to the small size of the seconds circle.
owing the position of
all
the hands
Figure 2 a glance without difficulty.
may be
plan
is
all
move around one
circle.
This tunity
it
is
the oppor-
affords of constructing the
movement
sometimes adopted in a certain class of in the way best adapted
regulators, but
it
has several disadvantages.
The arrangement
of a
of this description
is
movement
to suit
and
to
insure reliability
simplicity.
Figure 4 represents a form of a dial which
a dial
not so favorable to accurate
that
read at
Another advantage
represents a dial where the hour, minute and of this arrangement of the hands
seconds hand
circles,
manner
is
favorable to the construction of as simple a
and -the three movement as the dial last mentioned, and it is hands, moving from one centre, have a confus- probably the most clear and distinct arrangeed appearance, while the object aimed at in ar- ment for a dial that is in use. The hour circle, ranging the hands ought to be distinctness of which is of minor importance in a regulator, is perception, so that the time the different hands suppressed, and the hours are engraved on the time-keeping as
is
desirable,
may be read accurately without diffi- front of the hour wheel, which is arranged to Figure 3 represents the method of ar- work near to the back of the dial, and the ranging the hands mostly used on astronomical figures show through an opening made for the
point to culty.
clocks and fine regulators.
The seconds hand,
purpose, as
is
shown
in the diagram.
which in this class of clock is the most imporThe seconds circle is large and distinct, while tant,, moves on a circle of its own, which is ar- the size of the seconds hand is not so great aa
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
148
be a burden on the scape wheel axis
the maintaining power does not act and the risk of the time-keeper's running down and stopping altogether is also ON THE LENGTH OF TIME THE CLOCK SHOULD RUN increased by the necessity for very frequent WITHOUT WINDING. winding therefore to
same extent
hand
as a centre seconds
to the
winding,
if
perfectly,
is.
we should
;
It
is
a
difficult
the length of time that a clock should be
Some
run without winding.
to
select
a medium
matter to determine exactly between long and short periods for winding.
made In a
clocks
are
is
regulator with a seconds
room
usually sufficient
in
pendulum
there
the case for a
wound up every twelve hours, and others only weight to work effectively for a short period, number of years. As a rule we give and the clock may with great propriety be conThe the preference to those that are wound up at steucted to be wound up every week. moderately short intervals, because they are beginning or end of a week is a period one is once in a
more simple and
less liable to error
than those most likely not
that run a long time without winding.
suppose that the force that
If
we
it
all
when winding
necessary to turn forgot
is
and probably,
to forget,
the year round,
it
is
to
take
not so liable to be
regularly every
week
the centre wheel of a regulator round once in an would be at the interval of a month.
as
it
When
hour is equal to one grain, then, without al- regulators are made with the tallest class of lowing any thing for friction, it will take the cases, perhaps it would be an improvement to force of 24 grains to turn the wheel 24 times a construct them to run nine or even ten days in ;
This arrangement would allow
force equal to 168 grains to give the necessary place of eight.
number of turns for 7 days, and 8,760 grains for two or three days' grace, in place of one, should 365 days. As much or probably more than the clock be neglected to be wound at the end one-third more force must be added for the of the seven days, while the chances of error waste of power caused by the friction of pivots, by the slight increase in the number of teeth in and the teeth of the wheels working on the the great wheel, or by slightly reducing the pinions, and from the imperfect workmanship diameter of the barrel, or increasing the numthat exists in a greater or less degree in all time-
ber of
its
From
would be
turns,
trifling.
[to be continued.]
keepers. the above example
a clock can be
made
to
run
it
will
for
be seen that
any length of
time by increasing the number of teeth in the great wheel, or by multiplying the
Watch
Repairing:.
number of NUMBER SEVEN.
wheels and pinions between the great wheel
and increasing the size of and And it the weight in the same proportion. will also be seen that the chances for error from the centre pinion,
BY
JAS. FRICKER, AMERICUS, GA.
We treated of
the centre wheel in our last
imperfections in the shape of the teeth of the article, and, in accordance with our first idea, wheels and leaves of the pinions, and from varia- we shall continue on the "train " until we come tion in friction, increase in the
the
number
same
of turns are multiplied.
this illustrated in practice every day.
ratio that
We An
see
eight-
escapement.
to the
new
If a
centre pinion
is to
be put
one with the right number of teeth
in, select first,
then
day chronometer is never so reliable as a two- get the size from the old one with a pinion day one. An eight-day watch always gives more gauge, or, what is still better, use one of the trouble to all concerned than a thirty-hour one, Swiss dial gauges, which will give more accurand a common eight-day clock stops more readily ate measurements and for a scape pinion, for than a thirty-hour one, should there be any de- instance, too much care cannot be exercised in fects about the wheel work. selecting one of the proper dimensions. But while the time-keeper that requires to Having selected a pinion, cement it up on ;
be wound up the oftenest is the most likely to the lathe, and true it up by the outside of the run the best (everything else being equal), yet leaves when it is cold, make a good centre on ;
the necessity for frequent winding increases the the projecting end risk of disturbing the rate while in the act of
;•
reverse
by the outside of the
it,
leaves.
and again true up If the old centres
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. were very much. " out of centre," you will have crocus
a
give
will
149
fine
To get
gloss.
the
and true up by the outside " black " polish so much admired in fine work of the leaves. The reason for this is, upon a requires some little time, and the use of several little reflection, very manifest yet how few ever grades of polishing stuff. Always clean off every think of it, or take the trouble to get the cen- particle of the last used powder before using a tres in this way. We have very frequently finer grade, otherwise you may have your work found, on putting a pinion up in the lathe and all to go over again, as one particle of coarser truing it up by its pivots, that the outside of powder mixed with a finer grade will make a to
again reverse
it
;
scratch that takes time to remove with a watches that were not consid- coarser grade than the one you are using when
the leaves were not concentric with the pivots
and
this, too, in
ered poor watches
either,
and new work
;
at
the scratch occurs.
Mr. Royal Cowles, of Cleveland, Ohio, uses
that.
If you have the old pinion for a guide, you a very neat
can with but
little
new
one.
the
in
upper
trouble get your distance which
We
usually
the never used
in
fit
like
and get the body of the pinion and mark about where the drawing
pivot,
to
it
;
pinions,
we have who would we give a
thing, although
for the benefit of those
make one
for themselves,
sufficiently accurate to
the right length,
up
for facing
little tool
must be a good
enable any one
centre wheel will come, then polish the staff
same as for the fuzee comes the terror of all inexperi-
portion of the pinion
Now
pivots.
enced workmen
who
are anxious to do good that is, to " face up"
work but don't know how the pinion. cess,
.
but can be done with a "
and put on a screw
pinion,
polishers, proceed to
follows
and simple pro-
bow
Clean the shellac
in the lathe.
no
;
It is a very easy
" better than
all off
from the
If you have
collet.
make some
at once, as
Take a
piece of sheet steel, say ^ or | of
make it slightly convex on one side by means of a large round-ended punch lay the piece of steel on a block of lead and hammer it or force it into shape with your punch ;
;
B
the handle, either of
is
the outer disk,
polisher
each
;
E
;
D
;
C
which need
the inner disk, or
screws with a centre on the end of
the joint or collar connecting the outer
disk to the handle.
If the handle
piece of brass or steel
is
wood, a
must be fastened in the
a hole in the centre slightly larger than end of it, turned down with a square shoulder
the staff part of the pinion, and with a file
or metal
an not be over f in diameter
inch square,
drill
A
to construct one.
wood
:
the convex side just sufficient to
enough
flat file
make
for
about ^ of an inch, which just
fits
into the
a flat collar of the outer disk, which can be held on
to the handle by means of a screw, as shown in on the cut, which allows the disk to freely revolve your polisher, insert your pinion staff (having on the handle the two screws passing through put on the drill-bow), hold the steel polisher or the rim of the disk, the points of which enter grinder rather loosely with the fingers of the the centres in the edge of the polisher, enables left hand, and with the other end of the pinion the polisher or grinder to revolve in the oppoin one of the holes of your vice work it back site direction to that of the outer disk; working, and forth just as if you were drilling a hole. As in fact, on the principle of " gimbals," such as soon as the grinder gets smooth, file up again, are used for ships' chronometers and com-
place large leaves
;
to cover the
ends of the
apply some oil-stone powder and
oil
;
always bearing in mind that the oil-stone pow- passes. der only acts while the grinder is rough. As The disk being properly prepared is applied soon as you have got a good flat smooth surface just the same as in the other case. This instru-
on the end of the pinion, clean polisher grinder,
crocus
;
made
it
off
and use a ment enables you, without any trouble whatever, make and keep a flat surface on the pinions.
of bell metal, just like the steel to
using not less than two grades of Some use, instead of the
then a copper polisher and very fine mentioned, steel wire
;
flat
to
disks of steel
make
which,
first
drill
a
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
150
deep hole in the end of a piece of steel wire that Mr. John U. Ulrich's Essay on the Balance Spring. slightly larger than the pinion, and you have
is
your grinder. These are easy to file up and keep in good order for grinding or polishing,
In this number we give the first part of Mr. some prefer one, Ulrich's Essay, which we were compelled to and some another, but with care you can do as omit last month for want of space, and hope soon to be able to present the other Essays good a job with one kind as the other. offered in competition. Having finished up this end, put up in the lathe and fit on your wheel and turn and finish ON THE ORIGIN OF THE BALANCE SPRING. up th« other. After having riveted on your either of
which
will
answer
;
centre wheel, as directed in former article, polish
up the " hollow " on this end of the pinion just in the same way as you " faced up " the other end, only you will require convex polishers and grinders. For this purpose you will find the steel and brass wire grinders and polishers the kind to use. The end can be finished up very nicely while in the lathe by the same process as that of polishing the " hollow" of the fuzee.
Whenever you put
new
From
the middle of the twelfth century to the
year 1658 very creditable pieces of clock and
watch work were made with the
vertical escape-
ment, but without a balance spring ful
specimen of which
is
to
;
a beauti-
be seen at the
Antiquarian Museum, Somerset House.
It
was
made, apparently in Germany,
for Sigismund,
King of Poland, about the year The attention of the justly
celebrated Dr.
1525.
and are Robert Hooke, F. R. S., was first attracted to if the subject of improvements in the science of the teeth are worn much. If sc, put it on the Horology for the purpose of being able at all other side up, when you put it on again, and times to be certain of surely knowing the coralways, whether you reverse it or not, put it up rect Greenwich time at sea, for ascertaining the on the lathe, truing it up by the outside of the longitude. teeth, and then true out the hole, as no watch Previous to the year 1648 the attention of can perform satisfactorily unless the outer ex- Dr. Robert Hooke was directed to ship building, tremity of the teeth of wheels and leaves of and he constructed a vessel about three feet pinions are concentric with the pivots. Too lit- long, fitly masted and rigged, and armed with two tle attention is paid to this by a majority of small guns that could be discharged on its passage over a miniature lake. workmen. His next attention was devoted to devising Some will say, what is the use of all this work on the face of the pinion, as the owner means for conducting ships safely and more exnever never sees it, and no action takes place peditiously over the trackless ocean by more there ? Now all will admit that it certainly correct methods of navigation than were then looks better, which is one reason next, all known, and with some tolerable degree of cerought to know, if they don't, that dirt and dust tainty, which was surely knowing the Greenwill not accumulate and stick to a piece of fine- wich time when at sea so that he might ascerBut to get and ly polished steel as it will to that that is rough, tain the ship's longitude. which is another good reason and further- preserve the Greenwich time at sea was the more, if you will only take the pains and trou- difficulty hence the discovery of the chronomin a
pinion,
going to use the same old centre wheel, see
;
;
;
up your pinion properly you will be eter spring, and various other things in the very certain to do the rest of the work properly, science of Horology. That he was well aware of the importance of which is a very important reason. Now, here are three good reasons for facing up a pinion, steam power is manifest from the secrets he and not one good reason can be given why it imparted on the subject to his friend Mr. Newble to face
should not be done.
comen, the
(viz.,
vacuum
quent
" that the air presses with force
left after
visitor to
him
the use of the fire,") a fre-
at the
Royal
Society,
who
HP? In the February number we expect to was the first to get the steam put in practice present an article on the Angles of Tools, by and who was soon followed by Captain Savory, Watt, Stephenson, and others. Prof, Egleston, of Columbia College,
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. The
first
essay of Dr.
Hooke towards
the of
my inventions,
151
in themselves sufficient, be-
production of that grand desideratum a time- cause others might vary them, or in any other keeper,
way improve them,
force of the main-spring
they would not have thought
was an invention for equalizing the by the introduction of a geometrical cone (now called a fuzee) for a line, or chain, to be wound upon from the barthe box containing the main-spring. rel Seeing that a balance would be subject to
—
next step was
it is
very probable
they had not had the advantage of being instructed by my discovery, it having lain hid for some thousands if
of years already."
In another of
continual irregularity of action through the Dr. ship's motion, his
of which
Hooke
says
:
his lectures,
"
At
No.
3,
page
29,
the earnest desire of a
a friend of mine, since dead (Dr. Derham), I did
to contrive
time-keeper with two balances moving in con- in the year 1664 read several of
my
Cutlerian
upon that subject in the open hall at counteract the irregularity of each other. He Gresham College, at which were present, bealso contrived several kinds of dead beat escape- sides a great number of the Royal Society, m( nts, one of which was the duplex, although many strangers unknown to me. " I there showed the ground and reason of not exactly as we have it now. These would a quickly application of springs to the balance of a without spring, which he conthe go not trived, and placed round the axes of his bal- watch for regulating its motion, and explained briefly the nature and principle of springs to ance. His next difficulty was with the friction of show the physical and geometrical ground of And I explained above twenty several the wheel work of two balances, when he di- them. rected his attention to various arrangements ways by which a spring might be applied to do and forms of his springs to acquire sufficient the same thing, and how the vibrations might trary directions
by the aid of toothed wheels,
to
lectures
extra tension to cause the long vibrations to be so regulated as to
take place in the same time as the short ones.
Having discovered the means by which he could
make
the long
and short vibrations
make
their duration all
equal, or the greater quicker than the less,
that in any proportion assigned.
to particulars
and
All these
were at several other times
(at the
take place in the same time, he gave public public meetings of the Royal Society) discussed,
on the subject. I subjoin an extract and some remarks from his Cutlerian lectures, No. 11, page 69, published by the Royal Society, 1878 " In order to bring this treaty to pass, I was necessitated to disclose something of the invention about measuring time, and this I did that I might gain somewhat of belief in those noble persons with whom I was to treat." It appears that the treaty for a patent would have been carried into effect but for the follow" That after I had disclosed ing stipulation lectures
:
:
—
my
the particulars of
the longitude by watches or otherwise
way
—
if
—though
my
principles,
he or they should have the benefit of it, during the term of the patent, and not myself, to which very easy to vary
the public lost the advantage of the valuable services of Dr.
Hooke for a great length
of time.
was upwards of fifteen years before he revealed them in print, and then without getting a penny for them, or even a tombstone placed over his grave, which is sometimes given to a It
man
of great talent
living
he
is
when
dead, although
always allowed
to
when
want bread.
He
way
Helen's, Bishopsgate street,
March
2,
1702.
they or any person
of improving
clause I could in no
Through the unwise and unjust clause that was proposed to be introduced into the patent
inventions about finding was buried in the ancient ohurch of Great St.
in themselves sufficient
should find a
experimented upon, and several models produced."
PRACTICAL DETAILS EOR MAKING CHRONOMETER
BALANCE SPRINGS.
The first point of importance for consideraknowing it was tion is the selection of the material. (I have had a hundred ways, a reel of wire unsound all through.)
agree,
my principle
Secondly, that of taking very great care not and it was not improbable but there might be some addition of conveniency to discover, it to injure it by over-heating in the process of being facile inventis addere, and judging it hardening, or by unnecessary bending or strainmost unreasonable tc be deprived of the benefit ing of any kind.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
152
As
more or
less injured
by the crush-
fectly cylindrical
and hard, I prefer the use of
ing process of the flatting mill, I see no 'reason animal charcoal,
made from horse hoof burnt
steel is
why round
wire should not be used in prefer- in a small retort.
After hardening in animal
drawn through charcoal they are very difficult to bend and set ruby holes would be very perfect. However true. I then make the box and contents hot ence to flattened wire, and
if
perfect the rollers of a flatting mill
may
be, I
a blood-red heat, but very gradually, and
to
never met with any that did not produce a want allow every few inches.
block,
It is for the want of uniformity of thickness and strength that two springs of the same length and size and shape at the ends do not produce the same results. Unequality in tem-
to cool very slowly.
it
Upon becoming
of uniformity in the thickness of the wire at
and place
cold I clean the spring
and
on the block again;
but,
it
previous
upon
it
copper,
to the application of the screws, I place a thin copper tube of enamelled thick
spring tight, having covered
The soap
soap as before.
it
with
the steel
protects
pering also contributes towards rendering them and has a tendency to improve it. After the dissimilar, some portion of the spring being copper tube is tight on I slacken the screws and harder than another, consequently at that point then heat it again to a blood-red heat and allow stronger,
enced
and thus perplexes the most experi-
workman
account for such a great
very slowly; after which I clean
to cool
it
and place
it
on a block a little larger, smear it ference in the isochronal properties of the two with soap, slip on a copper tube spring tight, to
dif-
it
box three-eighths of an inch and three-quarters In the process of manipulation, springs made of an inch deep, and fill it up with finely powwith round wire would not be attended with so dered charcoal as tight as possible then heat springs, that, to all appearance, are exactly the
place
same.
in diameter (inside measure)
it
in a copper
;
much
trouble
as
those
made with
flattened
in a charcoal fire very gradually to a bright
chorry red, taking great care not to
wire.
The
it
done to a spring after it is hardened the better, and the greater degree of certainty there is of it being perfectly less polishing
that
is
homogeneous, a material point
for consideration;
so that in the action of the spring there
may
not be the slightest strain upon one point more
hotter, or
keep
make
it
an instant longer than ne-
for
it
.cessary.
I then immerse
it
into a long tin tube or
(with a small tin can nearly the as the large can,
can
.
same diameter
and with a string attached
to
drawing the spring up without having to than another. Polishing them with wood and empty the large can to get at the spring) about sharp red stuff I consider quite sufficient. three feet deep, containing water that has been As it is a very common occurrence for springs boiled and rendered cold by a freezing mixture, not to come off the blocks so true as could be which is now easily to be obtained by pounded desired, I
have found very good results from
it
for
ice
and common
salt
placed in a
common house
annealing them, not only once, but a second and pail and surrounding the vessel containing the a third time, by which every part gets firmly water.
and they did not accelerate near so much upon their rates. I wind the wire up on the first block (a cut one), which I prefer being a little smaller than the finishing one, and securing the ends by lefthanded screws. I then place it in a thin copper box about three-eighths of an inch in diameter (inside measure) and three-quarters of an
If the spring
set,
to
is to
be a blued one I temper
it
but
if
a purple before I proceed to polish
it is
to
be
left
white I reduce
temper at once
—
-a
there
which
is
is
much
;
to the proper
very light blue, or rather
beyond (bordering on
As
it
it
to a black).
diversity of opinion as to
the best method of tempering, I do not
pretend to decide which
is
best.
As
silver is a
with mottled soap that very good conductor of heat I believe that, if has been rendered soft by heat (not moisture). the spring is placed in the box in which it is I then fill it up tightly as possible with very hardened, and surrounded with very fine silver inch deep, smearing
it
filings, the result will bo a very uniform have their temper. Place a piece of bright steel in the box been tempered, but left per- also, that you may see the color as it proceeds.
powdered wood charcoal. For springs that have not got
finely
ends turned after
to
:
AMERICAN HOftOLOGlCAL JOURNAL.
158
After the spring is set true by bending, I the church, and a movement was originated most respectfully submit for consideration the among them for the purpose of procuring one, expediency of having it further permanently when a native of our town, who was residing in set by the application of heat up to 500° Fahr., a distant city, hearing of the movement, preor near the bluing point, to make sure of re- sented the church with a clock, and sent it to It was a fine spring taining the figure it was adjusted to for ex- " Our Maister" to fit up. perience shows that springs do not always re- clock, with a large white dial, and was intended ;
many years, to be placed on the front of the gallery. It was and hence the frequent application of new wound up from behind, and the hands could springs to chronometers, which it is easier to also be set from behind by means of a small dial get paid for than for making alterations upon and pointer placed at the back of the clock frame for that purpose. When the clock arthe old ones. To give a permanent set to a .spring, I pro- rived we could find no pendulum for it. We pose that the spring stud and collet should be searched the packing case and among the loose placed in a stout metal box an inch deep, and packing several times, but no pendulum could On communicating this fact to the three-quarters of an inch wide, and the tem- be found. perature raised to near the bluing point, plac- donor of the clock, we learned that it had been ing a piece of bright steel also to watch the purchased from a jeweller who did not make clocks, but only sold them and since the pencolor, and then allow it to cool gradually. To the finishing block there is no necessity dulum was lost, it was thought that the best in conse- thing that could be done would be for " Our for the screws to be screwed tight tain their isochronal properties for
;
;
quence of
its
being a
little
block, the spring will hold
give the preference to a steel it
work
comes
with.
If
it
is
larger than the it
.spirit
to
first
tight enough.
lamp
be
left
Maister"
to blue all
to
make a new
one.
At the period of which I
I
write I was just be-
ginning to think seriously about some of the
white after strange things I saw around
off the finishing block, I prefer
mo
in the shop,
taking and there was one thought occurred to
me
in
—
pendulum how was the "Maister," or anyone else, going to find monly called sharp red stuif. There seems to be a very prevalent opinion out the right length to make the new one? The that springs which are left white are not so clock had no case, and there was nothing whatIn support of ever about its appearance that gave any indicaliable to rust as when blued. affirm, from I can my opinion own personal tion of what length the new pendulum required this knowledge, that a box chronometer, made by to be, and I could see no way to get out of the Monsieur Breguet, in the year 1824, with hard difficulty except to make the pendulum long white cylindrical springs, at present shows no enough in the first instance and keep cutting it symptoms of rust, or did not a few months off till the clock kept the right time. When I communicated my thoughts to " Our journeysince. off the blue
with wood and oxide of iron, com- connection with this
lost
man" on this subject he told me be so inquisitive
that I ought not
would wait a little I would see how they would find the length Reminiscences of an Apprentice. of the lost pendulum. He also told me that if the "Maister" did not understand it himself FINDING THE LENGTH OP A PENDULUM. that he had learned the secret when he was in London, and advised me not to trouble myself There was no clock inside of our church for anything more about it, as it was a subject far a considerable time after it was built, its eco- beyond my comprehension; that it was only nomical founders considering that the striking intelligent people who had been in London that of the large clock on the tower would give suf- could understand these things, you know. This ficient warning of the flight of time to the min- rebuff had the same effect on me that rebuffs of ister and the congregation. A' period arrived, a similar nature have on people who are very however, when the young people of the church anxious to find out anything it only made me thought it would be nice to have a clock inside the more eager to find out by what means the to
;
that if I
—
AMERICAN HOROLOOICAL JOURNAL.
154
be deter- London, the clock would require to have a pendulum exactly 7 feet and 3||- inches long. mined. In a day or two the clock was taken to pieces, Now, although I did not know anything about and " Our Maister" took some of the wheels to it, I suspected that there must be something his bench and silently counted the number of wrong somewhere, because a pendulum of that length of the
new pendulum was
teeth that were in them, to
me and
told
me
to
to
and then he gave them length would project a long way through the
count them
also.
I count- lower edge of the church gallery
;
however,
"Our journeyman" maintained that the figures the scape wheel, were correct, and while we were earnestly enand scape-wheel gaged going over them a second time to make
ed eighty-four in the centre wheel, eighty
in
the third, and thirty-two in and eight leaves in the third pinions, which was exactly the same as the " Maister " had counted. He then made a great many figures on a piece of paper, looked them over to see if they were correct, and then quietly remarked that the new pendulum would In the require to be about 11^ inches long. afternoon the "Maister" was out and "Our journeyman" and I were left alone, and the new pendulum was the subject of conversation. And here I must digress a little and state that
wo
generally used these breathing spells in
talking about the "Maister," and criticising his
and
sure, the "
Maister" came in. " Well, boys," says what is this you are about now ? " " Our journeyman" went to his bench without saying anything, and I was obliged to tell him that we he, "
were finding the length of the lost pendulum. "And what length have you made it?" he asked good-naturedly. " Seven feet 3?% inches,"
"there are the figures on
says I;
"Seven feet!" the bench." " why, I have only made " Well," air
says
"
11£ inches."
Our journeyman," with an "
of great wisdom,
London I have
he exclaimed: it
the latitude of
is
it
For. about If any person had chanced to have overheard a minute or so the " Maister" looked quite actions
notions of things in general.
his
our conversations on these occasions and be- bewildered, and lieved all that
we
said,
when he
it
for."
recovered he took a
they could not have bundle of rags and rubbed out all the figures
"Our journeyman" and I that were on wisest young people that ever your work."
helped thinking that
were two of the
calculated
the bench and said, " boys,
mind
"Maister" was the biggest In about a week after this the new penduwhole country. "Look!" says I, lum was completed according to the " Maishanding " Our journeyman " the piece of paper ter' s" measurement, and when it was tried on the "Maister" had been figurine; on; "Look! the clock it proved to be exactly the length
lived,
while the
fool in the
Now, I had a kind of con- that was required, and I felt more anxious tempt for decimals, because they were so easy; than ever to learn how the "Maister" could it was the vulgar fractions that puzzled me so calculate it so correctly, and thought that I he uses decimals " !
much
at school
;
and when I saw he took
this
would ask him
to tell
me
the
way he
did
it,
easy method I had no great respect for his and was gratified to find that, instead of " Oh, look " says "Our journey- making any objections to telling me, he felt learning. !
man," "he told us the pendulum would require to be 11 £ inches long, and the figures are 11.250, and he calls that ll^;" and we both joined in a hearty laugh at the "Maister" for what we considered to be his guessing at the length of the new pendulum. " Let him alone," says " Our journeyman," " and let him make it that length. I know he will have to make it over again,, and ask me the way. Give me a piece of chalk and I will tell you how long the pendulum ought to be." I handed him the chalk, and after he had covered my bench with figures, he stroked his chin with his finger and thumb and pronounced that, in the latitude of
pleased
to
see
me
manifesting
so
much
and promised to tell me every thing that I wanted to know when he got time. That same afternoon he called me to his bench and asked me to take a stool interest in such matters,
and
sit
down by
his side.
He
sheet of paper and a pencil and
the
first
then took a
commenced
lesson in unfolding the mysteries con-
nected with finding the length of the pendulum.
"Let us begin with
the centre wheel," says
he; "it carries the minute-hand and makes one revolution in an hour.
out
how many
makes
Now, we must
revolutions
in an hour, also.
the
first
find
scape-wheel
There are 84 teeth In
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. the centre wheel, and 80 in the third.
The
on the third-wheel pinion, and the third wheel acts on the scape-wheel pinion, and both pinions have 8 leaves. Now, centre wheel acts
if
we multiply
number
the
12544 60 60
and divide the one number by the will give us the
it
makes
the scape -wheel
ample
224 112 112
of leaves that are in the two pinions
together, other,
112 the number of beats the new pendulum has 112 to make in a minute
of teeth that are in
these two wheels together, and multiply the
number
number in
an hour.
For
ex-
84 80 12544
64\ 6720/105 times the scape-wheel turns 164 I in an hour.
64
the
number of
1411200/11.250 or 12544
inches,
new
the
pen-
dulum.
\
31360 25088
~~o"
must next find out how many beats the pendulum will be required to make in
62720 62720
desired
an hour.
Mi
length of the
I
15680 12544
320 320
We
beats the stand-
ard pendulum makes in a minute.
3600 39.2 the length of the standard pendulum. 7200 32400 10800
of revolutions
:
8 8
155
We now know that
turns 105 times in an hour,
the scape-wheel
and that there are Now, it takes
32 teeth in the scape-wheel.
I said to myself, this may be all very simple one tooth for people who understand it but so far, I knew Twice 32 is 64. just about as much about finding the length of of the scape-wheel to pass. Multiply 105 by 64, which gives 6,720 the a pendulum as I did before he commenced to number of beats the penduluai must make in tell me. It was true enough what "Our journey-
two beats of
th.9
pendulum
to allow
;
—
an hour
to suit the
numbers that are
wheels of this clock.
6,720,
in the
divided by the
man "
said, this
comprehension.
was a
Why
subject far beyond is
it,
my
I thought, that so
number of minutes that are in an hour, gives many numbers require to be squared, and why 112, which is the number of beats the penduis it that a pendulum 39.2 long beats 60 times lum must make in a minute. Now, says the in a minute, and one 11| inches beats only 112 "Maister," we have got so far as to know how times and what has the latitude of London to many beats our pendulum must make in a mindo with a pendulum ? I saw that the result of ute, and we have to find out next how long it the calculation was 11 j inches, but I did not ;
will require to be in order to
number
make
exactly this
We
understand anything of the foundation of the
know, by rules by which the result was reached, and experience, that a pendulum that beats 60 times asked the "Maister" to tell me; but it was in a minute is 39.2 inches long, and on that evident that the good man was not expecting basis we will calculate how long one ought to to have such questions put to him, for he told be that will beat 112 times in a minute. The me he had no more time to spend, just then, first step in order to accomplish this result is but on some future occasion he would tell me to square the number of beats the standard all about it, which information will be given in pendulum makes in a minute, which is multia future number of the Journal. plying it by itself and then we multiply that [Udi^ We hope our readers will send us for number by the length of the seconds penduof beats in that time.
;
number 1,411,200. publication during the present or following number by the square month the result of their experiments for deof the number of vibrations the new pendulum termining the difference in temperature of opwill be required to make in a minute, and the posite ends of a pendulum, from which we product will give the length of the pendulum hope to gather some valuable statistics on this
lum, and
it
will give us the
We then divide
in inches
this last
and decimal parts of an
inch.
subject.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
156
Spectrum Analysis.
Prismatic analysis is
We
very
much
regret that our limited space
there
The following
tute.
at the
Cooper
Insti-
a synopsis of the closing
is
the World.
it
shown on the
now be added with
silver the
light of both metals appears, that of the thallium
lying between
the two
of the
another fact must be noticed
Spectrum Analysis, as reported in
lecture on
however, show that
are two bands of green
If thallium
prevents giving Professor Tyndall's lectures on wall.
Light recently delivered
will,
impossible to confound the two spectra, for
band
is
But
silver.
—now the thallium
brighter than that of the silver, and in
latter has greatly degenerated, the In these lectures the source of light which reason of which is that the resistance offered to has been employed are the ends of two rods of the passage of the electric current between the coke, made incandescent by the electric current, carbon points calls forth the heat-producing because coke is especially suited to this purpose power of the current. As the resistance is lesby reason of its capacity of enduring intense sened the heat is lessened, and if all resistance
the
fact
heat without being fused or vaporized, and also were abolished there would be no heat. Thallibecause it is black, since Balfour Stewart has um is much more readily fused and vaporized
shown
that,
other things
being
blacker the substance the brighter
when bon
incandescent.
it is
will
is, it
taic arc or
equal, is its
the than silver, and so greatly does light
Yet, refractory as car- almost incompetent to vaporize
be found, on examining the
vol-
its
vapor
tate the passage of the current as to
thallium
is
silver.
gradually consumed, and
facili-
make it As the its
vapor
stream of light between the incan- diminishes, the resistance rises until the silver
descent points, that the vapor of carbon is pres- bands are as bright as at
first,
and the three
spectrum might be obtained by de- bands become of the same brilliancy. In these taching its light from the more dazzling light bands are a perfectly unalterable characteristic from the silver never come of the solid points, and this spectrum would be of the two metals not only less brilliant than, but of a totally but these two bands from the thallium never ent,
and
its
:
;
different
character from, the spectra
already comes but this one, and from a mixture of the
There would not be an unbroken suc- two never but these three bands. Every known cession of colors from red to violet, but only a metal has its characteristic bands or band, and few bands of color separated from each other in no known case are those of two metals alike by dark bands. This- is still more strikingly hence the spectra may be used as a test of the true in the case of the spectra of metals, the presence or absence of any particular metal. seen.
most refractory of which may be fused, boiled, Whenever a certain spectrum appears, the metal and reduced to vapor by the electric current. of which it is characteristic must be present. As a general rule, the light from the incandes- In alloys of metal there is no confusion of Copper, as its spectrum is cast on the cent vapors flashes in groups of rays of definite spectra. degrees of refrangibility, while spaces exist be- wall, gives, as
is
seen,
green bands
;
zinc gives
tween the groups which are unfilled by rays of blue brass, which is an alloy of these two metany kind. In illustration of this, within the als, gives the bands of both perfectly unaltered ;
camera
is
placed a cylinder of carbon, hollowed in position and character.
The
salts of
metals
out like a cup at the top to receive a bit of the give the metal bands, chemical union being
metal thallium, and the arc of the incandescent ruptured by intense heat, and the vapor of the metal appears on the wall as a beautiful green. metal, being set free, yields its characteristic
In order to find the meaning of this green, the bands. The chlorides of metals are particularlight must be subjected to prismatic analysis, ly suited for these experiments. Take common and then its spectrum is seen to consist of a salt, which is the chloride of sodium, and in the single refracted band light of one degree of electric lamp it yields the bright yellow band of refrangibility, and corresponding to green, is the metal sodium, as you see it on the screen. emitted by the thallium vapor. If silver be Bunsen and Kirchhoff examined the spectra of ;
substituted for thallium,
its
arc will not be dis-
all
known
substances, and, in doing
so,
found
tinguishable from that of the other metal, being bands which were those of no known substance,
not only green but of the same shade of green.
hence they inferred the existence of a new metal.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
157
bright band of the metal with a dark Fraunby evaporating one of the min- hofer line raises to the highest degree of cerThey knew the new tainty the inference that the metal is present in eral waters of Germany. metal was concealed in the water, and, at last, the atmosphere of the sun. In this way solar by evaporating great quantities of the water, chemistry was founded on spectrum analysis. To illustrate the meaning of emission and abthey found the metal now called rubidium
They were
at the time experimenting with a
residue obtained
;
made use of two tuning ium, and this demonstrated the value of spec- forks capable of similar rates of vibration. afterwards they discovered another called coes- sorption the Professor
trum analysis as a means of discovery. Mr. When one was caused to vibrate by a bow Crooke afterwards detected in the same way drawn athwart it, the other vibrated synchronthe metal thallium yielding this beautiful ously, but when, by placing a cent piece on each Kirchhoff then prong of one of the forks, its perfect synchronmonochromatic green band. turned his attention from terrestrial substances ism with the other was destroyed, no communi-
was possodium in a Bunsen flame, something analogous to what had been done with waves of sound was done with waves of light. An intensely yellow light was made in the flame corresponding with the yellow band in the spectrum. The light of the lamp was then sent through the flame to prove that the
to the investigation of the constituents of the
cation of sound from one to the other
and while thus engaged solved a problem which had long puzzled scientists. The spectrum of the sun is not pure, but crossed by innumerable dark lines, which were first noticed by Dr. Wollaston, but afterwards measured and multiplied so greatly by Fraunhofer that they received his name. To explain these fines was the puzzle. Kirchhoff had made thoroughly clear to his mind the principles Vhich linked together the emission of light and the absorption of light he had proved their inseparability for each particular kind of light and heat. He had proved for every specific ray of the spectrum, the doctrine that the body emit-
sible.
sun and
stars,
;
By
placing a
little
yellow flame intercepts the yellow of the spectrum, and produces a dark Fraunhofer' s band in the place of the yellow.
world
is
Every age of the
the offspring of all preceding ages.
Science proves itself to be a genuine product of
nature by growing according to this law.
We
have no solution of continuity here. Every great
ting a ray absorbed with special energy a ray of discovery has been duly prepared for in two
same
Consider, then, the ef- ways first, by other discoveries which form its upon a mind prepared like prelude and secondly, through the sharpening that of Kirchhoff. We have seen the incan- by exercise of the intellectual instrument itself. descent vapors of metals emitting definite Thus Ptolemy grew out of Hipparchus, Copergroups of rays according to Kirchhoff 'a prin- nicus out of both, Kepler out of all three, and ciple those vapors if crossed by solar light Newton out of all the four. Newton did not ought to absorb rays of the same refrangibility rise suddenly from the sea-level of the intellect as those which they emit. He proved this to to his amazing elevation. At the time that he be the case he was able by the interposition of appeared the table-land of knowledge was al-
the
refrangibility.
:
fect of such knowledge
;
;
;
a vapor to cut out of the solar spectrum the ready high.
He juts
band corresponding in
;
color to that vapor.
Now, massive peak
above the table-land as a
he
still
supported by
is
it,
and a
the sun possesses a photosphere, or vaporous great part of his absolute height was the height
envelope doubtless mixed with violent agitated of humanity in his time.
and Kirchhoff saw that the powerful rays coming from the solid or the molten nucleus of the sun must be intercepted by this vapor. One dark band of Fraunhofer, for example, occurs in the yellow of the spectrum. Sodium vapor is demonstrably competent to produce that dark band hence Kirchhoff inferred the existence of sodium vapor in the atmosphere of the sun. In the case of metals which emit a large num-
clouds,
;
discovery of Kirchhoff.
It is thus with the
Much had been
previ-
he mastered, and by the force of individual genius went beyond it.
ously accomplished
He
;
this
replaced uncertainty by certainty, vague-
by definiteness, confusion by order and I do not think, said the lecturer, " that Newton ness
;
has a surer claim
made
his
to the discoveries that
have
name immortal than Kirchhoff has
ber of bands, the absolute coincidence of every knowledge of his time,
to
up the fragmentary of vastly extending it, and
the credit of gathering
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
158
of infusing into
it
the
life
of great principles.
put not only dollars into the pockets of indivi-
Splendid results have since been obtained in duals, but millions into the exchequers of na-
which both England and America tions, the history of science amply proves but have played an honorable part but they are the hope of its doing so is not the motive power but the sequel and application of the principles of the investigator. With reference to material established in his Heidelberg laboratory by the needs and joys, pure science has also a word to German investigator." Up to his demonstra- say. You are delighted, and with good reason,
relation to
;
;
tion of the composition of white light,
Newton with your
— triumphant heavens, triumphant on the earth — and
had been everywhere triumphant in the
his subsequent
experimental work
is
for the
telegraphs, your steam-en-
electric
gines and your factories, and the productions of
You
photography.
see daily, with just elation,
new forms
the creation of
of industry
—new
most part of immortal value. But he made powers of adding to the wealth and comfort of some errors, and finally his theory gave way to society. Industrial England is heaving with the undulatory theory. I have now come almost forces tending to this end, and the pulse of to the
end of
my
task in this
My
desire has
city,
and, indeed,
show you,
industry beats
And
still
stronger
when
in
United
the
what are inwith as little breach of continuity as possible, dustrial America and industrial England ? At the past growth and present aspect of a depart- the present time there is a cry in England for ment of science in which have labored some of technical education, but there is no outcry for in
America.
been
to
the greatest intellects the world has ever seen.
States.
yet,
original investigation.
analyzed,
Still,
I have endeavored in these lectures to illustrate surely as the stream dwindles
without
when
this,
as
the spring
before you the power of the undulatory theory dries, so surely will their technical education
Do I
as a solver of all the difficulties of optics.
therefore wish you to close your eyes
any evidence that may
arise against
it ?
By no
The theory of undulation, like many another truth, had to establish, by hot conflict, its right to existence. Yet at last it triumphed. means.
And now my
occupation
is
gone.
lose all force of
against tion.
Still
growth
To keep
—
all
society as
power of reproducregards science in
healthy play, three classes of workers are necessary: Eirst,' the investigator of natural truth ;
secondly, the teacher of natural truth
;
thirdly,
the applier of natural truth. These three classes
I will ought to coexist,
and
interact
upon each
other.
bespeak your tolerance for a few concluding Now, the popular notion of science, both in this remarks in reference to the men who have be- country and in England, often relates, not to
queathed
to
us the vast body of knowledge of science strictly so called, but to the applications
which I have sought
you some faint of science. Such applications, especially on this be fororot- continent, are so astounding as to shut out from ten that not one of those great investigators had view those workers who are engaged in the any practical end in view, according to the ordi- profounder business of discovery. Different
idea in these lectures.
to give
It is never to
nary definition of the word "practical." They qualities of mind and different habits of thought did not propose to themselves money as an end, are the necessary supplements of each other and knowledge as a means of obtaining it. but remember that one class is sure to be taken ;
Eor the most part they nobly reversed this process, and made knowledge their end. Could we have seen these men at work without any knowledge of the consequences of their work, what should we have thought of them ? Could you watch the true investigator in his laboratory, unless animated
care
of.
All the material rewards of society
are already within their reach
;
but
it is
at our
we
neglect to provide opportunity for
those studies
and pursuits which have no such
peril that
rewards, and from which, therefore, the rising
genius of the country
is
incessantly tempted
by his spirit, you away. It is not as lecturers, but as discoverers, could hardly understand what keeps him there. that you ought to employ your highest men. Many of the objects which rivet his attention Give them the freedom necessary for their remight appear to you utterly trivial and if you searches, not overloading them with either the were to step forward and ask him what is the duties of tuition or of administration. Let them use of his work, the chances are that you would make truth their object, however impractical confound him. That scientific discovery may for the time being that truth may appear. ;
AMERICAN HOEOLOGtfcAL JOURNAL. "Clyde" on the
Friction Question- Additional
159
on all the various branches of physics, but it must not be understood that the authorities which Parker quotes are quoted to support his
Remarks.
For some time I have been contemplating statements on the subject of friction alone, but making another communication on the friction they are the foundation on which the general book are based upon. from putting my intention I have looked up all the works he quotes that into practice till now. I can find, and there is none of them supports In the September number of the Journal the literal statements he makes in regard to your correspondent, B. F. H., accuses me of friction. Parker states that friction increases controversy, but the pressure of other business subjects treated in his
me
has prevented
not understanding
experiment with the "as the extent of surfaces in contact
his
Swiss lathe, which he describes so plainly on creased," and that
it
maybe
is
diminished
in-
"by
page 261, third volume. Now, any one who lessening the amount of homogeneous bodies in can read cannot fail to understand that exper- contact with each other;" but he does not state iment, and what
There
is
author was trying to prove. that these results are obtained when the sur-
its
nothing mysterious about
and of the same quality, or when they are equally smooth or equally rough.
All I faces are clean
it.
wanted to show, in talking about it, was that we had no proof that the mandrel of the lathe was absolutely true, and that the character of the polish was the same on every part of its surface. It made no difference whether the polish was coarse or fine all that was necessary was, that it should be the same all over, and that the bearing surfaces should be of the same degree of smoothness all over, and fit ;
This
is
the point the whole of our argument
hinges upon
;
and there
is
no
man who
under-
takes to write or compile a book on the subject of friction, and demonstrates the statements he
advances, could
make any such
assertion, be-
cause the reverse has been proved, over and
over again, by actual experiment and I have no hesitation in saying that, on the particular with equal tightness against the steel in what- subject of friction, Parker cannot show suffiever position the steel was turned. Unless all cient authority for all the statements he makes, these
conditions were
letter,
the experiment
complied with
is
we
interpret
them
literally.
This correspondent quotes, on the authority
kind of metal for one
of the Scientific American, that Morin's experi-
may have been ments were not satisfactory and that they had of itself ample proof of how not been carried far enough, and he also states
of the bearings, although
more convenient,
the if
to
The very
worthless.
is
fact of using a different
;
it
widely different the experimenter and I regard that within a year an editorial appeared in that
paper which supported that opinion. I think seems to have un- that I remember the article which he refers to. limited faith in Parker's Philosophy as an au- If it be the one I think it is, it was one of a sethority on the subject of friction, and argues ries that was contributed by a mechanical engithat, as Parker, in the preface to his book, ad- neer in one of the Northwestern States on the mits his obligations to nearly every work which application of frictional gearing for saw-mills, has been referred to on both sides of this dis- and was published about nine months ago. I the principles which underlie the question.
Your correspondent
still
cussion, he, as a consequence,
must have taken understood states " that
his statements to refer to
an entirely
branch of the subject than the one we friction increases as the extent of the surfaces are discussing. I do not assert that Morin's This is certainly a experiments were carried far enough, any more in contact is increased." the cream from the whole
when he
very clever argument, and apparently
sound one
of
;
it is
In the
nious. fifty
yet
first
authorities
them
during
have
the
as fallacious as place, out of
Parker been
progress
quotes,
quoted of
this
is
it
it is
It
is
a than I would assert that the limit has been
inge- reached in any branch of practical science
more than I only
will
;
but
maintain that Morin demonstrated by
four practical experiment that the sliding friction of
by any discussion.
have a copy of Parker's Philosophy in possession.
different
one certain bodies was entirely independent of the I extent of the surfaces in contact when they
my
were clean and of the same
quality,
and when
a school-book which treats the pressure was not great enough to abrade
AMERICAN HOROLOGTCAL JOURNAL.
160
To show how the
them.
Scientific
American
friction
on long and short
regards Morin as an authority on this subject, I trust myself to
make a
make an
pivots.
I could not
axis perfect
enough
in
quotation from an answer to a corres- a lathe by hand, and hearing that there was a
pondent which appeared in a recent number. machine in the United States Watch Factory On the second column of page 408, they say that could do the work as I desired it to be that "Morin's experiments are generally con-
done, I applied to Mr. Hart, the superintendent
The
of the factory, to get such an axis as I required
fric-
made.
and perfectly
sidered standard
only difficulty in applying
reliable.
known laws
of
examples arises from the uncer-
tion to actual
tainty of our determination of the limits of pres-
may
sure which
the assistance that
injure or change the character waiting, I resolved
was
me
to
at his
try the
experiment of
For this have something really practical, I purpose I selected a piece of plate glass, about requested to describe the model in the twelve inches long and about six inches broad,
of the rubbing surfaces."
In order
am
Mr. Hart very generously offered
command, but While as yet I have not received the axis. all
sliding one flat surface over another.
to
which
Cooper
Institute,
friction
on long and short
ends.
I find that in
my
and on their communication I
pivots,
last
made a premature statement with regard Cooper
models in the Plympton, who
formed
me
to
Professor
Institute.
in charge of the school of
is
Philosophy in that
Natural
and took the base of one of Bissell's staking tools as being the most convenient material for the purpose that was at my disposal at the This staking tool must be familiar to the time.
illustrates the effects of
Institution,
in-
many fit
readers of the Joxjkxal, but for the bene-
of those
who may have
not seen one, I will
mention that the base of one of these
tools is
a
that negotiations were in progress piece of gun-metal, about four inches long and
with a party in Boston for obtaining a set of about one and a half inches broad, and is nearsuch apparatus as would be required for this ly square, and, without the steel, weighs about
Two
purpose.
were
sets
One
to
be made at the two pounds.
A
piece of steel that contains the
dovetailed into one
side of this gunCooper In- metal. I removed this piece of steel, which left stitute, in New York but so far none of the two edges of gun-metal sufficiently broad to models are ready. I was informed by Profes- bear the pressure of the weight without in any I then took the sor Thurston, while on a visit to the Stevens way injuring the surfaces.
same time
:
gy, in Boston,
for the Institute of Technolo-
and the other
holes
is
for the
;
Institute, at
Hoboken, that he had
a set of such mechanical models
One model of
said from Europe. struction
he
is
also ordered ;
special con-
having made here, designed
value of different qualities of
pivots
and when
;
of the results
it
to
fiat as
where the
I could, and steel
also
ground the
had been taken
out,
till
all
it
side
the
surfaces that were intended to be rubbing sur-
on faces were as near the same degree of smoothness as possible, and washed them thoroughly in these pages, and also some clean. I then placed a small pivoting lathe in
test the
a description of
lacquer off one of the other sides and. ground
I think he as
it is
completed I hope
obtained from
Thurston informed
me
it.
that there
oil
to see
Professor the vise, putting a pulley, fastened on an axis,
was no doubt between the
centres.
I then took the piece of
and placed it in a convenient position on the bench opposite to the pulley in the lathe, and finally attached a piece of stout thread to the gun-metal, and placed the gunmetal on the glass and passed the thread over the pulley and suspended a weight on to the end of it. During the progress of my preparations, several mechanics, who knew what my design was,
at all about the fact that the friction of a pivot plate glass
working
was of the same nature and same laws as one flat surface
in a hole
subject to the
'
sliding over another.
The
fact of the existence
of such models as are necessary to illustrate the
statements I have
made on
yond
I have seen them myself in
all dispute.
this question, is be-
Europe, and Mr. Shroeder, of the firm of Jas.
Queen, optician and instrument maker of Philadelphia and New York, is agent for his father, ridiculed the possibility of obtaining the results who makes such models in Germany. I anticipated. They were men, too, whose
Some time ago I determined to make an ap- opinion on many subjects was worthy of conparatus to practically demonstrate the effects of sideration, but they had never studied the laws
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
161
but one important part of It was the same old story with Ried's Treatise This is them as has been with a great many others Ried's statement has been omitted. whose attention has been directed to this sub- what he says: "We are humbly of opinion I was endeavoring to that the balance, with its spring in an isolated ject for the first time. turn the laws of nature upside down was aim- state, could be made to vibrate the same length ing at results against all common sense that of time in both positions. But who toitt be at the pressure of the atmosphere, the effects of the trouble and expense to make such experiof friction.
;
;
;
cohesion and adhesion, rendered the residts I ments as may lead to this ?" Since Ried's day anticipated impossible, and innumerable exam- these experiments have been made, and I would
show the fallacy have thought that at this stage of our discusof my assertions, although I was making no sion there would have been no necessity for reWe all assertions but what had been proved by actual ferring to this particular branch of it. experiment, over and over again, and by differ- know that when the pivots of a balance rest on
ples were brought forward to
people in different
ent
When my
parts
of the world.
their
rounded end the balance
preparations were completed, the a longer time than
when they
rest
will
vibrate
on their side
;
was eagerly watched but what is the reason of this ? Is it because by the spectators and when they saw that it the bearing surfaces are larger in the one positook precisely the same amount of weight to tion than in the other ? No, nothing of the kind. move the gun-metal over the glass when a The reason has been demonstrated over and bearing surface of about 10 square inches ^ v as over again in this discussion, that it is owing
result of the experiment ;
in contact with the glass as
it
did
when
a bear- to the fact that the resistance to motion
is
far-
was in con- ther from the centre of motion in the one case Flatten the ends of the tact, the tone of their remarks was Changed, than in the other. and they admitted that, after all, there must pivots and you distribute part of the resistance be something about the laws of friction that farther from the centre of motion and more in' they had never studied. Previous to the exper- equality with the resistance on the sides of the Hollow out the ends of the pivots, and iment, one gentleman made himself very con- pivots. ing surface of only 3 square inches
:
spicuous in his opposition to the idea that
fric-
tion is independent of the extent of the surfaces
in contact,
and he
who would
one
to see
my
offered five dollars to
prove
to
it
He
experiment.
were very wonderful. nothing wonderful at
him.
any
although
there
be
to
contact
motion will be greater and nearer an equality
To show thought the results be produced by any other method. it was what Ried thought of large bearing surfaces in
-all
that, before
;
motion some instances, 1 will make another quotation " Mr. Smeaton, at this period,
:
took away gudgeons from a mill-
wheel, whose diameters were only two and half under certain con- inches, and put others in their place of eight raise the gun-metal inches, with great success, as it afterwards
surface to pass the asperities on the sur-
and
face of the glass, ditions, it
when when
in
the resistance
I told him that
raised a sufficient height to allow the asperities its
flat,
I invited him with that of the sides of the pivots than can
could be produced, the gun-metal had to be from page 212 of his work
on
surface
less
than when they are perfectly
that,
was as easy
it
rested on
its
it
rested on
its
to
it was proved." I would beg leave to direct a little attennarrow one. He expressed himself pleased with the manner in which tion to two experiments, described on page the experiment was conducted, but neglected to 115, third volume of the Joukbtal, and I am a
broadest surface as
say anything about the five dollars. I
am requested by
little
surprised that some correspondent has not
B. F. H. to analyze Ried's noticed the results
statement, " that the balance will vibrate twice ments.
as long in one position as the other
opinion they could be in either position
;
made
and
;
The
first
shown by these two one
is
with a watch.
experiIt does
that in his not say in the description of the experiment,
to vibrate the
same what kind of a watch it was, but I have learned that it was a detached lever. In this watch the ends balance pivots were slightly reduced at the ends
that, also, in his opinion
Ernahaw's shallow holes and flat pivot should come very near that object." The above next to the shoulder, with the view of makstatements are to be found on page 233 of ing the rubbing surfaces on the jewel holes
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
162
This alteration had the
smaller.
effect
of in- ment of B. F. H. with the mandrel of the lathe
creasing the vibration of the balance, and the
is
increase in the vibration altered the rate of the
the brass touched on the steel around
The ends of
watch.
the pivots were also
flat-
of a different nature from any of these. its
If
entire
circumference, motion could not be produced
ened, but I will omit that part of the experi- without compressing some of the asperities, and
ment because
it has no connection with the ob- the difficulty of producing motion would inIt is enough crease in proportion to the truth of the axis, have at present in view. that the reduction of the rubbing surfaces of the number of asperities in contact, the amount
ject I
the sides of the pivots had the effect of increas- of force with which they pressed against each ing the vibration of the balance and altering other, and the elasticity of the metals employed. The other experiment As a general rule in sliding friction, the prothe rate of the watch.
was with a duplex clock, and the same operahad the effect of increasing the arc of vibra-
tion
much
tion of the balance as
as 20 degrees
;
but
this extra increase in the vibration did not alter
the rate of the clock as
it
this looks result.
friction is
caused by pressure, and not by the
extent of the surfaces in contact," will be found
the balance entirely independent of the train,
the fork.
staff
in action with
is
is
is
more
on the
friction
pivots,
as well as the additional friction of the scape-
which
tion of surfaces covered with
wool are not independent of the extent of the surfaces in contact
;
acting against the bal- Rankine, of the
nearly the whole of the time,
teeth,
yet,
and I have the authority of Professor Glasgow University, who is and probably the greatest living authority on the
In the duplex escapement the whole
pressure of the train
consequently there
;
are exceptions.
to me as being a very re- Dr. A. Baumgartener, Professor of Physics in In the lever watch we have the University of Vienna, states that the fric-
except at the instant the roller
wheel
at the beginning of " that within moderate limits
like every general rule, there
markable
ance
"Dynamics" made
did in the case of the to hold good in almost every instance
watch.
Now
position
this controversy,
also affects the balance in
subject of steam engineering for maritime purposes, that the friction of iron
iron
is
rubbing against
not entirely independent of the extent of
Yet in the escapement the surfaces in contact. Mr. Hagey's remarks the duplex escapement. where there is the most friction, an addition of on the electrical arrangement of the atoms in 20 degrees to the arc of vibration of the balance the last number is a very feasible one in the did not alter the rate while in the detached case of the iron surfaces, and no doubt the atescapement an increase of the arc of vibration traction of cohesion exerts its influence in proof the balance did alter the rate. Can any one portion to the affinity the particles of the metals give a reason for this ? employed have for each other. It is possible In this communication, as well as in the last, to file or to grind two pieces of metal so acmy main object has been to show, in a plain curate, that, when they are placed together, way, that in the case of one hard body sliding they will adhere to each other with a force over another, a pivot sliding round in its hole, greater than the attraction of gravitation can or any similar case of sliding friction, a separa- overcome. The same result can be obtained ;
tion of the surfaces in contact
has
before motion can be produced. to think that,, in the case
to take place
I
am
with moderately small surfaces as well as with
inclined larger ones,
separation of the surfaces does not take place over another to the
same extent
as in sliding friction.
In
ing friction the asperities on the surfaces
be supposed
manner
to
work
and the
difficulties
arising from
of rolling friction, a the attraction of cohesion in sliding one surface
into each other in the
roll-
is
as easily, or almost ..as easily
overcome in the one instance as in the other
may and in instances where the particles of metal same have little affinity for each other the attraction is not perceptibly felt. I now claim a general rule, " Dynamics' " proposi-
as the teeth of a wheel works into a of cohesion
pinion, or a pinion
works into a rack and the fact ;
that, as
of the surfaces in contact not requiring to be sep- tion has been proven by an overwhelming mass arated accounts for the ease with which rolling of evidence. From that standpoint we can surfaces work against each other compared with easily explain the effects we see produced by sliding surfaces.
The
friction in
the experi- metals of various natures rubbing against each
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. other, thd influence of
dirt,
oil,
and the
etc.,
inequalities of the mechanical imperfections of
the rubbing surfaces
;
and we
163
lustre, but in the two cities not one, so far as I know, with either a train remontoir or a gravi-
can under- ty escapement. "The old and icell-tried dead beat" with a short pendulum, swinging about
also
instances, d arrow surfaces
stand why, in some have more friction than broad ones, as was fourteen inches each side of zero, seems to rule exemplified in the case of Mr. Gribi's first brick and one accustomed to these things can give, experiment, and which we see illustrated in without having seen it, an exact description of
any given clock in any public building in New or Brooklyn. I have often wondered if mony that was against him, acknowledges his the old clock on our venerable New York Post error. B. F. H. has shown himself to be an ear- Office were not, with the exception of a less libnest and able advocate of what he considers to eral supply of hands, a duplicate of the one on be right, and there are few who could make such the City Hall. By the way, cannot some one an able and formidable attack upon so strong a of your contributors give us information relaposition as the one he assails but I would now tive to the former clock? Frequently when
common
life every day. " Horologist," feeling the weight of the
testi-
York
;
mildly suggest to all
him and to Mr. Hagey, and
who may be
others
of following Horologist's footsteps and to
our
because
side,
it
to
come over but the ferocious
to
unravel Postmaster
lately
officials,
the
" Positively
no
who
is
supposed
to inhabit the in-
ner recesses of the building, have terrified me,
the mysteries of friction can find rest.
have
I have been tempted to scale the
the only position in Admittance," and a vague fear of the awful
is
which the weary who are seeking
We
passing,
wavering, the propriety worm-eaten stairs which must lead to the tower,
been favored with several being naturally of a timid and nervous temperMuma, embracing ament, and prevented the accomplishment of
communications from Mr.
Mr. Muma the plan. both physics and metaphysics. thinks " that the laws of nature cannot always The firm of Gillett
& Bland have long enbe followed with advantage." Does Mr. Muma joyed a reputation as makers of church, turret, really mean this, or is it a slip of the pen ? I and house clocks though so much of their am inclined to think that he must mean it, be- work has been for the trade, their names have cause on page 117 he has also been telling us not been as widely known as those of some ;
of a watch pocket that sometimes gets ahead others. of nature.
For myself I do not aim
" Thou, nature, art
To thy laws
my
goddess
so high.
all
;
Their works at Croydon, England, are
sufficiently extensive to
admit of performing
the operations incident to the manufacture
of clocks, from the largest church clock to the
I bow."
Clyde.
The establishment coman iron foundry, with cupola or blast furnace for melting, and the necessary tools and materials for casting all the frames, wheels and smallest house clock.
prises
Church Clocks. Ed. Horological Journal
other cast-iron parts of clocks for public and
:
Noticing that the Horological Journal
is
oc-
private institutions.
In the brass foundry are three furnaces, of and that clocks, especially large ones, are some- the usual construction, but varying in size, for what neglected, I have taken the liberty of ask- melting the alloys of copper and tin that are ing you to find room for the following account required for wheels, bells, etc. The frequent of probably the largest clock factory in Great imperfections of castings obtained from ordinaBritain the largest certainly so far as variety ry foundries early forced upon this firm the neof products goes ranging from small clocks cessity of making their own castings, and from for- domestic use, to the largest and most elabo- this circumstance has originated much of the
cupied mainly with matter pertaining to watches,
—
—
And
me
elaborateness of the present works, wherein the ask one really proprietors can control with certainty the characreliable and fit to regulate even an old-fash- ter and quality of all their materials. Adjoining ioned "bull's eye" by? There are plenty the foundries is a smith's shop, furnished with rate cathedral clocks.
here
let
have we a church clock among us
?
where the brass work shines with unearthly forges and
tools for
making
all
the necessary
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
164
In con- both spring and weight, going and
forgings required in the larger clocks.
venient proximity to the brass and iron foun- and a large dries
a well furnished pattern shop for
is
mak-
ing patterns and other necessary wood-work. Centrally located
is
number
of
workmen
striking,
are engaged
long benches with which the room
at the
is
lined in performing the various operations con-
the engine room, contain-
ing a pair of horizontal high-pressure engines
nected with this branch of the business.
In the next department are constructed two
of 20-horse power (nominal), which supply the very different classes of clocks, occupying al-
motive power to the different shops. also, is
Here,
most the antipodes of the horological world.
a patent fan for blowing the blast fur- This department
known
is
as the musical clock
and astronomical regulator department, and is devoted solely to a class of work requiring The boilers are the ordinary Cornish boilers, the highest degree of mechanical skill and predetached with their furnaces from the main cision. It need hardly be observed that, though its parts are few and their relations simple, yet buildings for greater security from fire. These various establishments form the pre- the construction of an astronomical clock denace through some 50 feet of underground pipe, and the smith's forges by suitable branches.
paratory department of the works, after leaving
mands not only
of a superior order, but
tools
which the rough pieces pass into special depart- also talent specially adapted to use these tools. ments, according to the nature of the work to This department therefore embraces all that be
modern engineering
fitted up.
Of these
skill
can give in the way
departments the chief in im- of instruments, as well as a body of skilled meportance is the one where cathedral, church, chanics who have made this branch of Horology and turret clocks are manufactured. This is, the study of years. In this department are fitting
a modern machine shop, completely two exquisitely constructed wheel-cutting maone for small wheels, and one for with the most elaborate automatic and chines other machinery, planing and drilling machines large ones up to 12 feet diameter. The smoothof various sizes, lathes, screw and wheel-cut- ness and accuracy of the work done by these
in fact, fitted
;
ting machines
;
indeed every thing needful
to
machines
is
such that
construct time-keeping machinery of the largest touched with a
For smaller clocks there is a from the first mainly in being supplied with lighter machinery of the same class, and with presses for cutIn this deting out wheels from sheet brass. dimensions.
second department, differing
A
file
the
teeth
are
noteworthy musical clock was recently
constructed here to
fit
a case which for 150
years had been in the family of Captain
Busk.
never
after leaving the machine.
The hours are struck on a large
Hans bell
the quarters are chimed on eight bells and in partment are made the smaller clocks, such as addition it can chime the " Cambridge quarare used on factories, schools, etc. ters " on four bells, either of them at will by an ;
These departments turn out the component ingenious mechanical arrangement. parts of various horological apparatus, but after
the separate parts have been individually constructed,
bling
The
comes the important operation of assemso as to form the complete machine.
them
individual parts are then transferred to the
finishing shop, where, after
having been duly
painted or lacquered, they are put together, set in motion, adjusted,
and thoroughly tested
to
The
clock
will also play seventy different tunes
upon sixteen bells, the tune being selected by turning an index upon a dial also, by means of a stud to be pushed, the same tune may be repeated any number of times. There are ten barrels, each adapted for seven tunes, and easily changed for one another. Without describing particularly the mechan;
and accuracy of going. They ical details of' the church clocks constructed are then lowered into the packing shop on the here, it may be mentioned that, in addition to ground floor, boxed up and sent away to vari- improved arrangements of motive power arid
insure smoothness
ous parts of the world.
The house is
clock shop, as
name
imports,
appropriated to the smaller class of clocks for
domestic use in
every first-class clock has a gravity escapement in lieu of the dead beat, and is provided with train remontoir to prevent the inequalities in the train from reaching the escapetrain,
its
hall, kitchen, or living
room.
A
great variety of clocks are here manufactured,
ment.
One of Messrs,
Gillett
&
Eland's lanre
AMERICAN HOROLOGtCAL JOURNAL. For
clocks formed a prominent object in the Inter-
this
purpose the ordinary action
This clock showed rated into two parts.
national Exhibition of 1872.
165
is
sepa-
Usually the pins of the
—one within
and the other barrel effect, first, the elevation of the hammer, and had Dennison's double and then its blow. three-legged gravity escapement, and by means As arranged by Messrs. Gh & B., the work of of two life-sized figures, provided with internal the pins is confined to releasing a detent, and time on two dials
Outside the building,
wheelwork, struck the hours on a five
The patent notice, as it is tive
bell of twenty-
hundred weight.
its
elevation
The
object
is
to allow
be made lighter,
is
to strike the bell,
being caused by a separate me-
Carillon machinery is worthy of chanism. This apparatus an extremely ingenious and effec-
chiming apparatus.
hammer
thereby causing the
the pin barrel,
is
B
shown cam
the
in Fig. 1,
barrel,
C
where
A
the lever
c, which and at the certainty and precision. There is also, inciden- other end has a spring finger E, whose natural tally, a great reduction in dimensions and weight impulse is to fly out of the way of the cams on of material, to say nothing of uniformity of ef- barrel B, but Avhich is thrown in their way by Over a stop which it strikes as the lever falls. fect and faithful rendering of the melody.
the barrel
and
to
and moving parts
to
which
at
one end carries the staple
hammer
allow the whole to operate with greater connects with the
wire,
A is a detent, in form like a bent The effectiveness and precision of this mewhich catches on the pin f when this end chanism must be seen, to be appreciated. The of the lever is depressed, and holds it in posi- motive power is obtained by weights, and the tion. speed, as in other clocks, is regulated by revolvThe action of this apparatus can be seen at a ing vanes, capable of easy and instantaneous While the clock is playing, the cam adjustment. In short, this automatic musician glance. the pin barrel lever,
barrel
B
is
revolving continuously, at rather a
is
perfection of
its
kind, and, by the addition of
a key-board chiming the bells to any tune, of the lever, when the pin f> catching in the improvised or otherwise, is brought within notch of the detent D, holds the lever in posi- the capacity of any musician, ladies not extion, and the hammer elevated until one of the cepted. Another recent invention, patented by Mr. pins in the barrel A, striking the tail of the derapid rate
;
tent, releases
to fall.
by the cams
d, raises
that end
the lever and allows the
hammer
this,
Siddons, and
made
at this
called a "Chronoscope," and
establishment, is in fact
is
a clock
AMERICAN HOROLC-GrlCAL JOtJRNAL.
166
showing the time on the principle of ter," or
engine register.
ment
shown
is
in Fig. 2.
consists of a case
which the usual
made
a" coun-
The complete
As may be
instru-
seen,
it
and
in
to suit the fancy,
circular dial is replaced
by an
Although there are no
clocks of the city.
re-
montoir or gravity escapement tower clocks that we know of in New York or Brooklyn, still we
hope
to
be able
to convince
our correspondent
that there are several that could be safely
©blong opening through which appear the rims trusted
to regulate
an ordinary watch by.]
of four wheels, upon which are painted or engraved the requisite figures for indicating the
hours and minutes from Oh. Om., or Oh. lm. to
The wheel on the right derives its 1 lh. 59m. motion directly from the train, and having com-
Compensation Balances and Balance Springs.
shown all the digits, Ed. Horological, Journal: also moves its neighIn the November number I notice some rebor on the left, and causes it to indicate 1, and marks on the subject of balance springs, giving each successive revolution of the right hand Mi^ Bell's experience and observations on the efwheel adding 1 to the indication of the next fects produced by changing the balance springs of watches that had been previously adjusted for heat and cold. He noticed that changing
pleted
revolution and
its
when moving from
9 to
0,
the balance-spring
altered
the
time of
the
watch, but did not affect the accuracy of the
compensation
;
or, in
other Avords,
when
the
balance was adjusted for one spring the adjust-
ment was equally accurate for another spring although it might be considerably longer or shorter than the one with which the balance was originally adjusted. All who have studied the laws which govern the action of a spiral spring, will acquiesce in
and soundness of Mr. Bell's oband agree with him that the effect of
the accuracy servations,
a change of temperature in altering the length of the spring does not materially interfere with the accuracy of the compensation adjustment,
wheel
until, together,
Their
they indicate 59.
next movement actuates the third wheel and causes it to indicate
— 1-00
1,
when the three wheels
will
and so the movement proceeds until the whole twelve hours are registered. This method of indicating the march of time possesses, for certain purposes, many and stand thus
obvious
;
advantages over the
especially
for
children
ordinary
dial,
and uneducated per-
sons.
that this account,
to a recent article in the
azine,
when clearly
the hair-spring
shows that a
is
slight
a short one, whicli
change in the length
of a short hair-spring gives equal results to a
Hoping due
and that the effect of a change of temperature on a short spring is equal in effect to the same change of temperature on a longer one. In support of this idea, I would mention a simple fact, which must have come under the observation of every watchmaker, that in regulating a watch with a long hair-spring, the regulator must be moved a greater distance to have a certain effect on the rate of the watch than
may
prove of interest
readers, I submit
it.
Brooklyn, HT. Y.
which
is
largely
greater change in the length of a longer one.
Mechanics' Magto
During the past few years I have heard watchsome of your makers make use of the above facts as an argument to show that a balance was comA. B.
pensated, not for the purpose of counteracting [The Journal has for some time contemplated changes of temperature on the spring, but simgiving a description of the prominent public ply to counteract the effects of heat and cold on
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. the balance itself; but those
me
appears to
it
167
that servation of the transit of either limb, or edge,
when
incline to this belief leave out of of the sun, the precise instant
who
the centre
consideration the effects of a change of tem- of the sun was on the meridian or, in other words, the instant of apparent noon. perature in the elasticity of the spring. ;
Suppose a transit instrument correctly adI understand that Mr. Kline, of the United in the meridian the centre line in the justed time, States Watch Factory, has, for a long field of view then coincides with the meridian. think he and been investigating this subject, ;
must be in possession of facts, the results of When the sun is passing the meridian, if we experiments and observations, that would be could judge with sufficient accuracy the moment
when the sun's centre is on the centre line, this whether the balance requires to be compensated column would be of no practical value but as to counteract the effect of changes of tempera- the eye cannot be depended upon with suffiof value in the consideration of the question
;
on the balance-spring, or simply to correct cient certainty for very exact results in this had to the its own errors, and I feel sure the readers of particular, resort is sometimes observing the transit method of of the sun's the Joijbnal would like to hear from him on the edge, and applying semidiameter then as a H. J. S. this subject. first correction, according the or last as limb is N. Y. City. used but as the semidiameter, as taken from the Nautical Almanac, is expressed in siderial Answers to Correspondents. ture
;
time, if the greatest
F. G.
C, Boston, Mass.
—The
the Rounding-up Cones in the
description of
must be
first
accuracy
is
required
December num- plying a small
correction,
ber of the Jotonai. was translated from a pam- in the foot note. For instance, suppose at phlet loaned us College,
by
Prof. Egleston, of Columbia York, on January 1st, 1873,
who has one
it
mean time by, apwhich may be found
converted into
we
New
desire to find
of the tools in use, and of the error of our chronometer by this method.
which, in answer to your query, he writes as
The semidiameter on that day sec, or what is the same thing
follows
" Mr. Grossmann
who has inders),
know
he being the agent
the price.
for them.
The one I have
perfect wheels
diameter, and, in this stated
of
71.07
it
is
which are not true in sense, Mr. Grossmann
1
Add semidiameter Apparent noon by chronometer
12
worked better than the ordinary Now the Equation of Time for that at Greenwich apparent noon is would take some time to Add, according to the precept, to
preferable
to
much
too large, but
3 29.50
4 40.38
date
it is
3 59 08 .
12 12
3 59.08
the ordinary tool in
any case. At this time of the year the Equation is increasing, and at the rate of 1.182 s. I have seen
One of the largest watch factories Europe has no Swiss rounding-up
in
depends on the cones deal of
10.88
1 10.88
rounding-tools, but
reduce a wheel very
s.
.19
Subtract correction
I do not Suppose the first edge of, the sun is observed to make oontact with the centre h. not for 12 line, by the chronometer, at
fifteen thalers.
m.
1 11 .07
the rounding-up tools (cones and cyl-
watches but for clocks, and cost It will
know
the only one I
is
is,
;
or,
when
there
for every tool, is
but
a great
work of exactly the same kind to do, on made in the same way. It does not
hour of longitude; therefore, as 4 h. 56 m. west of Green-
New York is
wich, we multiply the " diff. for 1 hour,'' 1 182 s., by the longitude in time, and
5.83
add
cylinders
12
4
4.91
require that the leaves of the cone should be of
same number as the pinion." On January 1, The reasoning now is this Marion, Ala. The column headed 1873, apparent noon really corresponds with " Siderial Time of the Semidiameter passing 12h. 4m. 4.91s. mean time or in other words, the Meridian," shows, for each day of the apparent noon was later than mean noon 4m. month, the length of time occupied by the pas- 4.91s. According to the chronometer, apsage of one-half of the sun's disc across the parent noon was observed to be 4m. 40.38s. meridian, expressed as an interval of siderial later than mean noon therefore the chronomtime, its use being to determine from an ob- eter indicated too much time by 35.47s. and was
the
S. S. B.
:
,
—
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
168
that
number of seconds
Of course,
too fast.
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
if
limb had been observed,
the transit of the last
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
the semidiameter "would have been subtracted. For February, 1873.
We
have been minute in this explanation in order again to try and remove some of the mystery that hangs about the subject of your in-
and which has prevented the use of the
quiry,
among watc hmakers,
transit instrument to
except
Sidereal
Time of
of
of
diameter Mon. Passing the Meridian.
tiie
Week.
a very limited extent, until the introduction
Time
Diff.
Day the Semi- Time
Day of
Sidereal
Equation to be added to Apparent
or
for
Right Ascension
One Hour.
of Sun.
Time.
Mean
of an improved form of this almost indispensable instrument by Messrs. John Bliss & Co., Saturday. whose advertisement is so familiar to our read- Sunday ers. Not only does their improvement enable Monday. Tuesday any person of ordinary intelligence to accurately Wednesday
M.
68.22 68.11 67.99 67.88 67 76 67.65 67.54 67.43 67.31 67 20
.
.
.
.
Thursday
.
adjust their transit in the meridian without Friday knowing the " why and the wherefore." but the Saturday. Sunday above process of applying the equation is sim- Monday .
Tuesday
.
.
fiS.09
.
.
by the use of a table of corrected equa- Wednesday tion and instructions which they furnish with Thursday Friday each transit. To show the success to be expect- Saturday.
plified
66 98 66.87 66.76 66.66 66.56 66.46 66.36 66.26 66.16 66 07 65.98 65.89 65.80 65.71 65.63 65.55 65.47
.
.
ed in using their
transits,
we
attention to
call
Sunday
.
Monday
.
an additional testimonial which they publish in Tuesday Wednesday Thursday. this number. .
D., Syracuse.
•
gold
is
—
1st.
The reason
as stated,
left
Friday the shell of Saturday Sunday..
is,
because mostly the Monday
.
.
,
.
.
.
.
is rolled plates of more or less Tuesday.. Wednesday and the base metal that underlies Thursday Friday the film of gold is eaten away by the acid, which does not act upon the gold. This is
plated jewelry thickness
;
.,
.".
usually so thin as not to sustain
consequently
it
breaks up into fragments.
You misunderstand The
alloy
to contain
little
2c?.
the statement on page 118.
mentioned a
own weight
its
is
not gold /
gold which
is to
it is
Moan time
dilute nitric acid
to dissolve the
base metals in the compound
and leave the gold undissolved gray powder.
adequate
3t?.
You can
in the
only get
the Journal from private hands
but one copy for
sale,
form of a
;
vol. 1
of
we know
of
and that the fortunate
Want of space.]
The Semidiameter
All
for
If,
©
Full
mean uoon may be assumed
i
$
MILLER,
tbe same as
H. M.
3 22
P. O.
Box
6715,
19 23 23.
New Moon
26 15 22 5 D.
Apogee
i
Perigee
H.
11 15.6
26 I
2.0 II
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
42 22 48.1
Long. Harvard Observatorj7 New York City Hall
4 44 29. 05
H. M.
4 56
s.
0.15
Savannah Exchange Hudson, Ohio
5 24 20 . 572
Cincinnati Observatory
5 37 58.062
Point Conception
8
5 25 43.20
APPARENT
apparent ascension.
r.
NewYork.
5.8
11 23 33.2
Last Quarter
i
d.
h. m.
Venus
1
23 52 52.23..
Jupiter
1
10
Saturn
1
19 51 23.71
PER YEAR, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.
G. B.
45.14 41.70 38.25 34.81 31.36 27.92 24.47 21.03 17.58 14.14 10.09 7.25
«
Moon
T.,
communications should be addressed,
6 10 14 18 22 26 30 34 38 42 46 50 54 58
be found by sub-
FirstQuarter
MILLER,
37 Maiden Zane,
.
may
D.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
$1.50
2 48.59
PHASES OF THE MOON.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
AT
21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 22 22 22 22 22 22 22
0.012 0.020 0.053 0.083 113 0.143 0:172 0.201 0.229 3.80 0.256 0.36 0.283 156.91 5 53.47 0.309 0.335 9 50.02 13 46.56 0.361 17 43.13 385 21 39.68 0.409 25 36.24 432 0.455 22 29 32.79 477 22 33 29.34
are obliged to omit several answers for
G. B.
47 2.36 50 58.92 54 55.47 58 52.03
O
possessor values at $25.
[We
0.04,
S.
20 20 20 20
from the sidereal time.
supposed
is
14 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 12 12
H. M.
S.
0.319 0.284 0.247 0.214 0.180 0.146 0.112 0.078
that for apparent noon.
be recovered,
mentioned
14
of the Semidiameter passing
tracting 0s.l8.
)
and the
.
S.
54.37 1.62 8.03 13.59 18.31 22.22 25.30 27.57 29 04 29.70 29.58 28.71 27.07 24.69 21.59 17.77 13.25 8.06 2.20 55.70 48.57 40 81 32.45 23.47 13.93 3.81 53 14 41.93
13 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14
DECLINATION.
s.
o
'
.50 3 22.34.. +13 10 .
..-21
"
7 8
5.4
322.6
1 42.64
ME1UD. PASSAGE. H. M.
3
5 8
13 13.8 23
10
AMERICAN
Horological Journal. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS. Proportional Sizes
number of
greatest
of Wheels and
Pinions, 169 173
Isochronism,
Abstract of Rates of Chronometers, Prof, Tyndall's Lecture on Light,
.
.
178
.
.
1873.
ten, or twelve, etc.
No.
8.
teeth or leaves, as of eight,
by
;
this
means we reduce
which arise from the driving before and after the line of to the least quantity, the obstacles
and the curves of the teeth becoming
182
centres,
Friction,
187
insensible, there
Little Details,
189
should they even be badly formed; for the pitching of pinions of
.
Oil on Main-Springs,
189
The New Lathe, Answers to Correspondents
190 191
Equation of Time Table,
192
results
six,
the
least
inequality,
requires care to have
them well made, not only in determining the size, which varies, but in forming the curves exactly, and to avoid at the same time inequalities,
butting, friction, etc.
To have a good
safe pitching,
much depends
Proportional Sizes of Wheels to Pinions, and of on the proper size or diameter of the pinion, on Pinions to Wheels, with the Distances which their Centres ought to have, so as to form the figure of the wheel teeth, and of the pinion proper Pitchings. leaves if the pinions are high numbered, that ;
is,
BY
E. B.
NICEWANER, BALTIMORE, MD.
not less than eight or ten, any small devia-
tion
from a true figure may not be of so much as some have attached to it.
Having experienced the time when I would consequence
With such
have given almost anything I possessed to have
small teeth as are in clocks and
known the correct or scientific rules for sizing watches, in practice the figures of the teeth wheels to pinions, and pinions to wheels for a cannot well be drawn nevertheless, our workgiven centre distance, and being of the opinion men and wheel-teeth finishers make the nearest ;
young in the craft who are approximation they can to the shape required now not unlike myself, and who take sufficient where this is well attained, it is wonderful how that there are others
them- it prevents rubbing or wearing in the pinions. In the sizing of pinions, it is no doubt desiany instructions or information that they may chance to meet with, is my humble rable to have them as large in diameter as they excuse for offering the Journal the following can safely be admitted, and rules for this purpropositions and rules, compiled from the best pose have been given by several artists, which, authors on scientific Horology, upon the subject from longer and more extended experience, have afterwards been given up. under the above heading.* interest in their vocation to gladly avail
selves of
To render a ble,
and
to
pitching the most perfect possi-
avoid the inequalities of the curves
of the teeth, pinions should be * Certainly no apology
is
made with
"
The renowned horologer, Berthoud, says The best method to determine with the great-
the est precision, the size of a pinion for any wheel whatever, is, before hardening and tempering
necessary from our corre-
it,
to
put
it
with
its
wheel into a pitching
tool
spondent for thus presenting this subject. Mr. Cross- for this purpose some of the wheel teeth must mann is now engaged in preparing an essay for the be rounded off, when it will be seen by its pitchJournal, on the cutting and sizing of wheels and pin- ing, if it is of a right diameter and figure ; if it ions, which will probably be a valuable addition to is too large, reduce it, till it comes so as to have horological literature.
We regret to state that an accident
to the
author of
the Essay on Regulators prevented the preparation of the second chapter in time for the present number.
the pitching made to move in as uniform a manner as possible if it is too small, another must be made or the wheel reduced. But to ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
170
make
prevent this inconvenience,
use of the
In a clock, three full teeth, and a fourth of a space of one tooth for watches, take a little
7.
following methods, which serve to give the size
may
as nearly as
ought
be, to
;
than three teeth of the wheel, when ished, hy forcing the calipers over them.
less
which a clock pinion
be turned before cutting it slip of paper, whose breadth should be
to
For
6.
"Cut a
about that of the thickness of the wheel for is required to be made, apply
4.
this slip of paper on the circumference of the wheel teeth, supposed cut, but not rounded off, and clip it to such a length as to take over as many teeth of the wheel, and two more than
slip
is to
have leaves
;
points.
Take two square and full teeth. When th& pinion leads, take two square teeth of tho wheel, and a half of a space of one of the teeth more in general, all pinions which lead, ought to be somewhat larger than those which are driven. ;
•
cir-
The pitching tool which Berthoud recommends for trying the pitching of a 'wheel and
have, for example, a pinion of 16 to
pinion, is that which, with us, is called the Ge-
cumference of the pinion."
we
for watches,
their points
the length of the
of paper will be the measure for the
If
;
more than three teeth on
Three teeth on their
5.
which a pinion
the pinion
clocks, take three full teeth
a little
fin-
make, cut the
slip so as it will lay
of the wheel, then apply
it
over 18 teeth neva pitching
around the pinion, and used in
tool,
and has been long known
this country.
The great facility which this tool gives of which reduce in turning, till such time as the two ends of the paper slip meet on lapping it seeing pitchings, repairing them, carrying them in a correct state to the frame plates of a clock around. " The pinion being afterwards cut and or watch, renders this instrument very necessarounded up (but before tempering it), let some ry to the workman it can be made use of in of the wheel teeth be rounded off, and fixing it setting off various escapements, such as the anon a smooth arbor, put the wheel and pinion chor, cylinder, or horizontal one, duplex, chrointo the pitching tool, and see if it is of such a nometer, etc. ;
diameter as
will,
With
It has the advantage over the
with the teeth of the wheel,
produce a regular smooth pitching."
(a
kind of pitching
tool
Sector tools
invented and used
small pinions for clocks, and in those about one hundred years ago
;
made up
in
some
paper cannot readily be degree on the principle of proportional commade use of, but here are rules founded as well passes, which do not take in the wheels and as the preceding, on experience, and agreeable pinions, by allowing the working of the pitchfor watches, slips of
ing to be seen), and serves to check any pinion and the of an improper diameter, which may at times, diameter of pinions are required to be taken by mischance, have been overlooked, both by from them, calipers, or spring pinion gauges, are the movement maker, and by the examiner. If, for example, it is required to make a used. One of the most simple yet accurate measpinion of 16 teeth, or leaves, give an extent or uring instruments of modern introduction, opening to the calipers, or gauge, so as to take whose divisions are perfectly decimal (which in 6 teeth of the wheel, taken from the outer system is now almost or quite universally adoptflank of the first tooth to the outer flank of the ed by all scientists for scientific calculations), is sixth this is what is called six full teeth. the meter measure or sliding rule, its divisions For a pinion of are based upon the metrical system. The meter measure is a kind of sliding rule 15. The calipers must extend not quite to the with rectangular arms between which the obflank of the sixth tooth. 14. Take 6 teeth on their points, or middle of jects to be measured are inserted. their tops. The edge of the rule is divided by millime12. Five full teeth when it is for a large wheel of ters, and with the aid of the vernier the tenths a clock, and when it is for a watch, take five of a millimeter can be read. The millimeter is to the practice of the best
When
workmen.
the teeth of wheels are cut,
;
teeth fully on their points. 10.
Four
about
full teeth.
9.
A little less than four full
teeth.
8.
For a Vlock, four teeth on
their points, less
the focO-th of a space of one tooth.
V
5
0:f
the English inch, and about f of an idea
the French line, thus giving the reader
of the dimensions of -^ of a millimeter.
This instrument, the round micrometer, whose
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
171
Clock and watch makers have different methand hundredths and the tenth measure, form a ods for taking the diameter of pinions, as well complete set of measuring instruments, which as different sizes. Some take more or less of are quite sufficient for all practical wants of teeth and space by the pinion gauge than others watch and clock making, and ought to be in the do, and the greatest accuracy by this way is divisions are also millimeters
of a millimeter,
hands of every
workman who
intelligent
and pride
sufficient interest
desire to execute a piece of
and with
takes not quite attainable, unless having very exten-
and nice
If no mistake
practice.
in his profession to
sive
work
in calculation, the sliding-rule will
scientifically,
made
is
give these
things with the greatest degree of precision.
precision.
Before giving the examples for sizing wheels With the aid of this sliding rule I propose to show how the diameter of a pinion of a given and pinions, I will present a few rules by the number of leaves may be found from the earliest artists for finding the diameter of
wheel that pitches into
it,
and vice
versa, hav-
pinions from the wheels in which they pitch.
The
ing a pinion, required to find the diameter of the wheel of a given es into
number of teeth
that pitch-
rule which Mr.
to the
tion
making) has given
it.
Hutton
(in his introduc-
mechanical part of clock and watch for finding the diameter of
Having lost a wheel and the pinion into pinions, will make them too large and that which it pitches, required to find what should which is given in a very respectable work ;
be the diameter of each, with a given number of (Sees' Cyclopedia) will make them larger teeth in the wheel as they
and leaves in the
may be made
pinion, so
to pitch properly together
at the given centre distance,
and
vice
versa,
The
Hutton' s addenda
pitches, required to find their centre dis-
Multiply the
by
will
this
number intended or 1.5, as they
1,
e.,
i.
the nearer they approach
the true epicycloidal curve, the
and perfect It
will
supposed
is
be their to
mure uniform cases
An
for
the
to the
and
is
to
drive the
example shall be taken in both
x X
8
be a settled point, that two
line of equal parts,
and
apply,
for the diameter of a pinion of 8 leaves.
action.
and a quarter may be taken on a
pinion.
3,
may
be the diameter in teeth and spaces
Of course it must be understood that the more perfect the figure of the wheel teeth, and taken from the wheel which pinion leaves,
for the pinion
then divide the product by
2,
quotient add
tance so as to insure good pitching.
is 1,
1.5.
having a wheel and the pinion into which the
wheel
still.
same in both, only Mr. and that of the other is
rules are nearly the
8
2
2
= 16 = 16
3=54 + 1 =6^ 3 = 5i + 1.5 = 6.i
addenda Although the ruie now
over and above the
to
be given
differs
the wheel drives not very materially from the two last, yet it will the pinion and for the pinion one and a half be found to be a good one, and give such diammore than the number of leaves which it con- eter to the pinions as will at all times and
number of wheel
teeth
when
;
But Avhen the pinion leads the wheel, the addenda for it must be two and a quarter, and that for the wheel one and a half. All that is necessary in making use of this sliding-rule is, the workman must have some little knowledge of the rule of proportion, and of decimals by it the size of the pinions may be had before the wheels are made, or give the tains.
;
diameter of the wheel
to
cases insure safe pitching.
Multiply the given
number
the product add
of pinions
and then divide by diameter required. ample, 8
x
2
by 3,
2, to
1,
the quotient will be the
Take the former as an
= 18 + 1 = 17
-r-
3
ex-
= 5|.
being three teeth, two spaces, and two-thirds of
a space, taken by the calipers from the teeth of a given pinion. Clock- a wheel not rounded up, and which will be a
makers, before making their pinions, are in the diameter sufficiently large.
having their wheels cut as it from the teeth and spaces they get the diam-
practice of first is
the proper use of this
pinions
may
be made
it
will
make but
the addenda
eter of their pinions.
By
In taking the diameter
;
at
sliding-rule,
the a pinion of
any time, whether and
the wheels are made, cut or not cut.
is
8,
for a leading pinion,
a very small difference, wheth-
two, or two
and a quarter.
the diameter in the one case
For is 6,
in the other 6.08.
The diameter of the
centre wheel in a
fine
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
172
watch being fourteen millimeters, and ninety (which is half of the sum of the hundredths of a mill. (14.90) having 80 teeth, pinion 10, added together) is to and the pinion which it is to drive has 10 82.25 to the diameter required. leaves, it is required to have the diameter of 45 :8.15: 82.25 gether
properly to-
8.15
2.25 (the addenda for the
41125 8225 65800
pitch
?
Say as 80 teeth driver)
= 82.25
wheel, so
is
-j-
is to
14.90, the diameter of the -4- 1.5 (the
10, the pinion leaves
180 403 360
11.5
as 82.25: 14.90:
11.5
433 405
7450 1490 1490
287 270
82.251171.350 (2. 08 + The number required for the 16450
175 135
diameter of the pinion, say 2
68500 65800
mill, mill.
and
.08
hundredths of a 40 45
2700
The diameter of any wheel (by having diameter of the pinion)
same way as that of the
may be found
The diameter
pinions.
wheel to Required the diameter ? Say
and having 12
have 96 teeth 13.5
:
:
3.75
:
leaves, the great
98.25
:
x,
:
or 27.29,
the
diameter which the great wheel ought to be.
The diameter of a
centre wheel of a watch
being 14.90 having 80
which
it is
teeth,
and the pinion Required
has 10 leaves
to drive
:
S.15
:
:11.5 8.15
the
in the
of the centre wheel pinion in a watch being
as
Dia. of the wheel.
220
quired.
3.75,
so is
45X670.3375 ( 14.8963 V J 45
=
11.5 to x, a fourth addenda for the driver) number, which will be that for the diameter re-
Then
and the
8.15,
:%
:
may
they
the pinion, so as
80,
57o 115 920 45 \93.725f 2.082 Dia. of the pinion. /90 372 360 125 90
35
:
In conclusion I would mention that the above measuring instruments spoken of, the meter they may pitch properly together ? Say, as measure, round micrometer, and tenth measure 82.25 is to 14.90, the diameter of the wheel, so are manufactured by Mr. Moritz Grossraann, a is half the sum of the wheel and pinion added very eminent watch manufacturer in Glashiitte, together, to a number which shall be the disSaxony. A complete set of these instruments, tance required, 80 -{- 10 90, half of which or any one of the set can be had in this is 45 then 82.25 14.90 45 x, or 8.15, country. the distance which the centre ought to have, which is 8 millimeters, and 15 hundredths of a mill. Supposing the centre wheel to be lost, Kellej's Watch Oil. as also the third wheel pinion, having the distance of their centres, to find what should be Every watchmaker fully understands the imthe diameter of each, so as they may be made portance of good oil, knowing that no work to pitch properly together at the given distance will give satisfaction without it, and will be of their centres ? The distance given is 8.15 glad to learn that Mr. Ivelley has taken the the centre wheel is to have 80 teeth, and the necessary steps to protect himself against the third wheel pinion to have 10 leaves. To find frauds of unscrupulous dealers by affixing a
the distance their centres should have, so as
=
;
:
:
:
:
the diameter of the centre wheel,
say,
as
45 trade mark
to the label of
each
bottle.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. Laws of the Isochronism of the Vibrations of the Balance by the Hairsprings
Principles and
s
the Journal,
to collect
principal
BY THEO. GEIBI,
AVILMINGTO'N', DEL.
for more was proposed the most useful portions from his works, revise and modernize them,
than a year.
Translate 1 from the works of Ferdinand BHRTnoro
would
173
it
To
fill
its
and thus publish a condensed ries of consecutive articles
INTKODUCTIOjST.
There is, among the better class of workmen throughout the country, an interest manifested in the subject of isochronism, perhaps more than
columns
obviate this,
it
treatise in a se-
but on more mature deliberation this plan was abandoned, mainly for two reasons one was, that such an undertaking would be too laborious and the other, and perhaps the more urgent one, is, that any attempt to abbreviate or modernize could ;
:
;
The want of a more thorough and satisfactory elucida- but
in any other relating to practical horology.
detract from the value of the original, and would thus prove a rather poor tribute to the on the matter, has been repeatedly expressed by memory of the esteemed and celebrated author. various correspondents. While it is not the It was then concluded to translate literally writer's desire to undervalue the labors of those some of the leading and most useful portions, who have kindly favored us with their experi- as much as is required, in separate articles, and ence so far, and while nothing could be too since frequently retrospective references occur, much to be said that would in a measure throw to use even the numbers of the paragraphs as The present subject light upon the subject, yet it must be confessed they are in the original. that much that we have received from those is taken from the work entitled "TRAITE who profess to know, is lacking in the first DES HORLOGES MARINES," dedicated to principles upon which the adjustment is based, and published by the order of his Majesty while others are mere abstract notions, more or Louis XV., A. D. 1773. tion than has hitherto appeared in English print
To such as may be interested to know someand from an humble thing of the nature and character of the book, desire to enrich our stock of knowledge as well we may say that this work, which is one of a as to aid and encourage the efforts of the intel- valuable collection of the same author, is a volligent workman, that a translation of the wri- ume of 590 pages, together with 27 plates of Its chief aim was, as may be intings of the celebrated artist, Ferdinand Ber- engravings. first on the above subject, ferred from its title, to lay before the artists thoud, is proposed and horological amateurs of that time, a comand afterward, if desired, on other matters. It is true that the works of this artist are for plete and comprehensive account of his labors the most part over a hundred years old, and and researches in the pursuit of practical horolthat the chronometrical constructions to which ogy, and particularly in the construction of he then applied his reasoning have now become what were then called Marine Clocks, designed obsolete; still, in the fundamental principles, especially to determine longitude at sea, and mhe our modern artists have made but little if any which we now call ship chronometers. advance, the main difference of the present time size and proportions of these machines, as will consisting in the application of those principles be seen, differed widely from our modern ones. less confused.
It
is
for these reasons,
;
to smaller
and
Besides, I
know
less
complicated mechanisms.
of no
modern works
extant,
An
idea of the difference
may
be inferred from
the fact that he sometimes employed one or two
save one or two on particular themes, which are balances a foot or more in diameter, and weigh-
and comprehensible ing several pounds. Such a balance had to be no English trans- suspended at its axis by a thin steel spring, lation of these works as yet exists, it is the capable of twisting considerably, and each exmore to be expected that the present, though a tremity of the staff, instead of moving by pivots mere fragmentary one may receive the appro- in holes, rolled between three friction rollers of large dimensions, by which means the resistbation of the reader. It was at first thought that a literal transla- ance to the vibrations of the balance was reOf course such a baltion would be superfluous and too long, and, in duced to a minimum. fact, were his entire works to bo translated in ance required a spring in proportion, many of so thorough, exhaustive,
and
since, to
my knowledge,
AMERICAN HQROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
174
which we would probably consider to be pretty by experience that heat diminishes the elasticigood size clock mainsprings. In the course of ty of the spring, and cold increases it so that a these articles it will be seen that he sought to chronometer to which it has been applied loses ;
obtain isochronism by various means chiefly in warm and gains in cold temperatures. 2d. I by making the spring of a certain taper from have ascertained by decisive experiments that the centre outward, by making it longer or great and small arcs of vibrations of a balance shorter, and by coiling it closer or looser. are not isochronous, and that generally, in the ;
In order
to
determine the isochronal proper- case of a free balance, great arcs are performed
them
quicker than small ones so that, as soon as a which he balance describes greater and smaller arcs, the called " Balance elastique," by means of which chronometer will vary, and that this effect is he measured the forces of springs at different produced by the action of the hairspring. I am degrees of inflection. Though the description now going to treat on the principles which have of this instrument is in another part of the led me to render the unequal arcs of vibrations book, apart from this subject, we shall give it of the balance isochronous, an object of very ty of springs before applying
to the bal-
;
ance, he constructed an instrument
in the course of these articles.
great value in the construction of chronometers.
It will be well for the student to study par-
The
138.
inequality in the arcs of vibration
paragraph 141, possibly necessary to of a balance in chronometers may be produced get the assistance of some person versed in the by two principal causes 1st, by inequalities in physical laws of motion, if he desires to com- the motive force, in the train, in friction, in the ticularly
:
prehend well the subject, for those are the prin- resistance of the oils, etc. But ciples on which is based the theory of isochro- motion of the vessel.
;
nism.
It
is
impossible to state scientific truths,
except in scientific terms
stand them, tal
we
if
;
we wish
to
2d, if
by the external
the regulator
f
does not possess a property such as will cause
under- the great and small arcs of vibrations to be per-
are obliged to trouble our
men- formed
powers considerably sometimes, or we
lose
the thread of the reasoning.
in equal time, the result will
be that
the chronometer varies considerably as soon
by the one or the other
as,
cause, the arcs are
Mudge changed in extent. 139. By a particular combination after Sully in the con- capement we may obtain the means
F. Berthoud was a contemporary of
He was the first in the esand Harrison. and Le Hoy, who, in France, labored of obviatstruction of proper machines by which to deter- ing the variations of a chronometer caused by mine longitude at sea, and his writings, though unequal arcs of vibration, inasmuch as this ineare
old,
still
very valuable, displaying a puri- quality
of devotion to the interest of his science, a force
ty
;
is
produced by changes in the motive
but even
if
such an escapement should
comprehensiveness and soundness of reasoning, constantly preserve this property,
it
could only
together with an untiring patience in describing serve to correct the inequalities in the action of the smallest minutiae of practical manipulations the motor, but not the variations of a chronometer
not surpassed
With
by modern
caused by unequal arcs of vibration of the bal-
writers.
this brief sketch,
ance, when this inequality of vibrations is pronow duced by the agitations of the ship for, if an
and begging the
dulgence of the patient reader,
we
will
in-
;
agitation of the ship should increase the extent
proceed to the translation. 137.
The
application of the hairspring to the of a vibration,
and the nature of the regula-
one of the most fortunate discover- tor be such as to cause great arcs of vibration ies the science of Horology has made we owe to be performed slower than small ones, the itj as well as that of the pendulum, to Huy- result will be that, the motive force remaining balance
is
;
ghens.
Still,
the hairspring,
was the cause of considerable rate of chronometers
.*
1st.
such as
it
was,
the same, the escapement will have no power or
deviations in the property to oppose this increase of the arc of vi-
It has
been found bration, nor er
*
The word
piece,
idea,
but
we
as
shall
" Horloge" properly
means a
it
by
to
cause
it to
be performed quick-
the duration of such vibration
would thus
time-
a timepiece does not convey the proper
always translate
,
" Chronometer."
f
By
the word " regulator" the entire system of bal-
ance and hairspring
is
designated.
AMERICAN SEROLOGICAL JOURNAL. necessarily be longer, whereas, if the greater
25
175
therefore, the action required to give
;
the balance A,
that required to give
momo-
had been produced by the motive to is to the the escapement, being supposed isochro- tion to the balance B, as the force of B, 1 is force of or as to 25.) nal, would have shortened it. 141. If we have a simple balance without 140. If, on the other hand, we suppose the vibration
is to
A
force,
greater arcs of vibration to be of shorter dura- hairsprings which we desire to describe altertion than the small ones, in order that the es- nately great and small arcs in the same time,
capement should render them isochronal, its con- it will be necessary that the force or power struction would require to be different from which is to give motion, vary as the squares of that in the first. supposition for it would be ne- the arcs (84). Therefore, if, instead of a power, cessary that the escapement allow the vibrations we substitute a hairspring, it will be required to be completed without opposing any resist- that the progression of its force be such that, ;
on the contrary, in the return, it for all corresponding arcs, the products of its cause the wheel to recoil but with such an es- force augment in the same proportion as that of capement, the same as with the preceding one the balance. In such a case its oscillations will If then the arcs described by isochronous. (139), the result will be to render isochronal be
and
ance,
that,
;
only those vibrations which had for cause of the balance are 0°, 10°, 20°, 30°, 40°, 50°, 60°, their inequality a variable motive force, and 70°, 80°, 90°, 100°, 110°, 120°, etc., or which is not at
all
those which are the result of agita-
tion of the vessel
may
;
be seen that it is construct an escapement such as
view the matter,
impossible to
from whatever side we
thus,
will
it
the same thing,
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
12, etc., the forces of its to these
arcs
will
be
motion corresponding
0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36,
49,
be
iso-
64, 81, 100, 121, 144, etc.; therefore, to
render isochronous other vibrations of the chronal, the powers of the hairspring correspondbalance than those whose source of inequality ing to these arcs will require to augment in to
is in
the motor
itself.
It
is
therefore absolutely this last proportion.
necessary to seek this property of isochronism in the oscillations of the balance itself
vibrations of the regulator being
by
;
for,
their
force of the
the gression, so that na- two progressions
ture isochronous, they will remain so whatever
we
is
if
the ascending
in arithmetical pro-
shall
have the following
ArcsdeO by
scribed
may be
Now,
hairspring
f
the cause of their greater or less ex- the hairspring J tent, and then we need only require of an esor
n 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120
j
.
.
Force,
"J
capement the property of not disturbing the os- W6i°"llt TQquired to to, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Such reflections as make equicillations of the balance. these have convinced me that isochronism of librium J the vibrations cannot be obtained by an escape then I say that the products of these forces of ment, but in the balance itself only. the hairspring when in motion, for all the corresponding terms of these arcs, will be as PIRST PROPOSITION. the square of the arcs, which is a conI
J
.
How
.
sequence of their property of being in arithisochronism of the vibrations of a metical progression. Thus the vibrations of balance is produced by a hairspring. any balance whatever to which this hairspring the
composed of equal masses, and move with unequal velocities, their forces will be as the square of their velocities thus, if the velocity of a balance A=l, and (84.* If two different balances are
:
that of a balance
B=5,
may be
applied, will be of the same duration, whether the balance describe great or small which is evident from the fact that the arcs ;
powers of the given hairspring follow the same the force of the balance law as the augmentation of the force of bodies
A will be to the force of the balance
B, as 1
is to
in motion. It is to
* This paragraph, found in another part of the book, -we allow to precede in parentheses, because it is alludin, and important in order to understand, the lowing paragraph.
ed to
fol-
bodies
be distinguished between the force of in motion and the force when in
when
equilibrium
;
for,
the weights that
make equinumber
librium with the hairspring during any of ascending arcs,
augment simply
as the arcs,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
176
whereas the force or power of the same hair-
when
spring
motion,
in
square of the arcs
for here this force is not
;
THIRD PROPOSITION.
expressed by the
is
The
merely the quantity of weight that makes equilibrium, but
composed of the sum of the employed to cause the spring to the intermediate arcs, from zero
it is
all
of equilibrium
to the actual point
;
after
is
when
spring
145. After
what I have
in motion,
eter
it
If
be proved.
weak hairspring,
longer or shorter,
we have so that
many revolutions,
;
it
is
even only in
this latter case that it
possible to ascertain whether the vibrations
are perfectly isochronal or not,
This quality in a hairspring
obtained by making very
but there will be not more
;
it after it will be in augments as the square connection with the escapement in the chronom-
SECOND PROPOSITION.
a great
we can
equal to the force or power of the difficulty in establishing
is
easily
said now,
now, these essential property of isochronism in the case of
of the arcs described.
142.
es-
easily conceive the possibility of producing this
weights being in arithmetical progression, their an isolated balance
sum, which
will be still iso-
application of the
the
capement.
forces or weights
move over
of a balance
oscillations
chronal
may be as may
a very long and
and whether
they are not disturbed by the friction of the balance or by the escapement
made an
itself.
I have
instrument, which I call elastic bal-
ance, by means of which I am enabled to deand termine, with the greatest precision, the ascend-
may be wound to
it
as for instance 10,
siipposing moreover that, being entirely
wound ing
force of the hairspring, so that, if the force
be double of that when
it is
of a spring follows the required law, and after-
within one turn run down, then during the
first
ward, being applied to the balance with the
up,
force
its
will
turn of winding T\f
it,
its
augment about escapement, the
force will
vibrations are not isochronal,
of the total force, and the ascending progres- will prove that the cause of
sion of
its
force will
be insufficient
law of the square of the arcs
;
to follow the
it is
it
attributable to
a defect elsewhere than in the spring thus, ex;
thus, in applying periments with a chronometer in a finished state
such a hairspring to a balance,
its
oscillations
will enable us to determine exactly the quality
during great arcs, of an escapement, as well as disturbing causes would not be isochronal of other nature. they would be slower than during small ones. same contrary, we make this 143. If, on the FOURTH PROPOSITION. hairspring very short, so that it could be wound but a very few turns, then the progreshairspring of whatever force, having the sion of its force would augment in a greater progression required by the law of isochron;
A
proportion than
is
required for
its
isochronism
;
thus the vibrations of great arcs would be of shorter duration than those of small arcs. 144. Since a hairspring, such as
here, to
we suppose
,
ism, will preserve this property, whether be applied to
or to one
it
a balance of quick vibrations
of slow
vibrations.
would cause the vibrations of great arcs
be slower than those of small
arcs,
146. 1st. If we have a hairspring, the asbeing cending progression of whose force is perfectly
very long (142), and being shorter, the vibra- in arithmetical progression, tions of great arcs would, faster (143)
on the contrary, be nature of
than those of small
that a point exists in this
arcs, it follows
forces
it is
evident by the
this progression, that the
augment
sums of the
as the squares of the inflections,
same spring between and that consequently the hairspring
will fol-
these two extremes of lengths, at which, being low the law required for the isochronism. it will cause vibrations of great and 2d. The same spring will preserve its propsmall arcs to be isochronal, or of equal dura- erty of isochronism to whatever balance it may
fastened,
tion
;
and
this
is
the point
where the
spring, being held in equilibrium will
whether
to
or light one
have a perfectly arithmetical progression of the balance and
of force will
hair- be applied,
by weights, a heavy
;
its
a large or small one, to for
it is
upon the mass
diameter, the spring be-
for in this case the sums of its forces ing given, that the nature of the vibrations debe among themselves (when in motion), as pend, whether they will be slow or fast. If we ;
the squares of the arcs.
adopt such an isochronal hairspring to a heavy
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. balance,
vibrations will be slow, and,
its
contrary, if the balance is small
vibrations will be quicker
and
on the during the greater arcs would augment in a
light, its
greater ratio than the square of the correspond-
but the forces of ing
;
177
arcs, so that the vibrations of the greatest
be- arcs would be of less duration than those of the
the balance and the hairspring preserve
tween themselves the same relation in these smallest that is, the chronometer would gain any given balance, the during its greatest vibrations and lose during force augments always as the squares of the arcs the smallest ones, although above the arc of ;
different cases, for, in
and in an isochronal hairspring the leverage, the ascending progression of the force forces augment in the same pro- of the spring may be arithmetical. portion. 149. To give this isochronal property to a These are the principles which necessarily constitute the nature of the vibrations, hairspring, I have said that it was depending whether they will be slow or quick. But if the upon its length, its shape, and the number of its balance were given, as also the number of its coils this we shall prove hereafter by reasonvibrations, then we would be obliged to cause ing and experiments. It will then be seen that it to make that given number of vibrations by to make a spring a little longer or a little shorter, a greater or less force of the hairspring. The changes its progression. This, length being dedescribed,
sums of
its
;
force
may
of the spring being given, whatever be, it will
always
b.e
possible to change
it
its
termined, the hairspring having the requisite progression,
we should not
then, as is
commonly
depend upon its length, done in watches, lengthen and shorten the its strength, its shape, and the number of its hairspring in order to regulate the chronomecoils, as we shall prove hereafter. this would destroy the isochronal property ter progression
this will
;
;
147. If
it
were desired
that, in
an isolated of the spring
on the contrary, we should make
;
balance describing great arcs, the oscillations the balance heavier or lighter until the chroshould be perfectly isochronous from the small- nometer were regulated or, if we do not wish ;
would be neces- to alter the balance, we can make a new hairsary for the hairspring not only to have the re- spring which will combine the desired force quired length, but also that its shape be ac- with the requisite progression. But if we have est vibrations to the largest,
cordingly, so that
its
in every point.
But
it
make an isochronal hairwhen applied to a balance, had force, etc., whenever we wish to
progressive force be perfect been able once to this
extreme accuracy
is
spring, which,
hardly necessary in the practical application of the required the balance for, below the degrees of leverage have a balance of the same dimensions and ;
the chronometer would stop,
and consequently number of
148. It
we
is
nevertheless well to observe, that to give
should give to the hairspring the proper
mensions necessary
vibrations, the
dimensions of the
hairspring will also be given, and
the inequality in the arcs cannot go so far.
di-
it
it
will
be easy
the force and the progression required
for isochronism.
to obtain the desired pro-
gression of force for all its degrees of inflection, counting from zero, where it is at rest, up to
the greatest inflection which the balance to give
it
;
it
possible for
is
for, after
more
reflection I find that if the progression
force
Fifteen
of
its
lev-
Mr. Geo.
dent, since
it is
W.
Bond
;
this is evi-
Dickinson, of Ashtabula, Ohio,
Street,
the arcs of vibrations months since a
even above the degrees of leverage
One Hundred.
sends us a letter he received from Mr. Robin*
erage as well as above, the oscillations would son, 18 all
for
careful
were not perfect below the degrees of
not be isochronous for
Hundred Dollars
N. Y., stating that some
young man came
to his office
with a large quantity of jewelry and
silver-
necessary for the isochronism plated ware, said to be worth $1,500, on which
sums of the forces employed to wind he wanted to borrow $75, since which time he up are as the squares of the arcs has never seen him. He fears the goods might described. Now, according to this, if below have been stolen, and dares not offer them for the arc of leverage the progression were smaller sale in the city, therefore offers to send the enthan it ought to be, that is, if it were not an tire lot by express, C. 0. D., for $100. arithmetical progression, the sums of the forces George says, " that's too thin."
that the
the hairspring
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
178
ABSTRACT OF THE PRINCIPAL CHANGES OF RATES OF CHRONOMETERS
Xame of Makek.
Kullberg
Hennessy McGregor & Co
Lowry
&
Parkinson
Bouts.
.
Glover
Usher & Cole
7
4 5 7
Glover Kullberg
332 1885 t..
Sewill
Chittenden Parkinson & Bouts. P. Birchall
.
W.
P. Birchall Carter
Wells Carter
Shepherd & Son
McGregor & Co Williams & Co Gowland Hennessy Reid
1799 4793 4173 779 1129 354 1120
Isaac
Davison
& Sons
Sewill
Quilliam Whiffin Brotherton
&
Russell
Son
M. F.Dent Shepherd
&
Construction of Balance.
Addkess op Maker.
Son
Hammersley
Dell&Co Highley
Hammersley Isaac
Whiffin Parkinson & Frodsham Reid &Sons
4765 3040 793 1171
1150 271 715 3531 739 1787
4571 97
2274 4796 1215
105 Liverpool road, London 5
Wind
street,
Kullberg' s flat rim balance, without auxiliary. Auxiliary compensation Ordinary auxiliary compensation to balance.. Auxiliary compensation Auxiliary acting in extremes of temperature.
Swansea
Clvde place, Glasgow 66"
High
street, Belfast
59 Gracechureh street, London
Wrotham rd., Camd. New Town, Lond. 147 Liverpool road, London 46 St. John's square, Clerkenwell, Lond. 8 Wrotham id., Camel. New Town, Lond. 105 Liverpool road, London. . .' 8
Auxiliary as before
—
Original" construction of balance without aux. Auxiliary to balance Auxiliary as before Improved ordinary balance
.
6 Side,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Auxiliary compensation Auxiliary compensation Auxiliary as in former years Auxiliary acting in extremes of temperature. Ordinaiy balance, with a slight alteration
61 South Castle street, Liverpool 10 Wilton road, Hackney, London 59 Gracechureh street, London ... 12a Stoncfield street, Islington, London .
Ordinary balance, with a slight alteration Ordinary balance, with a slight addition Auxiliary to balance Ordinaiy balance Auxiliary to balance
12a Stonefield street, Islington, London 61 Cornhill, London
.
22 High street, Newport, Monmouth. 61 Cornhill, London 53 Leadenhall street, London
Clyde place, Glasgow 2 Bute Docks, Cardiff 178 Hisjh street West, Sunderland 5
Wind
street,
Pool's auxiliary
Auxiliary Auxiliary Auxiliary Auxiliary
Swansea
41 Gray street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
compensation.. compensation.. compensation. acting in cold.
3039 17917 361 5417 2089
61 32 10 11
street, Liverpool Elizabeth street, Liverpool Cloudesley square, Islington, Lond. Spencer street, Goswell road, Lond. 30 Slater street, Liverpool
Auxiliary compensation Continuous auxiliary to balance. Auxiliary compensation Construction as in former years Auxiliary to balance
26440 1761 1708 19368 5435
33 Cockspur street, London 53 Leadenhall street, London 54 Spencer street, Clerkenwell, Lond. Broad street, Bristol 45 High street, Sheerness
Mr. F. Dent's new compen. balance without aux. Auxiliary to the balance Auxiliary compensation Auxiliary compensation
1589 1122 358 4033 1492
54 Spencer street, Clerkenwell, Lond. 147 Liverpool road, London 10 Cloudesley square, Islington, Lond. 4 'Change alley, Cornhill, London 41 Grey street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Auxiliary Auxiliary Auxiliary Auxiliary Auxiliary
South Castle
.
.
Auxiliary acting in cold
.
compensation compensation for heat compensation permanently in action acting iu all temperatures.
The chronometers are placed in order of merit, their respective positions being determined by consideration of the
irregularities of
rate exhibited in the table above. All the
chronometers were two days.
The lowest temperature in which they were
tried
was 44°, the highest
95°.
We have just received an abstract of the last ance " without alteration, with this exception, annual report of the Astronomer Royal, con- all having been provided with some form of atcerning the yearly competitive
trial of chronom- tempted improvement, consisting in some inGreenwich Observatory, which we stances of a slight alteration to the original publish herewith. in others, of a new construction withIt will be perceived again balance
eters at the
;
with what pertinacity the subject of an im- out auxiliary, as in the cases of Messrs. Kullberg proved construction of compensation balance is and F. Dent, but generally the improvement
pursued by the different English makers, con- has been of the variety known as balances with tributing to this annual tournament in chro-
auxiliaries.
The
nometry
three classes,
namely
;
and in
this connection it is noticeable
that but one chronometer, in the entire forty,
was furnished with the
list
of cold, and which,
" ordinary bal-
latter :
1.
may be
divided into
Those acting only in
it seems to our mind, would be more properly described as a check acting in cold,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. ON TRIAL AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH,
Weekly
Greatest Difference
between between one In what Temperature. In what Temperature the Greatest Week and and Least.
Weekly Sum.
In what temperature.
Sum.
1872.
Difference
Greatest
Least
179
the nest.
Degrees Fahrenheit. 44 to 48
s.
3.6 1.5 3.6 - 2.7
4-
+ +
-13.1
-18.5 0.8
-
1
-10
4 4
4.0
5.5 - 9 2 -11 2 - 1.0
48 61 64 67
+10 .8 - 8.1 - 2.4
-27 -26.8 -12.5
-12.8
+13
8
- 5.8
+14.0
+
9.7
+ 13 +19.0
+18
do. to 52
+
+12
-H 6.1
50 to 55
+ 0.1 +33 4 + 65 + 7.6
7.0 - 6.2 - 5.0 +3 5
'
s.
Degrees 44 51 50
Fahrenheit-.
79 70 57 70 55
10.6 7.4 9.3 11.1 11.7
2 8 5.1
4 6
95 to 67
48 67 50 44 52
52
12.7 13 2 9.8 11 3 15.0
4.3 4.3
79 to 91 48 to 54 50 to 81
4.5
95 to 67
12.5 15.7 8.8 13 3 10.0
5 9
54 50 51 95 50
51 64 82 50 54
+
s.
to to to to 50 to to
to 74 to 55 to 48 to 70
54 to 61 49 to 54
3
+20.8
44 to 48 82 to 95f 47 to 54 66 to 79 82 to 95f
Fahrenheit.
51 to 61 68 to 79 51 to 60
6 5
- 2.4
to Slf to 95 to 74
do. do.
+10.5
67 52 49 53 51
to 55
14.2 9.4 20.8 21.8
to 63
160
to 60 to 70 to 95f
to to to to to
4.6 4.6
6 2 5 9
4 4
3.1 5.9 7.8 5 9
8.4 4.8 5.8 10.1
12 9
74 57 59 60 60
19:6 16.5
to 48 to 63 to 81 do.
do.
to to to to to
89 81 63 67 81
83 to 49 95 to 67 61 to 82 95 to 67 do.
12.1 9.1
do. do.
10 8
54 to 89 95 to 67
16 3 20.5
11.1 9 6
do.
47 to 54 44 to 48 46 to 51 48 to 52 65 to 83
+ 46
64' to 70
17 3
11.2
+10.2 +16.1 +13.9 +31.0
66 64 51 48
to to to to
79 70 60 52
19.7 27.1 23.5 21.5
11 3 8 9 9
15.7
95 to 67 47 to 55 50 to 81
-22.4 -21.2 -36.9 -10.8 -12.8
52 to 57 56 to88f 66 to 79
+ 8.0 + 48 + 39
to 48 to 57
61to81f
+13.5 +12.5
44 52 47 44 53
30 4 26.0 40.8 24 3 25.3
12.4 15.7 8.5 17.4 18.0
50 95 50 95
+13.1
44 to 48
48.9
- 1.3
do. do. 51 to 60 64 to 70
66 to 79 82 to 95 f
67 to 74 48 to 52 82 to 95f
36.9 28.7 28.5
6.4 15.0 12.7 20.5 25.5
-12.7 - 9.5
-11.0 - 9.6 + 9.5
-
8.4 - 1.4
82 to 95
- 8.7 -10.0
9
+
do.
-10.0
2
8.9
412
80 to 95+ 48 to 8l{ 67 to 74 49 to 61 44 to 48
4-
Degrees 66 64 52 64
s.
414
4
do. 80 to 91 50 to 55 44 to 48
82 to 95 {
- 1.4
-10.9
-21.5 The sign
+ indicates that the rate
+62 +30.6 +35 5 +17.8
+ is
7.0
to 54 to 48 to 6Q
31 9
50 to 81 do.
82 81 67 81 to 67
61 to to to to
.do.
54 to 89 do.
83 to 49 95 to 67
gaining.
chamber of a stove heated by jets of gas. The gas flames are none of the injurious products of combustion can enter. The ratings commenced January 13th, and ended August 3d, so that the duration of the trials was 29 weeks. t
During^ these weeks the chronometers were placed in the
exterior to
the chamber, into which
Poole's auxiliary being of this nature. iliaries
acting only in heat.
the action of the auxiliary
3. is
2.
Aux- commercial purposes,
Those in which
continuous in
all
justified in saying
It
may be
mere
taken as an example.
would appear, from the
all
was
steel,
and
for the reason that the
cost of construction of these balances is
but entire exclu- considerably enhanced, and the extremely ac-
sion of the ordinary balance from this competition, that it
we would be almost
ably on the principle that race horses only are
temperatures, and of which class Prof. Hart- shod with
nup's balance
that
they are never so used, prob-
falling into disuse, which,
how-
curate adjustment of the improvements so cult as to render
it
diffi-
unprofitable as a regular
with these trials matter of business. All this weighs as nothing well-known fact, that the various im- in the severe struggle for supremacy at the provements mentioned are so rarely seen in Greenwich Observatory, for, so that the conthose chronomoters made and sold purely for testant stand sufficiently high on the list to ever, is true only in connection
;
for it is a
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
180
that his chronometer will be deemed worthy of purchase, and he thereby be author-
insure
ized thenceforth to advertise himself "
Maker
A few years
"
ago I tested some chronome-
in which the balances were opened at two points 90° from the end of the arm, and four ters,
the Admiralty," no exercise of his subtlest weights used instead of two, and the tendency experimenting, no to lose at the two extremes was certainly much ingenuity, no laborious to
execution
no ex-
less than in some balances opened in the ordinary way which I tried with them." This was probably the balance invented and allowed to stand in the way of a laudable desire for the attainment of the highest honors patented by the late Mr. John Bliss, father of
painstaking pense,
in
any
nor
of
honorable
details,
consideration
is
bestowed on his
craft. the gentlemen constituting the present house of Every year we notice many chronometers Messrs. John Bliss & Co., who have continued
in the list that are so decidedly poor that the
wonder
is
the owners ever submitted
public test
that the
them
to
to use this balance until the present time, on a account of the advantage alluded to. Their
and
;
it not unfrequently happens records of trials of large numbers of chronomeof some illustrious maker, often ters with balances of the usual pattern, con-
name
occupying a high position in the scale of merit, is
sometimes found where
gained.
Perhaps
little
credit is to be
this is only illustrative of the
trasted with
having
this
similar records of chronometers
form of balance, show a decided
superiority in favor of the latter, and, of course,
very considerable element of uncertainty that a confirmation of Prof. Hartnup's enters into the problem of accurate measure-
"
A faithful
tests.
record has been kept of the per-
ment of time but, whether of chance or rea- formance of all timekeepers which have passed sons that might be avoided, it seems to so dis- through our hands from the day that the Obtribute the honors that many bear them in servatory was opened to the present time, and equal degree, and ail are encouraged in an abstracts of results have, from time to time, honorable strife. been published. These abstracts have, howWhile upon this subject it will be pertinent ever, always related to the performance of chroto examine some of the causes of failure in nometers on shore no account has been given chronometers arising from imperfect compensa- of their errors at the terminations of voyages tion for different temperatures, and for this of different lengths. The delay in giving such purpose we have selected extracts from some information has been caused by the difficulty in of the annual reports of Prof. John Hartnup, of obtaining a sufficient number of examples to ;
;
the Liverpool Observatory,
who has probably
allow conclusions of a trustworthy nature to
given more attention to this particular branch be drawn from them.
When
ships'
chronome-
ters are sent to the Observatory, it is, of course, of inquiry than any other person. " The improvement of the ordinary chrono- optional on the part of the Captain as to wheth-
meter balance has occupied the attention of er he furnishes us with the error and rate supchronometer makers so much during the past plied to him at the last port from which he twenty years, that any information which has a tendency to show
its
of improvements,
will,
and the
I think, be interesting
to
chronometers with the ordinary
that
balance, if compensated for 50°
on exposure
efficiency
It has for a long time past been
your readers.
known
defects,
to
20° or 110°, lose
and
80°, will,
much more
in
either of the latter, than in the former temperatures.
The
so large that
loss in
such extremes
is
generally
no refined means of testing are
required to detect
it.
ses of navigation
we
Por the are,
practical purpo-
however, more imme-
diately interested in the efficiency of the bal-
ance for those temperatures to which ships are generally exposed at sea."
*
*
*
*
sailed,
and
in a large proportion of cases this
information has not been available to us in all cases in
which
it
;
could be obtained
but
we
and we have now on record the error in longitude by chronometer for between one and two thousand voyages, ranging in time from a few weeks to twelve months and upwards. " In order to render the information thus obtained available for comparison, we have taken averages at intervals of two or three months and then, by interpolation, the mean errors have been found for each month, from one to twelve inclusive. In the following table the first column shows the length of voyages in have tabulated the
results,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
181
months, the second column contains the average
umns show
error of longitude in minutes of arc, or in geo-
second best ten, third best ten,
the average error of the best ten, etc.,
in one
hun-
mean
error
graphical miles on the equator, as deduced dred, the last column showing the i
from 1,700 chronometers; the remaining
col-
Error of Longitude in Geographical Miles on
!
of the worst ten in one hundred.
the
Equator, Deduced from 1700 Chronometers.
Average
Length
error
The
Second
Third
Fourth
deduced
best 10
best
best
best
from
of
10
Sixth
Seventh
Eighth
Ninth
The
best
best
best
best
10in 100.
worst 10
in
in
100.
100.
Miles. 9
Miles.
10
10
10
10
in
in
in
in
100.
100.
100.
in 100.
in
100.
100.
in 100.
Miles
Miles.
Miles. 1 4
Miles. 3
Miles.
4
Miles. 5
7
9
11
12 17 22
15 22 29 37 46 55
28 39 50 62
1700 Chrono-
voyage.
Fifth best
10
10
meters.
Miles. 6
4 6
7
14 23 33 44 56 69 82 95 108 122 136
mon ths months months.
.... ...
10 months.
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 1 1
2 2
8
10 12 14 16 18
3 3
4 4
5
[Our readers will better uuderstand
"
this table if
6
Miles. 2 5 9
8
13
10 13 16 19 22 26 30
17 21 25 30 35
41 48
40 46
56 64
34
52
72
we mention
28 34
month
miles, but the error increases with time in ;
but 23 miles
for six
;
months
for three
increasing ratio
it is
;
an for
nine months, 95 miles, and for twelve months,
For the best
fifty in
the average error for one
month
136 miles. for twelve fifty in
month
months 36 miles
one hundred is 1
mile,
Table sliowing
and
Jan. 26 27 28 29 30 31
Means
10 miles, and for twelve months 236
The best
ten in one hundred, as will be
seen by the table, were errors ranging
from one
from
.
143 187 .233 280 328 376 425 474 524
equivalent to four seconds.
daily rates,
etc.
Ed.]
—Continued.
1.2
1.1 1.4 1.5
1 8
2.1 2.0
3.3
2.1
3 3
2 2
2 3
2.3
3.3 3.1
2.5 2.3
2 3
3 1
2 5
2.2
3.4
2.7
70 70 70 70 70 71
3.25
2.38
70
4.3
1.2 1.2 1.0
1.6
9
1.4
1.8 1.9 2.1 1.9 2.0
1.45
1.92
2.20
0.8
0.4
1 2
1.12
1 7
Feb. 2
3
4
miles.
tJie
is
61
84 108 134 159 184 208 233 258
while for the worst
;
one hundred, the average error for one is
98 111 124
25 62 101
24 41
6
is
not 18,
months, 56 miles
75 86 97
that an error of one mile
For the 1,700 chronometers employed, the
'average error for a voyage of one
74 86
7
15 25 36 49 64 80 98 117 137 157 178
18
65
Miles.
almost perfect, the
to 5 miles in
5 6
7
0.8 0.7 0.7 0.4 0.6 0.9
0.7 8
9
5
4 3
0.6 0.7 0.6 0.9
0.8 0.7 0.7 0.9
0.7 0.3
0.6
4.1 4.0 3.9 3.9
4.4 4.8 4.6 4.3 4.3 4.3
85 84 85 85 85
0.72
0.80
0.48
4.08
4.45
85
2.3 2.3
2 8
2.9
2.2 2 1
2.4
3
2.6 2.3 2.4
2 8
2.4 2.4
2.2 2.3 1.7 1.8
70 70 70
69 69
2.72
2.05
70
5
2 8
3 4 0.4
2 3 2 1
5
85
voyages of
twelve months, while for the worst Means ten in one hundred the errors range from 25 to Feb.
0.68
524 miles for voyages of the same length.
1.1
1.2
2 1
1 3
1 3
1.6 1.4 1.5 1.5
1.4
13 14
1.2
1.7 1.7 2.2 2.1 2.2
Means
1.40
1.32
2.00
2.38
3.4 3.3 3.5 3.3 3.6 3.6
0.7
2.3 2.6
55 55 55 55 56 56
3.45
0.43
2.43
55
to
Table showing the daily rates gaining of six chro-
nometers for five weeks ending Febauary 21.
9 10 11 12
1 6
12
71
£ No. 1.
No.
s.
s.
0.5
2.
No. 3.
s.
3.4
No.
4.
No.
T3 P.
6.
c E
s.
s.
s.
1.3 1.1 1.0 1.3 1.4 1.1
2 5
2.9 2.9 2.5 2.2 2.3
55 55 55 56 55 55
1.20
2.5 5
55
19 20 21 22 23 24
0.6 0.9 0.9 0.5 0.6
0.6 0.7 0.5 1.0 0.9 0.8
3.6 3.5 3 5 3.6
2.8 3 1 3.0 3.1 3.1 3.0
Means
0.67
0.75
3 52
3.02
3 5
No. 5.
•
Feb. 16 17 18 19 20 21
Means
6
4
0.8 0.7
0.9
3.6 3 9 3.9 3.6 3.4 3.9
0.82
0.63
3.72
6
1
0.9 0.9
0.4 8 7
3
2 5
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
182
" It appears that chronometers in the mer- tude which might result from the use of very chant service, when at sea, are generally exposed bad instruments, but rather that in what are to temperatures ranging from about 55° to 85° considered good and carefully regulated chro-
of Fahrenheit, and that for most practical pur- nometers errors may, with adequate
know
means
for
be detected, and tables of corrections the rate in the three definite temperatures 55°, supplied to the mariner." 70°, and 85°. The following examples, taken
poses
it is
shipmaster to
sufficient for the
testing,
from our records, will illustrate the method I have devised to supply this information. The temperature is changed 15° on Saturday mornProf. Tyndall's Lectures on Light*
No comparisons being made on Sundays,
ings.
Monday
the rate for
week
in each
the
is
mean FIRST LECTURE.
of two days. " Prom the preceding six examples, the
fol-
lowing results for the middle period of the
test
All men's notions of nature have some foundation in
are deduced
human
This
experience.
is
the broad
foundation on which intellectual structures Table showing
mean daily
tlie
rates gaining, in three
different temperatures.
mately
The
rest.
in nature
had
Mean
phenomena the savage saw
the transcript of his No.
tem-
No.
1.
No.
2.
No.
3.
4.
No. 5. No. 6.
In the fury and the
this basis.
serenity of natural
perature .
ulti-
notion of personal volition
own varying moods, and
he accordingly ascribed these phenomena
to be-
ings of like passions with himself, but vastly 55
70 85
s.
s.
s.
s
s.
p.
0.75 1.26 0.68
0.69 1 39 0.72
3.62 1.96 0.80
3.24 2.29 0.48
0.82 2 99 4.08
2.49 2.22 4.45
him
transcending
Thus the notion
in power.
—the assumption that natural things did not come of themselves, but had unseen antecedents—lay the root of even the savage's of causality
at
Table showing the weekly increase of gaining-rate de-
duced from
and
the first
the
last weeks of the test.
human mind
phenomena, No.
No.
1.
No.
2.
No.
0.05
0.03
0.04
3.
No.
4.
No.
5.
0.19
0.11
6.
-0.03
Out of
interpretation of nature.
The
to
this bias of
seek for the antecedents of
all science
has sprung.
were those of observation, when the matter of thought was provided by man's environment, and he had no notion of The apparent motion of creating it himself. first
sciences
sun and stars first drew towards them the be seen by questionings of the intellect, and accordingly asthe following three examples, in which the test tronomy was the first science developed. Slow"
The
efficiency of the
was repeated four times Table showing the
mean
method
will
in succession
:
ly,
and with
daily rates, gaining, of three
chronometers tested in three different temperatures four
its
seeding being
the actual observation of electric and magnetic attractions.
times in succession.
the notion of natural
difficulty,
took root in the mind,
forces
Slowly, and with difficulty, the
sci-
ence of mechanics had to grow out of this noNo.
Middle period of
o
test.
55
No.
1.
o 70
o
85
No.
2.
o
O
55 70
85
55
tion
70
;
and slowly
at last
tion of
s. .
January February
7
4
.
s.
2.4 2.2 2 5 2.3 2 6 2.6 2.8 2.5
s.
1.1 1.3 1.5 1.4
s.
0.7 1.4 1.7 1.7
s.
s.
1 6 1.5
2.2 2.0 2.4 2.3 2.5 2.3
s.
1.5 1.8 1.9 1.9
s.
full applica-
mechanical principles to the motions of
85
the heavenly bodies.
November 12 December 10.
came the
3.
o
O
s.
1.4 0.8 1.6 10 1.7 1.2 1.6 1
We
trace the progress of
astronomy through Hipparchus and Ptolemy; and, after a long halt, through Copernicus, while from the Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Kepler ;
high table-land
of thought raised by these
mighty men, Newton shoots upward like a domThe preceding examples have not been se- inant peak overlooking all others from his lected to show the large errors in a ship's longi- stupendous elevation. "
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. name, we call an electric current, passes same time through the wire.
PRIMARY IDEAS OF LIGHT.
But other
objects than the motion of the stars
ancient world.
attention of the
attracted the
18E
at the
Cutting the thick wire in two, I unite the severed ends by a thin one.
Light was a familiar phenemenon, and from white heat. the earliest times we find men's minds busy question is
Whence comes
It glows with a
that heat
?
The
well worthy of an answer. Suppose,
with the attempt to render some account of it. in the first instance, when the thick wire was But without experiment, which belongs to a la- employed, that we had permitted the action to ter stage of scientific
could be
made on
development, no progress continue until 100 grains of zinc were consum-
The
this subject.
ancients,
accordingly, were far less successful in dealing
with light than in dealing with solar and motions.
Still
they did
make
a
stellar
progress.
little
amount of heat generated in the battery would be capable of accurate numerical expresed, the
sion.
Let the action now continue with
this thin
wire glowing until 100 grains of zinc are con-
themselves that light moved in sumed. Would the amount of heat generated in they knew also that these lines the battery be the same as before ? No, it would or rays of light were reflected from polished be less by the precise amount generated in the surfaces, and that the angle of incidence was wire outside the battery. In fact, by adding the These two reequal to the angle of reflection. internal heat to the external, we obtain for the sults of ancient scientific curiosity constitute combustion of 100 grains of zinc a total which the starting point of our present course of lecnever varies. By this arrangement, then, we are
They
satisfied
straight lines
;
tures.
burn our zinc at one place, and to exhibit and light of its combustion at a disperimental illustration but in the first place it tant place. In New York, for example, we may be useful to say a few words regarding the have our grate and fuel but the heat and light source of light to be employed in our experi- of our fire may be made to appear at San Franments. The rusting of iron is, to all intents cisco. We have here an illustration of the conand purposes, the slow burning of iron. It de- stant law that in physical nature we have invelops heat, and if the heat be preserved a high cessant substitution, but never creation. able to
Both of these are capable of the
easiest ex-
the heat
;
;
temperature
may
The deI now remove the thin wire and attach to was proba- the severed ends of the thick one two thin rods
be thus attained.
struction of the first Atlantic cable
bly due to heat developed in this way.
metals are
Other of coke.
more combustible than
still
iron.
On
bringing the rods together
Now
tain a small star of light.
we
ob-
the light to be
You may
light strips of zinc in a candle flame, employed in our lectures is a simple exaggeraand cause them to burn almost like strips of tion of this star. Instead of being produced by But beside combustion in the air, we 10 cells, it is produced by 50. Placed in a suitpaper. may also have combustion in a liquid. "Water, able camera, provided with a suitable lens, this for example, contains stores of oxygen, which light will give us all the beams necessary for may unite Avith, and thus consume a metal im- our experiments. mersed in it. It is from this kind of combusDEFECTS OF THE EYE. tion that we are to derive the heat and light employed in the present course. And here, in passing, let me refer to the com-
Their generation merits a moment's attention.
Before you
voltaic
battery—
a strain
is
set
'an
instrument
—a
small
mon man
delusion that the works of nature, the hu-
eye included,
are
theoretically
perfect.
The degree of perfection of any organ is deterMatters are so arranged that mined by what it has to do. Looking at the up between the metal and the dazzling light from our large battery you see a in
suitable liquid.
is
which
zinc is
immersed
in a
oxygen, actual union, however, being avoided. globe of light, but entirely
fail to
see the shape
Uniting the two ends of the battery by a thick of the coke-points whence the light issues. The wire,
the
attraction
is
satisfied,
unites with the metal, the zinc
and tion.
the is
power, which, for
is
now
illustrated
:
On
the screen
projected an image of the
combus- carbon points, the whole of the lens in front of want of a better the camera being employed to form the image.
heat, as usual, is the result of the
A
oxygen cause may be thus
consumed, before you
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
184
It
not sharp,
is
which
but surrounded by a halo mere inspection of the two angles inclosed This is due to an between the index and the two beams shows it.
nearly obliterates
The same simple apparatus
imperfection of the lens, called spherical aber- their equality. ration,
due
to the fact that the circumferential
and central rays have not the same
focus.
The importance, namely,
human eye labors under a similar defect, and when you looked at the naked light from 50 cells
the blur of light upon the retina
was
suffi-
destroy the definition of the retinal
cient to
en-
ables us to illustrate a law of great practical that
the angular velocity of a is
when a mirror rotates, beam reflected from it
twice that of the reflecting mirror.
Eor more than 1,000 years no step was taken The in optics beyond this law of reflection.
image of the carbons. A long list of indict- men of the Middle Ages, in fact, occupied themments might indeed be brought against the eye selves on the one hand in trying to develop the its opacity, its want of symmetry, its lack of laws of the universe out of their own consciousachromatism, its absolute blindness in part. All ness, while on the other hand they were so octhese taken together caused an eminent Ger- cupied with the concerns of a future world that man philosopher to say that if any optician they looked with a lofty scorn on all things As regards the refracsent him an instrument so full of defects he pertaining to this only. would send it back to him with the severest tion of light, the course of real inquiry was recensure. But the eye is not to be judged from sumed in 1100 by an Arabian philosopher Then it was taken up in sucthe stand-point of theory. As a practical named Alhazen. instrument, and taking the adjustment by cession by Roger Bacon, Vitellio, and Kepler. which its defects are neutralized into account, One of the most important occupations of sciit must ever remain a marvel to the reflecting ence is the determination by precise measuremind. ments of the quantitative relations of phenomAnd now we are ready for work. The recti- ena. The value of such measurements delineal propagation of light may be beautifully pends upon the skill and absolute conscientiousVitellio illustrated by making a small hole in a window- ness of the man who makes them. shutter before which stands a house or tree, or was such a man, while Kepler's habit was to animal, and placing within the darkened room a rummage through the observations of his prewhite screen at some distance from the orifice. decessors, look at them in all lights, and thus Every straight ray proceeding from the object distill from them the principle which united stamps its color upon the screen, and the sum them. He had done this with the astronomical of all the rays forms an image of the object. measurements of Tycho Brahe, and had exBut as the rays cross each other at the orifice tracted from them the celebrated "laws of the image is inverted. An image of the car- Kepler." But in the case of refraction he was bon points produced by a pinhole in tinfoil will not successful. The principle, though a simple be employed to illustrate this point of rectilineal one, escaped him. It was first discovered by
—
propagation.
Willebord Snell, about the year 1621. Less with the view of dwelling upon the phe-
SLOW PROGRESS OF
OPTICS.
The law that the angle of incidence the angle of reflection ple
way
:
A straight
is
nomena itself, than of introducing is
illustrated in this sim-
lath
is
theoretic thought in
glass
and
A beam of light is received upon the reflected
back along the
to
Newton's mind, I
placed as an index you the fact of refraction.
perpendicular to a small looking-glass capable of and the turbidity of a liquid rotation.
it
you in a
equal to form which will render intelligible the play of
line of its
to account.
glass
face,
A
The dust
will
show
of the air
may here be
turned
shallow circular vessel with a
half
filled
with water, rendered
Though the incident and the re- barely turbid by the precipitation of a little flected beams pass in opposite directions, they mastic, is placed upon its edge with its glass do not jostle or displace each other. The index face vertical. Through a slit in the hoop suris now turned, the mirror turns along with it, rounding the vessel, a beam of light is admitted.
incidence.
and at each side of the index the incident and It impinges upon the water, enters it and tracks beams are seen tracking them- itself through the liquid in a sharp, bright selves through the dust of the room. The band. Meanwhile the beam passes unseen
the reflected
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. through the
air
A puff of to-
above the water.
185
who went
served for Newton,
to
work
in this
bacco smoke into this space at once reveals the way. track of the incident beam. vertical, the
its
refraction
water
is
If the incidence
beam is unrefracted. of the common surface
be
rendered clearly
visible.
Through the
room and allowed a thin sunand beam to pass through it. The beam stamped also a round image of the sun on the opposite white
If oblique, of air It is
he pierced an
closed window- shutter of a
orifice,
In the path of
seen that reflection accompanies refraction, the wall of the room.
beam
dividing itself at the point of incidence
into a refracted
and a
Newton placed a
beam
this
prism, expecting to
see the
beam reflected, but also expecting to see the image of the sun, after refraction, round. To
reflected portion.
DISCOVERIES OF SNELL AND DESCARTES.
his astonishment it was drawn out to an image whose length was five times its breadth and the angle of refraction, by proving that the sine this image was divided into bands of different Newton saw immediately that this of the one divided by the sine of the other is colors. absolutely constant for the same medium, what- image was due to the fact that some constituever the obliquity of the incident ray may be. ents of the solar light were more deflected by The lines answering to these " sines " will be the prism than others, and he concluded, therepointed out in the lecture. The constant quo- fore, that white solar light was a mixture of tient here referred to is called the index of re- lights of different colors and of different de-
Snell connected the angle of incidence with
The discovery
fraction.
is
one of the corner grees of refrangibility.
The elongated image here
stones of optical science.
Quickly following Snell' s discovery, application of
it
of the rainbow.
;
the
is
by Descartes to the explanation The bow is seen when the
ed the spectrum. into seven parts
Newton
referred to
is call-
divided the spectrum
— orange, yellow, green, — which are commonly red,
blue, indigo, violet
call-
back is turned toward the sun. Draw a straight ed the seven primary or prismatic colors. line through the spectator's eye and the sun, newton's double method op proof. the bow is always seen at the same angular distance from this line. This was the great This was the first analysis of solar light by difficulty. Why should the bow be always and Newton but the scientific mind is fond of at all parts 41° distant from this line ? Taking verification, and never neglects it where it is a pen and calculating the track of every ray possible. It is this stern conscientiousness on ;
through a rain-drop, Descartes found that at the part of those who pursue it that gives adone particular angle the rays emerged from the amantine strength to science, and renders all drop almost parallel to each other, being thus assaults on it unavailing. Newton completed enabled to preserve their intensity through long his proof by synthesis. For instance, he reatmospheric distance at all other angles the fracted the colors back, reblended them, and ;
rays quitted the drop divergent, and through thus reproduced the white light out of which this divergence
The
eye.
became
practically lost to the
particular angle here referred to
was
they came.
In the
the foregoing angle of 41°, which observation ton's
had proved
to
be invariably that of the rain- with
bow.
But
in the
we
made
phenomenon of
color.
And
arrive at one of those points in the his-
when men's thoughts and
;
it is
afterward
which yield larger than those s' en by Newton.
rainbow a new phenomenon was synthesis of white light
—the
tory of science
Newton's experiment in New-
is
instruments
richer effects
introduced
here
lecture,
own form
ferent ways.
Firstly,
is
made and The
effected in three dif-
the colors of the spec-
trum are squeezed together and blended by a
labors cylindrical lens, white light being the result of
secondly, an image of the carDes- bon points, whence the light issues, is built up thirdly, in cartes was at the threshold of the discovery of from the colors of the spectrum the composition of solar light. But he failed to virtue of the persistence of luminous impres-
so
intermingle that
it is
difficult to
assign to their mixture
;
each worker his precise meed of honor.
;
attain perfect clearness,
and it
is
did not enunciate the true law.
certain that
he sions upon the
retina, the prismatic colors
This was re- be mixed together in the eye
itself,
may
the impres-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
'186
The draw-
sion of whiteness being the result.
the absorption of all the constituents of solar
Pass a red ribbon through the specIn the red light the ribbon is a vivid "Why ? Because the light that enters the ness renders necessary a brief reference to an red. error of Newton's. He supposed that refrac- ribbon is not quenched or absorbed, but sent ing out of the white light into a spectrum called dispersion.
And
is
light.
here historic complete- trum.
and dispersion went hand in hand, and back to the eye. Place the same ribbon in the you abolished the one you at the same green or blue of the spectrum it is black as jet. He maintained this It absorbs the green and blue light, and leaves time abolished the other. opinion to the end of his life, and thus retarded the space on which they fall a space of intense tion
that if
;
Dolland, however, darkness. Place a green ribbon in the green the progress of Discovery. proved that by combining two different kinds of of the spectrum. It shines vividly with its glass the colors could be extinguished, still proper color transfer it to the red, it is black ;
leaving a residue of refraction, and he employed as
Here it absorbs all the light that falls this residue in the construction of achromatic upon it, and offers mere darkness to the eye. lenses lenses which yield no color which When white light is employed, the red sifts it Newton thought an impossibility. This point by quenching the green, and the green sifts it both exhibiting the is illustrated in the lecture by combining a by quenching the red, the color is residual color. Thus the process through which prism of water and one of glass
—
jet.
—
;
destroyed, but not the refraction.
The
natural bodies acquire their colors
is
a negative
and dispersion of bisulphide one. These colors are caused by subtraction, of carbon are compared with those of water, in not by addition The action of various liquids order to explain why the first mentioned liquid and solids upon the spectrum is also illustrated is used when our object is to obtain spectra of some cutting off the one end, others cutting off great extent and richness of color. the other end, and some selecting for absorption refraction
the middle of the spectrum.
PHENOMENA DUE
TO
WHITE LIGHT.
Having unravelled the interwoven ents of white light,
what part the
we have next
to
COMPLEMENTARY COLORS AND ABSORPTION.
constitu-
inquire
constitution so revealed enables
These experiments prepare us for the considwhich error has
eration of a point regarding
To it we owe all found currency for ages. You will find it stated agent to play in nature. phenomena of color and yet not to it alone, in books that blue and yellow fights mixed tofor there must be a certain relationship be- gether produce green. They do not. Blue and tween the ultimate particles of natural bodies yellow are complementary colors, and produce and light to enable them to extract from it the white by their mixture. The mixture of blue luxuries of color. But the function of natural and yellow pigments undoubtedly produces this
the
;
is here selective, not creative. There is green, but the mixture of pigments is totally no color generated by any natural body in any different from the mixture of lights. Helmkind of form. Natural bodies have showered holtz has revealed the cause of the green in the
bodies
upon them,
sum
in the white light of the sun, the
and their acand appropriating from the total the colors which really belong to them, and rejecting those which do not. It will fix this subject in your minds if I say that it is the portion of light which they reject, and not that which belongs to them, that gives total of all possible
colors,
tion is limited to the sifting
bodies their colors.
case of the pigments.
A blue liquid
No
natural color
is
pure.
or a blue powder permits not only
the blue to pass through
adjacent green.
A
it,
but a portion of the
yellow powder
is
trans-
parent not only to the yellow light, but also in Now, part transparent to the adjacent green. blue and yellow are mixed together the blue cuts off the yellow, the orange, and the red the yellow, on the other hand, cuts off the
when ;
Let us begin our experimental inquiries here violet, the indigo, and the blue. Green is the by asking what is the meaning of blackness ? only color to which both are transparent, and Pass a black ribbon in succession through the the consequence is that when white light colors of the is
the
spectrum
;
it
quenches
meaning of blackness —it
is
all.
This
falls
upon a mixture of yellow and blue powgreen alone is sent back to the eye.
the result of ders, the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. The explanation
of the mixture of pigments
187
Friction.
be subjected to the test of experiment and in a subsequent lecture the mixture of colored Ed. Horological Journal,: This subject has been so ineffectually treated, lights will be employed to prove that blue and will
;
yellow,
by
and
This and yet so effectually worn, as to leave the ques-
their blending, produce white.
question of absorption difficult in
is
one of the most subtle tion
We
molecular physics.
yet in a condition to grapple
with
it,
still
so open, unsettled
are not that I feel impelled to add
but
we
hesitation,
and
unsatisfactory,
my mite,
after
much
with the hope that some pen more
able than mine would anticipate me. by and by. I proMeanwhile we may probably glance back on pose to treat on some important points touching the web of relations which these experiments this question, which have hitherto been entirely We have, in the first place, in so- ignored or overlooked by your numerous correveal to us. lar light an agent of exeeeding complexity, com- respondents, and to present the subject, probashall be
posed of innumerable constituents refrangible
We
in different degrees.
secondly,
find,
bly, to
many
of your readers, in an entirely
new
the light.
First, then, I will assume that the subject, on atoms and molecules of bodies gifted with the power of sifting solar light in the most various the basis of the staff pivots and holes, has been ways, and producing, by this sifting, the colors fully treated and experimented upon, if not to observed in nature and art. To do this they the satisfaction of the craft, yet sufficient to satmust possess a molecular structure commensu- isfy the experimenters that they have failed to
rate in complexity
we have
Thirdly,
with that of light
the
human
itself.
end
attain their
;
that the friction
eye and brain so that the loss of motion
organized as to be able to take in and distin-
is
is still
there
the same.
Next, I propose to show how, with the usual
pivots and jewel holes, properly made is light at starting complex the Thus fitted, and polished, a superior motion (shaped), ated. to sift and select it as they do natural bodies, can be given to the balance with scarcely any must be complex. Finally, to take in the im- perceptible variation in change of position. But pressions thus generated, the human eye and to do this requires particular attention to cerbrain must be highly complex. If we were tain points named below. permitted to inquire into the intention of NaIt is surprising how few watchmakers of the ture, we might well ask whence this triple com- present day fully understand the principles of If what are called material purposes the lever escapement. If asked the question, plexity ? were the sole end of Nature, a much simpler " Do you understand the principles of the lever mechanism would be sufficient. But instead of escapement ? " the reply is " Oh, yes " But
guish the multitude of impressions thus gener-
staff
!
simplicity
—instead
of principle of parsimony
—we have prodigality of relation tion,
and
tbis
and adapta- be
lost in
dors of color.
Would
harbored the
intention
other enjoyments
it
of
educating
They
nine out of ten will
will tell
you that such
so, but why whether right or wrong, they and the "Master" is responsible.
us for
tell,
I will
now proceed
to give
a few general
di-
than those derivable from rections for putting a watch "in order," taking, At all events, whatever Na- for example, an English lever, the same re-
—
—
marks applying the fusee.
give
others
of
these lectures,
to time, as space will permit.]
to the
American
lever,
minus
I not unfrequently find a main-
spring several grades too strong (evidently put the watch a motion), and when I have put the watch in order, have had to subin to give
stitute a
spring of proper strength, else subject
the watch to too
much
motion, resulting in un-
and wear of the parts. In examining a watch for repairs, I begin with the staff, and thence down but it is immaterial where due
true.
shall
a fog.
it,
this is thus, or
not se9m that Nature cannot
meat and drink ? and it would be mere presumption ture meant we find to dogmatize as to what she meant ourselves here, as the issue and upshot of her operations, endowed with capacities to enjoy not only the materially useful, but endowed with others of indefinite scope and application, which deal alone with the beautiful and the
from time
to explain
apparently for the sole purpose and such pieces must be so and
of enabling us to see things robed in the splen-
[We
when asked
friction
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
188
one begins, so that
the necessary repairs are
all
ascertained, as far as possible, before taking
because that evils
is
when not width
right
friction,
by
*
which
is
*
" If a wheel drives a pinion
*
whose teeth are less it will happen the power, and the root of many- that a tooth of the wheel acting on a lever or
down
the watch
etc."
;
I begin with the
correct.
and
main
spring,
It should be
of the
thickness.
If
wide,
too
small, or
too
distant than those of the wheel,
tooth too short, the pinion will turn with less force, etc."
Thus, as will be observed, isoch-
too close contact with barrel cover ronism is destroyed, the parts
and bottom,
results
consequently,
;
loss
of wear, and the watch
power. If too narrow, and of sufficient strength keeper.
and length, the barrel will be too full, and may not allow turns enough for the scope of the fusee, causing irregularity of power, and also of time, by the spring not being properly guided by its barrel. I will mention that many watchmakers seem to think it unnecessary to
Bad
is
depthing,
come
to
undue
valueless as a time-
which
is
sometimes
occasioned by the holes or pivots wearing out of true, causes similar results.
The source of one of the most
fruitful evils
as regards friction, which requires the greatest
and accuracy of adjustment, and which is more frequently overlooked or misunderstood, clean a main-spring or the inside of a barrel, is the escapement. Eirst. The end and side and are seldom guilty of taking off a barrel shake of the escape wheel and pallet arbor The main-spring should be just sufficient for freedom of action, cover unless compelled to. should be as clean and as free from friction as because the parts, being smaller, are more any other part of the movement. See that the susceptible to the slightest deviation from barrel is not spread by the breaking of the truth. Second. See that the pallets are " in main-spring
chain or
;
if
so,
it
should be angle," that
is,
that the slide of the tooth
is
and equal on the detent surface of each pallet, and This is too often the case just deep enough to make a good lock. If too the barrel trued. -with English watches, the barrels being too deep, with the bankings properly adjusted, the result, undue friction and light. roller is too large The universal lathe is a very useful tool, but loss of motion. If too shallow, with the guard it is too often misused by many who ought to pin against the roller, the roller is too small; know better, by turning out the plates for result, imperfect locking of scape wheel tooth freeing the barrel, fusee, etc., when the right on pallet, and the watch stops by reason of the way for truing up and correcting side shakes, tooth reaching the impulse face of the pallet etc., is generally quite as easy and much more and forcing the guard pin against the roller. For the "modus operandi," I Third. See that the guard pin is upright and satisfactory. will refer the reader to the eminently practical free from the corners of the crescent of the articles, published in your Journal, from the roller at each vibration also, that the roller is pen of our friend and brother, James Fricker, round, or true in periphery otherwise, the of Americus, Ga., and suggest a careful perusal. result will be the same as when the roller is To insure freedom from all undue friction, and too large or too small. Fourth. The ruby pin consequently loss of power, all the pinions and must be just large enough to work free in the arbors should be mathematically upright ; and slot of the fork, and be firm in the roller. Supposing all the above parts to have been the end and side shakes correct.
restored,
and the cover turned true
care
to
fit,
;
;
;
Bad
" pitching "
is
another source of trouble. properly adjusted, as also the balance
staff,
we
which come to the hairspring, one of the most vital is too large, or (which is the same) whose points to be considered in a machine for proThe hairspring should be leaves or teeth are more distant from one ducing perfect time. another than those of the wheel, the force as true as possible, both in the flat and the communicated by the wheel will in part be round, so that at any and all stages of the videstroyed by the leaves of the pinion which brations of the balance the coils may be nearly butt against the wheel teeth and this force, so equidistant from each other, and bearing Reid says
:
"If a wheel
drives a pinion
;
destroyed, will require that a greater motive equally on either regulator pin at each vibraforce be used to
which
keep up the motion
;
from
will result friction, wearing, variations,
tion.
Too much importance cannot be attached
to this part of the
watch.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
189
I have thus alluded in brief to what I con- ing whether the stop-piece works
more fruitful causes of friction, causing loss of power and poor motion in watches, without going into detail as to how the remedy is to be applied, leaving that to the skill and good sense of my brother workmen. I am glad to see such skilful and practical articles on this subject as those from the pen of Mr. James Fricker, which deserve special attention from the craft and if his directions are followed, sider the
;
when running down,
also that
rel,
the key of course remaining on the fusee
square with the hand, holding back a
S. S.
Barnaby.
Much way, for
all is
may be
put in their places when
ready for the balance.
time and trouble it is
down
after
may
be saved in this
quite often that a watch has to be
it
again, and these adjustments has performed badly, and the
owner been dissatisfied. In a full plate movement with going barrel, it is well to leave out
of the Little Details.
Ed. Horological Journal
so
it
taken
all
made A Few
little
run down quite slowly and not bring so much strain on the pivots of the train. After the chain has all run out, the three pins maybe taken 'out and the plate gently lifted, the lever put in its place with the tweezers, and as to let
the watch
Marion, Ala.
and
not run above or against the hook on the bar-
they will find themselves benefited as well as the pivots the watches-
all right,
the chain does
the lever at
:
first,
putting, the train pivots in
There is quite a common practice among their places, pressing the top plate down, and watchmakers, after taking down Swiss watches giving the barrel a little power, to see if the to
be put in order, to clean the balance with its and putting the hair-
bridge, oiling the hole
spring stud in
its
place, leaving
them together
train runs freely.
wrong one it
is
If there should be anything
quite likely to see
takes only a
moment
at once,
it
longer.
Besides,
and it
is
under the glass until all of the other pieces are quite necessary that the watch should be wound cleaned and the watch put together. I always a little before the lever is in, that the barrel take out the balance with its bridge and sepa- may run entirely around, and one can see rate them the first thing I do, and leave them whether it is true in its place and does not apart until the watch is all together ready for touch the centre wheel or its own bridge. the balance,
when
I clean the bridge
and put them
place,
It
very plain to
is
of the balance staff
ance
and
F. G. C.
bal-
^Boston, Mass.
hairspring stud in
ance, oil the hole, put the
in their places.
be seen that the top pivot
is
much
when
safer
the bal-
laying loosely on the bench or under
is
the glass, than
it is
when
resting in the
Oil
on Main-Springs.
hole
Ed Horological Journal I notice in a late number anything should hap-
jewel of the bridge with the other end free and
:
.
of the Journal that bend the one of your correspondents, J. P. W., of Bradford, Ont., has had some trouble with the other pivot. The same result would be obtained under the breaking of main-springs, and charges it to My attention was called in the glass, if the glass should happen to get shoved Kelley's oil. some few years ago on account direction same sideways against the balance. These risks are trouble with the breaking the same having of unnecessary, and I consider it quite important
ready
to act as
pen to
to
hit
run as
it,
a lever if
and thus break
little
or
off'
risk with the balance
and
staff of springs that J. P.
as possible, for these parts are very sensitive,
and the
slightest
bending of a balance pivot
will
invariably spoil the watch for good time.
When
putting a fusee watch together
well to leave the lever out at plate
down and pinning
the chain and wind all
first,
in place
up on the
;
it is
W.
seems
pulling the breaking of the main-springs.
then put on has been that the fusee, observ-
to
have had,
and I paid particular attention to the oil, as well as to some other causes, and which I made mention of in an article to the Scientific American, of November 19th, 1870, on the
of
many
oil is
My
experience
undoubtedly the cause
breakages, but not one
oil
any more
AMEBICAN HOROLOGICAL JOUENAL.
190
The New Lathe. Doubtless, many of the trade than another. have taken in a watch to be cleaned, and on examination found nothing more wanting Ed. Hoeological Joubxal :
We
then taken down, and every part are very much obliged to you for the carefully cleaned, excepting the main-spring, privilege of answering the numerous inquiries which seems to be clean, but would need a we are having about our lathes and for descrip-
the watch
is
and thinking
little oil,
We
not necessary to take tive catalogues. have no circular out yet, now the but will give a brief description of some points
it
the spring out it>is oiled in the barrel
watch
carefully put
is
;
and
together
to
set
on the lathes which were not given in the
running, but probably in a few days, or per- Jottbxal
haps in a few hours, the workman finds the spring
broken.
is
Now what caused may be
It
oil?
it
to
Was
break?
taken out, cleaned, oiled and put back, but I find ;
the reverse, especially if
also, fixtures, etc. ;
not the be furnished with No. 1 lathe
it
was would
said that if the spring
not be so liable to break
;
The No. 2 lathe has a screw tail stock also an index of 120 holes on the cone. They can fixtures,
if desired.
such as universal heads,
slide,
All
jewel-
ling and swing rests, grinding fixtures, extra be head and tail stocks, wheel and pinion, cutting you have no other fixtures, etc., are furnished separately from the it
it
to
back but those generally lathes. They are all planed to standards, and The head and tail stocks, I merely give this as my experience on are interchangeable. used. spring, as it might be charged to a new universal heads, jewelling and swing rests, are an old one as being of too high and uneven temper, planed, so as to " line " perfectly. This obwhich is sometimes the case, especially with viates the necessity of sending the lathes to us
means of placing
it
of springs. Again, I always to be fitted every time there is an extra fixture had noticed after oiling a spring and winding it needed, and also the inconvenience (in a great up to the last turn or two, when the coils pressed many cases) of purchasing a lathe and its fixcloser together, that I could feel a gritty sliding tures at the same time. This I did not pay of the coils on each other. The lower slide of the slide rest is at right the low grade
much
my new
attention to until I constructed
winder, by which I
main-spring
angles with the lathe bed, and the circular base is graduated into 360°.
discovered of the upper slide
was caused by the oiL not so This slide, which has upon it the tool or cutter watch oil, and not carrier, can be set at any angle without changmuch with sewing machine oil, and not ing the position of the lower or cross slide. By
this gritty sliding
much
with clock oil as with
near so at
all
perceptible without either
hold that the watch or clock
and thereby cause
therefore I having the cross slide arranged in this
way
it
watch forms a very firm base for the rest. Lathe increase friction, beds can be made longer than the regular sizes No doubt many if desired. For lengths, see advertisement.
concerned, will
springs are
;
so far as
oil,
fracture.
of the trade will think this idea erroneous, but There before drawing their conclusions let
them
in-
is
a counter shaft with each lathe, and
the lathes are
all nickel-plated.
I have
Those ordering lathes, and wishing their adopted the following plan, viz., never to oil an chucks any particular sizes, should state disThe measurements old spring in the barrel, and when it's absolutely tinctly what they need. necessary to take it out, I handle it as little as m :y be given by the French metric measure,
vestigate the
matter for themselves.
and before placing
possible,
a rag saturated with clock the
back,
it
oil it
with United States standard measure, or by Stubb's to wire gauge. An additional price will be charged
and then run
oil,
centre and back a clean piece of tissue
paper, free frOm dust, which leaves no
enough
keep
to
snugly on I treat a
off
moisture
my winder and new one
place
;
it
oil
but
I then coil
the same, and the result
satisfactory.
M. D. Kellt. Cadiz, Ky.
it
in the barrel. is
for
hardened chucks.
The step chucks can be graduated by having a number of chucks, and having the steps in say five steps all the chucks the same length multiply the number of steps in in a chuck one chuck by the number of chucks desired, and there will be as many different sizes. The more chucks there are the finer will be the
—
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. graduations.
Extra chucks can be furnished
if
wish
to reverse it in the
191
wax, and then finish up
the other end, with the proper distance between
desired.
The grinding
fixture has a
swing similar
to
the shoulders.
Before chucking the second time,
and has a traverse spindle measure the distance from shoulder to shoulder which carries the laps, and near the front bear- of the old -pinion, which we will assume to be ing is a small pillar with a screw for adjusting 14° of the Swiss gauge; now measure upon the the swing. The rest is held in the same half-formed new one, the distance from the manner as the T rest, and can be set at any finished shoulder to the extreme of the unthe jewelling rest,
which will be perhaps 22.5° set measurements down, that no mistake may 18 Harvard Place, Boston, Mass. be made through treachery of the memory now chuck the new pinion, and proceed to finish up the pivot by measurement from the outer exposed extreme end from the shoulder within Answers to Correspondents. the wax to this outer end you know to be 22.5°, The square cut at the length required between shoulders is 14°, J. P. S., Atalanta, Ga. the top of the p. d. t., etc., are produced by a which, deducted from the extreme length, leaves separate cut, the point of the graver being set 7.5°, as the distance from the outer end to the in just sufficient to square the top of the cut shoulder, which distance is easily measured by nicely. your gauge. The amount to be cut away from K. 0., Maryland. To make the heads of the leaves to form the seat for the web of the long screws flat, you need a good screw head wheel can be found by inspection, or by meastool which any tool dealer will sell you. The urement from the shoulder just found and polishing disk, which is a part of it, has two formed. By working thus to actual measureor three segments of metal for grinding and ment, you have the positive assurance that when "While the screw is completed it will fit at once, thus saving all the polishing the head flat. revolved by one hand, the polishing (or grind- time unnecessarily lost by the cut and try ing) disk is oscillated, or "wig- waged" back method of working, and saving yourself the and forth by the other, so that the abrading anxiety which is an inevitable attendant upon material shall not grind circles upon the screw uncertainties. head. Upon your lathe it is impossible to proSome pains have been taken Gk T., Illinois. duce a perfectly flat head without some appli- to answer in full the questions you ask, but you ance by which a flat surface can be oscillated must be patient a little longer. The manufacacross the head in a place that remains constant ture of watch hands is mostly carried on abroad at right angles to the axis of the screw. still there is quite a business in the manufacM. B. F., Virginia. If you had given the ture for American watches in this country one subject a little thought, you would not have concern using about half a ton of steel wire for encountered the difficulty you mention. It is that purpose in one year. The American hands easy enough to get measurements when one are all steel, socket and all, the holes through part of a pinion is " buried out of reach in the them being drilled at the rate of 18 per minute cement on the lathe." To illustrate, which will in a machine which works automatically. Extreme cold, of be the easiest way to explain Suppose you J. D. S., Oregon, Mo. wish to put a new centre pinion in a detached itself, will not stop your regulator except lever the pinions, as bought, are not finished through the influence it exerts in changing cannot be because the length between shoulders the condition of the oil. You say that you is not known, consequently both ends must be have oiled it with Kelley's oil, which is first finished up to order. First, chuck the pinion in class, and you also state that it has not frozen From these two cirthe lathe, with the end exposed which is to be in the room this winter. pivoted, and the lever faced to a finish, which cumstances we would judge that the extreme may be done by measurement from the old one, cold weather outside has nothing whatever to which you are supposed to have. After that is do with your regulator stopping. There must be done, the trouble you experienced begins you somethina: defective about it which would cause angle.
finished end,
Ballou, Whitcomb &
Co.,
;
these
;
—
—
—
;
—
;
—
:
;
—
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
192
to stop in
it
any kind of weather.
dulum spring not twisted a
Is the pen-
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
and does the the pendulum free, but little,
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
back fork or guide fit without shake, and is it perfectly square ? If any of these points be defective the regulator will be very liable to stop but if they be in good order, the cause of the clock stopping must either lie in the escapement or in the
For March, 1873. Sidereal
Time
;
Day
Day
of
of the Semi-
diameter Mon. Passing the
of the
Week.
train.
—We consider that the S.
Baroness Burdett Coutts' prize essays on the
from those which have been
None
failure.
of the
.
it
ought
to
2
3 4
.
5 6 7 8 9
".
manner we They write as
be treated.
Friday Saturday.
.
Sunday
Monday they were only addressing their brethren in Tuesday
who
Clerkenwell,
are
10 11
Wednesday.
employed
springing Thursday. instead of the Friday
and chronometers, watchmakers of the whole world, There reality they are addressing. watches
12
13 14 15
.
Saturday...
whom
in Sunday
16 17 18 19 20
....
Monday a great Tuesday. .. Wednesday. lack of completeness in these essays, and a Thursday. .
is
.
.
.
want of clearness in some of the language Friday Saturday employed but it is to be hoped that those two Sunday Monday. essays which have been awarded the prize will Tuesday. .. Wednesday be more clear and comprehensive. Thursday. The obscure passages in the essay you speak Friday. Saturday of evidently refer to coiling up the spare pieces Sunday .
21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
.
;
. .
.
.
at the ends of the spring so that they will be out Monday.
of the way, and the pins which you mention are doubtless intended
by the writer
to
be placed in
K.
Gh, Missouri.
.
.
Mean time
of the Semidiameter passing
tracting Os.18.
from the
The Semidiameter
the rim of the balance.
—Certainly
65.40 65.33 65.26 65.19 65.13 65.07 65.01 64.95 64.90 64.85 64.80 64.76 64 72 64.68 64 65 64.62 64.59 64.56 64.54 64.52 64.50 64.49 64.48 64.47 64.46 64.46 64.46 64.46 64.47 64.48 64.49
1
.
Sunday Monday... Tuesday published, a parWednesday. writers treat the Thursday
subject in the broad comprehensive
consider
Saturday.
we can judge
balance spring are, so far as
if
Diff.
for
One Hour.
Meridian.
E. N., Goshen, Conn.
tial
Equation of to be added to Apparent Time.
Time
for
may
M. S. 12 30 20 12 17.96 12 5.20 11 51 96 11 38.27 11 24.14 11 9.56 10 54 59 10 39.23 10 23.52 10 7.46 9 51.09 9 34.43 9 17 50 9 0.32 8 42.90 8 25.32 8 7.56 7 49.64 7 31.59 7 13.43 6 55.19 6 36.89 6 18 53
S.
0.499 0.521 0.541 0.560 0.579 0.597 0.615 0.631 0.647 0.662 0.676 0.689 0.701 711 0.721 0.730 0.738 0.744 0.750 0.754 0.758 0.762 764 766 0.767 767 0.766 765 0.764 0.761 0.758
6 0.13 5 41.72 5 23.32 5 4.94
4 46.60 4 28.30 4 10 07
be found by sub-
sidereal time.
the same as
mean noon may be assumed
that for apparent noon
it
would be de-
PHASES OF THE MOON. D.
sirable to dispense with a counter-shaft to the
bench lathe, if the same results could be produced without it, for the money it costs, and the space it occupies, could then be used for
Full
H. M.
5 13 25.0
First Quarter
Moon
13 17 44.7
Last Quarter
21 10 19.9
New Moon
28
54.6
other purposes.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL,
10 20.
(
Apogee
C
Perigee
26 10.6 o
/
"
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
42 22 48.1
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
4 44 29 05
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
G. B.
MILLER.
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communications should be addressed, G. B.
MILLER,
P. O.
Box
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NewYork.
H. M.
S.
o
,
:
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6.09... .- 20 30
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MERID. PASSAGE. H. M.
3
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9.9
21 23.5
AMERICAN
Horological Journal. NEW YOKE, MAECH,
Vol. IV.
CONTEXTS. Essay ox Watchmakers' Regulators,
.
.
19-3
Prize Essay on the Balance Spring, by
Moritz Immisch,
198
Facing Pinions,
214
1873.
No.
9.
In former years the efforts of several eminent clockmakers were directed towards constructing an escapement, or making the Graham one in such a manner that it would not only maintain the vibration of the pendulum, but would also
swing in a cycloidal curve, with the its long and short vibrations to 21G be performed in the same length of time but
Answers to Correspondents
215
Equation op Time Table,
cause
it
to
idea of causing
;
been found to be altogether impracticable. If any one will be at the trouble to draw a cycloidal curve, and a true circle of in practice this has
OS
the
WATCHMAKERS' REGULATORS, WITH PRACTICAL DETAILS FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION.
same
radius, they will observe that for sev-
eral degrees
J.
N. SMITH.
CHAPTER
II.
THE escapement.
differ-
it
;
must be admitted that the escapement of is a most vital part of its construction, yet its importance is in some instances verymuch overrated and its true functions are either It
a regulator
imperfectly understood, or they are altogether
by many who seek to improve There is no special property that can be imparted to any form of escapement which will of itself produce good time-keeping, any more than any special arrangement of the wheel-work can create power. Badly arranged wheel- work will destroy power, but the best arranged train it is possible to construct will not create more power than the weight or the spring puts into it. In like manner, a badly constructed lost
little
and the true circle. On page 117 of the second volume of the Journal there are two curved lines, one a true circle, the other a cycloid. These lines were made with the greatest amount of care, and every precaution was used to make them as perfect as possible yet for a considerable distance there is no visible difference between them. In reality there is a difference, but for three or four degrees it is so small that the variation cannot be detected From this we can imagine how by the eye. extremely difficult and how uncertain it would be to correct so small an error by any mechanence between
BY HENRY
on each side of the centre of the
cycloidal curve there is but very
sight of
escapements.
ical contrivance.
The chances
are greatly in
favor of larger errors being produced than those
supposed to be corrected, and
attempts to
all
cause a pendulum to describe a cycloid through the agency of the escapement are
doned
;
although attempts are
still
now abanmade to ob-
through the agency of the penwhich will be noticed when we
tain this object
dulum
spring,
reach that part of our subject. escapement will be sure to produce irregular The only duties the escapement has to pertime, but the most accurate escapement will form is simply to transmit a uniform force at not impart any better time-keeping qualities regular intervals sufficient to maintain the vito the regulator than the accuracy of the con- brations of the pendulum, and at the same time struction of the is
pendulum
the pendulum, and the
which we must rely
will
admit
of.
It present as
few mechanical obstacles
pendulum alone, vibration as possible. upon as a means of meas- capements require a
uring time accurately.
to its free
As different forms different
the wheel-work, perhaps
it
of es-
arrangement of
would be advisable,
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
tu
make a few remarks on
the the pallet, C, will act in the same manner as the and examine tooth and pallet on the opposite side of the into the accuracy with which the various forms wheel is described as having done. Were it not recommended for regulators perform the duties for the friction caused by the pallets rubbing on the teeth during the entire arc of the vibrarequired of them. tions of the pendulum, this would be a most GRAHAM ESCArEMENT. perfect escapement, because the pendulum reFigure 5 represents the action of the well- ceives its impulse on its downward course as it known Graham, or dead-beat, escapement. The approaches the perpendicular line, which is the pendulum, A, has passed the perpendicular line point mathematicians demonstrate as the best and ascended about one degree on its upward point in the whole arc of its vibration where a pendulum can receive its impulse. But, howat this
stage, to
subject of escapements in general,
may
ever perfect in theory this escapement in practice
it is
avoidable friction consequent on
make
to
its
;
matters worse, this friction
ble to vary as the clock oil
be,
by the unaction and
considerably, affected
becomes
is
very
dirty,
on the pivots gets thick or dries up.
lia-
or the
If the
from any of the above causes press with a varying force on the pallets, the pendulum will meet with a greater or less resistance by the pallets rubbing on the scapeteeth of the scape-wheel
teeth, and the impulse given to the pendulum by the teeth pressing against the incline
wheel
plane of the pallets will also vary in a like proportion from the
same
Such are the
case.
practical difficulties connected with
of the
Graham
the action
escapement. EEMOXTOIRS.
To obviate
the above-mentioned
difficulties,
innumerable plans have been .proposed, and many have been put into practice with a greater or less degree of success.
arrangements
may be
All the different
classed under two heads,
namely, gravity escapements and remontoirs, It is, perhaps, unnecessary to go into the various details of remontoirs at the
or rewinders.
by no means improve the regular performance of The scape- wheel tooth, B f has been watchmakers' regulators, which is the subject course. but it may not be out of place the pallet, C, and the tooth, D, of this essay from released on the opposite side of the wheel, has dropped to mention that the general principle of all represent time, because they are
likely to
;
on the
pallet,
E, and will slide up the circular montoirs
part of the pallet, E,
reached the end of
till
the
its vibration.
pendulum returns, the
is
pendulum has small weight
When
tooth will slide
to
use a very weak spring, or a
to give
motion
to the scape-wheel,
the while the large weight of the clock
backward simply
to
wind up
this
weak
is
employed
spring or small
reaches the corner of the incline plane, weight at stated intervals, and sometimes electriand then the force of the scape- wheel pressing city has also been used for this purpose. A reon the incline plane will give the necessary montoirmay be used in a clock with a Graham amount of impulse to the pendulum, and send escapement, or it may be used in conjunction it in the direction of E, when the tooth, G, and with other forms of escapements, and the errors
till it
AMEKICAtf HOfiOLOGlCAL JOTJKNAL.
195
which it seeks to correct are those incident to illustrate the point in view. The pendulum, A, the uniform transmission of the force from the has ascended from the perpendicular line to the weight to the scape-wheel. If this could be ac- extremity of its arc, and has carried the arm, B, complished without creating greater errors, or along with
adding materially
to
the
complexity
it.
And
the action of the scape-
of the wheel has raised the gravity arm, C, from the
stop, D. The pendulum will now return and clock, a very important point would be gained but from practical observation, and so far as I continue its course till it has reached the limit of have had opportunities of learning, I do not its arc of vibration, carrying the gravity arm, know a single instance of a clock or a modern C, along with it, and leaving the gravity arm,
chronometer whose rate has been improved by B, resting on the
stop,
E
;
but the action of the
and as they add scape-wheel will again immediately raise the considerably to the complexity of the clock, and arm, B, a short distance from the stop, E, and show no improved practical results in return, I the force thus gained by the scape-wheel raisconsider it unnecessary to add more on the sub- ing the gravity arms is the force which maintains the vibrations of the pendulum. ject at present. the action of a remontoir
;
GRAVITY ESCAPEMENTS.
Some reader may ask why force
this
can impart a
necessary to maintain the motion of the
Fig. 6 is intended to represent the method by pendulum. We will suppose that the gravity which the vibrations of a pendulum are main- arms are raised by the united action of the pentained by the action of gravity escapements, dulum and the scape-wheel, say two degrees; the scape-wheel raises them, say one degree, and the pendulum raises them the other degree when it has reached a point near to the extrem-
mity of
its
arc of vibration.
pendulum
raises
maintaining
its
the arms
vibration, but,
they have a tendency to stop ever, the force
The is
distance the
of no value in
on the contrary,
its
How-
motion.
that has been gained
by the
arms one degree, impower necessary to maintain the vibration of the pendulum, because the arms have pressed on the pendulum for two degrees on its downward course, while the pendulum scape- wheel raising the
parts the
has pressed against the gravity arm for only one degree on its upward course, and consequently a force equal in value
to
the gravity arms
one degree has been obtained. The important point gained by the use of
falling
gravity escapements
always imparted
is,
that a constant force
to the
pendulum, and
it
is is
placed beyond the influence of the effects of or a changed condition of the oil produces on the force of the train, because the scapewheel does not act so directly on the pendulum as it does in escapements of the Graham class. dirt,
The scape-wheel simply raises the gravity arms, and if they are always raised the same distance they Will always impart the same quantity of There is, however, one escapements which escapement presents to tho free vibrations of serious drawback Graham. As has already the in exist not a pendulum. The scape-wheel is omitted in the does of this chapbeginning in the oned ment been diagram, because its presence is unnecessary to
and
it
also illustrates the opposition this
form of force
to the
pendulum.
to gravity
:
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
196
Graham escapement
gives the impulse Fig. 8 presents a simple and ingenious near to the perpen- method of giving the impulse to the pendulum, dicular line, while the resistance it meets with through the agency of falling balls. It is the as it ascends on its upward course is always ordinary Graham- escapement, with the pallets ter,
the
to the
pendulum when
it is
the same, because the scape- wheel teeth rest on inverted, and a bar placed across their centre
a
circle.
Gravity escapements do not give the
when near to the perwhen the pendulum ascends
impulse to the pendulum pendicular line, and
on
its
bob
is
upward
course,
and the momentum of the
expended, and the force with which the
pendulum moves grows weaker, the resistance the gravity arms present to the free vibration of the pendulum becomes greater in a like proportion.
For proof of
this statement, let the reader
refer again to Figure 6. is
placed in the
same
If the gravity arm, B,
position as
it is
in the dia-
would not exert the same force falling a given distance as it would do falling the same gram,
it
distance
dotted
when
line,
placed in the position of the
F, and the force would be propor-
tionably greater if the gravity distance
when
in
arm
fell
the same
the position of the line G.
This illustration will be sufficient
to explain
that the force of the gravity arm, B, increases as
it
is
moved
in the direction of the line G,
and that the pendulum meets with a greater resistance from the gravity arms as it ascends
of motion, as
is
from the ends of
shown this
suspended by a piece of the top
in the diagram,
and
bar two small balls are fine silken thread.
end of the pendulum rod there
On is
another bar fastened parallel with the one on the pallets,
and the
force of these weights fall-
ing on the points of the screws at the end of this
bar gives the necessary impulse
pendulum
precisely in the
to
same manner
the
as in
towards the end of the arc of its vibration. If a gravity escapement. It is, however, liable a ball be placed at G, and the effective to be affected in a way ordinary gravity esweight of the gravity arm be transferred to capements are not subject to. The slightest that point, as
is
shown
not be so great, and
it
in Fig. will
7, this
error will tremor of the clock
be diminished
farther if the balls be placed at
still
balls to vibrate,
an angle of 45 pulse
degrees above the line G, in Fig.
G.
still
is
causes the small gravity
and when
this
happens the im-
not given so regular as
this difficulty
may
is
in a great
necessary
measure be
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. overcome by placing the clock on a
solid foun-
the
a
dation.
same
arc of vibration for a longer time than
Graham one
judice existing
COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF GBAHAM AND
The accuracy with which the Graham and gravity escapements perform the duties requir-
may be summed up
Graham escapement imparts pulse to the
pendulum near
as follows.
will do.
There
is
a strong pre-
among some watch and
clock-
makers that gravity escapements are liable to trip, and so they are if made by people who
GBAVTTY ESCAPEMENTS.
ed of them
197
don't understand them.
ment
is
The spring
subject to the
A chronometer escapesame
the necessary im- against gravity escapements to that part of its
fault if the detent
not properly made.
is
prejudice, for
when
properly
is
This prejudice nothing but a
made they
are as
vibration which mathematicians demonstrate to safe against tripping as any other, as will be
be the best place a pendulum can receive impulse,
and the
resistance
which
its
shown
in a future chapter.
this escape-
G3AVITY ESCAPEMENTS IN CHEAP CLOCKS.
ment presents to the free vibrations of the pendulum is simply the friction of the scape-
Of late years there has been considerable wheel sliding on the circular part of the pal- talk among the clockmakers of London on the lets however, this resistance is liable to vary subject of constructing a cheap class of astroaccording as the pressure of the teeth of the nomical clocks with gravity escapements but, ;
;
scape-wheel varies, and the effective force of with the impulse
is
also liable to
cause.
due deference to the opinions of the vary from the same brethren in London, I consider a gravity escapement in a,, cheap clock is neither necessary
In gravity escapements a
slight variation in
all
nor desirable.
It is generally supposed that a
on the gravity escapement admits of the use of a pendulum, because the pendulum receives its rougher train of wheels and pinions, but there impulse independent of the scape-wheel. The must be a certain amount of accuracy in the resistance gravity escapements present to the wheel work, else the gravity arms will not be free vibrations of the pendulum increases as the raised at the proper instant, more particularly pendulum approaches the extremity of its arc if the scape- wheel has but few teeth, and of vibration, and is in some respects similar to moves a long distance at each vibration of the the resistance an ordinary recoiling escapement pendulum. A train fit for this purpose is sufpresents to the vibrations of a pendulum, where- ficiently accurate for the purpose of a cheap as the resistance ought to become gradually clock when the Graham escapement is used. less as the pendulum reaches that point. There may, however, be people who think difIn situations where clocks cannot be fastened ferently, and therefore in the course of this esthe force of the scape- wheel
in
is
not
felt
Graham escapement is say I will give plain practical instructions reperform the duties required of it the garding the construction of a regulator with a because any tremor in the suspension of gravity, as well as one with the Graham es-
a firm manner, the
likely to best,
the
pendulum
change
its
sufficient to
cause
it
to slightly
capement.
arc of vibration only produces a
ON THE LENGTH OF THE PENDULUM.
greater or less degree of friction of the teeth on
the circular part of the pallets, and the resist-
ance the pendulum meets with in
its oscillations
It has
make
been the almost universal practice
to
the pendulums of regulators the length
only varies in a slight degree. The same necessary to make one vibration in a second, change in the arc of the vibration of the pendu- and the long continued practice of making them lum with a gravity escapement causes it to meet this length has given rise to an idea that there with a greater or less degree of resistance from is some peculiar time-keeping quality in penduthe gravity arms, for it has already been point- lums of this length, but this is a mistaken noed out that the force of these arms varies accord- tion. pendulum slightly longer or slightly
A
ing to the angle which they are moving
when
in.
shorter would be equally effective in regulating
the clock is placed on a solid foun- the motion of a regulator, but it would not a properly constructed gravity escape- divide time into exact seconds. It is because a ment will maintain the motion of a pendulum in pendulum about 39.2 inches long vibrates once Still,
dation,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
198
in a second that this length
and
it is
was
this reason alone that
first
PRIZE ESSAY
adopted,
has caused
it
to Off
continue to be the standard pendulum since.
The
Charles Erodsham, of London, ex-
late
THE BALANCE SPRING AND ITS ISOCHRONAL ADJUSTMENTS.
pressed his opinion to an American Professor of
(BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS'S PRIZE.)
Astronomy a few years ago, that it would be make the pendulums of Astronomical
better to
clocks very
much
BY MORITZ IMMISCH.
shorter, so that the difficulties
them accurately would be the The Balance Spring has often been called the There is no doubt soul of portable time-measuring instruments, that a pendulum of the length and any one at all partial to figurative lan-
of compensating
more
overcome.
easily
about the fact
necessary to vibrate once in half a second guage, will
would be more
own
that
fully deserves the ap-
it
compensated than one of pellation, inasmuch as from its importance, delthe length necessary to make a vibration in one icacy, sensitiveness, and independence of action, second. There is also but little doubt of the it may well be likened to the predominating fact that a half-seconds pendulum would have mind, which, though it derives its sustenance sufficient dominion over the motion of such from the body, governs in its turn all the aceasily
Watchmakers are all the tions of the latter. more tempted to make a comparison of this tical benefits which would result from the use kind on account of the uncertainty under which of a half-seconds pendulum is as yet only a the majority of them labor with regard to its matter of conjecture, and for the present we properties and the laws which govern its ac.will adhere to the well-tried seconds pendulum, tions. and construct our proposed regulator accordOne can scarcely be surprised at the prevaila delicate machine as an Astronomical clock still,
is
so far as I can at present learn, the prac-
ing ignorance in this respect, as there
ingly.
[lO BE CONTINUED.]
little
tc^T" In view of the fact that at the present
no subject connected with horology in which there is felt such a universal intertime there
is
est as that of the isochronism of the balance
spring,
we do
not consider
it
necessary to apol-
ogize for devoting so large a portion of the
reliable information to
very
is
be found in books,
on watchmaking which could at all serve as a guide, and as a sound base for self-improvement.
The principal aim of watchmaking is measurement of time, and it must be
rect
cor-
con-
fessed that in this respect, judging from the
average performance of what are called
first-
ample room for impresent number of the Journal to the very able doubt that a proper is no There Essay of Mr. Moritz Immisch on that subject, provement. and correct adjustnature of the knowledge and knowing class watches,
that
it
Co.,
merits would be equally superflu-
The Essay
ous.
and
its
is published in book form, by Messrs. H. H. Heinrichs &
is for sale
8
&
is
will receive the careful
consideration of every reader, any especial allusion to
there
10 John Street, to
whom we
are in-
ment of the balance gard
utmost impor-
tance.
This manifests
we
very strikingly,
itself
see that frequently a
of inferior
debted for a copy.
spring, especially with re-
to isochronism, is of the
when
watch or chronometer
make and even
faulty construction
goes admirably, and with a regularity which in
In the next issue will be presented the promsome cases is perfectly astonishing while, on from Prof. Eggleston, on the Angles the other hand, the highest degree of perfecof Tools, and which we think will be of espeescapement, the most exquisite fin;
ised article
tion of the
cial interest to
The
every reader of the Journal.
constant
has made
its
demand
for the
reprint necessary,
first volume good performance if the balance spring and we take or imperfectly adjusted.
pleasure in announcing that in a short time will
be ready for delivery.
see advertising pages.
ish of the trainwork, is unavailing to produce faulty
It is to the introduction of the balance spring
it
For particulars
is
that its
watchmaking as an
very existence.
art
may be
said to
owe
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
199
There certainly was a kind of watch made priority of application, inasmuch as from docuits invention in which the vibration of ments still existing it appears that some of the balance was kept up by the recoil it met them had been in communication with the with in the escapement, the momentum of the same parties who had failed to come to terms balance being alternately destroyed and re- with Dr. Hooke, and it is more than probable before
newed
solely
tive force.
by the
direct operation of the
mo- that they suggested the idea
motion was no doubt extremely ingenious, but it is
to
their
French
This mode of obtaining a vibrating correspondent. Considering
time
and
circumstances,
the
evident that any of the unavoidable irreg- beautiful combination of balance and spring
which the available impelling force must be put solely to the credit of Dr. Hooke. is always subject, would tell Applied to the old verge escapement, the immensely upon the balance, modifying its difficulties in the way of good performance ularities to
of the fly-wheel
speed to such an extent as to
watches next
The
make
these were
to useless for practical purposes.
still
very great on account of the recoil
but as this could
now be
dispensed with as a
upon which these machines were means of bringing the balance after a first constructed, precluded the possibility of their impulse back into a proper position to receive being materially improved, and they would have the next, the idea of dead-beat escapements remained, what in fact they were then, objects suggested itself, and Hooke contrived one of curiosity rather than of utility. which, though it had still a slight recoil, conIt was reserved to the genius of the cele- tained the elements and was suggestive of brated Dr. Hooke, who in the middle of the the duplex escapement which was invented seventeenth century discovered the use of the some fifty years later by Dutertre, a French balance spring, to supply the wanting elements watchmaker. of perfectibility, and to raise watchmaking from In the course of time a good many of these its primitive state to the rank of a beautiful and escapements came into existence, but it was principles
not until the free detached escapements
beneficial science.
made
His keen intellect perceived at once the their appearance in the latter part of the immense advantage of giving to the balance eighteenth century, that the real properties an independent motion of its own, by means of of the balance spring could at all be tested which it was enabled to exercise a proper con- with any chance of arriving at some definite trol
and
over the irregularities of the motive force, conclusions. to neutralize their effects.
His
and
his
inquiries into the laws that govern their action, led
him
sic vis
to his celebrated
maxim, " ut
" (the force of a spring
that has made With a view to
his
correct time-keeper,
was not
tensio
as its tension),
of the acting parts of the escapements continuing throughout the whole of the vibration
made cile
it
a matter of great perplexity
to recon-
the results actually observed with Hooke's
for ever. " ut tensio sic vis," and as the theories founded problem of deter- on experiments with one escapement were at
name famous
solve the
mining the longitude
is
Before that time the greater or lesser friction
scientific
investigations of the nature of springs,
at sea
he applied
by means of a variance with the for a patent
;
it
with
another,
results of experiments
we cannot wonder
made
that
the
carried into effect, however, on account opinions concerning the spring were undecided
him and and sometimes contradictory. As an instance illustrative of the extreme some enterprising gentlemen of position, in in the way of properly understanddifficulties conjunction with whom the Doctor intended to work the patent at first, and he determined to ing the conditions under which the balance leave the matter dormant for a time. It soon spring acted, I may mention that in 1766, more of a serious disagreement between
than a hundred years after Hooke's invention, and " pendule watches were made by several watchmakers in' London Cumming, in his book "Improvements of soon afterwards. We find, too, that later on, Watchwork." describes a dead-beat escapeseveral French watchmakers were quarrelling ment, and in experimenting with it finds that transpired, however,
amongst themselves about the priority of the same invention, but this can only mean the
behavior in long and short vibrations was so different to what it was with other escape-
its
AMERICAN HOROLQGICAL JOURNAL.
200
Up
ments, that be comes to the conclusion " that
to the time of Arnold,
power were made
hitherto the effects of the maintaining
balance springs
in the flat spiral shape.
With him
have been mistaken for the natural tendency originated the cylindrical helical spring. The of the pendulum spring." ends of this spring are bent inwards, forming The detached escapements, as they were in- a curve, within the circular space of the coils vented and gradually improved, reduced the the greater or lesser abruptness of these curves ;
enemy to steady motion, to affects greatly the action of the spring in long The emancipation of the balance and short vibrations, and is therefore determinand spring from the influence of the maintain- able by the exigencies of each case. ing power permitted the conditions of their moSomewhat later the Breguet spring made its tion and their relation to each other to be con- appearance, deriving its appellation from its inThe body of this spring is flat, but the sidered as separate features by means of in- ventor. great
friction, that
a minimum.
;
friction in the escape-
outer coil is bent upwards with a gentle sweep ment became a known quantity with deter- at some distance from the flat part of the spring minable limits, •which could, by turning the it again forms a knee downwards, in order to acquired knowledge of the properties of the bring its length parallel to the plane of the ferences
ib,e
remaining
;
;
spring to a proper, account, be successfuly con- spring from there it is bent inwards, forming tended with; and what was before quite il- a curve gradually tending towards the centre, lusory—-the realization of the much-cherished similar to that formed by the ends of the heli;
idea of determining the longitude by
—became now more
means of
We
cal spring.
I have to mention another spring, which, on watchmakers of that; period exerting their ut- account of its form when seen sideways, is most skill to attain that end, the large reward called the spherical spring. It was invented connected with it no doubt acting as a power- by Houriet, a Swiss watchmaker. While in the
a watch
feasible.
see
cylindrical helical spring all the coils, except
ful stimulant to their energies.
The
spirit
of controversy being aroused, va- the curved ends, are of equal diameter, the di-
and sometimes contradictory theories ameters of all the coils of a spherical spring are were advanced in books and pamphlets. The different from one another, being largest in the principal aim still seemed to be the further middle and lessening towards the ends. rious
and
perfection of the escapement,
sad to think that so
much
it
The
makes one
incessant
specific
should have been thrown away without directly be gone furthering the end in view the case of
;
as, for instance, in
Mudge, who constructed a remon-
escapement so bold and original in conception as to find, simply considered in the toir
light of
an ingenious mechanical contrivance,
scarcely a parallel in the whole
history
of
watchmaking. This memorable period of competition was, notwithstanding the
advantages and disadvantages of
labor these different forms of springs will hereafter
frequent mistakes, pro-
into.
I may here mention that the cylindrical form has, with very few exceptions, been adopted by English makers for marine and pocket chronometers, and the high reputation of superiority the English chronometer enjoys, and always has enjoyed, speaks volumes in its favor. One of the principal advantages afforded by this form of spring consists in the facility with which it
permits those manipulations to be performed
ductive of results extremely salutary to the ad- which are necessary to enable the spring so to
vancement of horology as a science. Failures control the motion of the balance that the long of some artists served as examples not to be and short vibrations are performed in equal followed, marking a path to be avoided, and times. inducing others to look for success in other di-
The detent escapement being almost ively adopted for chronometers, as
exclus-
is
called isochronism.
spring
now
received
share of attention than heretofore.
to pro-
cure equal arcs of vibration for any length of
combining time
the least friction with the greatest simplicity,
the balance
This state of uniformity
We find that it is practically impossible
rections.
;
the gradual increase of friction on ac-
count of the thickening of the
oil will
soon
a greater make the vibrations fall off, and in the case of pocket watches, the motion imparted to the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
201
balance while being carried and the varying some experience in timing, knows that mere friction in different positions
cause a considera- length has absolutely nothing to do with iso-
ble fluctuation in the length of the arcs
;
and as, chronism, and any meet with this
given number of vibrations, whether long or making, short,
must be performed
evident that isochronism
in a given time,
is
it is
it
we
frequently
assertion in books
on watch-
if,
in order to obtain a steady rate of going,
nevertheless,
proves that
it
was simply copied
from other books, without having been tested
the most important by the writer.
Another very general idea is, that isochrongood deal has been said and written on ism is an inherent property of the balance isochronism, and where these writings have con- spring. This is also incorrect, and to assume
feature connected with balance springs.
A
fined themselves to the practical side of the
that,
because by means of the spring isochron-
question in promulgating the results of experi- ism can be arrived
the conditions constitut-
at,
ments, describing the manner of procedure, the ing isochronism must be looked for in the actually be ob- spring, is not quite but nearly as wrong as if have no doubt done a great deal of anybody was to assert that, because licorice good but all endeavors to create a sound com- cures cough, the conditions constituting cough prehensible basis for the various phenomena must be looked for in the licorice. exhibited by different springs have proved I have already mentioned the difficulties
means by which isochronism can tained, they ;
more or
Cumming, nearly 100 years
less unsatisfactory.
There are those who are not satisfied simply to know what is to be done to procure isochronism, but are desirous to learn upon what principles these manipulations are based, why a
ago> experienced
in accounting for the different performance of
springs
when in connection with different escape-
ments, and the very natural and sensible con-
clusion he came to and although escapements change of form should procure isochronism; of the present day are far superior to those of and why did it not exist before the change and that time, there still exists sufficient difference upon this important point it must be confessed between them to make it a matter quite out of that general knowledge is certainly deficient, question, for instance, that a balance and spring not only amongst watchmakers, properly so call- perfectly isochronous while attached to a chrono;
;
ed,
but also amongst a considerable portion of meter should retain this quality
those
who have made springing and timing
their
specialty.
tricate
and complex
way
Isochronism
is
to
a very in- merest chance,
topic in itself, but the diffi-
viz.,
if
when
attached
was by the the chronometer was
a lever escapement, unless
it
badly constructed and the lever escapement in
of mastering the subject have
a state of perfection, the difference being so which proportioned as to make the sum of friction in some writers have treated it. the one amount exactly to that in the other When an opinion assumes the form of an otherwise, and under ordinary circumstances, authoritative dictum, without being based upon, the balance spring perfectly isochronous in the and borne out by, unmistakable facts, it is very chronometer would be sure to perform the long
culties in the
certainly been increased
by the manner
in
apt to mislead the student, waste his energies, vibrations quicker than the short ones in the
and
to
discourage further investigations.
One of
these so-called principles
is
depended with
vailing idea that isochronism solely
upon a certain length of the spring short a spring
made
lever
;
watch
;
but
it
is
the pre- bring the balance and
not at
all
necessary to
spring in connection
different escapements
in order to prove
that too that the resistance in the escapement modifies
the small vibrations slower the isochronal conditions, as carefully conducted
than the long, and too long a one caused the experiments with one and the same escapement watch to lose in long vibrations. This is so far will show that every increase and decrease of from being correct, that sometimes in the case friction affects the motion of the balance in lor of a very long
flat spring,
greatest difficulty to
make
it is
a matter of the or short vibrations more or less sensibly.
the long vibrations
A
still greater factor in this respec* slow enough to arrive at isochronism, while a balance itself ; and before I consid'' shorter spring offers more scope for any mani- relation to isochronism, I think i* pulation tending to that end. Every one with make some general remarks
C
AMERICAN HOROLO&ICAL JOURNAL.
202
When
a balance without a spring
is
brought
state of velocity, that state itself is determined,
into connection with a chronometer escapement not only
and turned
in the direction of unlocking, the
escapement will cause
There
axis.
is first
of
it
all
taining to all bodies at rest irrelevant
its
the escape wheel
as
this
;
may seem
have applied themselves
and
train,
a certain amount of be overcome by the motive
overcome the inertia apper- of time. This loss this is a dead loss,
force required to
and
round
to revolve
by the sum of the various influences
already mentioned, but also by the inertia of
to the
to
many who
which has
force,
of no importance
is
first to
causing a loss
when
mo-
the
tion of the balance is slow, as the acting tooth
study of the of the escape wheel will then come in contact
laws of isochronism, there will also be those with the pallet as soon as the latter has fairly
who, by inference and actual observation, have entered the circle of the former, and the balfound that great importance attaches to this ance receives the full benefit of the impulse as point,
and that
it
bears directly upon the sub-
ject of isochronism, as will appear hereafter.
The impulse round
its
given,
balance
the
acted upon through the greatest possible
it is
arc
;
but as the velocity of the balance increases,
revolves the ^pallet will enter the circle of the escape
and
axis with a speed greater or less ac- wheel' quicker
cording to the greater or smaller proportion in
it
the propelling
and
be overcome
as the
power bears to the resistance to after a whole revolution it presents itself to another impulse, and arrives at this point with a velocity somewhat less than that with which it started, the loss arising from ;
will
have proceeded farther
before the sluggishness of the escape wheel
been overcome
train has
"drop"
;
influences,
and the unlocking of the escapement. impulse is added, which
air is
causes the second revolution to complete itself
when
much
quicker than the
first
;
greater
ables
now much less apparent, as momentum acquired by the balance is
overcome them
it to
much
coun-
and the motion remains
stationary.
here that in the resistance of the
a more important retarding agent than the motion
is
slower, as
it
increases in
the diminution of the ratio of the squares of the velocity.
speed caused by the retarding influences already
mentioned,
it is
terbalanced by the above-mentioned retarding
may be as well to mention To case of maximum speed, the
air,
in proportion
the impulse decreases, until at length
the friction of the pivots, the resistance of the It
this velocity another
and
increases, the effectiveness of
easier,
when
en- motion of a balance, remain in full force
and soon the
own
All these conditions determining the limits of
the the various influences acting upon the simple
this
balance
is
connected with a spring.
In the
number of these augmented by circumbetween the commencement and the end of stances originating with, and various properties each revolution. This is, however, under the appertaining to, the spring. presupposition that the balance is of some conWhen any external pressure is brought to siderable weight and diameter: different bear upon a spring, changing its form in any
balance acquires so
force of its
as to
case of a vibrating balance the
leave no perceptible trace of lessening of speed conditions
is
naturally
balances will behave very differently in this direction whatever, this change invariably im-
a more substantial one has a greater plies a shifting, a displacement of the relative and accumulating any position of the infinitely minute atoms composforce transmitted to it, and will Consequently ing it. exercise a greater controlling power over the The spring contracts on the side towards impediments in the way of uniform motion. which it is bent, compressing the particles of I In all cases, as impulse is added to impulse, the material into a smaller compass, and exrespect
;
.capacity for retaining
the velocity will go on increasing until a maxi-
pands on the other
mum
of the spring only retaining their relative posi-
is
reached, where the speed remains
stationary. it is
;
After what has already been said,
evident that a slighter balance, owing to
more yielding nature,
its
will arrive
point of uniformity sooner than tial
by
one
;
-a
at this
more substan-
but irrespective of the time required
different balances to arrive at this
maximum
tions. is
;
the particles in the centre
Within certain
only temporary
;
limits this displacement
the pressure ceasing to
the cohesive power of the particles causes to
act,
them
reoccupy their original relative positions ex-
actly, so that
form.
no trace
is left
of any change of
If these limits are overstepped, they will
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL
203
only partly reoccupy their former position, and so rapid that sometimes a few years' use will
a permanent change of form
It cause such a difference of elastic force as to ne-
effected.
is
stands to reason that the greater or less thick- cessitate the re-springing of the instrument.
A vibrating balance has many points in com-
ness of the spring greatly modifies these limits.
mon
with the pendulum of a clock. As a penextreme contraction and expansion of the par- dulum gradually increases its arc of oscillation ticles farthest from the centre will be less than till it has accumulated all the force the motive when a thick spring is bent to the same angle power can impart, and till it is counterbalIf a thin spring
is
bent to a certain angle, the
of inflection.
These
limits are also modified
of hardness possessed
by
anced by the force of gravity which also accuby the degree mulates, so do the vibrations of a balance in-
different springs
be-
;
crease
till its
momentum
acquired
is
counter-
ing smaller with softer and greater with harder balanced by the resistance which the tension of springs.
The
force with
turns to or towards
which the spring
having been forced out of elastic force.
it,
re-
the spring opposes to a further increase of gy-
Although the -force of gravity which pendulum to continue its oscillation
shape, after ration.
original
its
the free causes the
is called
This free elastic force
is in all
is
of uniform intensity throughout, while the
somewhat less than the force employed in force of the balance spring differs in all points its tension, or, what is the same thing, some- of the vibration, this dissimilarity does not prewhat less than the resistance which the spring vent the two respective motions from being cases
opposed
to the
bending
considered as identical in this respect, inas-
force.
The more the minute
corpuscles composing
much
as the
sum offorce
in a spring coincides
the spring have to be displaced, in order to with that which actuates the pendulum.
bend
it,
is
connected with a spring,
it
strikes us at once that the spring enters the list
Both pendulum and balance perform their resame time, whether
the greater this loss will appear.
If a balance
of those influences which are opposed to
the motion of the balance, and
it
spective vibrations in the
in
therefore, the velocities increase
with the angle
appears here of inflection, and the resisting are proportion-
as a very powerful factor, inasmuch as the ef- ate to the impelling forces. fect of
a single impulse, or the sum of a
number of
tain
both cases,
the arcs are large or small;
consecutive impulses,
cer-
expressed
let line
:
much momentum, and
is
A,
B
line B,
This
may
be thus
(Fig- 1) represent the
C
the force of gravity
If divide these lines into equal parts and draw there was no impulse power absorbed in bend- rectangular lines till the corresponding ones sooner absorbed with
ing and unbending,
if
it
than without
it!
the recoiling force of the meet
spring amounted exactly
employed for tension, a sprung balance would vibrate just as long as the same force would cause it to revolve round its axis, subject, however, to this qualification, that by the action of the spring the side pressure on the pivots is somewhat increased, which certainly assists to to
the
force
ture
;
if
we
we now
connect these points of junc-
obtain the straight line A, 0.
In the case of a balance the momentum is B (Fig. 2), but the resistance B, is uneven throughout, being weakest at the beginning and strongest at the end of the also uniform A,
vibration 1
we
;
by connecting the
get the curve A,
C
;
points as in Fig.
but as the force has
bring a vibrating balance sooner to a stand- been increasing with the resistance, the return but this influence of increased friction, of the balance to the point it started from must
still
;
it is in other respects, bears only now be expressed as in Fig. 3, the force being a small proportion to the loss occasioned by the greatest in the beginning and smallest at the
important as
change in the granular condition, which may end; proceeding as before, we get the curve be imagined as a kind of friction within the A, C, and as the distances from the straight spring slightly
itself.
This loss of force also varies line in both curves exactly correspond in all it is evident that after the completion of
with the degree of hardness, being points,
greater in softer, and smaller in harder springs. this part of the vibration the balance will ar-
The
force so lost to motion
seems
to
be active rive at the point it started from, with the same In velocity as if both the forces had been uniform
in destroying the elasticity of the spring.
very thick and soft springs this diminution
is
throughout.
AMEEICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOUENAL.
204
In making experiments with pendulums we would remain in this position as it is, there some auxiliary contrivance, will be a certain amount of force required to ;
find that, without
the long arcs are performed
when
double
the weight
all
bodies
motion
is
tanta-
is
same increase takes place double.
slower somewhat overcome the inertia appertaining to
This difference in the arcs
than the short.
double,
if the
It follows that they
is
and the mount
velocity is
originate
and are determined by, the weight and the veor what is the same thing, by the momentum of the pendulum. The vibrating of a pendulum may be imagined as a struggle between the momentum and the force of gravity at the end of each vibra;
the the
when the gravity succeeds in overcoming momentum there is a point of rest. If in same moment this point is reached, the
gravity should cease to
act,
the
lost to
we have seen above
to a loss of time, as
in the case of the escape
with, balance.
locity,
tion
This force so
at rest.
It
wheel and a rotating
naturally follows that this state
of rest will be prolonged by an increase
shortened by a diminution of weight. stands to reason that
and
It also
the case of equal
in
weights a greater velocity will put the force of gravity, tage,
which remains the same, to a disadvanstruggle will be prolonged, which
the
also causes a retardation.
nation of this
is to
The
the point of percussion in
pendulum does not
scientific expla-
be looked for in the
fact,
that
a swinging body
coincide with the point of gravity.
In assisting the force of gravity by applying be taken
into account. This resistance, as stated
a suspension spring, these irregularities can be above, increases in the ratio of the square of the
contended with
;
as
its
force is at its tension,
if
it
velocity,
and inasmuch
as
it assists
the force of
be greater at long than in short arcs and gravity to overcome the momentum, it has a it is of proper length and thickness, and its tendency of quickening the long vibrations. Ex-
will
;
force in proper proportion to the
pendulum, brations
time
;
it
to
will cause
weight of the periments will show that with a very light penvi- dulum presenting a very large friction surface
the long and short
complete themselves in the same to the
but, although by
air,
the long vibrations are performed
means of a suspension even quicker than the
may be
short
;
so that isochron-
by a proper proportion from being the sole agent in this respect, be- between the weight and the friction surface of cause if the weight is diminished the long vi- the pendulum however, no watchmaker would brations will gain on the short ones, and vice think of resorting to this means, as such a penversa ; and again, if the weight be the same dulum would require a much greater force to and the length diminished, the long will be be moved through the required arc. I simply spring, isochronism can
be obtained,
it
is far
ism
arrived at
;
so that when the mention this as a circumstance bearing on the number of vibrations subject, which must not be lost sight of in makare given, a certain weight will cause the vi- ing experiments. Care must also be taken brations to be equal if strength of spring and that the oscillations should continue in the same
slower than the short arcs
;
strength of spring and the
;
weight are given a certain length will be required plane
;
if
they are in the slightest degree
In making experiments with the point of rest pendulums the influence of the resisting air must unsatisfactory. for that purpose.
is
elliptic
not perfect, and the result
AMEKICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOUKNAL. The knowledge and proper
205
appreciation of very heavy, the centre of gyration
these influences in connection with the vibra-
the centre of the balance than
is
when
nearer to
it is light.
In a compensation balance its position would a pendulum will materially assist us in isochronism in much depend upon the thickness of the rim elements of the comprehending tions of
Here we must
balance and spring.
substitute
and the
size
We
and weight of the screws.
the extremities of the balance spring for the find that isochronism
is
differently affected
when
suspension spring of a pendulum, and the rela- the relative force of the spring is diminished by tive force of the balance spring for the force increasing the weight, to what it is when this
This relative force increases and
is effected to the same extent by an increase of and the the diameter. But as it is impossible to know any the exact position of the centre of gyration in squares of the' diameter of the balance change, therefore, in the dimensions of the bal- each balance, and owing to the consequent difance involves a change of this relative force, ficulty of knowing beforehand whether the adwhich stands here in the place of the force of dition of a screw, for instance, affects the disgravity acting on the pendulum, and which tance of this centre and the Weight alike, or one If there existed several forces of more than the other, any attempt to procure is uniform. gravity of different intensities which could be isochronism by this means must remain guessbrought to act on a pendulum, the latter would work more or less. The resistance of the air has upon a balance require a different isochronal adjustment for each of these. In the case of a more powerful a similar effect as upon a pendulum. This is force, causing quicker vibrations, the momen- much more apparent in a large and light baltum would be at a disadvantage, the suspension ance than in a small and heavy one, and it is spring would have to be weakened, or the partially owing to this cause that on the replacing weight increased. In a watch calculated for of brass screw's by others made of gold or plaquick vibrations, the balance is at a similar tinum the long vibrations generally become disadvantage, and experience proves that when slower. the vibrations are very quick, watchmakers By adding to or diminishing the weight of a have sometimes the greatest difficulty in mak- balance by means of screws of different shape, ing the large vibrations slow enough to counte- and using materials of different specific gravity, ract the effect of the escapement friction, which we can obtain isochronism at a good many
of gravity.
decreases
inversely with the weight
;
invariably tends to retard the short vibrations rates of going, the degrees of velocity them-
more than the experienced
The
long.
when
reverse
difficulty
is
the vibrations are excessively
selves being powerful factors in this respect.
The drawing out of duces an unequal
slow.
If the question should arise, tards small vibrations
why
friction re-
more than large
ones,
it
screws, for instance, pro-
effect
at
different
rates of
Experiments of this kind can easily be made with any good watch or chronometer. going.
For the sake of illustration I shall note down by eminent horologists and mechanicians, that the result of an experiment made with a lever the effects of friction, detrimental to the free watch having a Breguet spring, which was permotion of a moving body, are inversely propor- fectly adjusted at 18,000 vibrations in an hour. tionate to the squares of the time employed to I shall call the long vibrations V, and the short will find its solution in the fact,
ovorcome
demonstrated
ones
it.
There is no doubt that the disposition of weight and diameter of a balance has a certain influence on isochronism.
here
is
The diameter meant
not the apparent diameter of
circumference, but
is
its
v.
A pair of small screws added
V— 18
Another pair added
V— 1'7"
tf-18 v- 1
extreme
determined by the
dis-
Another pair substituted
of the balance.
This centre of gyration cor-
responds to the centre of gravity of the pendulunij
and
its
the balance.
position varies with the If, for
form of
instance, the cross-bar is
V — 10''
taken out
tance of the centre of gyration from the centre
5"
for a pair
»-l'0"
Two
very small screws taken out, and all the others considerably
out
drawn V-1'16" v- 114"
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
206
The time of observation was an hour
in each mains the same, it follows that the smaller watch remaining in the horizontal balance has double the capacity of accumulatposition. By using screws of different shapes ing and retaining any force transmitted to it, and materials these experiments can be modi- and will consequently cross further. If therefied indefinitely, sometimes with most astonish- fore a certain arc of vibration is to be obtained ing results. The inference to be drawn from with a given mainspring power, quicker vibracase, the
',hese results is, that
the active elements
—
viz.,
tions will require a smaller
and heavier balance,
diameter, weight, velocity, and resistance of the and a larger and lighter one will be necessary the air
and
if
—are
It is a rule, established partially opposed to each other, for slower speed. they are affected alike, or so that the by practice and experience, that for marine
balance of power between them ed,
is
isochronism is not altered;
affected, the result is
not disturb- chronometers the arcs should be one turn and a if
unequally quarter
;
has been demonstrated that with
it
a difference in long and this arc magnetism has no influence on the rate
short vibrations one way or the other. By of going, retardation and acceleration countermaking a great number of experiments with balancing each other in each vibration exone and the same balance, the isochronal value actly.
With
of each of these elements can be ascertained,
that kind of
dead-beat escapement,
but any rule based upon these experiments where the friction remains active throughout, would only be applicable to this identical as in duplex and horizontal watches, the gyrabalance
other dimensions, even the application tion
;
is
of course
much
less,
and here
it is
im-
of another spring, would necessitate another perative that attention should be paid to a
proper proportion of weight and diameter of the
set of tedious experiments.
In the case of a horizontal watch no by some watchmakers, that a amount of change in the balance spring will spring adjusted in long and short arcs to a cer- make long and short vibrations equal, if these tain balance would retain this quality when at- proportions are incorrect. The friction on the tached to another of different dimensions, un- sides of the cylinder is a given factor, and must less, indeed, it was by the merest chance and, be turned to a proper account the gyrations beThese
facts will
be
sufficient
to,
disprove the balance.
idea entertained
;
;
taking
it
for
granted that isochronal adjust- ing small in themselves, the arc of escape bears
ments depend upon the form of the spring, they a large proportion to the whole extent of the will go far to explain why these forms differ vibration. During this arc of escape there is no
when
balances of .
different
dimensions
are side pressure against the cylinder,
and a strong-
used.
er impulse will consequently propel the balance
But if the elements constituting the momentum cannot with advantage be used to procure isochronism, there are certain rules based upon them which determine the diameter and the weight of the balance when in connection with trains calculated for different numbers of vibra-
forwards with a greater velocity.
tions in a given time, in order to procure vibra-
a suitable extent. have already seen above that the
tions of
We tive
force
of the spring
is
rela-
inversely as the
square of the diameter a balance, therefore, of half the diameter of another would require four ;
times the weight of the large one for the same
number of vibrations. Here we have
four times the weight projected half the distance of that of the large one, and in the case of the latter we
we have
one-quarter the weight projected only double the distance of the small one ; and as in both cases the relative force of the spring re-
This increase
during the arc of escape in a properly- constructed watch will be compensated for
increased friction on the cylinder. is
too
small and too heavy
greater easier,
momentum and
will
it is
by the
If a balance clear that its
overcome
this friction
so neutralize the equalizing effect
it
would otherwise have had. It follows if a horizontal watch gains with increased motive force, the balance is too small and too heavy. By making it lighter and putting a weaker spring a change is certainly effected in the right direction; but as any change in the motive force will bear too great a proportion to the absolute power of percussion in a slight balance and spring, any diminution will cause the vibrations to fall off considerably ; any outward influence, as thickening of the oil, and imparted motion, will also influence the going of the watch to an
AMEKICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL. undue
There
extent.
is
and
in a large
we find
balance not that alertness which
light
the roller
is
207
never directed to the centre of the
in small latter, but acts obliquely,
and if, according to and heavy ones, and the wear on the edges of what position the balance is in, it becomes the cylinder is certainly greater, but it has the more or less so, it will cause a variation of fricimportant advantage of greater steadiness. In tion in the pivots in different positions though a watch having an escape wheel of fifteen teeth it is less in amount than that on the roller, it making 18,000 vibrations in an hour, the ex- is extremely inconvenient, as its variable effect treme edge of the balance should just reach up can never be entirely compensated for. It is ;
to the tooth
of the wheel, and the weight be so therefore of
proportioned that, being clean and fully up,
it
wound watch
great
importance
that the holes should
make a little less than two-thirds the escapement is set With slower vibrations the size must where the vibrations
should
of a turn.
be increased proportionately.
In a duplex watch the but as
it
friction is
much
ably affect the long and short vibrations. facility
When
out of beat, the point are quickest does
less
;
not
and, therefore, such a change will have an in-
but of course
;
of the balance would also consider- not or ought not to be done, as
escapement affords a
a duplex
in
exactly.
correspond with the centre of the arc of escape,
continues throughout, a change of the fluence on isochronism
momentum
fit
this can-
would make
it
This the escapement imperfect.
of altering the pro-
portions of the impulse velocity to the friction in
In a duplex watch the is sufficient to
friction
on the
roller
exercise a proper control over the
the remainder of the vibration. If the angle momentum of the balance, and, consequently, formed by the pallets and the notch in the roller the latter becomes liberated and gets more free is lessened, the drop is increased, and the im- in its action when the motive power relaxes. pulse power so lessened causes not only the vi- The balance is, on the other hand, sufficiently brations themselves to fall off, but also the independent of the friction to allow the propsmaller ones to be slower than the large ones. erties of the balance spring to be brought
The following ing experiments
rule will be a guide in conduct:
All alterations which in-
into
play.
make
the
crease the arc of vibration without changing the watches
amount of
make
friction will
tions slower
Those circumstances combine to performance of duplex
general
In lever watches
very satisfactory.
the long vibra- and chronometers the motion of the balance
than the short ones.
is,
If the im- except during the arc of escape, unfettered by
any escapement friction, and the properties of and balance have their full sway. than the short ones, inasmuch as to a smaller We have already seen that a change in the arc of vibration the same increase of friction momentum can not be resorted to with adand as by bears a greater proportion than to a larger one. vantage to procure isochronism pulse power remain the
same and the
friction is
increased, the long vibrations will be quicker spring
;
If in a duplex watch the balance holes are too large
brought into such the utmost into a closer proximity employed.
and the balance
a position as to bring
it
means of a spring
is
it
can be obtained with
precision, this
mode
is
invariably
An opinion exists amongst a great number with the escape wheel, the long vibrations are sure to be quicker than the small ones; for of watchmakers that isochronism is arrived at two reasons, firstly, on account of increased when the angle of inflection corresponds exactly on the roller and, secondly, in con- with the force of the spring but, by what we quence of the greater drop in the escapement. have already seen, this cannot be correct. If The difference caused by greater or less drop apart from the momentum of tue balance will be the same whether the momentum of (which certainly plays an important part in friction
;
;
the balance
is
great or small, while that caused this respect) any change of drop or friction
by the change in
friction
on the
roller will
be influences
isochronism,
the
unavoidable and
momentum of given friction and drop must therefore be factors also find that if the balance and agents of more or less importance when the
considerably influenced by the the balance.
We
holes are large, a considerable difference arises isochronous state is obtained. in
the rate of
positions.
going
The pressure
in
the
four vertical
Before I describe and explain the nature of
of the wheel against the manipulations necessai-y to obtain isoch-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL:
20*
ronism, a few general observations will not be
If a piece of spring, is
at one
fixed
end with
down than
it
when when
upwards
is
fixed,
fixed
which the inner end of the spring and which could be easily moved to at any distance from the centre. In
concave side up- setting the balance in motion, the lever, of
its
wards, a weight will draw the convex side
to
collet,
was say part of a mainspring, and
out of place.
lower
;
course,
moved
and fro, turning on its pivots same direction as the balance matter whether the spring wa3 to
therefore always in the
a balance spring is inflected towards that moved, no where the coils recede from the centre, it fixed as in the drawing, or the reverse way. would oppose less resistance to the balance I found the lever A to move very differthan on that side where they advance towards ently according to the relative position of of the vibrations would be it, and the halves unequal in length if this was not counterbalanced by the circumstance that the strain of the cohesive power of the corpuscles comside
posing
than when
here
greater
is
it
it
is
Supposing a spring
way.
inflected the other
when inflected one have three turns to whole turn to make the coils expand, the when inflected the turns will only be two other way one whole turn, the turns will be ;
;
four,
and therefore as 3
case to
:
2
is
a larger propor-
had expand more than it had 4
tion than
:
the spring
3,
in the former to contract in
the latter.
If the above experiment with the piece of spring
continued
is
upwards),
it
convex side being
(tie
be seen
will
that
ginning the spring bends closest
the
in
be-
to the centre,
but farther on (supposing the bending force
always
to
act
a rectangular direction to the
in
the tangent of the extremity of the free end)
the form will soon become of an oval shape,
and
if
the spring should break now,
it
would
not be at the point of fixture, but at the point farthest from
it.
Had
to the
experiment, rude as
it is,
when
approaches towards is
exactly
it
away from
when
what takes place
In the case of a
flat
and
equally to
fro,
differences
were
provided
coil,
about
same
the
the relative
each
in
positions
the
of
were the same, only they were more shorter.
The
This greatest deviation of the lever I found
when
proves that the point the ends were fixed about half-way, making the
spring contracts,
the
sometimes
would have conspicuous as the spring got
fixing point.
of the greatest strain moves
ing point
it
;
much more when the spring exThese panded than when it contracted.
the spring broken at ends
the beginning of the experiment,
been much nearer
ends
sometimes
it
expands.
in
spring,
fix-
and
and 2|
turns.
In tapering the outer
coil
of a similar spring
This towards the end, the movement of the lever be-
every spring. that
4^, 3±,
strain is
modified by the relative position of the ends.
came much
less,
greatest strain
because here the point of the
was confined
to the
immediate
neighborhood of the fixing point.
It follows
The following experiment, which can easily be that the greatest deviation of the lever from its repeated by any one, will prove this beyond a quiescent position denotes that the greatest doubt. I
from the end as it possibly can These imperfections, if I may so call them,
strain is as far
fixed
the outer end of a spring of five be.
turns to a movable stud or lever (A, Fig.
4),
are
made use
of to procure isochronism in
flat
turning on pivots at some distance from the springs. spring.
One of the balance arms had a long
notch in
it
to receive
If the strain
is
too near the
end
a stud in place of the mencement of the vibrations, there
at the
com-
not
sufii-
is
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
209
room for it to advance farther, the cohe- tween long and short arcs is greatest, and these power of the particles of the extremities of relative positions must be found out in each the spring will be overstrained when the vibra- case. A flat spring should have about eleven turns. tions get larger, causing them, of course, to be If shorter, it must be harder in proportion, on quicker. cient sive
On
when
the other hand,
beginning of the vibration end,
has more scope
it
momentum
to
the strain at the is
farther from the
travel forward, the
of the balance will be more power-
The
distance of
the coils farthest from the centre
should be
account of the greater strain.
about twice greater than the innermost ones.
Formerly springs were often made taper-
ance will be prolonged, and, consequently, the
isochronism. This mode was employed by Berthoud, and there is no doubt that isochronism must be obtained by
long vibrations will be slower. There
that
ful (comparatively speaking) in long vibrations,
ing, to procure
the point of rest before the return of the bal-
first
fore,
there-
is,
a certain relative position in every
flat
means
tioned
taper
the
if
but the
;
properly propor-
is
way
difficulty in the
them
of
making
spring where the long vibrations are slowest,
these springs has brought
and another where they are quickest but whether the difference between the two is sufficient to meet the exigencies of the case, is another question, and depends on the conditions considered at length above. That difference, as we have seen in this experiment, decreases with the length of the spring, and it is found by
In Breguet springs isochronism is obtained by bending the outer end, and in cylindrical or helical springs by bending both ends into
;
practice that
it
increases with the proportion in
which the distances oftlie
coils from
are tapering towards the centre.
very small.
If,
as
is
and curb pins are used
it
usually the case, index to
bring the watch to
time, this, of course, alters the isochronal properties of the spring.
be used
to
Curb pins can
procure isochronism
are used for rating the watch
if
curves towards the centre.
By what spring,
it
has been said in the case of the
will
be extremely easy
to
the nature of the change effected by this ipulation.
If
we compare
fiat
understand
man-
the inner coils of a
each other flat spring with the outer, and try to bend In a very them by opposite central forces, with a pair of
long spring where these distances are equal is
into disuse.
therefore
timing screws
tweezers for instance, coils give
way much
we
find that the outer
easier,
which proves that
the smaller have a greater degree of rigidity
by bending the outer turns towards the centre, therefore, we impart more rigidity to the end, causing
it
can only bending
to
oppose a greater resistance to a
force, so that
when
the vibrations are
but this be done within comparatively narrow limits, as when the curb pins are too far removed from
centre,
the stud, the unemployed end will slightly
the case of a flat spring remains here in full
;
move
in a contrary direction to that of the spring,
as this
movement
employed
is
part, it will in
vibrations.
The
its
turn affect the
differences arising out of such
a compound motion have no definable
and must therefore be avoided. In any alteration of the spring the purpose of er,
and
caused by the strain of the
making the long
limits,
effected for
vibration slow-
on a pair of small screws rim of the balance the changing
It is best to operate
of the diameter sometimes
;
entirely destroys
the beneficial effect the lengthening or shorten-
ing of the spring would otherwise have had.
A
too
greater or less tapering of the distances
farther from
is
the
and the same argument I advanced
in
It stands to reason that if the curve is
force.
abrupt, the length to which
rigidity is
more
imparted
gentle,
is
shorter
;
if
this greater
the curve
is
beginning farther from the end,
the greatest strain will be farther from, and will
the weight of the balance should be altered.
close to the
small the greatest strain
be enabled more gradually
to
advance
towards, the fixing point. If, thex-efore,
the watch loses in long vibra-
and the curve of the spring should have the form A, Fig. 5, it will have to be changed and if it gains in to a form approaching B long vibrations the curve must be begun farther from the end, approaching the form 0. It is evident that a helical spring, having tions,
;
both ends turned
in, offers
a larger scope for
Both, towards the centre will vary the relative posi- operation than the Breguet spring. in comadvantage important the tions of those points where the difference be- however, have
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
210
mon, that they emancipate the balance from the
flected all the coils bend,
side pressure of the pivots in their holes.
the resistance of the extremities which checks
is
it
in point of fact
The outer end being fixed within the circle the force of the momentum of the balance. It and the curve itself expanding, stands to reason that in order to have the great-
of the spring,
the free end of the curve, which
also the
is
est strain at the proper distance
from the cen-
commencement of the circular coil, is enabled tre the absolute elastic force of the body of the to recede from, and to advance towards, the spring must be exactly even throughout its centre, according to the direction in
which the whole length, or
(in the
case of flat springs)
exactly proportionate to the length, because if this proportion is not even, and there should be a weak place in any part of it, the greatest strain would be there, and not where it ought be, and any change effected in the extremities
will
be more or less ineffective.
It is therefore
of the utmost importance that the degree of
hardness should be absolutely uniform throughout the spring.
Care should also be taken that
the body of the spring should not get bent, as the rebending it to its former position causes an unevenness of the texture of the metal. The
balance
is
moved, while when the extreme end unevenness caused by such a proceeding is fixed the expansion greater when the material is soft.
will
be
of the last circular coil
and contraction
is
one-sided,
pressure in their holes
a
Breguet
or
;
causing a
we can
cylindrical
spring,
obtain
greater arc of vibration with a smaller
If we bend a piece of metal and try to bring
side
therefore, with
it
back
amount
it is
In the case of spherical springs, a greater into is
given
;
it will bend in a everybody knows how difficult
to straighten
a pin
to the
its
it
has been bent.
it is
forced back
original position, the elastic force will
by the be diminished at the point so forced. The mere but also by fact of bending it in the first instance has an
ends, not only
smaller diameter of the outer
coils,
the different inclinations which the flat sides of effect detrimental to It
for instance, well
only the centre coil the sides of which are
many have found
the spring have to the plane of the motion. is
when
If a spring has been bent and
of motive force.
rigidity
former shape,
to its
a different place
its
known it
elastic quality.
to
It
is,
watchmakers, and
out to their trouble, that the
and bending of a gong wire in a repeating watch, in order to free it from any point it touched, will therefore be affected most. This isochronal adjustment of this spring con- diminished the sound considerably, and heating sists in lengthening and shortening it, and the spring would only partially restore the tone. bringing the watch to time by altering the bal- The best way to proceed in such a case is this ance in the manner described above. if the spring touches on the outside and must This spring stands in the same predicament consequently be bent inwards, it should be, at as the tapering flat one, and as no particular the place where it is to be bent, laid upon a conadvantage attaches to this form which would vex piece of brass corresponding in shape with then if the outcompensate for the greater difficulty in making the inner side of the spring side be slightly hammered with the sharp edge it, it is very seldom resorted to, and belongs to exactly rectangular to the plane of motion,
;
the class of fancy forms, if I
may
use this ex- of a
We
the small indentations produced
-
see that in all these different
forms the and the inside
principle of adjustment of isochronism
same, although the manipulations
hammer
will cause the outside to be lengthened a
pression.
differ.
is
to contract in proportion.
little
The
the change of form will be very gradual, and the
granular disturbance, being spread over a larg-
The motion of a spring may be imagined as er area, will not be great enough to affect the a struggle between the body of a spring and the tone in the least. The more a spring is bent to extremities. Although when the spring is in- and fro in any direction, the more it will lose its
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. elastic force.
It is for this reason that a be- rate
be noted down,
211
say, after the
first half-
ginner will often spoil a spring by over-manipu- hour, and compared again somewhat lation,
making
nal purposes.
it
ultimately unfit for isochro- after six hours,
it
will
Especially in soft springs care ond observation the rate
should be taken to make any change very grad- ed.
and rather oftener than too much at once, and thereby necessitating the bending back of the spring. If quite a soft spring, perfectly adjusted, should be bent and brought back again to exactly its former position, the vibrations would be isochronous no more, and by repeating the experiment the elastic force of the curve will become so small compared with that possessed by the body of the spring, that, ually,
While
this
change
is
not continuous. rectly
is
sec-
somewhat accelerat-
is
taking place in the
balance spring the isochronism
manner which
later, say,
be found that at the
affected in a
is
very deceiving, because
To bring
this feature
is
it
more
di-
under observation, the following experi-
easily be made. Bend a part of mainspring (of about six inches in length) ex-
ment can
cessively, not
by short bends in
different places,
but by a continuous twist between the fingers,
and then bend it back again gradually and by short bends in different places till it forms a its .motion becomes subservient to it. A hard- straight line then fix one end firmly on a table er spring will bear a much greater amount of with its sides vertical to the plane of the table over-manipulation, and a Breguet spring, the in such a manner as to allow the free end to vifix a form of which in itself necessitates a certain brate freely in a horizontal direction amount of bending, must always have a great- small weight to it at a convenient distance, in
instead of exercising a control over the latter,
;
;
er degree of hardness than that necessary for order to helical springs, in
possessed
by
this
est possible use.
make the vibration observable mark when in rest by fixing a pin into the ;
order that the advantage the position
form should be of the great- table outside the spring, and two other pins at If the spring It is also necessary that a equal distances from the spring.
certain time should elapse before ascertaining
the result of the change effected.
All metallic bodies possessing some
degree
inflected in that direction from which the last change has been effected in making it straight
is
till it
touches the pin,
it will,
of elasticity do not, if forced in to a different not reach the opposite pin shape, retain the newly acquired shape exactly,
but have a tendency
much
inflected the other
by
on being released, far
;
way and
in being as released,
it
some small will either reach the opposite pin, or at least measure, towards that shape from which they approach much nearer to it, which proves that have been forced. The reactionary force be- the resistance which the spring opposed to the comes gradually less active, until, after a time, momentum of the weight is greater on one side it ceases altogether. The time required for the than on the other. Something of this kind shape to become permanent differs greatly with takes place (of course in a very much smaller to return,
the degree of elasticity.
in
This time
will
be measure) in the balance spring after it has been altered, and it would be quite useless to ascertain
by the application of heat, and also by imparting some small motion. A great variety of experiments may be made to prove the existence of this most curious phenomenon. A gong in a repeating watch, after the tone greatly shortened
the permanent effect of a change before the lapse of a certain time.
In the case of a hard
spring in a chronometer, a time of about three or four hours should be allowed.
In adjusting the spring of a watch in long has been spoilt, will after a time, especially if and short vibrations, the short ones must be the watch is made to strike frequently, in a made to gain upon the long when placed horismall measure improve its tone. This improve- zontally, because it will be found that in the ment will take place at onco, and in a greater vertical positions the vibrations are smaller on degree, if heat is applied. account of the increased friction on the pivots, There is no form more favorable to the dis- and the watch will lose this retarding influence play of this tendency than that possessed by varies of course with the proportion the friction balance springs and the acting parts of a com- bears to the momentum of the balance, and ;
If a compensation balance must be compensated for in order to obtain bent outwards rather considerably, and the good performance. In the case of marine chro-
pensation balance. is
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
212 nometers,
comes into consideration, and it has been found best to make the short vibrations gain upon the long ones about 6" in 24 hours when the arcs are reduced from one and a quarter to three-quarters of a turn. The opinions of chronometer makers differ as to the amount, and this will always remain a weak oil
Very often we
point.
find
assignable reason, the pivots
we have
only the retarding influence of the spring
thickening of the
oil
much more than on
that,
soft
hard one
The
will
pivots
and
if it
takes place
In
fact, it is
balance,
vice versa.
the
will
rate
There
correct time-keeping.
is
It is their different per-
formance in different temperatures.
spring,
we
it
find
if that
was
all in
that, besides
the case of a balance
its
choose
dom met
with),
simple.
The wire to is
and the is
;
getting longer,
changes considerably in
sel-
proct dure is extremely
wound up and
tightened
a form corresponding to the size intended to have.
The spring
subjected to a ieat
is
of such a degree as would cause steel to turn blue, after
which
springs so
made
it
will
retain its shape
with steel springs hardened in fore the latter
;
but
are not very durable compared
mode
is
fire,
and
there-
preferable.
The manipulation is also very simple. In making a helical spring, the wire is wound upon a hollow cylinder, either quite smooth or furnished with grooves corresponding with the form intended to be given to the
could easily be compensated for
elastic force also
is to
offers a helping hand. There are different modes of making springs. Common springs are made of hard drawn
All bodies expand in heat and contract in spring.
and
tendencies.
its
and experience
more on the the spring
be accelerated, no doubt that the use of constant power escapements would do away with this difficulty, whatever may be the objections against them in other respects. There is a peculiarity of balance springs which is as important as it is vexatious, and which is the greatest obstacle in the way of the
evils.
a medium between extremes, and here practice
of the wheels than on the pivots of being tightened down,
and
cold,
be too capricious in
best plan, therefore, in this case
seldom that we find the thickening taking place with screws quite uniformly,
choose between two
to
spring will be too short-lived, and a
without any steel or gold wire (the latter variety being
corroded on some
others.
A
but thick its
differ-
The cylinder must never be thicker than
about one-eighth of its diameter, because ly,
it will,
to
if too
on being immersed, cool too slow-
tho detriment of the hardness of the
spring.
When a smooth cylinder is used, the winding ent temperatures. These changes take place in an increasing ratio, and this ratio itself varies up of the spring is performed in the turns. Afand increases, with the degree of hardness pos- ter one end is fixed to the cylinder by a screw sessed by the spring The compensation balance with a flat head, the wire is kept tight by a commonly used to correct this error in the weight attached to the other end, and wound spring
much
is
also irregular in
when
its
motions, inas-
up
till
the cylinder
is
quite
full.
Care must be taken that the run of the weights proceed more directly towards the cen- should appear to be even and continuous. as
the rims
bend inwards the
coils
So and have a greater effect than when they wound up and fixed by screws at either end, it bend outwards and although this circumstance is hardened in a thick iron box with a loose tends to lessen the fault produced by the spring, cover; the free space within the box, which it does not do so sufficiently, especially with ought to be about three times the diameter of hard springs. If, therefore, a chronometer is the cylinder and somewhat deeper, is then filled adjusted in the middle temperatures, it will lose with powdered charcoal mixed with some powin both extremes. If adjusted for one extreme, dered ivory, and the whole is heated to a yellow the fault will be greater in the other. These heat, in which it must be kept about a minute irregularities combine to make the subject of in order that the heat should get well diffused compensation in heat and cold a very intricate and imparted to the cylinder through the charone. The present essay has only so far to do coal, which is a bad conductor of heat. Then with it as it involves certain properties of the it should be taken out of the fire and be reversspring. ed over a vessel containing oil, the loose top By what has been said, it would appear that and the cylinder falling into it, and the spring tre,
;
in
determining the degree of hardness in a thus becomes hardened.
Proceeding thus, the
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
213
spring will be evenly hard throughout and been blued twice, after having been whitened
never change
its
pens when water
form, which sometimes hap- after each bluing, is
used instead of oil.
Some
makers wrap platina foil round the spring to exclude the air, and then the heating can be performed on a piece of charcoal by means of a blow-pipe. For hardening, cold water must be used in
this case.
Makers using
this
mode
as-
is
color the third time,
brought it
to
a rich blue
will require a degree of
heat which would have made it (had it not been whitened twice) of a very pale blue color.
As
the time
when
the rich blue color appears
can be easily observed, the number of times the operation
is
repeated will be indicative of
consequence of the spring being in the degree of hardness. If a spring having contact with metal on each side while being ten coils is blued six times, including the final sert that in
heated and cooled, the granular disturbance bluing, less, and a spring so ness.
it
will
have a suitable degree of hard-
within the spring will be
made
will soon cease to accelerate its rate,
an
It is
not necessary that the
spring itself
imperfection to which all springs except very should be whitened each time, as the whitening soft
ones are more or less subjected.
There
is
of the screws fastening the wire to the cylinder
a degree of plausibility attached to this argu- will serve the same purpose.
The spring be-
Every maker has fore being finally blued and set to shape on a his own ideas, but the very fact that amongst cylinder furnished with suitable grooves, must a number of springs made by any maker the be whitened with oil-stone dust and wood, which performance of a few only exceeds the average is done partly in the turns and partly on a fiat degree of excellence, proves that assertions of piece of wood fixed in a vice, and which is thin this kind must be received with more or less enough to go between the coils, to allow the
ment
in favor of this mode.
It is my opinion that the proportion sides or edges to be finished off. The necessary between the degree of hardness and the length manipulations are so simple as scarcely to need of the spring is the principal consideration. more minute describing. In regard to fixing Some makers have the habit of hardening also, any one having looked at another with any caution.
and tempering the spring and then trying attention can hardly make a mistake. whether it will suit the balance, and if the The curves must be bent with a pair of tweeznumber of turns is between eight and twelve, ers kept expressly for that purpose, and to be it. had at any tool shop. Nothing can be more injudicious than that. Flat springs are wound up three at a time He should first make up his mind about the between a pair of platina plates, having three number of turns he wants to employ (I should steady pins, and being screwed or pinned down in no case recommend less than ten), and then to friction tightness, and so hardened. temper the spring accordingly. If it does not The best fiat springs are, before final bluing, suit the balance a different wire must be em- set to shape on a disc having suitable grooves on
they use
ployed, or another spring
made with another
temper, less coils of course requiring greater hardness.
The great color
is
difficulty is
that the
change of
scarcely a sufficient guide for the degree
of hardness in long springs, for in these low
degrees a spring
may
softer without being
responding change in the
hard piece of
plane.
In conclusion, I shall say a few words on the subject of timing watches in positions.
Above
all, it
cor-
necessary that the frictional
much
as possible, Inasmuch as, if too great a to
be counterbalanced by isochro-
nal adjustments, any change in the extent of the arcs arising out of other than frictional dif-
color.
upon the
steel will color
is
conditions in the pivots should be equalized as
be made considerably difference has
accompanied with a
A better plan is based
its
fact that a
ferences (as change in the motive forces while
with a smaller the watch remains in the same position, and
amount of heat than a soft one. If two pieces imparted motion), will cause the long vibrations of steel, a hard and a soft one, be put together to be slower. In order to equalize these fricon a bluing pan, the hard piece will be of a tions it must be increased when in the horizonrich blue before the soft one becomes purple, tal and diminished when in the vertical position, In the former case the and when a hardened piece which has already as much as possible.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
214
flattening of the pivots, or shaping the ends so
No
other than general rules can be given, as
and experience are necessary to enable to account for and to correct differences of a more complex nature, because the smaller the error becomes, the more difficult it will be to reduce it, and is much more trying to the reflective powers of the artist than errors of a coarser kind. There is still a wide field to be cultivated by all watchmakers who love their art, and although there are no more Government grants to be won by raising the standard
as to form a slightly-inclined plane (which latter practice
manipulation causes the rubbing surfaces to the act farther
In the
from the
centre), will
be necessary.
latter case, thinness of the holes or a
of the sides of the holes, and
convex shape
utmost finish of the pivots, will be required.
The to
pivots should be conical in shape in order
be made thin without lessening ther dura-
bility.
As
far as regards the vertical positions, the
greatest narrowness
of the holes
consistent
artist
of excellence of time-keepers, the object posses-
much
with freedom of motion will be of importance.
ses so
Very frequently
to challenge
differences arise in consequence
of the incorrect form of the pivots.
intrinsic interest in itself as
always
an honorable ambition of the best
If they are in the profession, their exertions being stimula-
not perfectly round, and are, for instance, of an
ted in addition
oval shape, the going of the watch will be in-
ent age of railways and telegraphs, where cor-
by the requirements
of the pres-
same manner as if the balance rect time becomes a question of greater imporwas out of poise. tance every day. Figs. 6 and 7 will make that more clear. fluenced in the
Facinsr Pinions.
Ed. Horological Journal
:
have been much pleased in reading the on watch repairing, by Mr. Fricker, which are in the course of publication I
series of articles
There
of course, always a very small shake in the Journal. I am especially pleased with on account of the oil, and the thoroughness with which the author rewhen, therefore, such an oval-shaped pivot is in commends the various repairs to be executed, the position indicated by Fig. 6, its centre is and the minuteness of the directions which he farther from the lowest point of the hole than gives for doing the work. The remarks on facis,
in the holes necessary
when
it is
in a position as in Fig. 7,
the balance vibrates of gravity tion if
;
—
it
it
gives
influence
falls in each half of the vibra-
pinions, in the
January number, are worthy
of the serious attention of a large portion of the trade. Although it has no direct bearing
the effect on the rate will be the
the balance
was bottom heavy.
diameter of such a pivot Fig.
and when ing
way to the
when
the watch
is
same as on the running of the watch, there is nothing If the long hurts the critical eye more than a badly faced
in a position as in
pinion,
and more
especially if
it
be in a
fine
a quiescent state watch where the other pinions are beautifully its effect will be the same as if the balance was faced. It is sure evidence of a slovenly worktop heavy. The existence of such an imperfec- man. The facing of a pinion is but the work of tion
7,
is
in
can be ascertained by changing the posi- a few minutes to the artist who has his tools on the balance staff. and his work-bench properly organized. If we
tion of the roller or rollers
If the relative points of greatest differences omit the facing of pinions because the customer change with the roller, they arise from the does not see the work, and if we apply the same escapement if they retain their position with principle to all the other repairs of a watch, ;
respect to a given point of the balance, they then there is an end to all pretentions of being arise from pivot imperfections, and it is best fine workmen. to
change the staff at once. The balance should be perfectly poised. Any change
I think, however, that the tool recommended
in all cases
for holding the facers is partly incomplete
in this" respect is bad.
might be improved.
The manner
in
and which it
AMEBICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. is
constructed allows the facer to
move only
one direction, whereas to be perfect turn readily in any direction. loss to
comprehend what
I
benefit
rived from having a handle to
seems
me
to
that a handle would
it
ought
215
in
which must have been cleaned previously,
to
then cautiously slid upon the tin leaf in such a
is
am also at a manner as to sweep off the redundant mercury would be de- which is not incorporated with the tin. A weight the tool. It is then placed on the glass, and in a little time make
the tool the quicksilvered tin-foil adheres so firmly to
more the glass that the weights may be removed communicate that without any danger of it falling off. The sucdelicacy of touch so necessary in the opera- cess of the operation depends much on the The annexed cleanliness of the glass, as the least dirt on its tion of facing a small pinion. unnecessarily heavy, and render difficult for
the
workman
the
it
to
diagram represents a tool for holding facers surface will prevent the adhesion of the quickwhich is quite common among the trade in silvered tin-foil. You can lacquer your nautical instruments some parts of Europe, and I have also seen it The diagram will by following the directions given for lacquering in use in the United States. sufficiently explain the points of difference be-
tween
it
and the
tool described in the Journal.
November number of the Journal. The way to protect iron from rust, is to have
in the
best
same as the gim- it nickel-plated. R. P., St. Louis. It is an important element box chronometer, and allowing the facer to move easily in any direction, and great- in the successful working of a secondary dial to ly assists the inexperienced in making the work have a constant battery for although a secondIt is in principle precisely the
—
bals of a
;
ary dial
flat.
The
tool is
composed of two
rings, with the
is,
in a
strict
sense, not a clock, but
merely an index of the time shown by the
pri-
There mary regulators, yet if the battery is not constant the hands will fail to move regularly. This arises from the fact that the electricity produced
facer placed inside of the centre ring.
by the battery is used for the purpose of giving power to the electro-magnet which moves the hands of the secondary dial. When the current is
in the wires the
soft
current
electro-magnet attracts the
armature towards
iron is
it,
and when the
temporarily interrupted by the pri-
mary regulator
the power of the electro-magnet
are two screws or pivots placed in each ring at ceases, and the spring pulls the armature back right angles from each other. is
used
it is
When
unsteadiness in the workman's hand
municated
the tool
to its original position.
These motions of the
held by the outside ring, and any armature backward and forward at stated inter"
to the facer,
is
not com- vals are the means by which the motion of the
because the two rings,
hands
is
produced.
If the
action of the bat-
with pivots in each at right angles, permit of tery varies, and more or less electricity
an easy motion in every direction.
H.
New
York
is
pro-
duced, the power of the electro -magnet will be
City.
proportionably stronger or weaker. electro-magnet be too the armature
weak
for the
If the
strength of
spring no motion will follow
be too strong, the result will be the same. There must be a certain equilibrium between if it
Answers
to Correspondents.
the strength of the
B.
S.,
New
Orleans.
—You
can resilver the power of the magnet.
reflecting glasses of quadrants as follows
a piece of
tin- foil
on a perfectly
flat
:
armature spring and the Hence the necessity for a
Place battery that will be constant in
piece of every variety of circumstances,
its
action under
and
it
must not
board and pour on it a small quantity of as pure be used for any other purpose when it is in mercury as you can get. Then rub the mer- connection with the clock. You will require a cury on to the tin-foil with a suitable brush, separate battery for electro-plating, even aland it soon unites itself with the tin. The glass. though vou have but little of it to do.
AMEEICAK HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
21G
M.
Vermont.
T.,
—You
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
could have got the
length of the top pivot, even though you had " forgotten to
wax on
measure
before embedding
it
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
it
For April, 1873.
Take your balance off the staff, lay the cock upon it with a bit of card or thick paper between, just thick enough to give it the proper freedom from the cock. Then with your Swiss gauge measure from the unin
the lathe."
Sidereal of
Day the Semi-
of the
diameter Mod. Passing the
of
derside of the balance-arm to the top of the hole
which
jewel,
will be, say 10.75°; then turn
work a
best to have your
It is always
urements, for fit
than
to
little full
of the meas-
down
far easier to finish
it is
be obliged
to reconstruct,
Meridian.
to
because too
short or too small. \N.,
Texas.—The
.
1
.
2 3
Friday Saturday.
4
.
Monday
7
. .
Tuesday.
8
.
.
Wednesday,
9
Thursday/., Friday Saturday...
10 11 12 13
tourbillon
it 16 17 18 19 20
.-.
.
.
Thursday.
has each point of
whole circumference constantly changing
position,
that
takes a
it
is,
new
21
wheel of the little
is
above
it,
by
is
driven
by
What would be
train.
fixed
through them rides
as
its
rim
to the
.
,
Friday.
2ft
Saturday.
.
Sunday Monday.
.
Tuesday.
26 27 28 29 30
.
The Wednesday
frame which contains the escape-
wheel, lever, and balance,
wheel
its
position,
regards up and down, at every instant. tourbillon
the third
the fourth
great frame a
Mean time
from the
The Semidiameter
0.754 0.749 744 739 732 725 716 707
0.696 0.686 0.674 0.661 0.647 0.633 0.618 0.6U3 0.586 0.569 0.551 0.533 0.514 0.495 475 0.455 0.434 0.413 0.392 0.371 0.350 0.329
.
may be found by
sub-
sidereal time.
mean noon may be assumed tbe same
as
PHAGES OF THE MOON.
the pinion of the escape-wheel like a " planet," as
First Quarter
Full
the same as if and the frame stood except that the escape-wheel makes one ;
for
s.
a.
that for apparent noon
around the fixed wheel
the tourbillon revolves
Apparent Time.
m.
of the Semidiameter passing
tracting 0s.l8.
the tourbillon arbor going quite ;
for
.
22 23 24
designed to obviate the necessity for adjusting Wednesday.
its
Hour.
-
14
whole escapement, whatever kind it be, Friday Saturday whether lever, chronometer, duplex, or other, Sunday Monday. ... This is Tuesday. .. is revolved about itself once a minute. the
for the balance
from
Diff.
3 51 94 64.51 3 33 91 64.53 3 15.98 64.55 2 58.19 64.57 2 40.56 64.60 2 23.10 64.63 2 5.82 64.66 1 48.76 64.69 1 31.95 64.73 1 15.38 64.77 59.07 64.81 43.05 64.85 27.35 64.90 11.98 64.95 ~~ 3". 04 65.00 17.71 65.06 31 97 65.11 45.83 65.17 59.28 65.23 1 12.31 65.29 1 24.89 65 35 1 37.00 65.42 1 48.64 65 49 1 59 80 65.56 2 10.48 65.63 2 20.66 70 65 2 30.34 65 77 2 39 52 65.85 2 48.19 65.92 2 56.35 66.00
5 6
.
Sunday
.
to position,
One
S.
Tuesday Wednesday. Thursday
which you Sunday Monday speak of as an escapement, you misapprehend Tuesday Wednesday it is simply a mechanical arrangement by which Thursday.
M. A.
to be added to subuact^u
away
the cement till you come to the shoulder upon which the balance rests, 19.75° measured off from that shoulder on your inserted pivot will
be the point of proper length.
Time
Day Week.
Equation of
Time
this is
4
Moon
6 36 9 51.4
12
Last Quarter
19 17 47.8
New Moon
26 10 42 6
the fixed wheel revolved still,
more revolution
i>.
Apogee.
for every turn of the tourbillon,
number of the fourth wheel teeth were increased by the number of the escapewheel pinion. The arrangement is complicated, expensive to construct, and of very doubtful
23
Perigee
or as if the
Latitude of
Harvard Observatory
h. m.
.
s.
4 44 29 05 4 56 0.15 5 24 20.572 .
Savannah Exchange Hudson, Ohio
.MEBICAN H0R0L0GICAL JOURNAL
7.6
42 22 48
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall'.
practical utility.
H.
7 11.3
5 25 43.20
Cincinnati Observatory
5 37 58 . 062
Point Conception
8
1
42.64
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
Q. B.
MILLER,
37 Maiden Lane, N. AT All
$1.50
>.
PER YEAR, PAYABLE IX ADVANCE.
communications should be addressed, G. B.
MILLER,
P
O.
Box
671!),
Ne.wYorTc.
APPARENT
APPARENT R.
T.,
ASCENSION. H. M.
DECEINATION.
MERID. PASSAGE.
S.
+ 23 + 15
21 30.1
2 25.7
20 18.6
8 57 3
..-20
11.0
19 32.1
Venus
1
3
5 34.12.
..
Jupiter
1
9 38 29.86.
..
Saturn
1
20 14 42.54
AMERICAN
Horological Journal. NEW YORK,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS.
APRIL, yet
it
make Essay on Watchmakers' Regulators,
The Formation and Angles op
Tools,
.
.
217
.
.
223
Refining Old Gold Whiskers,
vs.
Remarks on
"
often happens
No.
that
the inexperienced
serious blunders in planning a regulator,
and, as the clock approaches completion, errors
10.
make
themselves
visible,
many
which might
235 have been avoided by the exercise of a little more 237 forethought. It may be that, when the dial is 239 being engraved, the circles do not come in the
"Watch Repairing, Brains
1873.
Clyde's
Additional Re-
"
right position, or the weight comes into too 239
marks,
Answers to Correspondents,
close proximity with the
pendulum or the case, or the cord comes against a pillar, or other 240 faults of greater or less importance appear, all 240
Equation of Time Table,
.
of which might have been obviated by taking a more comprehensive view of the subject be-
ESS AT¥~
fore beginning to
make
the clock.
OS
WATCHMAKERS' REGULATORS, WITH PRACTICAL DETAILS FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION. BY HENRY
J.
N. SMITH.
CHAPTER
III.
ARRANGING THE MOVEMENT.
In the two preceding chapters the various plans usually employed for constructing a regulator, the style of the dial, the
for winding,
the period
the
motive power,
escapement,
the
length of the pendulum, and other fundamental points having been variously discussed, first
I will
proceed with the practical details for con-
structing a regulator
movement with a Graham
and afterwards point what respect the movement has to be
or dead beat escapement,
out in
made
different to suit the requirements
of the
various forms of gravity escapements.
The arrangement of the mechanism of an dinary regulator
is
or-
a simple operation compar-
ed with some other horological instruments of a more complex character. We are not prescribed for
room
to
the
same extent as in a number a
watch, and the parts being few in
POSITION OF THE BARREL.
The
which the barrel and great planned than time- wheel should occupy, is worthy of serious conkeepers having striking or automatic mechan- sideration. In most of the cheap class of reguism for other purposes combined with them; lators, as well as in a few of a more "expensive regulator
is
more
easily
position
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
£18
order, the barrel
is
the centre wheel,
placed in a direct line below can, with great propriety, be sacrificed for utilis shown in Figure 9. ity, because when the weight hangs in the cen-
as
it comes into too close proximity with the movement, and it also allows the weight to pendulum, and is very liable to disturb its mohang exactly in the centre of the case, which tion. In proof of this statement, let any reader some think looks better than when it hangs at who has a regulator with a light pendulum and the side, especially when there is a glass door a comparatively large weight hanging in front
This arrangement admits of a very compact tre
watch the length of the arc the
But while a weight in the body of the case. hanging in the centre of a case may be more pleasing to the eye than when it hangs at the side. I consider this an instance where looks
pendulum vibrates when the weight is newly wound up and when it is down opposite the pendulum ball, and he will observe that the are
of vibration of the pendulum varies from
the case, which, after
five
of
it,
closely
all,
is
only a matter of
and construct the movement so that the which the weight is placed that the pendulum weight will hang at the side, and as far away will vibrate larger arcs when the weight is above from the pendulum as possible. or below the ball than when it is opposite it Fig. 10 is intended to represent the effect and if the clock has a tendency to stop from any placing the barrel at the side has on throwing cause, that it will generally do so more readily the weight away from the pendulum. A is the when the weight is opposite the pendulum ball centre wheel, and B and C are the great than when it is in any other position. For this wheels and barrels with weights hanging from reason I would dispense with the symmetrical them, and D is the pendulum. It will be looks of the weight hanging in the centre of noticed by the diagram that the weight at the
to fifteen
minutes according ;
to the position in
taste,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. left
of the
pendulum
barrel farther
the
2t9
made
exactly the diameter of detect, they are about equally well
is
away from the pendulum
in all
the essential points, with only this difference
than the weight on the right. On close in- one clock has pinions of eight, and the other spection it will also be observed, that on the pinions of sixteen leaves, yet for two years one the force of the weight is applied be- clock run about equally as well as the other. barrel tween the axis of the barrel and the teeth of In fact, if there was any difference, it was in the wheel, while on 'the barrel
B
the axia of favor of
the barrel lies between the point where the force
is
the, clock
In giving
applied and the point where the teeth stood
to
with the eight-leaved pinions.
example, I must not be underbe placing little value on high-
this
more numbered pinions. I know that in some inof is stances they can be used to advantage. The effective force the weight consumed of the that I want to illustrate, at present is, of pressure and friction idea amount extra on the by act on the pinion
;
consequently a
the pivots of the barrel
Notwithstanding a regulator
for
placed at the
B
than there
recommend the
cause the weight
is
that
in C.
barrel to be
of the centre wheel, be-
may
it is
thereby be led a
suffi-
we are to means of improving the rates
not in this direction that
disadvantage, I would search for the
this
left side
little
of regulators.
A pinion
as low as eleven leaves can be
made
so that the action of the tooth will begin at or
from the pendulum in a simple beyond the line of centres but as eleven is an manner. If we place the barrel at the right, inconvenient number to. use 'in clock-work, we and thereby secure the^ greatest effective force may with great propriety decide upon twelve as of the weight, and then lead the weight to the being a sufficient number of leaves for all the
cient distance
;
by a pulley, we will lose a great deal more by the friction of the pivots of the pulley than we gain by the proper application of the In fuzee watches, or even in large weight. tower clocks, placed in cramped positions, and where there is only a limited amount of power available, it may be very proper and very desirable to arrange the mechanism so that the cord or chain will come between the barrel or fuzee and the centre pinion, and thereby use all
pinions used in a regulator having a
the force of the weight or the spring in the
er
side
most
effective
manner.
Graham
escapement, SIZE OF
THE WHEELS.
The wheels in regulators are, I think, sometimes made larger than is desirable. There is no benefit derived from making wheels larger than
is
necessary, but, on the contrary, there are
Within certain
several disadvantages. large wheels are
more
difficult to
make
limits
accurate
than smaller ones are. They also require a great-
amount of
force to
move them the ;
effects
of
leverage are greater, and being heavier they cause
Graham
In a regulator with a
escapement,
a greater amount of friction on their pivots than
smaller and lighter wheels, and for these reaand there is usually accommodation for sons none of the wheels should be made any an abundance of power therefore I think that larger than is absolutely necessary to secure we cannot use a little of this superabundant sufficient strength for the teeth, or to raise the available force to better advantage than by pinion they drive to the desired distance from
however, but
little
force
is
required to keep
it
going,
placing the barrel at the
of the clock,
left side
and thereby throw the weight a sufficient distance from the pendulum in the simplest man-
the centre of the wheel.
In arranging the lator,
are determined
ner.
NUMBER OF LEAVES
IN
THE
PINIONS.
centre
making pinions with
much
wheels in a regu-
by the
distance between the
of the minute and the centre of the
Like the action of the escapement, I think seconds hand that the practical value of
size of the
the diameters of the centre and third wheels
circle
on
the
dials of regulators are usually
dial.
As the
engraved after
I the dial plates have been fitted, and as the posisame build- tion of the holes in the dial for the centre and ing that are compared every other day by tran- scape wheel pivots to come through determines sit observation. They have both Graham es- the size of the seconds circle, it may be well to capements and mercurial pendulums, and are mention here that, for a twelve-inch dial, two equally well fitted up, and as far as the eye can and a half inches is a good distance for the cen-
very high numbers
know
is
very
overrated.
of two clocks situated in the
AMERICAN EOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
220
tre
of the minute circle to be from the centre
We
all
know what a
difficult
matter
it is
to
Consequently the centre make a cutter that will cut a tooth of the proand third wheels must be made of such a dia- per shape but when the cutter is once made of the seconds
circle.
;
wheel axis two and and carefully used, we also know that it will a half inches from the centre wheel axis, and the cut or finish a great number of wheels without other wheels must be made proportionabiy larg- injury. For this reason, those who are contemer, according to the number of teeth they contain. plating making only one, or at most but a few meter as
will raise the scape
work will be greatly make all the pinions with the same number of by making the wheels of a diameter leaves they will also all be nearly of the same proportionate to the number of teeth they con- diameter, and may be cut, or rather the cutting tain, and for all practical purposes the cutter operation may without any great impropriety regulators, will find the
simplified
that cuts or finishes the teeth of one wheel will be finished with one cutter. be sufficiently accurate for the others. If we An opinion prevails among a certain class of
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. workmen
221
and Graham escapement, where so little motive is required to keep it in motion, an larger and stronger than the other wheels and arrangement of this nature is altogether unpinions, because there is a greater strain upon necessary. The smallest teeth ever used in them than on the others. However reasonable any class of regulators are strong enough for this idea may seem, a little consideration will the great wheel and if there be a greater 6how that in the case of a regulator, with a amount of strain on the teeth of the great that the teeth of the great wheel
leaves of the centre pinion
should be made power
;
wheel in comparison with the teeth of the construction than from any want of a sufficient third wheel, for example, then make the great amount of metal in them. If we assume the distance between the whee! itself proportionably thicker, as is usually centre of the minute and the centre of the seconds circle to be 2| inches, and also asand The teeth of wheels that it is to bear. sume that the clock will have a seconds imperfect the leaves of pinions wear more from
done, according to the extra
amount of
strain
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
222
pendulum, and
all the pinions have 12 leaves, and the barrel make one turn in 12 hours,
then the following
the diameter the wheels
is
will require to be, so that the teeth
and
cut with one cutter,, teeth for
each wheel
also the
may all mumber
Figure 11 regulator
is
a front view of the proposed
movement, showing
the
and
size
be position of the wheels, the size of the frames, of the position of the pillars, dial feet, etc. This
:
Great "Wheel 144 Teeth. 144 Hour 96 Centre
POSITION OF THE WHEELS, .ETC.
diagram, as well as Figures 12 and 13, are Diameter 3.40 inches. «
u
q 40
2.26
Third
90
2.11
Scape
30r
1.75
drawn on a The dotted show the
seconds circle will occupy on a dial fitted to a
seale exactly one-half the full size.
large circular lines on Figure 11 position
the
hour,
minutes,
and
movement made from to the
ihu-s
this caliper. According intended to represent the dial to be at the back ordinary rules of drawing, the dotted of the movement. is the barrel, B is the'
would
A
infer that the
movement
is
which turns once in twelve hours; the hour wheel, which works into the
in front great wheel,
and perhaps it may be necessary to C is oxplain that in the present instance these lines great wheel, and also turns once in twelve" ure made dotted solely with the view of hours is the centre wheel, which turns once iuiiking the diagram move distinct, and are not in an hour, and carries the minute hand E is
oi the dial,
;
D
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. the third wheel, and F is the scape wheel, which turns once in a minute, and carries the seconds hand G is the pallets H, H, H, H, H, the pillars and I, I, I, I, are the dial feet J is shows the the maintaining power click, and Neither the hour or position of the cord. ;
;
;
;
K
great wheels project over the edge of the frame,
and
it
will be observed that a clock of this
223
movement solid,
rests, is intended to be cast thin but with two thin pieces on its edge, tapering
from the back
The reason is to
to the
front, to secure strength.
bottom part being cast solid prevent dust from reaching the movement for the
from the bottom, for all the space round the movement between the back of the case and the back of the dial will, when the regulator is
arrangement is remarkable for its simplicity, finished, also be covered in to protect the movehaving only four wheels and three pinions, ment from dust in the most effectual manner. with the addition of the scape wheel and the The pattern for the bracket should be made
There are no motion or
barrel ratchets^
wheels, the wfieel
C
dial
turning once in 12 hours,
The
carrying the hour hand.
size
so that
it
can be cast
and shape with every iron foundry,
of the frames, and the position of the pillars,
one piece
all in
;
and as
there are always pattern-makers in connection this will
trouble or expense, if the
'
be no great
maker of
the clock
be placed so that the cannot procure a casting ready made. screws which hold the dial will appear in [TO BE CONTINUED.] symmetrical positions on the dial. A moveallows the dial feet
to'
ment made on
this plan will admit of a dial form of Figure 3 or Figure 4, as the
either of the taste of the
maker
The Formation and Angles of
prefers.
METHOD OF FASTENING THE MOVEMENT IN THE CASE.
BY PROF.
How
to
T.
Tools.
EGLESTON, SCHOOL, OF MINES,
make and keep
N. T.
tools in order, is
one
Fig. 12 gives a side view of the proposed of the most important questions a mechanic has
A A A is a metal bracket which the to answer. In order to contribute somewhat to movement rests on, and from which the the solution of this question, the following paper Originality in it is not pendulum B is suspended. This plan is, beyond has been prepared. Most of the investigations and obserall question, the best that has yet been devised claimed. It vations recorded are published in papers by for fitting a fine clock in a wooden case. clock.
clock
provides a firm support for the pendulum, and Holtzapffel, Willis,
Babbage, Naysmith, and being cleaned without others (the investigators' own words being very but they are not removing the pendulum, which, in some forms often quoted in this paper) also admits of the clock
;
of compensation,
This bracket the drawing
1
is
is itself
a great object.
may be made on a
of cast iron, and
scale one-half the full size.
The length of the lower part of the bracket, and that part of it from which the pendulum is suspended, must be determined by the depth of the regulator case
;
but as cases are usually
made, the drawing is exactly half the required Fig. 1$ shows a front view of the back size. part of the bracket. In the diagram it is cut out in the centre to secure lightness, and the three small circles indicate the position of the
screws or bolts that fasten the case.
Two
bracket to the
bolts are placed at the top of the
and besides this, no one or two papers embrace what is known on the subIt is hoped that this article may awaken ject. some interest, and perhaps help to solve some of the difficult problems which occur every day in a workman's experience. There is no process requiring the use of cutting tools which is accomplished with the facility, rapidity, and precision of turning, because the work and the tools are guided the work revolving between fixed centres, and the tool guided either by the hand or a fixture made for the purpose. But the best lathe can do no more than place the work in the most easily accessible,
where the pendulum is suspend- favorable position. It is but which will be found however elaborate and costly Although tools which are used with it to be sufficient for every purpose. the back part of the bracket is cut out to in- made or badly applied to entirely sure lightness, the bottom part, on which the efficiency depends
bracket, near ed,
and one
at the bottom,
;
a poor machine, it
may
be, if the
are either badly
the
work.
on
the
Its
proper
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
224 angles being
given
the
to
tools,
and their known
It
not sufficient that the mechanic should
is
and these are Digging is only an intensified cutting, owing to a badly formed took or the improper application of a good one. Chattering is an intermediate stage of scraping. Both of these effects are fatal to good work, but do not, however, require special attention, since every
to
mechanic,
digging and chattering.
proper application. tools. A knowledge of the prinupon which they are formed, and of the proper methods of guiding them, is essential to his success. Every mechanic can make his own tools, which means that he purchases them more or less roughly formed, and grinds them to the proper angle. The methods of grinding are generally learned by long experience, and the knowledge highly valued but in practice there are many forms of tools which are only accidentally good, and therefore must be considered as empirical forms, for which others might with advantage be substituted, if the principles of the formation of tools were rightly understood. A good workman may use a badly ground tool, because experience has taught
have good ciples
;
the proper understanding of the principles of cutting and scraping will prevent
them
alto-
may be said to be the use of the tool in such a way as to cause the edge to penetrate, and scraping its use in such a way Cutting
gether.
that
it
We shall,
cannot penetrate.
therefore,
be mainly occupied with the principles which cause tools to penetrate.
As we have
said above, every cutting edge
simply a wedge, whose edge
an angle behind
that,
it, it
by the
is
aid of the
is
formed at such
power applied
can penetrate into the substance
how to acted upon. The comparative amount of oppoform the sition which a face of the tool receives, the proper angles with the surface upon which it hardness of the substances acted on not being This is, however, a tour de force, taken into the consideration, will depend either is to act. and may therefore be considered almost in the on the amount of surface in contact, as in light of an obstacle to progress, since it requires Fig. 1, or on the material giving way on \me great experience, and but few persons can ac-
how
to
hold
it
hold
make it cut way that it
it to
;
in such a
quire the
art.
servant of the
The tool workman ;
empirical rules are used,
is,
that
is,
shall
01 should be, the
where
but, in general,
rather his master
it is
than his assistant. Whatever may be the form or purpose of any tool, its proper service will depend on the way in
which
its
edge
acted upon.
is
We
applied to the surface to be
say edge, because, though
tools are often pointed, if the
extremity of the
side, as In
that
Fig. 2.
be seen, in Fig. 1, wedge is the same,
It will
the action of the
examined it will generally be be terminated by a very minute edge whether it is made with one or two bevels. Fig. or, if really a point, the acting surface will be This is the general action of wood tools. found to be an edge near the point, and not the 2 shows the action of paring tools, to which poini, is carefully
found
to
point
;
As tools
itself.
are not
made with
obtuse class lathe tools belong.
cutting edges, the consideration of the principles of the formation of tools will be the discussion of
the laws which govern the action of acute edges in general,
without reference
form or application of the edge
is
to
tool.
any particular Every cutting
a wedge, so that in discussing the we shall be treating the subject
angles of tools
of acute angled wedges.
Every
tool
edge can
affect the surface
upon
Tools are usually applied so that the pressure
two different ways. It may is greater on one edge than another, and the cut or scrape it. There are two other effects, edge where the pressure is greatest will, in all apparently very different from these, well cases, guide the course of the work. This edge Avhich
it
acts in
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
225
always be the face next the surface of the must give names to certain points and angles d C is a straight line passing work, as A B, Figs. 1 and 2. The first step, of the tools. will
D
therefore,
and the most important
one,
so to
is
place the lower face of the cutting edge that
a
shall be in
When
The whole edge
natural
its
the tool
position,
made
is
thus
is
wedge.
take any other
This
digging or chattering. tools
to
a
as
position
by
will assert itself at once either
it
whose thickness
true only of
is
The
not appreciable.
is
taken into account
we
shall find the progress of the tool opposed
by
moment friction,
this
5^
line with the direction the cut is
intended to follow. placed in
K
it
element
is
because the face of the edge mil rub
To prevent
against the work. possible, the face
much
this as
as
below the cutting edge must
f: B! through the point acted upon, and the centre of the circle
;
E e d is
a line passing over the cut-
ting point of the tool,
AB
acted upon, d.
and through the point
is the"
tangent to the circle
form with each other be slightly bevelled. This bevel Babbage calls a number of angles -Of importance, to which the angle of relief, and should generally be the following names have beeli given: The very small. Its minimum is 3°, and its maxiat the point d.
These
lines
;
mum may be
angle
considered as 6°.
work,
all circular
This angle, in
estimated from the tangent
is
to the circumference at the point
Thus, in Figs.
tool acts.
3,
4,
5j, :
where the 6> and 7,
the line
AB
point.
The angle included between
the tangent to the circle at this
is
the lower plane of the
tool
is
AB
and
dD
tools, it is
necessary to discuss the principles on
their cutting edges act, in order to ascer-
how
they produce their
of relief ;
FdE
or the section aiigle
of the
called the angle tool,
the angle of esedpe.
The angle of
relief
'
should always be very
small, because the point of the tool, d, will, in
that case, have site to
its
support nearly in a line oppo-
the force acting
makes with the
Before deciding upon the forms of different
tain
tool y ~R
is
of the
upon
it.
This depends
the .angle of on the angle which the upper surface of the edge
relief
which
BdF
the angle
effect,
and
to
this angle is
What-
surface of the work.
ever the shape of the particular edge
may
be,
minimum by keeping
reduced to a
the lower face as close as possible to the surface being acted
upon.
Whenever
acuteness
determine what are the most suitable angles to
be used under different circumstances, and with different methods. These principles are best illustrated by selecting the principles of action of slide rest
tools,
fixed position,
of
all tools.
because the tool
which
is
is
here in a
the theoretical position
The proper use of hand
tools fol-
lows necessarily from the use of slide rest
We 1
shall therefore divide the subject
tools.
into—
The principles which govern the formaof slide rest tools so as to get the best work xoith the least expenditure of time tion
and force 2.
and
Conditions necessary to secure the best action
3.
Edges most
retain
of cutting edges. suitable for
slide rest tool,
different
ma- wood, in
acting on a cylinder as at
removes from
a,
Fig.
to
determine on what principle this
3,
the angle of
4 and
terials.
A
required in a cutting edge it must be obtained from the upper surface, and not by increasing
is y
it
a shaving. is
6,
relief.
we
is
shown
in Figs. 3,
and
tools for iron
the angle oi relief being exactly the same
both cases.
A most
important reason for
keeping this angle as small as possible
In order strain required done,
This
which represent
to
remove the shaving.
is
the
This
strain falls in the direction of the diameter,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
226
and may therefore be estimated from the tangent at the point of contact of the
The most common
illustrations of these prin-
The
This ciples are the razor and the ink eraser.
tool.
razor
is
a cutting
against the face
and if the edge is placed with the back slightly raised, tool,
so as to give the proper angle of relief,
cut the beard, but in
The ink
dig into the skin. If
tool.
its
the paper, tear
edge
is
eraser
it
will
a scraping
not held perpendicularly to
will dig into it
it
is
will
it
any other position
and
either cut or
it.
If a turning or planing tool is improperly illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, where all the In Figs. 3 and 4 the made, or presented to the work in such a way cutting edges are 60°. the shaving will con- that it has a tendency to dig, a very small angle angle of relief is 3° sequently be wedged off at an angle (E d B, of relief and a long back (fd, Fig. 3), will have is
;
which is the smallest possible a tendency to counteract it. The smaller the angle. In Fig. 5, where the tool is also 60°, angle of the tool (E d F, Fig. 3), the less the but where the angle of relief has been increased, force required for its use. This advantage is, Fig. 3) of 63°,
when
however, counterbalanced,
the angle
is
very small, by a weakness in the cutting point.
There
is
another disadvantage in making the .
angle of the tool smaller than the escape of the
shaving requires, and that
is,
that if the
metal with which the point
mass of
in contact is
is
smaller, the heat acquired in the operation will
not so quickly be got rid
of.
The angle of escape (E d D, Fig the angle of wedging
The
90°.
87 c
,
off,
tool here
D d B, is increased to
3) is df the
greatest importance, varying with the nature
might better have been of the materials being acted upon. If the angle
3° being deducted for the angle of
relief.
is
very small, the action of the tool
is
rather that
of scraping than of cutting, and the matter re-
This more obtuse angle would work moved is more like powder, unless the material the acuter one, because in Fig, 5 the edge of is very flexible and cohesive. tendency a and has work the points into the tool Fig. 5 may represent one edge of the oldThus a change in the angle of relief, better than
to dig.
Fig.
5,
increases the
amount of strain on an edge fashioned side,
drill,
which
is
bevelled on the under
having the upper face perpendicular
which is less able to bear it than that of Figs. 3 and 4, for in the latter case the strain makes a surface of the work.
The
less acute the
to the
edges
small angle with the edge, while in the former makes a right angle, following directly
it
across
it,
rendering
it
abrasion and fracture.
an edge
is,
when
lower face
its
therefore, is
much more The
it
to
most favorably situated as near the surface to be
acted upon as practicable
when
liable
cutting action of
;
or, in
other words,
occupies very nearly the position of a
The 3, 4 and 6. tendency to penetration will therefore bo most of the
tangent at that point, Figs.
effectually prevented if a line at right angles to the
tangent at the point of action (the radius
of the circle produced) bisects the cutting-edge, aa in Fig.
7,
and
this,
therefore, will be
angle
may
be.
is
of this kind are made, the smoother ;
for so long as the
upper surface
at right angles to the work, increasing the
angle of relief only increases the force required
the to
position of all scraping tools, whatever their
drills
they will cut
wedge back the shaving, and
time the tendency to dig.
edges of such
drills are
When
at the
same
the cutting
required to be very
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. acute, they should
be hollowed out so as
to give
the commencement and end of one rotation The The space between them, m b n, will, there-
the necessary acuteness to the upper face. twist drill is the best
example of a
drill
made on
proper principles, for while the proper angle preserved on
represent the section of the
fore,
shaving
first
which runs off during the process of turning. give the In the drawing, b n is the width of the shav-
the spiral flutes
its face,
227
is
ing, and b m its thickness but by varying the whose edges are ground on both angle and the rate of the movement of the tool,
necessary acute angle for the upper surface.
;
All
bow
and consequently
sides,
are
drills,
made on
action
In
is
act in both directions,
the principle of Fig.
7,
and
their
one of scraping, and not of cutting.
this may be reversed. In all cases, however, with a tool at this angle, two cutting edges are used in detaching the shaving B E represent;
when
D
the sense of touch ing the width, and B the thickness of the is not available for adapting the tool to the shaving, or vice versa. proper position, the most accurate adjustment In adjusting the position and angles of a is required before commencing the work. The tool for turning or planing, it is essential slide rest tools,
that
slide rest generally allows
motions only in two
its
action should have been previously studied.
If in practice a tool was in the position Fig. 8, the motion would be slow, and the space B b
or m b, which is the thickness of the shaving, would be much less than in the figure. It is generally supposed that edge, and that the
B E alone is
the cutting
shaving would come
The edge
BD
is
the only one
act on the surface of the
ing parallel planes
applied to the
;
the edge of the tool must
work
in a plane passing
If
rest.
we
torn off edgewise,
work by a single-acting ;
B.
which is left to and if the shavtool
be so constructed that this force does not act, the surface of the work will necessarily be left rough.
through
the centres of the lathe, and parallel to the
planes of the slide
is
off
D
without the assistance of the other edge
By
placing the edge even parallel to the axis
suppose a slide of the work,
and rounding the corner
JD,
and
carefully sharpening the edge B D, the spiral rest tool to be placed in the position of the wood- turning tool, as in Fig. 6, if a cylinder Was on the surface of the cylinder may be entirely obliterated, and a finished surface left. The being the tool would very soon pass
turned
a face action of the two edges is therefore different was being turned, a large core would be left. B E penetrates and separates the breadth of the The general position on a line with the centres shaving, leaving a rough surface, which at the entirely over
it
without touching
it,
which
is
therefore, the only one
is,
all
or
if
;
suitable to
positions of fixed tools.
Let metal
FS
H K, Fig.
—between
8,
represent a cylinder
the centres of the lathe,
jected to the action of a slide rest tool,
next revolution
is
obliterated
by the edge
D
B.
The first edge therefore does the roughing, and the second the finishing work. of
sub-
Fig. 9 shows the simplest form of tool, in
DBE. AB
and
AC
are the cutting edges.
which
Tho stem
to have passed from of the tool may be of any shape which convepurpose of turning a cylinder, nience or fancy may require, but the cutting and to be fixed in the slide rest so as to move portion must be bounded by three planes two in a direction parallel to the axis of. the work, side planes, S, only one of which is seen in the being carried forward at such a rate that the figure, and an upper plane, U. The intersection
The
A
tool
is
supposed
to B, for the
,
—
B
upper plane with the two side planes effect of produces the cutting edges A B and A C, and the movement will be to trace a. screw thread the intersection of the two side planes produces oh the surface of the cylinder, which, in the angle B C A, which is called the plan angle of
B
moves uniformly the distance every revolution of the cylinder. The
point
the
drawing,
is
very
much
exaggerated.
appears generally as a mere roughness.
and dbe represent the
b
at of the
It
DBE
position of the tool at
the tool.
It is
by the proper
planes to each other that
we
inclination of these
obtain the neces-
sary acuteness of the cutting edges, and the de-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
228
The plan angle is sired form of the point. formed by the two planes S, and determines the form of the point of the
tool,
and the
are thus admitted as being those of a tetrahedron, while those for brass are the angles of a
A variation of a
cube.
section of
degree or two in these an-
gles will probably be of
little
consequence
;
but
some kinds of work require that it should be finished with the same tool with which it is commenced, without requiring grinding, howas
may be, it is important to study the angles of the edges. In grinding a tool it is convenient to consider only the angle -which the upper plane makes ever long the time
U
with the front line of the plan angle AD. The angles of the cutting edges A B and A C are equal.
we suppose a
If
pass through
the side planes S,
A
plane in a line
it
this vertical plane.
A
greater or less inclination of of the angle
the upper plane U,
if
the tool rests in a hori-
zontal bed, produces a greater Or less acute-
ness in the cutting edges. is
II the
be 90°,
i'AD.
the angle
upper
B A C,
be perpendicular
will
to
We thus have a measure A rough goniometer will
enable us to grind this Upper plane at any angle k A D, and thus insure the cutting edges
upper plane being
horizontal, the cutting edges will
will intersect the
k, bisecting
and the upper plane the shaving.
vertical plane to
A D, and making equal angles with
alike.
This angle, k
the tool or section angle,
A D, is
and
is
the angle
of
not the same as
whatever be the plan angle of the tool. If it that of the cutting edges. The question to be is not, then the angle of the edges will vary answered in every case is Given the plan anwith the plan angle and the inclination of the gle of the tool, and the cutting edge required :
for the metal to be treated, to find the angle upper plane. Different metals and different qualities of the k A D of the upper plane. This can only be same metal require different angles, which have done by a trigonometrical calculation, the re-
been more or iment.
and
iron
78°
;
less exactly
It is generally steel require
that brass
finished at 90o,
determined by exper-
admitted that wrought
an angle of 60°, cast iron
may be roughened The angles
at 80°
for iron
and
sult of
lished
which has been given in a table pubby Willis. It has not been considered
necessary to give the angles nearer than half a
and degree, which steel
30'
is
Table of the Section Angles k
85°
150° 140° 130° 120° 110° 100° 90° 80° 70° 60° 50° 40°
To use
;
thus 69°
A D.
70°
80.
74 5
69 5
79.5
74.
79.
65°
60°
48.5
43.
52.5
41.5
56 5
51. 49. 46. 42. 36. 27.
47. 45. 42.
35 5
38.5
30. 23.
73 5 72 5
60.5
55.
78. 77.
71.5
65 5
59.
70.
63.5
56.5
52.5 49.5
76.
68.5
74 5 72 5
66. 63.
61. 58.
70. 66.
58 5
53. 49. 42. 33.
this table, the
47. 36.
52. 40.
59 5
column giving the
consulted.
cut-
45. 39. 29.
clination of the
Opposite to the will be found.
column headed plan angle of the
tool,
the in-
45°
54.
78.5
78. 75.
50°
59. 58.
84*5
53.5
55°
64. 63. 62.
84. 83. 82. 81. 80.
first
75°
80*
69. 68. 67.
83.5
is
indicated by decimal
CUTTING EDGES.
PLAN ANGLE UPON A D.
ting edges
is
written 69°. 5.
33. 25. 0.
upper plane or the angle
39.
0.
kAT>
Thus, to obtain the cutting
edges of 70° for a
tool
whose plan angle
is
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
229
must be ground at an angle of edge should be about 70°. If to the form Fig. 61° with the front line A D. 10 lateral cutting edges B m, C of 70° are supposing given, that the side planes are inclinSome very curious results are obtained from 90°, the tool
m
Let us suppose that a
this table.
tool for iron
ground with the plan angle A D 60°. By turning in the column of cutting edges, to the angle 60°, which is the proper cutting edge for iron, we find opposite 60°, showing that the desired form is impossible. It is, therefore, impossible to place the upper plane of the tool at such an angle that will give a cutting edge of 60°. The same plan angle, under a cutting edge of 65°, gives the angle k A D equal to 33°, which is too acute for the required strength. A cutting edge of 70° requires the angle k A D is
if
we make
will
this front
The
be about 76°.
m
n will be only 61° edge 70°, the lateral edges
ed at 90°, the front edge
difference is
than in the former example, but Fig. 9
angle
is
is
will be.
much
still
The more obtuse
preferable.
less
the form the plan
made, the stronger the point of the
tool
It is better generally to give slide rest
plan angle, as in Fig. 8, where the between 110° and 120°, and make the
tools a large
angle
is
section angle correspond, in order to get the ne-
cessary cutting edges. often be
made
The plan angle may
as large as 150° with advantage.
weak, Thus no proper edge When rectangular pieces are to be cut, the plan an iron-turning tool, whose angle must be 90° an angle of 45° then makes plan angle is not greater than 60°. the point rather weak, and it will be best to deTo produce a stronger point, the plan angle crease it. It must be understood, however, that of the tool is sometimes ground flat, as atf'm, unless the plan angle is greater than 60°, it Fig. 10, so as to make a. short intermediate will be impossible to obtain two cutting edges edge m )i. The angle of this n£w< cutting edge of the necessary acuteness. >n n is evidently the same as the angle k A D Tools are often made with the point rounded 47°, which
is still
can be given
to
;
in the previous figure,
impossible to
make
form.
will there-
If: is, therefore,
the front cutting edge,
of the
same angle as
except
when
were not for
and the table
new
fore serve for this
S, for this is
more
m n,
acute,
the cutting edges are 00°.
If
it
off,
as in Fig. 11, instead of being terminated
Such tools are liable to the by a plane. same objection as Fig. 10, i. e., an impossibility of giving an equal angle to all the This is shown in Fig. 12, cutting edges.
form would give a strong so that it is worth while to
this, this
and effective tool, examine the objections
to
it.
Let us suppose the section angle, or the angle at which the two side planes meet, to be 90°; the 1
table
shows
that, if the lateral cutting edges
are 60°, the edge
m
n
will
be 45°.
As
this
is
too acute to be durable, let the front edge be
which
which will give 70° For iron and steel tools
rounded
68°,
for the side
edges.
represents tool,
made
an oblique section of a The at an angle of 45°.
this form is bad, behighest part of the edge A, will be exactly at cause the difference between the angles of the the lowest, however, will be at an this angle cutting edges is too great. The best form for angle of 135°. Between these two points there these metals appears to be the one in which the Thus at I will be every intermediate gradation. plan angle of the point is made as obtuse as and and it will be 90°, so that between possible, and both the cutting edges alike. Thus there is a variation of 45°. No two adjacent the plan angle may be made 135°. This cor- positions, on the same side, will be at the same ;
m
A
m
responds, by the table, to a cutting edge of 60°,
angle. The highest, A, will be too acute to 57°, producing a last, and the lowest, b m, will be too blunt to very strong tool, similar to the part of Fig. 10 Comparing Figs. 9 and 11, it is clear that cut. which is included between the planes S and f, D, is the same in both, and the section angle, k but having both its cutting edges of the same that in the round point, Fig. 11, the angle passes
and makes the angle k
AD
A
degree of acuteness.
The same remarks to the case
through all degrees of acuteness between A and m, instead of abruptly changing from one to the whose cutting other, as at m, Fig. 10. Besides this, in a heavy
apply, but with less force,
of tools for cast iron,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
230
is separated by a round- face When rectangular faces are to be cut, the and which consequently has a curved plan angle must be 90°, but in general this For complicated figsection cannot roll itself off the work with the angle should be larger. same ease that a ribbon shaving does. It thus ures, different forms must of course be adopted,
cut, a
ed
shaving which
tool,
opposes greater resistance to the edge of the
A
but the principle of keeping the plan angle as
may always be used with adkeep in order than one vantage. We have supposed, in the table, that the whose edges are planes. This, however, does not apply to cutters held in holders. The round tool rests upon a horizontal plane the side
tool,
and dulls
tool is
more
sooner.
it
forged round nose obtuse as possible
difficult to
;
tool
should therefore be formed on the same planes, the ordinary double-edged tools,
principle as
order to avoid having the tool
off in
Care must be taken
tuse or too acute,
considered as vertical, and
consequently the line of the section also.
to place
is,
in
A D,
an
inclination,
the nose of the tool in the direction of the width
to the sine of the
of the shaving, for unless the edge
which must be taken
and almost it
is straight,
parallel with the face of the work,
be marked with a series
will
It
however, necessary to incline the planes at too ob- about 3° from the vertical. This produces,
the plan angle being considered only as round-
ed
may be
S,
which varies according
plan angle of the
tool,
but
into account in the con-
For the angles
struction of the goniometer.
of concave the table are the angles
A
k
makes with the
grooves, varying in depth according to the feed gles which the upper plane
in
D, and not the anhori-
zontal platform of the slide rest on
which the An obtuse-pointed tool seems, then, the best tool is seated The following table shows the anThe gle which A D makes with the vertical line A m, for turning and planing flat surfaces. edge B D, Fig. 8, should be set nearly or quite Fig 9, under different plan angles, always parallel to the path of the tool, as from A to supposing the plane S to make an angle of 3° B, in turning a cylinder, or planing a flat sur- from the vertical.
given to the
tool.
Plan angle
Angle of
relief
.
The form of
150°.
140°.
130°.
120°.
110°.
100°.
90°.
3°. 5'
3 n .10'
3°. 17
3°. 27'
3°.38
3°. 53'
4°. 12'
the tool having been decided
upon, the next most important point
manner of applying
usually
that the principle
point of the
correct, unless the tool
be perfectly
applied to
calculated rule,
what
which are
to
is
force,
the metal,
that
below
little
is,
when
is
put on the work.
dC tool
In doing so it will L d M, from Q,
force
applied.
is
offlexure.
line,
is
D
If,
C, is the
when bending
H
applying
Before
the sition of the point of rotation can always be
The
it
make
is
always possible
to cut
a given spot weak, and
This
This produce a centre of flexure at this point. cor-
is
a matter of importance,
hand where the rupture
for,
knowing
before-
will take place,
dan-
passing through the ger to the other parts of the machinery can be avoided,
and provision can be made
for replac-
the line joining the cutting ing the broken part.
point d, and the centre of the
making the
8°.39'
when any unusual
however, the point P, above the line
tools
point of the tool and the centre of the work. 4,
n
not as a centre, and must dig into the work.
is
that the centre of flexure should
always be above the In Fig
7
point, the point will describe some and part of the arc d Gr, about P as a centre, elastic, is and will spring away from the work. The po-
This rule,
number of more or less
mislead.
it,
fixed in such a posi-
rigid.
called the centre
rect rule
6°
40°
such as a point of greater density in the
the position around which the point of away, so as to
is
Bf.'ii'
50°.
that point becomes the centre about which the
each tool must be considered, to ascertain commanded, for
the tool will bend
point
is
the greatest
tool holders,
40.44.
60°.
should be on a level with describe some part of the arc
tool
the axis of the work, or a
tion as to
stated,
70°.
the point of the tool will bend
is
Babbage has shown
it.
80o.
weak about
Q
work C.
below
By
this line,
The
forces
to
be overcome, in removing a
shaving from the cylinder, are of two kinds,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. which are 1.
It
is
when
cut,
the force expended would have been
A|4BI«
necessary to separate the atoms along
the line of action, and tear
The
dividing the material. this
This might, however, have been done in one
distinct in the nature of their action,
but simultaneous in their application.
them
231
thus The force required for making the two cuts will force required for always be less than that required for making apart,
purpose will be dependent upon the metal
A
2
one,
f
For
let
is
t
greater than
2B
acted upon, and proportional to the length of the cutting edge of the tool, but will be inde-
f
It
may
The
therefore be said to depend on the naas each metal has
ture of the edge,
its
= —B + •
2
pendent of the thickness of the part removed.
force for
own
A
2
v
'
two cuts
will be,
+ 2b( A+
„L3A + 2Bb.
angle. 2.
The shaving
The
cut off by the tool must, in
order to be removed, and clear the
way
force of one cut of twice the thickness
A
for the
+ 4B ( .^b+
y)=*3A+-4Bw.
further action of the edge, be bent, or even
may
be said
to
be dependent on the way in which the tool
is
curved in a
This force
spiral.
When
applied to the work.
2
So that the force for the two cuts is less by u, than the force required for the one. In the same way it may be proved that if
B
thick cuts are I
taken, this
force is
large,
greater than that required to separate the atoms. If the
bending were only of small extent, the
be exerted would vary as the square of the thickness multiplied by some constant, dependent on the nature of the metal operated upon. But the bending is, generally, of such extent that the shaving is broken at very short intervals to such an extent that, though not quite broken through, it is impossible, even after the most careful annealing, to unwind a force to
This severance of the
steel spiral of this sort.
2
is
greater than
and may even be will
it
A — mB
'
- or
always require
t
2
A -4=— nB v
The n
force required for n slices
A-fnB
{
—
Force required for a
The less
{n
l
is
\={n + 1) A+nBu.
-f v
A-fn* b( -A--f
make n n times thick.
less force to
separate slices, than to cut one slice
slice
n times thick
«j=(n+l) A-f
n2
force required for the former
than that for the
— n) B
latter,
B
v.
always
is
by the quantity
v.
The time employed
in
making
a cut
is
usu-
atoms in the shaving requires the expenditure ally the same, whether the shaving is thick or of considerable force, which may even be greatthin, so that the saving in power by taking er than that which caused the tool to penetrate. thin cuts separately would be accomplished at The law by which this force increases with the a very great expense of time. This need not be thickness may be assumed as the case, however, if tool holders are employed, F A-t-B* + C2 2 -f D/ so arranged that in the same time several sucFor the present illustration, it is sufficient This may be done cessive cuts can be made. to take into consideration only the two forces having pieces of steel so arranged that one by mentioned above, the constant one and the one varying with the square of the thickness of the cutter takes the cut after another has finished. By having the cutters so arranged that they can shaving. If, therefore, t be this thickness, and A and B two constants, dependent on the na- be easily removed, and so that only two faces, most, require grinding, the strain on both ture of the metal, we shall have amongst the at the machine would be less, enabling them forces required for the separation of the shaving tool and power, give better work, and be less to use less 2 A-|-B«
=
J
.
We can see from this expression, without knowA and B, that the force re-
ing the values of
easily put out of adjustment.
The
principles
upon which the cutting edges
quired to remove the same thickness of metal of tools are formed, having been determined, we may vary considerably, according to the way in find that we can classify all tools as having which it is effected. If a layer of the thickness single or double acting edges, without regard 2
1 is
cuts.
removed,
The
it
may
be done in two successive to their real number, according as one or two edges are made to act at one time. The edges
force required will then he 2
A
+
2
B
t»
of single-edged tools act independently,
each
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
232 one removing
its
own shaving, when it
is placed the strain, and Such edges may, there- come blunted.
in position to do so.
the edge
would break or be-
A longitudinal The different tools are formed in different showing the plan angle, will ways, according to the purpose for which they Double are to be used. In the case of wood the edge give a true idea of the cutting edges. edged tools are so formed that, while both edges works at an oblique tangent, and removes the act at once, each does its work independently shaving by passing under its whole width, and be formed separately.
fore,
section of a tool,
of the other, and both edges have the same de- we may characterize the action as one of parThe slide rest tool is at right angles to gree of acuteness, as has been explained with ing. reference to Fig. 9. The two edges are formed the axis of the work, and its action is rather
by three planes, an upper surface being com- that of uncoiling. The width and thickness of to both side planes, which forms two incli- the shaving lie in different directions, Fig. 8, nations with this common plane. One of the edges The shaving must therefore be cut simultaonly, the one below the common plane, forms the neously from the face of the work on one side, angle of relief, so that, as we have seen, the and from the part being removed on the other angle at the point has no necessary connection if it is not it will he torn from the work, in one with the cutting edge, and may vary as much of these directions. In what is called roughing,
mon
as 30° from as
according to circumstances. Thus,
it,
we have
seen, the angles of the cutting edges
depend on the plan and section angles.
The
preservation of the edges after they are
formed depends upon the form of the tool, and the position of the cutting edge with regard to In the case of wood the surface of the work. turning, this depends upon the expertness of
the
workman.
In the case of fixed
pends on a careful obedience of the
art,
to
tools it de-
it is
uaual to take the width of the shaving on
the superfluous material, as in Fig. 13.
the principles tool thus cuts only on one edge
since the tool once fixed cannot will be torn
;
The
on the other
it
from the work, and the point of
adapt itself, but must go on as
the tool will trace a spiral on the face of the it is guided, until, wrongly placed, either the blunting of work, and the amount of force expended will If the edges, however, are the edge or the breaking of the tool in some be a maximum. formed so that they can cut, as in Fig. 8, both part requires a new adjustment. if it
is
It
is
well
known
that different metals and edges will cut, and the
different qualities of the
The
ferent angles.
best authorities give
wood Ivory and hard woods Wrought iron and steel Soft
.
same metal require
. .
Cast-iron and steel
60° 70°
Roughing brass Finishing
:
20° to 30° 40° to 80°
70° to 80" 90°
•'
It will be seen by this table that fibrous terials require tools of
much more
dif-
work
will
have a
fin-
nished look, and the labor will be reduced to a
The aim, therefore, should be to keep the face of the tool next the work as nearly parallel with it as possible, because it is minimum.
only that face which leaves any trace of the tool,
the action of the other edge being
shown
only on the shaving.
A
slide
ma- edged
one.
rest
tool is
in
It is therefore
acute angles sides in such a
way
general a doublebest to form the
that they shall remain in-
crystalline. While the angles for woods variable, and alter the shape of the tool by vary between 20 and 80, those for metal vary grinding its upper face. Naysmith's cone between 60 and 90. gauge, Fig. 14, allows of a ready means of As heat is always generated to a greater or forming the sides accurately. It is most sim-
than
extent in turning metals, if the angles ply made, of a cone of iron turned to an angle were less than 60° the mass of metal would of 3°, and broad enough at its base to stand by be too small to resist the heat, so that the itself. Two circles can be traced on it, one temper of the tool would be soon lost or if it showing the height of the centre from the was not, the mass would be too weak to resist lathe bed, and another showing the height less
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
233
from the bed or any other part of the slide advantages. Holtzapffel has described a numThe tool can in this way be adjusted in the ber of them several are in general use, but most of them have too large a surface to be
rest.
;
ground, or are defective in their angles.
In the case of hand-turning, which,
to
a great
extent, is a matter of personal dexterity, the
correct relation
may be
face
slide rest,
and
from the lathe bed or the
verified
elide rest after it
has been fixed in position. The
between the edge and the sur-
ways,
according to
This
shown
is
many
obtained at will in
convenience
different
or
caprice.
which is one of whose
in the use of the graver,
simply a square piece
of
steel,
any required angle, so lower faces of each edge are to be applied to that by grinding one plane we obtain two acute the gauge. The front line of the point varies cutting edges and three heels, from which to slightly with the variations of the plan angle
of the
tool,
but the section angle
be measured from
it,
whatever
its
is
always
slope
may
ends
is
ground
at will to
The
parts principally used are the
last parts of the
edges towards the point, which
use them.
to
be.
are generally strengthened by a minute facette, ground nearly at right angles to them. Geneas are rally only one of the edges is used at a time,
This gauge forms a very convenient method of
adjustment for
and
inside,
all
The
bent from the shank.
such tools
principles of the
cutting edges remaining fixed, the cone gauge
can be applied here as well as in the other
but
may be used
it
When
it
is
as a double-edged tool.
used for roughing, the point
buried in the work below the centre
line,
is
and
It is a very common and a very bad When it is the lower face cuts the shaving. bad plan, when the tool does not exactly suit, used for smoothing, the lower face is placed to wedge up under one end or the other, thus nearly flat against the work. For light finishaltering the angle of relief. It is a much beting cuts the heel may be used, the point being cases.
ter
plan to use thin strips of iron or brass of
over the top of the work, bringing the cutting
and of about the same edge length and width as the shank of the tool. The varying
thickness,
angles are in this
way
preserved.
In considering the shape of the thing to be determined
a double-edged tool
is
There are
further above the centre. :
1st.
The
lower face of the edge should occupy the proper tool,
the
first
position
with
regard
whether a single or The handle of the to be used, and the
is,
next the construction of the
may bo
still
thus three points to be considered
to
placed for the operator.
tool,
so
that
it
tool
applied in the right direction.
the
tool should
2d.
surface.
be conveniently
The heel of
3d.
should be in such a position that
it
the
can
In
be firmly held on the rest. The position of the double-edged tools the position of the lower tool should, therefore, be first considered, and faces determines that of the point, which is The tool the rest then brought up to suit it. merely an accident resulting from the meeting once firmly in position, it is to be kept so durof the edges. It must be so ground as to give ing the progress of the work this is a matter each edge the same degree of acuteness. Thus When held in a wrong of delicacy of touch. ;
position a strong
there
;
hand may be able
but the edge wears
and the work
is
likely
off,
to
keep
it
the point breaks,
not to be true, and
is
never well finished.
The graver properly belongs tools.
in Fig. 15 the point of the tool is at
slope at
B
;
A
in Fig. 16 the point at C,
C D.
This will be seen
to
double-edged
if the point is used.
and the In this case it penetrates the work, and the side and the edge detaches the shaving, as in Fig 8. The
angles of the bar of the graver are 90°. If we number of tool-holders have at differ- wish to make two cutting edges of 60°, we look ent times been invented, most of them claiming at 90° under the plan angle in the table, and at to secure all, or at least some of the theoretical 60° under cutting edges, and we find, in the slope
A
is
large
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
234
Tools for soft wood require cutting angles of column of section angles, 45°, as the angle at which the graver should be ground. If it was 20° to 30°. They are mostly chisels and gouges ground at 61° we should have cutting edges of of different sizes. The gouge serves a different If we purpose from the carpenter's tool, and is really 70°, and if at 76° cutting edges of 80°. increase the plan angle to 140° we should get a different one. It is ground obliquely and excutting edges of 60° by grinding at 58°, which ternally, so that the shape of the edge is ellip-
shows that the larger the plan angle the larger must also the section angle be in order to get The an edge of any degree of acuteness. greater the plan and section angles, the greater In ordialso will be the strength of the point. nary work a tool with a very wide plan angle, ground so as to have cutting edges of'60°, can, if
made
lubricated with water, be
to leave the
The bevel lies Very nearly
tical.
in a tangent to
the point of contact with the work, the tool rest-
ing on
its
back with the concave side up, or on
as different results are to be obtained.
its side,
The middle edge is the one The chisel is ground on both
principally used. sides with a very
acute bevel edge, which is'oblique to the length
The angles are 25°
of the tool.
to
30° for
soft
always wise, woods, and 40° for hard. The middle and in using the graver on gritty substances, such lower parts of the edge are principally used. surface
it
acts
upon
polished.
It is
as rough casting, to clean one end with a
and then trate
;
it
will thus
A
and preserved. this
file,
to cause the point of the tool to pene-
The
tool
might be ground square
across,
woirid then have to be held in a
but
it
much more
These tools require long be buried in the clean metal oblique position. deep cut may be taken in handles, 12 in. to 15 in. In turning tools for
way. without danger
a very acute point
is
When
to the edge.
woods, the elevation of the tool and the
soft
used for turning small angle of
its
edge are each of them
less
than in
ordinary planes, and in those for hard
wood The hardest woods in two directions. We have seen, however, may be turned with soft wood tools, held as that unless this is done in accordance with the usual but on the score of economy the angles work
it
this
allows the
must be reinforced with a minute
facet;
graver to cut at the point both angles are greater.
;
principle
of double-edged tools,
it
open
is
to
are increased from 60° to 80°, and the position of the tool changed from nearly a tangent to
great objections.
Tools for brass require cutting edges at angles the direction of a radius, these changes being of 70° to 90°.
They
are generally very simple,
and are round, pointed, and flat right and left tools except that they are ground at an angle of 60° to 70° and sharpened at 80° to 90°, they very closely resemble the tools used for hard wood. All roughing work should be done with pointed tools, and no wide surface presented to the work, until the piece has been made true with narrow tools. For hard wood and ivory the tools require cutting edges at angles of 40° to 80°. The ;
preparatory tool
the gouge, but
made with a view
making
of
the tool hold
its
edge.
The rough
exterior faces of all
work should
be turned with narrow or pointed tools, and only a narrow band at a time, until the faces are true
reason that,
and
for
concentric.
this,
To understand the
we have
only
suppose
to
while the diameter remains the same, the
roughness on the surface of the work were exaggerated four or
five times.
We
should
then see that the unevenness consists of inclined
ground planes and detached
points, to which, if a
wide would be constantly The soft wood chisel may be employed on pushed in and out, and up and down or, if a the hardest woods, but this is seldom done, as fixed tool, it would have an up and down the tools with single bevels are much more motion entirely incompatible with true work. manageable although their edges are nearly After the rough surface has been removed, a The tool is held in the position tool with a wide edge may be used or, in twice as thick.
less acutely
is
than for
soft
it
is
hand
woods.
tool is applied,
it
;
;
of a diameter of the plied
on a
number
much
circle.
greater
of different shapes
The
tools are ap-
surface,
the case of the graver, one of
and the brought
into play.
Caution
its is
edges
may be when
required,
required on this wide tools are used at right angles to the work,
account are very greatly increased. placed in short handles, 8 to 10
in.
They are not
to
apply them to too great a surface at once,
as this causes the tool to chatter.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. the butt end with a pair of plyers,
Repairing-. —No. 8.
Watch
<
BY
J AS.
235
FRICKER, AMERICUS, GA.
and the very
extreme end of the point in a pair of tweezers, and carefully draw the body of the drill down to a deep blue, and you will have a drill that
is very hard on the point, and very tough imoften find one of the pivots of a pinion or mediately back of the same. Now lay it on a staff either broken or badly worn, and instead piece of metal and draw the point down to
We
a
new pinion or staff, we can, by very pale straw color. With such a drill you a new pivot, make the old one an- can drill any pinion or staff that has had the as well as a new one. The greatest temper drawn to a very light blue, or nearly
of putting in a putting in
swer just difficulty any one has
contend with in putting black.
to
Turn the lathe very slowly, using but and plenty of oil, and you will this being accomplished, the rest of the work is soon have a bole deep enough for your pivot, comparatively easy. which should never be less than the length of We will commence with the upper centre the pivot, and ought to be twice as deep, unpivot, and consider them all, seriatim, premis- less for very small pivots, when one and a half ing, of course, the watch is one the hands of times as deep will answer. This rule holds which are set on the face. Hold the pinion good for all except the lower fourth pivot, with a pair of tweezers, grasping it by the which, being very long, does not require a hole
new pivot
in a
is to drill
the hole* for the pivot;
slight pressure,
then with a blow-pipe, having a small as deep as
from the extreme end of the pinion, being care-
it is long. Take a good needle none but the best quality must ever be used and draw the temper to a for drills or pivots
ful not to heat
deep blue, being careful not
leaves
;
aperture and an alcohol lamp, draw the temper so long or hot as to discolor
it
th e leaves of the pinion
above materially
As
;
holding
it.
as directed
assists in preventing this.
often run true with the lower pivot proper,
or
will
it
be too
soft.
to pass that point,
The blue should be of
we always see in tempering when it is just passing from a
the kind which
— that part rides — does not
the lower portion of the pinion
on which the cannon pinion
—
it is
polished
steel,
We
purple to a blue, for very fine work.
ways
stop at that point just as
it is
al-
entering the
best to always true up the pinion in the lathe blue. Tile it to fit the hole, so that it will repivot, the upper part of the pinion quire some forcing to get it down to the bot-
b y the lower
being in the chuck
;
then
make
a centre on the
tom
;
cut
it off
before forcing
it
in sufficiently
projecting end, after which reverse the pinion long to allow for the pivot, and force
and true up fect
make a
as before
small but per- a few lighi taps of a
end with a sharp-pointed
centre in the
graver, being careful not to leave a in the centre,
which
will
little
now be ready
polish, just the
same
hammer as if
needle, which
the temper
is
then
Stubbs wire, small
for the
size,
what we usually use file
down
to
;
or a
Th© upper
third pivot is put in just as di-
The lower
third
as well as the lower fourth pivots require
more
draw time and
about the
that you intend, your pivot to be, filing
it
in with
working on a new
rected for the upper centre. piece of
it
then turn and
"tit" pinion.
drill.
Take a
;
size
care, for
in either of these,
nearly our satisfaction.
we cannot draw and our
drill will
the temper
not cut to
After having centred for
an inch from the lower third, make a drill as previously deend, then flatten it on the extreme end scribed, omitting tho " drawing of the point to a with a hammer. Do not flatten it with a light straw," as in this case we must have a single blow of the hammer, but strike it very hard drill. We omitted to mention, in dilightly, so that you will have to give it several rections for making a drill, to state that after it blows by so doing your drill will not be as li- was tempered properly, it should be held in a able to crack and crumble when in use. Heat pin vice, and, with one flat side resting on a straight for at least |th of
;
piece of Arkansas stone, take another piece of Arkansas stone and grind it down flat, then now hard, for say half an inch from the end; sharpen it, when it will be ready for use. make it bright with emery paper, then hold With such a drill, plenty of oil, and turning
the end red hot, being careful not to burn
then quickly plunge the end into
oil.
It
it,
is
AMERICAN HOROLOGrlCAL JOURNAL.
236
the lathe very slow, not over one or two revolutions
that the teeth are of a bad shape. In either and using considerable case a new wheel must be substituted for the a hole can be made deep defective one. "Whenever any doubt exists as
a second,
in
on the drill, enough in much less time than one force
think, for the great trouble
much
we
is,
of a hurry, and either force the
much, or bend
it to
one side
it
drill too
consequently, in
;
either case, have a broken drill
stances
could
get in too
;
and
in
some
in-
takes some considerable time to re-
to the
depth being correct, set your depthing
by the holes
in the plates,
and
then try in the doubtful pinion and wheel.
If
tool accurately
and the teeth the proper shape, the entering tooth will not come the depthing
is correct,
into action until
it is
near the fine of centres,
move the piece of drill left in the hole, besides hav- and produces a rolling action, not a sliding ing a new drill to make. If you break a drill, one. Try them carefully, both with a shallow and a deep depth, and carefully notice how up a piece of tempered steel and "pick" they act in different positions for, to deterat it until you get it out. Same directions ap- mine whether the depth is correct or not reply for putting in the pivot as for the centre. quires some good common sense and experiThe upper and lower fourth same as upper and ence. No one can learn how to do good work lower third. The scape pivots are usually put by books alone it requires experience and in same as lower third sometimes we remove thought it takes time and patience to become the scape wheel, and draw the temper for the au fait in horological as well as other matters. upper pivot. The pallet staff pivots can be A watch will sometimes run and keep' very easily put in, as either end can be " drawn," good time when the third wheel is somewhat always polishing up that part that was dis- too.large or too small, but the same error in colored by the heat, of course. the fourth wheel will cause the watch to stop don't be so foolish as to get mad, but quietly
file
;
;
;
;
In putting in a new pivot in the balance occasionally being so much farther from the always remove the balance, if an upper motive power is the cause of this. In a case of pivot is needed, and generally so, if a lower this kind the " botch " will put in a stronger If one is to be put in then draw the temper, mainspring instead of correcting the error. holding the opposite end in a pair of plyers, new beginners, and, in fact, all those who have ;
staff,
;
first
wetting the jaws of the plyers to insure
perfect protection to the opposite or good pivot.
never had the benefit of proper instruction, would use the depthing tool more frequently,
if an upper one, they would have better success. Some watch must be reversed and breakers we wot of do not seem to care trued up, fit on the balance, and rub it on tight to have their bench cumbered with a depthing with a burnisher. If the balance is an " adjust- tool. ed chronometer balance," great care must be In our next we will take up the escape-
After having finished the pivot,
or, if
the lower, the staff
exercised
and not overheat
it,
as
its
adjust-
ment.
It is not our intention
to
go into a
ment would be materially affected. learned and scientific dissertation upon this subAlthough we gave directions for putting in a ject, a la Grossmann, but simply to give some new upper centre pivot in the December No., we practical information as to the proper plan to thought it best to go more into the details this pursue in repairing the defective, broken, or time, and include the other pivots, so as to worn parts of an already existing escapement. have the whole subject of putting in a new We wish to make these articles so plain and pracpivot complete in one article. We hardly deem tical that the apprentice can easily understand and it necessary to give detailed directions for pututilize them, which will stimulate him to study ting in a new third or fourth wheel suffice it such scientific works on horological and kinto say, before riveting them on, they must be dred subjects as are now published, and tend trued up by the periphery, and the hole in the generally to make him a good workman, if not ;
centre
made
concentric with the outside or ex-
tremity of the teeth. It frequently happens, in the
a
scientific horologist.
that
more ordinary that
It
has been suggested,
when these articles are brought to a close, we write a series of articles on the lathe.
grades of English levers, that either the third
We don't promise
or fourth wheels are rather large or small, or
may do
so.
anything of this kind, but
AMEEICAN HOKOLOGICAL JOURNAL. Refining Old Gold.
or cut into small bits, and dissolved by ni-
ly,
This
tric acid.
The
step in this process
first
is to
sort out all
the base metal to which no gold or silver
is at-
237
sel
containing
is it
best done by setting the ves-
warm sand
into
where the fumes that
arise will
or ashes,
be drawn up
and being particularly careful to break the chimney. The silver will be taken up by from the gold pens, as it is so the acid and remain in solution as a nitrate, refractory that it will not melt, and so insoluble while the gold will fall to the bottom of the The liquid must be carethat it cannot be eliminated by acids, and when vessel, in a powder. embedded in the gold will always give trouble fully poured off, the gold powder washed With tached,
off the iridium
in filing
and polishing.
Whenever it does«come up a piece of gold
to the surface in polishing
work, the easiest
way
to get rid of
it is
to
dig
it
fresh water, collected, dried, put into a clean crucible with borax, melted
and
cast into
an
ingot, if of considerable quantity, otherwise left
out with the graver and fill up the cavity with to cool, as a button of fine gold in the bottom of the crucible. The silver can be precipitated gold solder and refinish the spot. If there are hollow pieces among the old gold, from its solution, and recovered in the metallic flatten
them together
so as to reduce
them
pack the whole
to as
form by immersing in
it
a plate of copper, thus
transforming the silver solution into nitrate of
bulk a suitable sized crucible, filling the inter- copper, and precipitating the silver in the form stices with saltpetre, and submitting it to the of gray powder, which can be melted into a bar as possible,
little
closely
into
It ia sometimes well or button, as was the gold. By this process and lute into it a crucible, through pure gold ahd silver are obtained, from which the bottom of which a hole has been punched, can be compounded such alloys as may be dewhich will prevent the too rapid volatilization sired, by the formulas shown in the article on
highest heat of the forge.
to invert
alloys previously
of the nitre. It will
be necessary
to continue the
referred
The
to.
nitrate of
heat an copper can be recovered in crystals by evapo-
hour or more, in the meantime adding more rating the solution to dryness. In working the gold into plates or wire, frenitre, some adding also a small quantity of salt. The object of this long-continued fusion is to quent annealings are necessary, because it rap-
burn
out, oxidize,
metal, such as
and
volatilize, all
tin, lead, zinc, etc.,
the base idly hardens, and becomes difficult to farther
and even the
flatten or
draw, and also because of the tenden-
copper can be partially burned out by this pro- cy to crack. cess.
When
purified, it
it
is
supposed
may be poured
to
out into cold water, rolling was Continued
which granulates it, breaks it up into small grains, which must then be collected, put into a clean crucible, more nitre added, and the whole again melted and poured into an ingot. Its quality and malleability can then be examined, the former by the test needles, as described on page 251, Vol. II,, of the Journal, and the latter by hammering and rolling. It will sometimes occur in fact not unfrequently that the mass obstinately refuses to become ductile, and another ordeal of fusion must be gone through with. Should this fail to produce a workable bar, the shortest way will then be to " part" it %.at is separate the gold and silver. This is done by adding to the mass of melted metal sufficient silver to reduce the whole to about G carats ( tVo tt) fineThis will rarely fail to be malleable, and must then
—
Frequently in working out plates
have become the edges will commence
—
to crack,
the
and
if
the
cracks would so
run into the plate as to spoil it. This can sometimes be remedied by trimming off the edge with a shears, cutting the crack quite off, or, if only one or two cracks occur, they can often be prevented from extending farther by filing is
an
them
out.
Hollow wire of various
article of great convenience, if
solute necessity, to
made from
plate.
sizes
not of ab-
the jobber, and
is
easily
Roll out the gold to the re-
quisite thickness, cut
from
this
a
strip in
width
more than three times the diameter of the intended wire, form one end of this strip into a taper before bending up the whole strip into a rude tube, insert the taper end into the proper sized hole of the wire plate and draw it through this will nicely *ound up the hollow wire, which can be further reduced in size if desired, the same as for solid wire. By drawa
trifle
;
be rolled out into a thin ribbon, coiled up loose- ing the joining or crack along, the whole length
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
238
becomes so
close that
workmen notch side after
it is
it is
not easily seen
the wire slightly
drawn
so as
to
all
;
some constructed
readily distin-
guish upon which side the opening is
that
the
harder the draw,
the
along this tighter they hold on.
when
Frequent annealing
will
be found necessary
and the wire must be lubriusing hollow wire for joints, the opening in it cated as it passes through the plate beeswax is placed downward so that the solder flows is most commonly used for this purpose, although into it, thus making it as firm as it would be were soap, tallow, or almost any tough unguent will the seam soldered before it was drawn. answer fluid lubricants are not so good, be;
for
in wire drawing,
;
;
Solid wire, in such small quantities as
quired in
cause the great pressure squeezes
made from from between the hole and the considerably greater than wax seems to answer best, from
a repair shop,
plate of a thickness
is re-
is easiest
the intended diameter of the wire to be used.
it is
From such
wire in spite of the pressure upon
plate
strips
can be cut
off
in
it
entirely out
wire.
Bees-
the fact that
so tenacious that a thin film adheres to the t.
When hollow wire of considerable size is rewidth equalling the thickness which forms This must have the corners quired, such as for chain mountings, pencil square wire. rounded somewhat by the hammer and file, which will give a rough round wire, one end of
and tips, an inside "form" of must be used, which will preserve the in-
barrels, snaps, steel
which must be filed to a taper that will permit terior size constant, but allows the thickness of In this way tubing of it to pass far enough through the first hole of the tube to be reduced. the draw plate to be seized by the draw tongs, various shapes is produced, as was shown in or if small wire, by hand-plyers. « This filing the article in the Journal descriptive of pen
down
the corners is necessary, because, if they making. were drawn down by the plate itself, they In using hollow wire for joints, etc., in jobwould be more or less crushed over upon the bing, the novice is often sorely bothered by flat edges, making an imperfect surface not the solder flowing in and filling up the hollows,
—
compact and solid which, in the many subsequent uses, would rough and splinter up in a very objectionable manner. All wire smaller than heavy pendant bows can be drawn by is immovably fixed, but draw bench will be required. The simplest form, and one that any one can improvise, is made as shown in the cut.
hand,
if
the wire plate
for larger wire a
resulting in having a solid joint instead of a hol-
This
low one.
the hole with a
easily prevented
is
little
bit'
of
by
filling
wood previous
to
The wood, of course, burns out, but cinder and ash left prevents, the flow of sol-
soldering.
the
Another thing that often
der into the hole.
plagues the amateur jeweller
upon
spectacles, as
shown
is
putting joints
in the figure.
The
keeping the joint in place while Usually only one side is broken off, Break easier to put on two than one.
difficulty is in
soldering. .
A piece
roller
of plank upon legs, with a wooden but
across one end, to be revolved by the
off
it is
the other, and
make
a clean concave with a
and at the other, two strong pins, round file for the new joints take the hollow against which the draw plate rests, either strap wire and file into it a notch upon the side or cord wound about the horizontal windlass, where the seam is in the wire, as in the figure
cross arms,
;
;
let
the notch
a
fit
the small part on the temple
;
the free end secured to a three cornered ring, cut it off at b, and lay it in the prepared conBy filing pin it down and solder. which hooks on to the draw tongs, which are so cave ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. through into the notch a good square joint is formed with little trouble. Joints for brooches, pins, etc., are
put on in the same way.
judge the
liable to
as Mr. Pinion,
as well
else others,
intellect,
may be
239
size
and quality of
their brains in the inverse ratio to the size of
and these remarks may
their whiskers,
also
apply to other clockmakers or repairers as well Brains
There
is
very
much
as those of
Whiskers.
vs.
New
York.
talk by a certain class
of moralists about the signs of the times, but
Remarks on Clyde's "Additional Remarks." what inference are we to draw from the following, which appeared under the heading of Ed. Horological Journal: Trades Advertisements in a recent issue of a
New York
morning newspaper
WANTED—A
required on my part to define the which I have taken in regard to a "certain laio in friction,'''' because your correspondent, " Clyde," in his " Additional Remarks," in the January number of the Journal, I find
it is
position
Clock Repairer, with some brains Address PINION, giving
and no whiskers. reference.
We
have always had an idea that most men exposes a disposition to ridicule what he does had either whiskers or de- not appear to understand, in the way he refers sired to have them, but'! now it would appear to my contrivances for the purposes of finding that whiskers and brains do not always* go to- out what effect external motion has on the possessed of brains
gether,
or at least
nature
should
some people
not distribute
bounties to one person. learn if Mr. Pinion
is
We
desire
that pocket chronometer.
both of these I feel
mean what
I write,
He first when
wonders whether
I say " the laws of
curious to nature cannot always be followed with advantage," and then " inclines to think that I
positively against the
is it a pre- must mean it " when he considers a certain ponderance of that manly appendage that he other position which I have assumed in a later dislikes so much in his workmen ? Has any of article. It is ingenious, but I do not like the
general wearing of whiskers, or
his
former employees neglected his business
interests while attending to their whiskers, or
spirit that
puts
it
in force.
I said that nature cannot
make
the " simple
some aspiring shakes " which the machine pocket makes young man in his employment to raise a beau- that is, motion which is perfectly exempt from tiful crop rendered him obnoxious to his em- circular influence, and such as is all circular. ployer ? Do the visits of the clock repairer to Nature mixes all up into a compound. That the dwellings of his employer's customers while " Clyde " does not comprehend the situation is in the pursuit ol his calling create too great a no fault of mine, because I tried my best to sensation among themaid servants of the estab- make the article referred to so plain that all lishment if he happens to be possessed of a watchmakers can understand it in that part killing pair of whiskers, or has the advertiser where I said that art goes ahead of nature. been reading iEsop's fable of the wolf and the This "Clyde " does not realize. My position on the friction question refers to goat ? Whatever be the reason, it is evident that a man who has whiskers will not suit Mr. one of the many laws in friction, and may be have the successful
efforts
of
Pinion's purpose, because he states distinctly put thus that applicants are to send references that they
:
"
A
certain law in friction cannot
be followed with advantage under the impera-
have some brains and no whiskers. tive necessity of lubrication, as regards loatch Any one If we are to take this advertisement as an escapements and balance pivots." evidence of a more abundant distribution of who reads my article " Friction in Difficulty," whiskers than brains among the clockmakers will see the same, but not in a single sentence. of New York, without saying anything in "Clyde" suggests that B. F. H., and Mr. disparagement of whiskers, we would advise Hagey come over to his side. This is not our friends
who
are employed in this branch of " inclining " the
human
mind,
it is
an endeav-
be very careful not to culti- or to propel it. I need not tell B. P. H. that vate their whiskers at the expense of their the eight column article goes over old ground.
our profession
to
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
240
Nobody wants
law " proved,"
this established
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
of so great advantage for the purpose of reducing pressures known as " pressure per
which
is
square inch."
The end of a balance
GREENWICH MEAN TIME. For May, 1873.
pivot, for
instance, requires all the metal that
it
has in Sidereal
down
the pressure per square " Hollow out the ends of the pivots " is
order to keep inch.
"
my
From
rule."
Friday Saturday
Muma.
J.
I
|
Sunday
Hanover, Pa.
4
Monday Tnesday
Answers
Thursday Friday
—
R. P., Bridgeport, Conn. The usual bronze The metals empowders are really metallic. ployed are for the most part copper and zinc, which are made into an alloy and then reduced The first and into an impalpable powder.
most common method of obtaining the powder, is to beat the alloy into thin leaves, which are rubbed with a scratch brush through an iron sieve. is
After being ground with
heated until the desired
The
alloy
may
,
Wednesday
to Correspondents.
oil
tint
be reduced by
powder
the
produced.
is
and the
filing,
Time.
M. s. 3 3 99 3 11.10
66.08 66.16 66 24 66.32 66.40 66.48 66.56 66.65 66.73 66.81 66.89 66 98 67.06 67.14 67 22 67.31 67.39 67.47 67.55 67.62 67.70 67.77 67.84 67.91 67.98 68 05 68.12 68.19 68.25 68 31 68.37
1 2 3
Saturday
Sunday
Monday Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Sunday
Monday Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday Friday.
Saturday
Sunday
Monday Tuesday
Wednesday
sharp angular particles thus formed are flat- Thursday Friday tened by rollers. A good bronze is also made Saturday
Hour.
Apparent
the
nature, too, I take Thursday
for
One
from
Meridian
;
Diff.
be
to
subtracted
diameter Passing
Mod
Week.
Time
the Semi
of
of the
ot
of
Day
Day
a very bad thing, because the pivot end has no metal yet this is " Clyde's " best plan (p. 161), showing that he thinks of one thing
and not of another.
Equation
Time
s.
0.307 0.285 0.263 240 217 194 171 148 0.125 0.101 0.077 0.053 0.029 0.005 0.019 0.044 0.068 0.092 0.116 0.139 0.162 0.185 207 0.228 0.249 0.270 0.290 0.309 0.327 0.345 363
3 17.67 3 23.71
29 20 34.16 38.57 42.41 45.70 48.44 50.55 52 13 53.16 53.56 53.40 3 52.66 3 51.36 3 49.48 3 4.. 01 3 43.96
3 40.36 3 36.20 3 31.51
26 29 20.55 14.31 7.60 0.41 52.77 2 44. f 2 36.16
by passing over highly heated oxide of copper the vapor of the petroleum product
known
as
Mean lime
of the Semidiameter passing na Os 18 rom the sidereal ume.
tract
Rhigolene, sixteen pounds of which will re-
duce two hundred pounds of copper.
After
being allowed to cool in the same vapor
it is
Various shades
may
lamellated in a mortar.
be given to this powder by means of the vapor of zinc or
cadmium.
If the
ing the oxide contains a ful variegated colors
oil
be produced.
for a bright yellow, eighty-three
of copper.
H.
©
All
Moon
(
Apogee
i
Perigee
P. O.
Box
18 23
0.4
...25 2120.5 5
5.5
19 12.2
6715,
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
4 44 29 . 05 4
2'2
56
0.15
Savannah Exchange Hudson, Ohio
5 24 20.572
Cincinnati Observatory
5 37 58 . 062
5 25 43.20
Point Conception
8
APPARENT
APPARENT B.
D.
NewYork.
4K.1
42
T.,
communications should be addressed,
MILLER,
.
11 23 17.8
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
MILLER,
PER YEAR, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. G. B.
Full
M 32
4
Last Quarter
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
$1.50
Quarter
New Moon
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL
AT
Fir
parts of cop-
for
37 Maiden Lane, N.
as
PHASES OF THE MOON.
.
G. B.
mean noon may be assumed tbe same
The
an orange, from ninety to ninety-four of copper, and from six to A red bronze is composed entirely ten of zinc. ;
for
be found by sub
apparent noon.
oi'
used in reduc-
proportions of the metals ordinarily used are,
per and seventeen of zinc
Semidiameter i
sulphur, beauti-
little
will
»" that
may
DECLINATION.
ASCENSION. H. M.
S.
1
2 55 31.24..
..
Jupiter
1
9 38
2.94..
,.
Saturn
1
20 19 51.80
„
/
Venus
.
+ 22 + 15
5
9.2
18 36.5
,.-19 46 21.4
142.64 MERID. PASSAGE H. M.
17.5 6 59 17 39.1
AMERICAN
Horological Journal. NEW YORK,
Vol. IV.
MAY,
1873.
No.
11.
CONTENTS. movement, the thickness of the frames may Essay ok Watchmakers' Regulators, 241 with propriety be determined on the basis of Principles and Laws op Isochronism op the the diameter of the majority of the pivots which Hairspring, 246 Temperature Experiments in connection work into the holes of the frames. The length with the Pendulum, 250 of the bearing surface of a pivot will, according Watch Repairing. No. 9, . 253 Excessive Sweating (Hyperidrosis), . 256 to circumstances, vary from one to one and a .
.
.
......
——
.
.
Ambiguous Orders
The Laws op Nature and Friction, .... Motor vs. Friction Isochronism, Whiskey vs. Whiskers, Thick and Thin Jewels, Exhibition op Chronometer, Watch, and
257 258 259 260 261
half times the diameter of the pivot. The majority of the pivots of our regulator will not
be more than 00.5 or 00,6 of an incli in diameter; consequently a frame 00.15 of an inch 261 will allow a sufficient length of bearing for the
Clock-Making, Polishing Chronometer Detent Shoulders. 261 262 greater portion of the pivots, and will also alAnswers to Correspondents, 264 low Equation of Time Table, for countersinks to be made for the purpose of holding the oil. One or two of the larger
......
ESSAY OS
as will be described in a future chapter.
WATCHMAKERS' REGULATORS, WITH PRACTICAL DETAILS FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION. BY HENRY
J.
pivots will be run in bushes placed in the frame,
N. SMITH.
The length and breadth of the frame, and also its shape, should
be determined solely on There can be no better shape for the purpose of a regulator than a
the basis of
utility.
any attempt whatever at For our regulator a frame nine DIRECTIONS for making the frames, etc. inches long and seven inches broad will allow The frames of many regulators are, I think, ample accomodation for everything, as may be made too large and heavy. In souie -cases there seen on referring back to Figure 11, which is may be good reasons for making them large engraved on a scale approximately one-half the and heavy, but in most instances, and especially full size. At the present day frames are mostly made when the pendulum is not suspended from the movement, it would be much better to make from sheet brass, which is a great convenience
CHAPTER
IV.
plain oblong, without
ornament.
the frames lighter than
we
frequently find them.
Very large frames present a. massive appearance, and convey an idea of strength altogether out of proportion to the work a regulator is required to perform. They are more difficult and more expensive to make than lighter ones, and after they are made they are more troublesome to handle, and the pivots of the pinions are in greater danger of being broken when the clock is being put together than when they are mod-
over cast brass, providing
it
can be obtained of
a quality suitable for the purpose.
A
large
portion of the stock of sheet brass kept by
hardware dealers is too soft for the purpose, and, on account of the ingredients it is composed of, no amount of hammering will make it hard. One may just as well try and make a piece of lead hard with the hammer. The sheet brass best adapted for the clockmakers'
purpose
is
the
same kind
that engravers prefer
and at the same In a clock such as we have under considera- time cuts free, and if a piece of it is nicked tion, where the frame is not to be used as a round with a file it can be broken off like steel. support for the pendulum, but simply to con- When on a visit to the Scoville Manufacturing tain the various parts which constitute the Company's works, at Waterbury, Conn., I saw erately light.
for their
work.
It is hard,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
242
sheet brass in the course of manufacture which is
very well adapted for making frames,
wheels,
etc.
Small quantities of
this brass
&
be had through Messrs. Frasse
dials,
may
When frames made from cast brass have been made flat with the hammer, the best way to smooth them and bring them to an equal
62 Chat-
thicknes is to turn them in a lathe that has a N. Y., or from other dealers in slide rest. The frame should be pinned or and if screwed on to the face of a perfectly flat hard light machinists' tools and materials special instructions be given, the brass will be wood chuck, and small cuts taken off with a
ham
Co.,
street,
;
cut to any desired size or shape,
which, to those great
and made
making but few because
convenience,
flat,
clocks, is a
flattening large
diamond-pointed tool fastened in the slide
rest.
I call attention to the necessity of taking only
small chips off at a time, because,
when
large
which can only be chips are taken off, one side of the frame is Should the liable to become heated before the other, and acquired by extensive practice. brass not be as flat as is desired, saw-makers from that cause the frame is liable to get out of pieces of thin metal
is
an
art
are very well qualified to flatten
It
perfectly.
A
person accustomed to flatten saws will flatten a clock frame or a dial very nicely,
make no deeper hammer marks on
and
will
the surface
flat.
The
safest
way
is to
take a small chip off
from one side and then turn the frame the other side so
on
tijl
up and take a little off that side, and the brown marks have all been re-
than can be ground out with pumice-stone and moved from both
sides, and the frame brought an equal degree of thickness. The last cut If any reader should be so situated that he should be made with a round pointed tool which cannot obtain sheet brass of a suitable quality, has been very carefully ground on an oil-stone. or if he is engaged in making a regulator as a In work of this kind a round pointed tool cuts I do recreation in his hours of leisure, and desires smoother than a tool of any other shape. to make the frames himself, he may either get not pretend to give any reason for this, but The marks left by a the brass cast into the desired shape at some brass simply mention the fact. foundry, or he may cast it himself if his taste tool of this description, when used in a good inclines in that direction. A mixture of about lathe, will be easily polished out with blue stone 4£ lbs, of copper to 1| lbs. of zinc will be found and water. After the frames have been turned and Ample directo be suitable for the purpose. tions for casting brass have already been given brought to an equal thickness in the manner by Mr. B. F. Hope, of Sag Harbor, in the described, they are stoned lengthwise, across, and in every other direction, till all the turning third volume of the Journal. After the brass has been cast, it is necessary tool marks disappear, when the two frames are that it should be hardened or tempered with cleaned and placed together with their edges as the hammer. This is an important operation, even with each other as possible, and two holes, and requires a considerable amount of care to about one-tenth of an inch in diameter, bored do it as it ought to be done. In hammering a through them both, one at each end of the frame begin at the edge and apply the blows of frame and near to the edge. The use of these the hammer in regular rows from one end of holes is to put pins through to hold the frames the frame to the other till the whole frame has evenly together while the edges are being filed been hammered. Then turn the frame over square, and when the holes for the pillars and and apply the blows on the other side, and in the pivots are being bored consequently too
water.
to
;
rows across the frame, or at right angles with great care cannot be exercised in order to bore the rows of hammer marks on the other side. these holes straight and the pins fitted accuAfter the edges have been After the frames have been hammered in the rately to them. above manner they are to be flattened, and as filed square the frames are ready to receive the the process of flattening goes on, it will be pillars. PILLARS. noticed that the frame can only be made flat by Figure 14 represents the exact size of two stretching certain portions of it which may not have received so much hammering as the others. pillars, any of which will be suitable for our Probably the pillar marked A will Stretching these parts of the frame a little is regulator. be the most desirable, because the shoulders the only way by which it can be made flat.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
243
which the. frames, rest against aro the broadest, of stout steel wire in the chuck and turn it true, and on that account the pillars will be likely to cut a true screw on it, and on this screw one stand straighter in the frame. If we make a end of the pillar, and run the other end in a plain pillar with the shoulders as broad as they male centre. However, if the screws are not are in A, it makes the pillar too heavy hence all perfectly true, and the centres of the lathe ;
the desirability of using a pattern something not perfectly in line, this plan will not like
A
A.
made
Pillars are usually
pattern
of cast brass. well, and
turned from wood, and a
is
larger in every respect than the pillar
If there
to be.
the pillar,
cause
it is
makes
it
sides, the
is
it
made on
more
on
to the pillar
work
be necessary to catch a carrier and turn it between two male
Figure 15
is
a full-sized representation of
the pattern, be- two patterns of dial feet which are precisely
difficult to cast,
ornamentation would
the hammering.
little
will
desired centres.
be any ornament put on
to
never
is
it
and be- the same as the
pillars,
only smaller.
These
be spoiled in
all
The pattern must be turned
smooth, and the finer
the better will be the
it is
dial feet are intended
to be fastened in the frame by a screw, the same as the pillars but it will be observed that the screw which is intended to hold the dial on the pillar is smaller. ;
The dial feet same manner
After the casting
casting.
thing to
be done
is
to
is
received the
hammer
first
will
be turned in precisely the
as the pillars.
Figure 16
is
a
small sized representation of a tool for finish-
the brass, and ing the plain surfaces of the pillars and dial
An old 6 or 7 inch smooth file makes a it will be seen feet. from the diagram that there are holes for good tool of this kind. A piece is broken off Holes of the end of it, and the end is ground flat, square, screws at each end of the pillar. then centre the holes, because
about 00.20 of an inch are then bored in the or slightly rounded, and perfectly smooth. The pillars, and should be deep, because smoother the cutting surface the smoother the
ends of the
deep holes do no harm and greatly taping for the screws. taped, countersink pillar
It will
facilitate the
work done by
it
will be.
It is difficult to con-
how
to use
first place,
a good
After the holes are vey the idea to the inexperienced
them a
to
little,
prevent the this tool successfully.
In the
from going out of truth in the turning. lathe is necessary, or at least one that allows depend a great deal on the conveniences the work to run free without any shake. In
which belong in as to
how
turned.
to the lathe the pillars are
is, it is
not to be ground at
If the holes in the end of the pillars an angle like an ordinary cutting
have been bored and taped lathe has
turned the second place, the tool must be ground per-
they will bo held in the lathe and fectly square, that
true,
and
any kind of a chuck suitable
ing stout wire, the best
way
is to
if
tool.
Then
the the rest of the lathe must be smooth on the top,
for hold-
catch a piece
and the operator must have confidence in himself, because if he thinks that he cannot turn
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
244
smooth
perfectly
he
is
able to do
it
will
it.
be a long time before
Figure 17
is
a representa-
little
broaching, a very good broach
made by turning a size
piece of
wood
and fastening a piece of thin
piece of a broken mainspring to
tion of a tool for turning the
It
is
made by boring a
easily
steel or
The
it.
a
best
rounded part of
way to fasten the steel to the wood is to cut the wood up in the centre with a saw and insert the steel in the cut. A large broach made in this way will cut a smooth hole, and when
style is decided
used on brass
the pillar, if a pattern of this on.
is
the desired
to
hole, the size of the steel used
will last a
it
be
long time, altbough
soft.
the desired curve, in flat steel,
an old file, or in a piece of and smoothing the hole with a broach
and then
filing
away
in the diagram.
however,
all
the
steel, as is
represented
This question of ornament
a matter of
not care for ornament of this kind, but a of
it
is
harmless on the
is,
Personally I do
taste.
little
pillars or dial
feet.
The parts which I wish to direct the greatest amount of attention to are the formation of the shoulders and the points which
go into the These shoulders should be smooth Figure 19 is a full sized outline of the cock and flat, or a very little undercut, and the required for the pallet arbor, and the only cock points should be rounded as is shown in the that will be required for the regulator. It is diagram, because rounded points assist greatly customary, in some instances, to use a cock for frames.
in
making the
frames go on
the pillars
to
the scape-wheel and also for
sure and easy, and greatly lessen the danger of arbors,
breaking a pivot when the clock
is
the hour-wheel
but particularly for the scape-wheel
being put arbor I consider that a cock should never be
used when
together.
it
The
can be avoided.
idea of
using a cock for the scape-wheel arbor
is
to
bring the shoulder of the pivot near to the dial
and thereby make the small pivot that carries the seconds hand so much shorter and so far this is good, but then the distance between the ;
a full-sized representation of the shoulders of the arbor being greater, when a head of a screw, and the size and shape of a cock is used the arbor is more liable to spring washer that will be suitable for fastening the and cause the scape-wheel to impart an irregu-
Figure 18
pillars in the
is
frames.
When
a washer
is
used
the points of the pillars project half the thick-
lar force to the
This
is
ness of the washer through the frames, the cock except hole being large enough to go on to the points
pendulum through the
the reason
when
why
pallets.
I prefer not to use a
the design of the case
is
such that long dial feet are necessary, and
Perhaps it would be well to renders the use of a cock indispensable. In mention here that an ordinary shaped drill is the present instance, however, the dial feet are not the one best adapted for boring a hole in no longer than is just necessary to allow for a the frame so large as is required for the pillars. winding square on the barrel arbor, and thereof the pillars.
A
drill
shaped and made like a
tool for
making
fore a cock for the scape
wheel
is
superfluous.
It
Better to use a long light socket for the seconds
does not chatter, and bores a smoother hole.
hand than put a cock on the scape- wheel arbor
a flat countersink suits this purpose best.
A
small hole should be bored
mon
drill,
first
with a com- inordinary cases.
Except
for the
purpose of
exactly the size of the tip on the uniformity a cock on the hour wheel
is
always
which is shaped like a superfluous, although its presence is comparaShould the large drill chance tively harmless. The front pivot of the hourflat countersink. to be a little too small, and the hole require a wheel axis can always be left thick and strong
point of the large
drill,
AMEKICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
245
hammering till the hammer make an impression on the brass.
enough, should the design of the case require ing the the dial feet to be extra long.
will not
After the brass has been hammered, the best For the pallet arbor, however, a cock is always necessary, and it should always be made way to make it smooth and of an even thickhigh enough to allow the back fork to be ness is to turn it the same as the frames have
brought as near to the pendulum, as
possible,
so as to prevent any possibility of its twisting when the power is being communicated from the pallets to the pendulum. This cock should be made about the same thickness as the Make frames, and about half an inch broad. the pattern out of a piece of hard wood, either in one solid piece or by fastening a number of The pattern should be made pieces together.
a
heavier than the cock
little
when
finished,
and
it
is
been done, but a different kind of a chuck will The chuck must be made from
be required.
metal and turned perfectly true and
be bored a to
taped, it
little
In
smaller than the hole that has
be in the centre of the wheel.
and a
as tight as possible.
of the wheel
is
made The screw on
be easily drawn wheel
This hole
is
piece of taped wire is screwed into
The hole
also taped,
and
required to be the wheel on the chuck while
should also be
flat.
the centre of the face of the chuck a hole must
in the centre
this
it is
screw holds
being turned.
the hole in the centre of the
broached out after the sides of the from the sand when preparing the mould for wheel have been turned. The same precaution casting. After it is cast the brass should be to prevent the wheel from twisting by heat is slightly bevelled to allow
hammered
carefully,
it
to
and then
filed square, flat,
and smooth.
is
required to be practised as was done
when
turning the frames.
The number of arms I'OKMING THE WHEELS.
a wheel
is
or crosses to be put in
usually decided by the taste of the
The brass from which the wheels are made person making the ought
to
be of the very
finest quality that
clock. There is, however, can another view of the subject, which I would like
Bad
brass spoils the cutters for to mention. With the same weight of metal a and no amount of care can wheel will be stronger with six arms than with produce a good smooth tooth if the brass, which four or five, and as lightness, combined with The best strength, should be the object aimed at in the wheel is made from, is not good. brass for this purpose which I know of that making wheels, I would prefer six arms to four can be obtained in the United States is the or five for the wheels of a regulator. In cut" Lancashire " brass made by the Scoville ting out the arms, instead of boring a number Manufacturing Company. It is hard, and cuts of small holes it will be found to be easier to free and smooth, and the cutters used in it will bore one or two large holes for each arm, and If this quality of brass can- file them with a large round file till there is last a long time. thick obtained enough for the great room enough obtained to use other files. be not wheel, a piece of the same brass the frame is SCEEWS. made from makes a good substitute. For the Perhaps it will not be out of place here to purpose of a regulator it is always best to use a few remarks on the subject of screws. sheet brass for the wheels, and cut them out of make brass or gun metal screws are well Hard the solid to the desired shape and size. If good
be obtained.
cutting the teeth,
adapted for all the purposes 6£ large screws in sheet brass cannot be obtained, then the next best resource
made from
is
cast brass,
and
this
should be
the very best ingredients that can
fi$M
The brass for wheels should not be hammered in the same way as for frames. be procured.
Instead of the blows being applied in lines
they should be applied in beginning in the centre of the wheel
across the metal, circles,
and gradually approaching the edge. The a regulator. Figure 20 is the shape of a castblows should not be heavy, and the thinner the ing required for making screws. After the metal the lighter the blows should be, continu- screw has been turned, and the thread cut, and
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
246
the head formed, the superfluous piece in the casting
is
then sawed
The threads of
off.
head
is
for little or
no use
The
to act against.
slits
for the
screw-driver
should always be cut
screws vary in proportion to the size of the carefully in the centre of the head and the sides screw and the material from which
A
screw with from 32
40 turns
to
it is
made. of the
the inch,
to
slit filed
perfectly flat with a thin
slight burr filed off the
edge
to
file
and
prevent the top
and a thread of the same shape as the fine dies of the head getting bruised by the action of the make, is well adapted screw-driver. Tho shape of the slit, which is However, best adapted for wearing, is one slightly taped for the large screws in a regulator. with a round bottom. The round bottom gives it is not the threads of the screws I desire to call attention to so much, although it must be greater strength to the head, and prevents the admitted that the threads are of primary im- heads of small screws from splitting. portance. It is the shape of the heads and the I have dwelt at some length on these little for sale in the tool shops
points which
Figure 21 details because a proper attention to them goes
too often neglected.
is
way
a long
in the
making of a
workmanlike manner, and
it
clock in a
desirable that
is
the practical details should be as minute as possible. [to be continued.]
Laws
Principles and
of the Isoehronism of the
Vibrations of the Balance by the Hairspring-. Translated from the works of Ferdinand Bekthoud.
The point
presents a view of three screws.
fot
B
marked
the screw
is
A
down on
its
when
This
is
is
flat,
not a
known
many, or
to
is
shown
at B,
150.
The
inflexions *
of two
making
idea for is
springs
of
than equal length but of uneqal strength are in an
round, or shaped like a inverse ratio to their forces.
new
it is
half, cut
to enter easier
but the plan
points of screws,
diffi-
FIRST PROPOSITION.
and a
the point of a screw, as
the point
centre.
hole without
thread, or a thread
always cause a screw
will
BY THEO. GRIBI, WILMINGTON, DEL.
the best kind of point
a screw to enter into
culty.
of
If,
we have
then,
a spring which has twice the force of another, either not and both be of the same length, the weaker the
not practised to the ex- one will be capable of double the
amount of
ought to be. inflexion of the stronger, and both will be subThe shape of the head of a screw should also ject to the same amount of tension at the limit always be based on utility, and the shape that of their inflexion.
tent
it
admit of a
that will wear
From
it follows that, having a which a hair-spring of a Fig. 21, ought never to be used, because a head given length has been applied, if the large vibof this shape doqg not present the same amount rations of this balance are performed in less time
will
slit
cut into
well should be selected.
of surface to
it
A round
head
like 0,
151.
given balance,
this to
the screw-driver that a square than the small ones,
we
shall be able to render
end of the slit them isochronal by employing a weaker spring, that is most effective, and in round-headed its length remaining the same for, the extent screws this part is cut away and the value of to which the spring is capable of inflexion being the head for wearing by the use of the screw- thus increased, the ascending progression of its driver is the same as if the head of the screw force will diminish in proportion, but the balwas so much smaller. A head shaped like A ance will, in this case; make a less number of may suit the tastes of some people better than vibrations in a given time. We are thus ena perfectly flat head like B, but in a head of tins' shape the slit must be cut deeper than in * By inflexion is meant the space which a spring head
does.
It
is
the extreme
;
a square head, -because the rounded part of the may be moved over without straining
it. -
•
^
•
AMERICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOURNAL.
247
abled to arrive at isochronism without chang- to have one four times stronger, it will answer the length of the spring, but simply V^e purpose if it be made four times as wide,
ing
d it will be equally isochronal without being and consequently its inflexion, or, same thing, the ascending pro- longer than the first.
force,
its
which
is
I
the
gression of
ance will
force
its
make a
;
and, in this case, the bal-
greater or less
But
vibrations in a given time.
if
ot vibrations are given, as also the
number of number
FOURTH PROPOSITION.
the
154.
weight and
of one
diameter of the balance, then, in order to obas tain isochronism, it will be necessary to change
as
both the length and the force of the springs.
has a greater or
as these occupy
evident that,
SECOND PROPOSITION. 152. Since the extent to
coiled closer or looser,
is
it it
The ascending progression of the force and the same spring will vary according
which springs are
if
less
i.
according
more or
less
space
for
;
it is
a spring has but a few large
the inflexions taking place
coils,
e.,
number of coils, and
little
by
little,
throughout the entire extent of the blade com-
capable of inflexion diminishes in proportion to mencing at the centre, they will act as if it the augmentation of their force, it follows that were by very unequal levers, and the ascending the stronger a hair-spring is, the longer it will progression of its force will augment in a greater also require to be, in order that the ascending ratio.
progression of ism.
If,
then,
ance which
is
its
force be suitable for isochron-
155.
we have a large and heavy to make quick vibrations, it
If,
balwill
require a very long hair-spring, in order that
on the contrary, the same spring
is
number of coils, take place at more equal
coiled very closely into a great
the inflexions will
levers, and the ascending progression of the be in arithmetical force will be in a lesser ratio. Another propprogression on the contrary, for a small and erty of a spring thus closely coiled into a great light balance, which is to make slow vibrations,
the augmentation of
its
force
;
the hair-spring, in order to be isochronal, ought
hence
will
be possible, even
to
be very short
in
pocket chronometers or ordinary watches, to
;
it
obtain isochronal vibrations by the hair-spring.
But, although this property
is
very useful in
number of coils
is
that the oscillations of the
much more
balance are thereby
free,
which I
have learned by experience. 156. It follows from this proposition
that,
having two spring blades of the same force and
length, if we coil one of them closely into a marine chronometers, in a watch it would be great number of coils, .and the other loosely, more only an ideal satisfaction than a real perwith but few coils, these two springs will not fection; for this property would be destroyed
by the friction of the regulator, and above by the escapement, etc.*
equally possess the property to render great and
all,
The
153.
;
coils
will be
THIRD PROPOSITION.
we can
small vibrations of the balance isochronous
one closely coiled into a great number of
more proper
the
for isochronism.
force of a hair-spring being given,
FIFTH PROPOSITION.
arrive at isochronism without changing
length, but simply by making it wider for 157. If the blade designed to form the we have just seen that the inflexion augments spring is not perfectly graduated throughout when the spring is thinner, and that by this its length, the ascending progression of the means we can make it isochronal (151). But force of the spring will vary according as the if the spring requires to be stronger, we can blade is stronger or weaker in the centre or accomplish it equally well by making it wider. outside, etc. If this blade is too strong in the its
If,
;
for
*
We
will be percoils, great vibrations be desirable formed quicker than small ones, and in order to arrive at isochronism it will require to be
example, a hair-spring of a given length exterior
and thickness
is
isochronal,
translate literally.
and
it
In connection with
made weaker
passage the reader must bear in mind the date at -which the
outside
;
but
if,
on the contrary,
this it is
weaker
at the outside
than in the centre,
work was written, and the progress which the greater vibrations will be slower than small made in the art. ones in this case we may find the conditions
has since been
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
248
agreeable
isochronism by simply makin^^t nature of the spring
to
itself,
which requires
to
^
possess the greatest possible elasticity without
and conditions
A comparison of the duration of the motion of two balances serves to estimate their
shorter.
SIXTH PROPOSITION.
losing
it.
161.
158. Finally, the dimensions
requisite for the isochronism of a spring vary
forces. Now, the conditions upon which the regulation of a chronometer may be
respective
further according to the nature of the steel of
which the spring
is
made, and according
force or quality of its hardness is
very fine and pure, and
in order that
given force,
its
;
for, if
to the
the steel
temper very hard,
such a spring should have the will require to be thinner,
it
consequently the extent to which
it is
and
capable
endowed with
this essential property,
preserving
motion for a long time without
its
renewed impulse, are not only
that of
to
be sought for
in the dimensions of the balance,
and, in gen-
in the reduction of friction, but,
eral,
contributes
still
more
which
augmentation of its
to the
and to be isoforce, also in the proper application of the admit of being shorter than anspring to the balance, and in the nature of the other spring of the same force, having the of inflexion will be increased
chronal,
it
;
will
spring
so that
itself,
is
it
possible, in a given
same length but which was made of an inbalance, to change its force or the duration of ferior quality of steel, and whose temper was its motion considerably by a more or less per-
From
less hard.
this
erties are required to
we
see
how many
prop-
be combined in order
to
although
fect spring,
its
vibrations
may
be of
same duration. Whence it is apparent that be able to make an excellent hair-spring, and the choice of an excellent spring and its applicathis will be still more apparent when we shall tion to the balance is of some consequence treat of the process of making them. the
for,
From
159.
follows
the preceding reasonings
all
1st, that, in
:
it
order to easily obtain iso-
made
chronism, the blade of a spring must be
stronger in the centre than outside, and diminish gradually
from the centre out; 2d, that
the spring be closely coiled
;
3d, that the blade
will influence
number of
coils,
which
is
a condition
favorable to greater and freer vibrations that the blade be
made
of the best
very hard.
Essential
qualities
vihich
;
steel,
its
it
preserve
its
and apply
1st.
most
When,
it
to the
excellent
balance so that
it
Bodies which are the hardest are the
an isochrononal
much
movement, and also
elastic
much
greater duration, and
such a spring will constantly preserve force,
to
we have been enabled to do by the preceding reasoning, we have found the means to give to the hair-spring the property required for isochronism, we have made a
accordingly, a spring will
ance a motion of
its elastic
and replace the one which was employed
make
it
properties.
as
;
greater
162. 2d. 160.
shall endeavor in this article
means of making an
shall be in a state of perfect liberty.
application to the balance,
the greatest quantity of
that
search for the
spring,
etc.,
make a number of vibrations, as the and material of which it is made is the hardest. A hair-spring made of excellent steel, and which is made very hard, will produce in a free bal-
4th,
hair-spring requires to possess, in order to
produce, by
its free
and disturb the isochronism of its
We
vibrations. to
be of sufficient length so as to admit of a greater
the longer a balance will preserve
motion, the less the friction of the train,
vibrate.
In order that the action of the
hair-
spring be communicated to the balance without loss,
and without causing any
pivots of the
balance,
it
is
friction to
the
necessary that the
vibrations of the spring should not displace the great step towards procuring accurate results in pivots of the balance. the rate of a chronometer but this is not suf163. In order that the hair-spring be en;
ficient
the application of a hair-spring to the
dowed with this property, it must be very long, balance requires the greatest care, and above must have a great number of coils closely all it is necessary that the property of isochron- wound, and be of a small diameter in such a ism in a spring be constant. Now, this der case it will have a common centre of motion, ;
;
pends much upon its shape (154), which might and the duration of the motion of the balance change by heat or cold, and also upon the will be greater.
AMERICAN HOROLOaiCAL JOtJEHAL. 164. 3d.
the spring 165.
The must
and that of Principles serving
axis of the balance
form, and
perfectly coincide.
It is necessary that the
4th.
when adapted
to give to
cause
a spring a
spiral
to preserve this form.
it
spring,
balance (this being at
to the
to
249
FIRST PROPOSITION.
rest),
173. If we suspend a heavy weight to a very state. That the interior end of the spring thin steel wire, and in this state allow it to be be very firmly and nicely fastened to the collet, so exposed to a considerable degree of heat, the that, being concentric * to the axis of the bal- wire will expand by a greater quantity than it ance, it will move as a true spiral, and all its would if it were not charged with a weight
be in a perfectly free 166. 5th.
same plane. That the stud which holds the exterior end of the spring be very firm, and yet produce no undue strain upon it. 168. 7th. That the regulator pins be solid, so as not to be moved by the vibrations of the coils in the
167. 6th.
spring between them. 8th.
,169.
a spring
is
heat in separating
the
for
the
particles
of
matter necessarily weakens the wire, and the great weight tends to separate them If
we afterwards expose
temperature in which
the
still
more.
same wire
to the
was before heating
it
it,
the action of the cold will not be sufficient to drive the particles of matter in the wire to-
The nature of the steel of which gether again these particles, not to be made is one of the first con- a great enough quantity, and ;
consisting of
weight
the
which will lead to the proposed object hindering the perfect contraction, the wire will the finest and purest steel ought to be used, remain longer, and have less force than before ditions
such as cast 170. It
the experiment.
steel.
is
not enough to have good
know how
also necessary to
is
particularly to forge
out altering
by beating
ticularly
tt,
;
it
cold,
pores
its
171. It
now, the harder a spring is, the it be therefore we ought not reduce the temper of a spring more than b
elasticity
to
;
elastic will
;
necessary to be able to coil
it
for a hair-spring is not
it;
extent of tension in
of a watch
f
;
its office
once coiled,
without breaking
exposed as the
to
such an
much
spring
be exposed to the heat.
force
main spring
will
it
tion of its elastic force,
and the reason of
this is
expansion caused by heat.
to the
175. If
We
instead
;
vibrating.
172.
if
be greater when so would have been if it had ;not been subjected to such a forced state. Thus the effect produced by the cold will not be sufficient to give to the spring the same force which it had before hence, a spring continually exposed to a forced state loses a por-
can never break by due
it
happen
we suppose a
'
The
are able to give to springs their greatest under tension than
more
to
by the process of hardening that extension of the spring
is
will
which holds the spring under tension are will have the same effect upon this spring as the weight had upon the wire, i. e., that the
in forging steel, par-
closed, etc.
we
The same thing
and of a wire and a weight,
with precaution with- under great tension
it
quality
its
use
to
174.
steel, it
we
increase the tension of the spring
use a blade of a so that it shall be of the same degree as before greater degree of hardness to make a the preceding experiment, and then expose it can, therefore,
hair-spring than that of difficulty
manently principles
main springs the only in the same manner to it and fixing per- again lose a degree of ;
remains in coiling its figure.
We
shall here give the
which we have established
to
ac-
complish this end.
continue to increase as
it
loses
force,
it
siderable quantity of
its
heat, its
the spring will
force
;
and
if
we
tension in the measure
will in time lose
a con-
its elasticity.
SECOND PROPOSITION. *
A
ance
hair-spring
when
cide with
is
its coils
circles
concentric to the axis of the bal-
continually bisect, and never coin-
drawn from the
centre of the balits
ance. f
Main springs
176. If first state,
are exposed to breaking because that
we suppose
the
same spring
in its
but with a weight attached to one of
extremities,
and the weight
and it
if
we
give to the spring
carries a vibratory motion, so
during their action thay are almost always in a forced that it shall oscillate from side to side by quick state. vibrations, and if we then expose the spring in
American hc-rc-logical journal.
250
this state to
a heat similar
ceding experiment,
it
greater quantity than if
that in the pre-
to
established,
we
see that, if
did not carry any hold
it
it
and heat
it
weight
will counteract the effect of the this
the blade of
even without causing
weight, for the continual reaction of the spring change color, then plunge
we afterwards expose
we wind
not expand by a a spring around an arbor, and in this state
will
;
and
if
into
oil,
it
to
this blade,
before straight, will assume a very equal spiral
spring to cold, the form, and
action of the cold will return to the spring the
it
coils will
its
be closer in proportion This has
as the blade has been heated more.
served as a base of the method of which I have by the heat. from the first proposition that, very advantageously made use of to make some we make a chronometer, the spring of which excellent hair-springs.
which
force
it
lost
177. It follows
if
takes a long time to develop
itself, this
spring
181.
will
remain a long time under the same tension, forced
and
will suffer sensibly the
were
same
effect as if it
A
spring thus coiled,
state, so that, if it is
is
necessarily in a
subjected to a cer-
tain degree of heat, the expansion of the parti-
it to open or uncoil. be exposed to various In order, then, to bring its figure into a conchanges of temperature, which will diminish its stant state, it is only necessary to heat it after
the
at rest
same
thus, in being for a long time in
;
cles of the spring will cause
situation, it will
force (174).
it is
coiled
and
free,
by a degree of heat above
that to which a chronometer can ever be sub-
from the second proposition that the hairspring of a chronometer will suffer ject to in different temperatures this will cause no diminution in its force than that which is it to open a little, but, inasmuch as it will never caused by the friction of the particles of which be subjected to a greater heat, its shape will reit is composed, and if heat expands it by a main the same. 178. It follows
;
182. This, then, is a method for making the it and always and that the op- figure of the spiral unalterable, that of heating position of the weight of the balance is no ob- the spring after it has been coiled, sufficiently to cause it to open a little stacle to this. but a surer and still 179. All springs do not lose equally of their more preferable one is, to harden the springs elastic force, though they may suffer the same after they have been coiled. certain quantity, cold will contract
reduce
it
same
to the
state,
;
degree of tension.
[to be continued.]
This difference depends
upon the nature of the material of the springs, and upon the degree of hardness of the particles which compose them. Thus, steel whose pores Experiments Showing the Difference in Temperaare fine and close, when well hardened, will ture at Opposite Ends of a Pendulum. lose less of its elastic force.
It
is
true that
the closer the pores of steel are, and the harder it is,
the
subject to breaking
when
The amount of
the variation in the tempera-
which surrounds the cold; but this consideration is of opposite ends of a pendulum, has for a conmoment in the case of a hair-spring for, siderable length of time been a subject of
exposed little
more
when
it
is
ture of the atmosphere
to
;
even though
were of the discussion in these pages, and in order to deterhardest temper, it could never break by the ac- mine the actual amount of the difference that tion of its oscillations alone, without some ac- usually exists, we invited our readers, interested it
is
coiled,
it
cident or foreign cause. 180.
The
in the subject, to try the experiment in the which we have just various localities in which they were situated, prove that a hair-spring and send extracts of the results they obtained
principles
established serve
does not lose figure constant
to
its ;
supposing
elastic force,
but
that,
above
all,
its to us for publication, and the following tables has served are a selection from the returns we have re-
We
us as a base for coiling hair-springs hard, in ceived. find that it is entirely unnecessary giving them a very equal spiral former this to occupy space for the publication of the entire will also serve us as a guide to permanently fix experiments, as all the results point in one ;
the figures of the spiral so that fer
any changes
temperatures.
in passing
According
to
it
shall not suf-
direction,
and those of our friends whose reports
through different are curtailed, or not published, will observe, on what we have just comparison with these tables, that the results
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. are substantially the
same as
their
own
251
LOWER
in all
UPPER THERMOMETER.
THEEMOMETER.
cases.
The
following are the otiservations of Mr.
Charles Spitzka, 71 Third a venue,
New
3 p.m.
8 a. m.
9 p.m.
8 a. m.
3p.m
9 p.m.
York, i
The experiment to January 5. room 18 feet Dy 20, with ceiling 8 feet high, and in winter the room is heated by a stove. Thermometers placed inside of a regulator case, near to the top and bottom of the pendulum from August 6
was
Oct.
LOWER
8 A. M.
3 P.M.
Aug. 6 75 76
9
76.5 77 78.5 78 79.5 80
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
81 81 79
80 79.5 81.5 80 80.5 78 79 79 77.5 79 75 75 72
68 68 70 67.5 64.5
1
2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 Oct.
8 A. M.
3p.m
1
2 3
4 5 i
67 69 72 74.5 76 75 72 73 75 70 69.5 67 66 67 69 65.5 63.5 68.5 70 72 71.5 71.5 71 66 67 67.5 68 64 64 64 65
79
80 80 80 78 82 5 81 5 84 84 79 82 79.5 82.5 81.5 81 84.5 81 5 80.5 78.5 80 81 76 73.5 73 5 69 69 75 68 67 68.5 71 75 75
80 72 73 75 74
70.5 69.5 65.5 67 69 69
67.5 69 68.5 75 72.5 72 72 72 67
68 69 67.5 64.5
64 67
69
79.5 80.5 80 81 79
81.6 84 84.5 82 80 82 5 80 84 81 81.5
83 82.5 81 78.5 81 80 76 72 70.5 68.5 71 73 68 68 69 73 75.5 76 74.5 73 5 74 76 76 71 69 68 69 5 70.5 68 67 72 69 75 72.5
74.5 72 72 68 68 69 68 66 68
67 68
77 77£ 78 78.5
80 80 81
82 82 81 80 81 81 83 81
81.6 80 80.5 80 78.5 80 76 76 73 69 68 71 69.5 65 68 70 73 76 78 77 73
8i 82
82 82 80 84'
83.5 86 86 80 84 81
84 83 82 66 83 82 80 81 82 77 74.5 74
70 70 76.5 69 68 69 72 76 77
82 73.5 74
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
74 75 72
77 75 72
70 68 66 68 69 64.5 64 5 68.5 71 73.5 78 72.5 72 68 68 68 68.5 65 65 65 65.5
70 66 68
70 70 68 71
70 77 74 73 73 74 68 68.5 70 68 65 65
69 67
21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Nov.
84 82 85 82 86 5 83 84 85 84.5 84 80 83 82 78 73.5
7
8 9
10 11
12 33 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
70 72 75 70.5 70 71.5 75 78 78
71 78 75
76.5 74 75 70 68 72
70 69.5 70 70.5 72
31 1 2 3 4 5 6
72
79.5 76 76 78 79 73 69.5 69.5 71.5 72 70 69 74
63
12
9 p.m.
79 82 82.5 82 83 80 83.5 86 87
9 11
UPPER THERMOMETER.
77
7
8
Sept.
9 P. M.
67 68 68
10
:
THERMOMETER.
6
8
7
tried in a
30
Dec.
1 2
3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23
65 61 59 61 57 5
67 71
67 65 69 66 65 61
60.5
57.5 59 5 58 63
61 62 64 61
61 57 56
62.5
60 5 63 5 61.5 62 64 62
63.5 64.5 63 63 64 63 65 62 64 63 64 5 63 59 66 64.5 68.5 64.5 66 66 57 63 63.5 65.5 66 64 60.5 50
61
59 58 59 59 58.5 61 56 57.5 61 63 59 58 57 55.5 62 57 60 56 53 50 48 50.5 65 56 52 51 .5 64.5 58 56 53 50 49 41 40.5 44.5 50.5 50.5 49.5 51 51 53 50 59 5 42.5
46 44 49 51 48 50.5 51 51 53 53 45 36.5
57 68
60 61
62 62.5 61
61
56.5 61
64 61
60.5 59 58 45.5 64
60 60.5 64 52 61 53 61
58.5 60 59 58 61 60
54 62 62.5 61 63 60
43 67.5
68 71 67 68 67 65 65 60 61.5 62 65 64.5 64 66 £7 65 66 66 63 64 65 62.5 66 58 62 64 65.5 65.5 58.5 67 68 68 68 69 65 57 66 66 67 65 64 5 65 50 56 63 64.5 61.5 63 5 64.5 56 65 64.5 64 57.5 59 59 44 62 61.5 61 62 63 62.5 52 59 58.5 59.5 69 60.5 62 48.5 63 63 .5 63.5 64 64.5 63 41 58
68* 69 69.5 65 66 63 61
62 59 59 61 59 64 61 5 58 56 61.5 65 63 63 64 64 62 61
'
60 61 60.5 61 62 58 60 63 65 61 60 5 59 57 63.5 59 62 59 55 52 49 52.5 57 60 64 54 56 58 58 56 53 51.5 44 42 46 53 53 52.5 54 55 55 52 42.5 45 49 47 62 53
60 54 55 54 55 57 47 38
68 74 68.5 66 71 68 67 61.5 61 62 63 64 63
69 74.5 70 72 71 68.5 69 61 65 66 69 68.5 68
63
71 58
58 70 65 66 64 64.5 66 64 67.5 65 66 65.5
68 66 59.5 69 67.5 72 66.5
70 70 58
66 65 68 70 68 68 51 63 65
66 68 65 64.5 59 63 66 64.5 64
64 65 47 68
64 65 68 55 65 54 65 65 65 65
63 68 50.5 59.5 67 68 65 68 65
46 63.5
68 70 70 67 68 69.5 63 5 70 60 68.5 69 70 71 60 72 71 73 74 74 70 58 5
70-5 70 72 70 70 71 51 60 68
70.5 68
68.6 71 57 70 70 70
60 65 65 45 68.5 68 66 69 69 69 53.5 66 64.5 65 67 67 69 50 69 70 70 7ft
71
70 43 65
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
252
LOWER
The following observations were made by Mr. Spitzka in a position in his house where The tho ceiling was equal to 20 feet high.
7:30a.m. 2 p.m. 6p,m.
same thermometers were used as in the last experiments, and they were suspended in the open room, one abctut 40 inches above the other
LOWER
:
—
UPPER THERMOMETER.
THERMOMETER.
20 21 23
46
27
41
28
35 43
30 Jan,
M
Dec. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Jan.
1
M
3 P.
41.5 36.5 34 35
38 40.5 35 45 46 40.5 49 46 49
9 P.
M
7 A. M.
3 P. M.
60 41
58.5
43
68
37
39.
53.5 51 52.5 38.5 50 60 43.5 59
49.5 50 49
36 38 41 42. 37 48
44.5 59.5 56
59 5
58 49
38 51 61 42 58 51 61 47
58
9pm
48.
52 48 51
51
43 44 37 45 50 45 55
53
56
65 64
68
66
44
47 50
48 59
62
50
48
The following results were obtained in a large room in Mr. G. Autenrieth's factory, Long Island City, observer, Wm. Preusser room 50 feet by 35, height of ceiling 12 feet room heated by coils of steam pipes on two sides of
.
40 56 66 46 66 64 66 50.5
43
40
47 42 52
1
10 13 14 15 17 19 20
Gp.m
7!30a.m. 2 p.m.
48 40
6 7 A.
UPPFR THERMOMETER.
THERMOMETER.
;
;
the apartment
thermometers placed in the
;
in-
Joseph Sterling, Leavenworth, Kansas, obser- side of a clock case at the opposite ends of the ver; ceilingofroom 12 feet high and heated with a pendulum clock stood about 6 feet from the ;
Thermometers suspended inside of a tall regulator case, one at each end of the pendulum stove.
the steam-pipes
:
:
LOWER
LOWER THRMOMETER.
UPPER THERMOMETER. 7 A. M. 12&P.M. 6
7:30a.m. 2 P. M.
Nov.
1
2 3 5 6
60 60 58 66
7
61
8
60
10 11
65
66 68 69
18 20
22 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 Dec. 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 10 12 13
16 18
7;30a.m.
61 62
2
pm.
67
68 66 67 66
. m
61. 69
66 61 53
64 48 51 52 46 53 58 52 50 54 51 55 45 51 48 50 53
68 57 65 . ,
62 55
67
62
65 59 67
51
53 54 48 55 60
59
59 52 56 53
61
67
56 57 56
63 51
46 47 50
18
. i
..
71
65 64.5
67.5 70 55.5 66.5 70
55.5 65 67
a.m.
50 75 53 5 56 58.5
43 49.75
Mr. Theo. Gribi, Wilmington, following observations
Room
:
12.1p.m.
6 p. m.
68 67
72 5
64.5 58 67
71.5 57.5 68.5 72
71
69
Del.,
made
the
small, but well
Height of the ceiling ten feet from Height of freezing point of the lower thermometer from the floor, four feet six inches. Height of the upper thermometer exactly the length of a seconds pendulum above the lower ventilated.
the floor.
LOWER
8 A. M.
61
70 65
53 48 49 52
65.5
THERMOMETER.
53 50 52 55
7
one:
64
64
53 55 54
49 52 54.5 58 41.5 48
Jan. 13 14 15 16 17
56 47 58
pm.
6 P. M.
68
59 68 63
64
12 13
14 15 16
6 P. M.
66
9
UPPER THERMOMETER.
THERMOMETER.
Dec. 29 30 31 Jan. 1 2 3 4 5 6
7
56 53 60 65 62 66 66 65 63 62
Noon. 59 61 67 64.5 63 62.5 63 63 64 65.5
8
P.
M.
66 66 68 67 66 69 66 68 64 66
UPPER THERMOMETER. 8 a.m. Noon.
64 59.5 66.5 73 68 71 72 71 68 67
66 70 73.5 70 69 69 68.5 69 70.5 70.5
8 P M.
74 1
76 72 72 79 73 75 72 73.5
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. The following trial
are the results of one week's fore, the difference which existed between the
of the experiment in the
office
of this inside thermometer was from 8 to 10 degrees.
The average
Journal.
The room
The room but not much.
feet.
heated by an open stove, and the thermom-
eters
difference
is
rather less
when
were suspended
open
in the
is
made, there
In the morning, before the is
being about 3 feet from the
floor,
thermometer 40 inches higher up
LOWER
conducted,
My
experiments
thermometers
the
and the upper being repeatedly changed from one
position to
the other."
:
The above
tables
and observations give conrooms which are heated
clusive evidence that in
UPPER THERMOMETER.
THERMOMETER.
by
artificial
many
means, there exists in
stances a considerable difference in the
M
1 P. M.
4 P. M.
10 A M. 1
P.
M.
4 P. M.
64 59 59 59 61
65 61 61 61 65 65
62
65 63 61 61 64 65
68 65 65 65 68 68
69 63 63 64 64 65
66 65
in-
tem-
perature of the atmosphere which surrounds the top
Feb. 22 24 25 26 27 28
fire
but one or two degrees of differ-
about ence in the thermometers.
air
12 feet from the stove, the lower thermometer were carefully
10 A,
the
about 14 feet by 30, and the thermometers are placed inside the clock-case,
is
height of the ceiling about 11 is
253
and bottom of a pendulum
;
and,
what
is
of
especial importance to those seeking to improve
66 66 66
the compensation of pendulums, is the fact that is not regular, but varies in the most subtle and uncertain manner. It remains
the variation
67
to be demonstrated whether it is possible to Mr. B. F. Hope, of Sag Harbor, near the construct a pendulum that will counteract these easterly end of Loag Island, and in close prox- evils without creating others which have as
imity to the Atlantic Ocean, writes us as follows
bad or a worse
effect
"The experiments
We
the opinion that the
my
in regard to the temperature
incline to
on the rate of the
clocjk.
difficulty'
and the will eventually be overcome, and that many of have much surprised me. My the errors incident to existing compensating shop is 3G feet by 18 feet, and 11 feet high. pendulums will, if not entirely overcome, be It is built of brick, is detached on one side, and considerably reduced.
have had
attention for over a year,
results obtained
is,
My
therefore, exposed to the cold
on that
side.
clock stands 20 feet from a 14-inch cylinder
stove.
There
about 20 feet of stove pipe
is
within 18 inches of the ceiling, but none of
nearer the
clock
than
the
stove
Watch
it is
Repairing'.
— No.
9.
The
is.
is made of iron and glass, with a mahogany back. In summer, and at all times when the temperature is above 40 degrees
BY JAMES EUICKER, AMEUICUS,
clock case
GA.
solid
outdoors,
the
thermometers at the top
bottom of the pendulum
differ
from
three degrees only, varying as the
and
one
to
The escapement
is
recognized by
amount of man has a watch placed
When
all
Horolo-
being the most important part of any time-keeping machine, and when a good work-
gists as
in his
hands
for re-
he gives particular attention to the escapethe temperature is from 20 to 40 degrees out- ment, well knowing that a little defect or doors, the difference in the thermometers inside disarrangement of any of its parts would cause artificial
varies
heat
from 3
is
increased or lessened.
to 7 degrees, still
pairs,
varying accord- the watch to stop, or
make
it
perforcn very
heat. From irregularly whereas tho same amount of diszero to 20 degrees outdoors, the difference in the crepancy located in any other part of the watch thermometers insido is from 7 to 15 degrees. might not affect its time-keeping qualities at all. On the morning of the 30th January, from 8 to The escapement is, by the majority of work-
ing to the quantity of
artificial
;
marked men, but little understood. This seems like and outside the a broad assertion, but how many are there who thermometer was but 2° or 3 degrees above will read this article that can explain to an apAll tho rest of the day and tho day be- prentice, for instance, tho principles of a lever zero.
9 o'clock, the inside upper thermometer 70°, and tho lower one 55°,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
254
escapement
;
perform as
it
or, if
a given escapement does not the wheel up on the
lathe, true
it
up by the
should, can point out the defect outside of the teeth and bore out the holes in
and administer the remedy, or who could by any possibility, make a correct drawing of a good working lever escapement ? We propose to point out some of the more common defects of the escapement met with in repairing the lever watch, and to give the remedy. One very frequent cause of a watch
the centre to the proper
size, take it down, boil and then polish it on a piece of " touchstone" or agate which has been ground with fine diamond powder, and another stone acting
out,
A
as a grinder. will
stone prepared in this
way
put a beautiful polish on a brass wheel in
a few moments. If a new collet is required for the scapebe found in the escapeThe teeth become worn on the points wheel, put a piece of brass wire in the lathe wheel. and drill a hole a little smaller than the staff of ( we are now speaking of a sharp-toothed wheel),
performing badly
is
to
which makes the wheel too small. The only the scape pinion, and turn it up to a proper remedy for this is a new wheel. Never try to shape on the end; cut off and broach out the hole hammer the teeth so as to make them longer to the right size, and then drive it on the scape or, what is worse if anything, never bend the pinion. Cement the pinion up in the lathe and proceed to
teeth back.
Before taking the watch apart, and while there
is
power exerted on the escapement,
re-
move the balance then, with a piece of pegwood or other convenient article, try the escapement, by placing the point of peg- wood in the notch of the lever and very slowly moving it ;
it
on
fit
tight.
on the scape- wheel and burnish fitting it on in this way it will
By
be perfectly true. large, again
put
If the wheel
it
up
the points of the teeth piece of fine
a
is
in the lathe,
Arkansas
down
little
too
and grind
slightly
with a
stone, lubricated with
oil or grind it down by any of the processes recommended in former numbers of the Jouruntil the tooth of scape-wheel passes from the If the pallet stones are either broken or locking face of the pallet arm, to and over the nal. impulse face, when the other arm of the pallets badly worn, either put in new stones, or, if will lock the tooth of the wheel opposite to it, permissible, draw the old ones a little, and If the grind and polish them down to the proper provided the escapement is correct. In putting in a new teeth of the wheel are worn much, or the corners shape and dimensions. of the pallet jewels are either worn or broken, stone, lap down a piece of garnet or chryso;
instead of the wheel becoming locked, the tooth
lite to the proper thickness, give it a rough upon the shape, cement it into the slit in the end of the impulse face of the pallet jewel and drive the pallet arm, and grind it down almost to the Sometimes this will steel, and then polish, using a brass or copper lever back the other way. be noticed in one arm of the pallet and then lap for all but the final polish, which is given again in both. If the pivots of the scape- with boxwood and diamond powder. The copwheel or pallet staff are badly worn, or the per laps or mills can be made out of old copholes too large for the pivots, either from per one-cent pieces, and faced up, and charged wear or from having been made so by incom- with diamond powder. One carat of diamond petent or careless workmen, the same effect powder will last a watchmaker from five to ten will be noticed sometimes. In examining years, and no one who has once used it, will the escapement try the " side shakes," and ever consent to do without it. In polishing a carefully examine the pivots and holes to see stone with diamond powder, it will be necessary if they are round and true. As before stated, to examine it with a double eye-glass, to see if if the fault is in the wheel, a new wheel must it is perfectly smooth and polished if it is not, be put in. the ends of the teeth of the scape-wheel will bo Select a new wheel, a very little larger than ground off in a short time after the watch has the old one, exercising some judgment, so as been in use. not to get it too large stone it down (using a In putting on a new scape- wheel, always be
that ought to
become locked
will fall
;
;
sharp fine
file
first) if
right thickness
;
very thick, to about the particular to see
then, with a
scratch -brush,
if
the teeth will pass fully un-
derneath the lever or fork.
clean off the burr formed by the stone, cement end of the lever should
The notch
in the
be straight and well
American horological journal.
255
polished inside, and just enough larger than that the roller jewel
is free from the fork, then and with the tweezers push the lever back so that no larger. The roller jewel should always be the guard pin will rest against the roller, when flattened on one side, towards the pallet staff; on turning it loose (supposing of course that then the unlocking can be done with much less you have some power on the train) the lever
the roller jewel to allow
lost motion,
to
it
work
freely,
or useless expenditure of power,
than with a perfectly round roller jewel.
new
will fall, or
In banking
be driven rather, back against the then turn the balance so as try the
pin;
one that other
side. If the guard pin is bent too far and back, and the scape-wheel, pallets, etc., are all have but very little play in fact it must have good and perfect, you will find that the guard pin just as little play as possible, and still be per- will remain against the roller, in trying it this To flatten one side of the roller way, from the fact that the tooth of the scapefectly free. jewel requires two diamond laps or mills, one wheel will pass over from the locking face of charged with diamond powder coarse enough to the pallet jewel to the impulse face of the in which event you must bend the grind the jewel down sufficiently, and the other same one charged with fine diamond powder for pol- guard pin a little towards the roller. If the banking pins are too far apart, the rolishing. Having selected a jewel, and put the lap in ler jewel will strike against the prong of the if too close together, it will the lathe, take a small cork, wet the end of it fork on entering
putting in a will
work
roller jewel, select
freely in the notch of the fork, ;
;
;
on the tongue, then press it down on the jewel, when you will find the jewel sticking to the Next wet the lap, and, with the jewel on cork. the end of the cork, press
it
moving the cork
the time while the lathe
running.
lathe before attempting to
you may
lose the jewel
;
side of the notch in passing
out.
As
it
will
be impossible
to
explain several
against the face of points about the escapement without drawings,
the lap and start the lathe, is
strike against the
remove the
all
we
will
drop the matter just here until some
Stop the future time. cork, or
then slide the cork
off ject,
the lap to one side, and you will see the jewel
As soon as time and business we will resume this subsuch diagrams as will make the
will permit, however,
and give
escapement more
fully understood by the unend of the cork. If the jewel scientific than it is now. The readers of the sufficiently, about one-third of its Journal will please be kind enough to overlook thickness requiring to be ground away, rub grammatical errors, and the want of that systhe end of the cork having the jewel on it, on a tematic arrangement of ideas that should have piece of letter paper, which will remove the been observed in these articles, as we are compelled to write during business hours, and fredirt, etc., and still leave the jewel on the cork
imbedded is ground
in the
;
and
quently have to drop the pen in the middle of and proceed as with the first lap. a sentence to attend on a customer, or explain To ascertain if the " flat" is polished, wipe on a something to an apprentice and but for the inpiece of paper as before, then see if it has the terest we take in Horological matters, and the Clean the jewel with alcohol, desire to see the Joubnal firmly established as required polish. and then cement it in the roller with shellac. the representative organ of the trade, and not Ii the roller is yery thin, or the jewel fits simply an advertising sheet gotten up by some file up a brass pin the one to enable them to sell their wares, we it rather loosely, size of the hole, then file away two-thirds would not have attempted to write a series put in the jewel, then wedge of articles at this time. We also wish to of its thickness it in with the brass pin, cut off neatly, and tender our sincere thanks to those of the a very little shellac will hold it in firmly, and trade who have, by letter to the writer, and then clean off all superfluous shellac from the through the columns of the Journal, kindly roller. complimented us on our feeble efforts to conNever let a watch that you have repaired be tribute our mite to Horological literature. put into its case until you have examined the These compliments, coming from those who banking, ticking, etc. With the movement in are personally unknown, make us feel more your left hand, carry the balance around so than grateful.
put in your polishing cate with
lap,
this time lubri-
oil,
;
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
256
In most forms of hyperidrosis general remedies are useless the treatment must be enWe have frequently heard watchmakers com- tirely local. In ordinary cases the parts should plain of great annoyance from profuse perspira- be frequently rubbed with a lotion consisting
Sweating— (Hyperidrosis).
Excessive
;
of the hands, and have roquested an of a drachm of tannic acid to six ounces of esteemed medical friend to give the latest in- spirits of wine, or eau de Cologne each apformation on the subject of excessive local plication should be followed by starch or perspiration, and the most successful methods asbestos powdering. If this fails, the bellation
;
dona liniment should be tried. Hebra, the Hyperidrosis, or excessive sweating, from the celebrated dermatologist of Vienna, in Austria, Greek vtteq in excess and Idguoic sweating, recommends, in severe cases of sweating hands
of treatment.
may be
general or local.
The predisposing or feet, the following procedure, which he says unknown we never fails. A certain quantity of the simple
causes of this affection are quite
;
however, those subject to it are often of diachylon plaster is to be melted over a gentle a plethoric habit. As a consequence of exces- fire, and an equal weight or a sufficient quansive sweating, we find in some people that a tity of linseed oil is then to be incorporated with
notice,
slight eruption called "
suadamina "
the product being stirred till a homogeneous mass is produced, sufficiently adhesive not to may continue for years without producing any crumble to pieces. This is then to be spread The treat- over a piece of linen measuring about twelve perceptible changes in the skin. ment of general hyperidrosis is only palliative. inches square. The foot of the patient, having It is important to avoid warm baths, to change been first well washed and thoroughly dried, is the under linen frequently, and to sponge the now to be wrapped in the dressing thus preothers
produced, whilst in
is
readily
it,
hyperidrosis
the
body from timo to time with a lotion, consisting pared. Pledgets of lint or cotton, covered with of two drachms (i. e. two teaspoofuls) of dilute the same ointment, are to be put between the toes, to prevent their touching one another, and sulphuric acid to a pint of water. The skin should be kept constantly powdered care must be taken that the foot is completely with starch or finely powdered asbestos. The covered, and that the plaster is accurately in When this has been following lotion will sometimes be found use- contact with the skin. done, an ordinary sock or stocking may be put ful:— on the foot, and outside this a new shoe, which 3 i. $ Acidi Carbolici must be light, and should not come above the Alcohol
)
Glycerini
)
2
j
instep.
§vi.
Mix, and use as a lotion night and morning.
Local hyperidrosis
is
most common
skin of the head, arm-pit, hands, or
met with
casionally cases are is
strictly confined to
of the head or body
doubt
distinctly
vation
of
i.
e.
be
due
;
to
in the
feet.
Oc-
in which the
one lateral half
these cases are without however, the patient need not keep his room,
a morbid state of inner- but
may go on
with his business as usual.
At
the nervous influence in that part the end of eight or twelve days the plaster and
skin
the
treated
is to
;
Aquee
sweating
After twelve hours the plaster
removed the foot must not be washed, but must be rubbed with a dry cloth and starch powder or bran. The plaster is then to be renewed and applied in the same way as before, and this must be done every day twice, and continued eight or twelve days, according During this time, to the severity of the case.
is
by the
deranged
—and
local application of
should
be pledgets between the toes are to be removed, is to be again rubbed with some
belladonna and the foot
powdered substance, and the patient may then arm- be allowed to wear his ordinary shoes and pit, often gives rise to the skin disease called stockings. In the course of a few days it will eczema, while in the hands and feet the cuticle be found that a brownish yellow layer of cuticle may be macerated, softened, and partially is beginning to peel off from all those parts of peeled off; the skin thus denuded becomes the skin which were before affected with the
liniment. '
Local
(i. e.
very tender.
partial) hyperidrosis of the
disease,
and that a healthy, clean white
sur-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. face of cuticle
257
exposed as this substance carelessness and stupidity in
is
filling his orders,
which will quite as seriously anger him, When this layer of cuticle has become com- answer his order by asking him to give more pletely detached, the foot may for the first time specific directions as to what is wanted, and be washed, but it will still for some time be receiving for answer that " he did want so and advisable to dust some powder into the stock- so, but he has now ordered it of other parties After who will fill his orders promptly ? " ing, or to rub it on the skin of the foot. All these vexations are easily avoided by a fortnight or three weeks from of a the lapse the first application of the plaster the hyperi- little more care in giving the orders if the exor,
;
have disappeared, and the act technical description
drosis will generally
is
not known, take a
may even little more time and describe what is wished. In quite exceptional cases, Instead of ordering " \ doz. wedding rings, however, it will be found that a single course assorted sizes about 4 dwt. each," it would be of this treatment is not sufficient to effect the preferable to say " solid 22 K. plain, etc.;" or The if in your location, 18 K. are used as wedding complete removal of the complaint. must then be gone through a rings, say " 18 K. solid plain, etc." All possiwhole procedure will certainly but this and with- ble ambiguity of language should be avoided. time second In ordering " a gross of hole jewels assortout exception bring about a cure. cure will last for a year or longer, or
be permanent.
;
how is the dealer to know whether you hand at a wish them assorted from English fuzee down severe enough to make to the smallest possible size, or whether you
The above plan of treatment
is
applicable to ed,"
—one
the hands as well as the feet
time it
—
if
the disease
worth while
The the
to
is
submit
wish the best ruby, or the ordinary quality ? and if he assumes that you wish the best, may arm was send them to you at a price which may be so far in excess of what you have been in the habit of paying, you jump .at the conclusion that
to the inconvenience.
patient would be deprived of the use of
hand
for
the
time as
if
broken.
the
he has overcharged you
Ambiguous Orders.
civility
will not
;
and although your
allow you to complain, yet
you quietly make up your mind to transfer care on the part of correspond- your patronage to some other dealer. Your ents in giving their orders would save much correspondent wonders why he never receives
A very
little
annoyance and vexation to their receiver, as any farther orders from you, remaining in well as oftentimes a delay and loss of temper to total ignorance of the little transaction which Publishers are probably less troub- diverted to another the trade he did his ambiguous orders than are tradesmen, best to keep. It is very probable that there is led by for the thousands of articles they deal in are all no loss to the jobber in the aggregate of all imperfectly described by corre- these mistakes, for the losses and gains by each liable to be the sender.
spondents.
dealer will about counterbalance each other. It
A
material dealer, for instance, receives this " Send also 7 gross flat glasses, assortorder
is
nevertheless vexatious to both parties
;
one
incommoded by the want of the things ored sizes." What would he send to meet the dered, the other greatly annoyed by the occurwishes of his customer ? And yet this is but a rence of mistakes over which he had no control. single example of the obscurity of orders daily Want of established standards for measurereceived by dealers in materials and merchan- ment, and the lack of legal standards for qualdise, and often accompanied by a request to ity, are the fruitful source of many errors of :
have the goods forwarded at the ble to
moment.
Now
what
is to
earliest possi-
be done
— either
:
guess at the correspondent's meaning and
perhaps send the thing he does not want and have the goods returned by the next express, subject to charges, with an enclosed letter from
the indignant party,
"blowing him up"
for
is
this character.
An
order for rings of a certain
and quality carries a vast amount of uncerThe size may be that used tainty on its face. by the party giving and receiving the order it may be taken from a stick used by only one of the parties, or it may be from " Allen's Standard Ring Gauge," on the supposition that it is 3ize
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
258
universally used
(as
ought
it
to
The If we
be).
desire to possess
an intelligent knowledge
we must an 18 karat mark means no fixed qual- study the principles which underlie the subject ity, its range extending from pure brass up to to the very foundation. Sufficient practical exy^Oy fine, depending both upon the honesty amples have been given to prove every thing I hence have asserted on the subject, and I have yet to of the manufacturer and the buyer quality size
unfortunately, as indefinite as the
is,
of the causes and effects of friction
;
;
the necessity of explicit directions.
ing
orders
all
sible, the tity
;
always describe
size, quality,
In giv- learn that there has been any special dispensa-
fully, if pos-
form, color, and quan-
and where there
is
any
depend upon the jobber's
—
recollection of
granted that puts a watch outside of the
which govern the momachines
of tion of the rubbing surfaces of other
possibility
mistake, give explicit shipping directions. Never
tion
influence of natural laws
how
used for purposes either requiring strength or precision.
Mr. Muma's ideas of the laws of nature are In writing on differsand customers. These little matters properly ent subjects he uses the following expressions One place he tells us attended to, the wheels of commerce will roll concerning these laws. smoothly on without unpleasant jar or friction. that " they cannot always be followed with
you usually ship
member
for
he cannot possibly
re-
the peculiarities of each of his thou-
not very clearly defined.
advantage," in another place he
The Laws of Nature and
tells
us that
"from nature he takes his rule," and again he gives us an example of "getting ahead of nature," and he also tells us " that all man can do
Friction.
in his best direction, is to approach the ideal;"
Ed. Horologicaij Journal
On page 90
:
of the present volume Mr.
Muma
which last remark is unquestionably true. I would respectfully call upon Mr. Muma to inform us in what particular and on what occa-
of Hanover, Pa., makes the following remarks " I will not take part in the friction question, but sions :
because
an outsider or looker
Clyde,' as
sides with the stronger party, I
him of
the. well
known
on,
it
is
beneficial not to follow the laws of
nature in everything connected with mechanics.
must remind If we find
certain results produced
when certain
when
these results
that the laws of conditions are observed, and
fact,
nature cannot always bo followed with advan- vary as the conditions vary, whatever the re-
Muma may have sults may be I consider that they are in accordan outsider, taking sides ance with the laws of nature in every instance. with the stronger party, is of but little conseI do assure Mr. Muma that I have not quence all I would say on that point is that thought superficially on any of the questions there are many connected with the trade who involved in his watch pocket, which may be Whatever opinion Mr.
tage."
formed about
my being
;
consider that in this particular Mr.
Muma
has good enough in its way, but I cannot admit that on any occasion he gets ahead of
not proved himself to be a very good guesser.
I have read
all
Mr. Muma's communications nature by the use of
it.
It
is
my firm
convic-
when any system of reasoning leads when I state that I perfectly agree with every- us to suppose that we are getting ahead of thing he says on the influence of oil on rubbing nature in the practical results we produce, we surfaces, and also that I do not lose sight of may be absolutely certain that the premises we
very carefully, and he
may
think
that
strange,
tion,
the impossibility of entirely obviating the ne-
start
some kind of lubrication on nearly all rubbing surfaces. I should have thought that any person who has followed this discussion from the beginning, and carefully read any remarks I have made on this question, could not have failed to comprehend that it is the principles which underlie the action of clean and dry surfaces rubbing
should decide to favor us with a few more re-
cessity
for
the
use
it
of
against each other which
my
remarks refer
to.
from are entirely
false.
If Mr.
Muma
marks, I would suggest that those on the laws
and on watch pockets should be made any remarks he may have to offer on the subject of friction. The friction controversy should not continue to of nature
in separate communications from
be used as a vehicle for introducing questions
which do not strictly belong to it it has long ago developed itself into a question of reducing ;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. the abstract laws of friction to practice, and I of
isochronism easier understood, and prove
consider the question at issue to be the truth or that the fuzee the fallacy of these laws,
From
and nothing
I can learn from Mr.
all
else.
Muma's com-
are substantially the
Muma
same as
my own,
appears to think
theory.
although ones,
unnecessary
it
to
is
equivalent to half the isochro-
nism of a watch,
Not
is
to those
who
are not in the
between necessary time measure, and unnecessary
to distinguish
munications, his views on the subject of friction obstacles to
Mr.
259
now a
relic
of the past.
When
a cause
of error can be easily removed or avoided,
it is
investigate the subject himself, or that others
not necessary to use
should do
be counteracted.
and no effect requires to In a watch escapement, as
many
other things, the " ounce of
so.
the heading of " Friction,"
Under
we had
a well as in
communication from Mr. Barnaby, of Marion, prevention "
March number.
Ala., in the clines to
Mr. Barnaby
in-
be cynical in his introductory remarks,
One of
worth what
is
these
it,
is
is
claimed for
it.
the variable pressure against
the detent, because
can be avoided by the
it
upon those who have previously participated use of the fuzee, and the isochronal property of in this discussion, and desires to present the the pendulum spring can be made a corrector friction controversy in a " new light," and of the effects of variable resistances to the mohe has succeeded. His remarks on the sizing tion of the balance, as well as of those from aland cleaning of mainsprings are true, and tered motive force. In other words, if we can would be very proper under another heading make this property cover the effects of many and his other remarks on watch-repairing will necessary causes of variation, we are inconsistdoubtless be beneficial to many, although they ent if we sacrifice it for the purpose of counterare a
should
all
the pinions and arbors
mathematically upright, and the
be
ends and tainly a
side shakes correct,"
good and sound advice, is
which is cerbut it does not
acting the effect of a single unnecessary one,
and permit force.
all
the others to put their effects in
Thus, what compensation
is to
the ef-
fect of variable temperature, friction isochronism is to
the effects of variable resistance to the mo-
balance, from whatever cause, mathematically upright, and the whether decreased resistance through the lift
apparently occur to
an arbor
He
out of place in this discussion.
little
recomends that "
him
that
when a
pinion or tion of the
a pallet or jewel pin, altered position of the greater extent of rubbing surface in action than watch, shape or external motion of any (in a when the arbors are a little off the upright. certain kind of escapement) kind, cold oil, etc.
holes proportionably straight,
that there
is
Yet when they are upright, we all know that Although the isochronal property of the spring they run easier than when they are a little was not appreciated for a long time, when the off, even although the holes are sufficiently chronometer escapement was invented, its isowide for freedom, and the wheels free of chronism was appreciated too much. It was
What
everything.
is
the reason of this, Mr.
then " only necessary
to
make
the spring iso-
which was known when the vibrations of the balance were made in equal time, per propose to discuss, under the heading of unequal motive force." It was not discovered "Friction," and if .the "master" you refer " isochronal that the vibrations were made by a this is thus," we to cannot tell us why
Barnaby?
It is
questions
of this kind
we
chronal,
that, per larger presit out for ourselves, non-isochronal spring both for our own benefit and for the benefit of sure against the detent, the spring gained (or would if it were not opposed by the losing tenothers. Clyde.
propose to try and find
;
dency in the inexorable escapement) in larger This is not all tension. it is not to this day ;
Motor
vs.
realized
Friction Isochronism.
by the greatest masters of the
may judge from
Ed. Hokological Journal
:
..This article only refers to "going barrel" persist in the idea that the spring
watches (where the spring
is
the
isochronal property
employed as a substitute
fuzee), for the
art, if
I
on the very imThey seem to portant subject of isochronism. their writings
is
of when, in variable motor, the balance
for the
ochronal vibrations.
purpose of making the subject matter, however,
From
no' correct
this
isochronal
makes
is-
view of the
deductions will ever
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
260
be made.
It is true, the spring is independent
of the mainspring, but
independent of the
not true that
is
it
it
is
and
less
tent,
as
in it
larger pressure
against the de-
approaches nearer
to
ance to the motion of the balance.
non-resist-
is one no impelling force reason why one chronometer maker excels or impulse without distance, but it is a resisting another he has a few correct ideas how he power without distance. No escapement can got them, nobody knows certainly not from exbe quite isochronal for these reasons direct. perimenting. Nothing can be known in this Although the principle of the chronometer es- way that is worth much, because it is similar to
and cannot
be.
latter's resisting influence,
Pressure
This
is
—
;
;
capement
—
from ne- experimenting with colors on a canvas a picnearer ture cannot even be copied, for the same reasons isochronal than the principle of the lever es- that a watch cannot be copied although the capement. Thus, according to this loss in an world is full of experimenters in both these cessity, as
loses in larger motive force
above explained,
it is
much
;
escapement, must the spring be distorted from arts its
natural isochronism,
if it is to
make
This being achieved,
tive force in effect equal.
and very
;
little
done where the mind The merit of men may be
is
the mo- does not go before.
the watch either gains or loses (larger tension gains, smaller tension loses) in all cases
where
known by
the degree of development of this
hobby.
Muma.
J.
Hanover, Pa.
the tension alters per same pressure on the de-
from whatever cause or combination of By far the most effective and defiant
tent
causes.
cause of larger tension slip in the detent,
there
is
no metal
is
the continual easier
Whiskey
vs.
Whiskers.
not only from wear where spare,
to
but also from the Ed. Horologicaii Journal:
greater necessity for constancy, under the cir-
poor " Pinion," whose face has not a razor for 25 years, and who has fought
Alas
!
cumstances.
Thus, were the hold on the de-
felt
tent face in a
new motor
the abomination in season and out of season
rel lever watch,
isochronal going bar-
represented by 100, and re-
Alas
!
come
that he should have
to this
!
— that
mained 100, it would simply do its duty in the his friend Miller should have been the one to same way thai the hair-spring does its duty stab him in the dark On Jan. 1st, " Pinion" when it retains its elasticity; but it first re- wanted a first-class clockmaker engaged one duces to 99, and then to 98, and so on all the recommended up among the nineties thought time the watch is going. his nose a little red, and gave a gentle hint Antagonism is at the bottom of all correct found he had a very bad cold and had taken a time measure. Nature only employs the oppo- drop of whiskey and molasses first job was sition between the pendulum spring and the watchman's detector; broke both balance balance or fly-wheel, in the form of gravity and pivots, and straightened hair-spring trying to put the centrifugal force but does not use a motive it together with his fingers did not know what force, and the antagonism ends with the above tweezers were think it was the first movement regulator. But, because man employs a motor he ever saw out of the case. Engaged another, Had in combination with the regulator (spring har- recommended some ways above par. nessed to a fly-wheel), he brings into power always been on fine work carriage clocks and this antagonism number two, which is the sub- repeaters a specialty nose quite red, but had a ject of this article, viz.: that between the sister married the week before, and took just a spring and the mainspring, and therefore has drop to keep the rest company could not put a to contend with two primitive sources of error Yankee clock movement together, so put him in rate power, while Nature has to contend on Erench broke one pivot off, and bent nearwith only one, viz.: the antagonism between ly all the others in taking movement down. two "concomitants of greatness" (gravity and Got desperate Rushed into the Herald office, its balance), which require no impulse, the and " Wanted a clock maker with some brains same as when a watch balance has no fric- and no whiskey." Printer evidently had more !
;
;
;
;
;
;
—
;
;
;
!
tion,
were
this
the
:
it
possible.
Now,
chronometer
the deduction
escapement loses
is
less
whiskey than brains got things mixed. Eiengaged a man with lots of brains and ;
nale
!
AMEEICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. no whiskey, but the
whiskers in town
finest
down
least 12 inches
at
;
" Pinion." o
the attention of the judges, the desire being to
promote the attainment of perfection in every
his breast.
N. F. City.
261
branch of the art will be eligible
—
but no complete time-keeper
;
for
competition,
specific portion is indicated for
unless the
which merit
is
claimed.
Thick and Thin Jewels.
least £50 will be distributed as prizes. Three judges will be appointed, one to be I adjusted a watch to position with very named by the exhibitors, one by the Council, thick balance jewels. To do this the pivots and Lady Burdett Coutts will be requested to were made perfectly flat on the ends. I then appoint the third. British Horological Jour-
At
Ed. HoROLOGiCAii Journal
:
it with very thin balance jewels, nal. rounding the end stones to make the adjustment. It increased the motion of the balance
readjusted
so
much
for
had
that I
change the mainspring Will " Clyde " please ex-
a weaker one.
plain
why
this
was
Chronometer Detent Shoulders.
Polishing:
to
so ? F.
Richfield Springs.
We are indebted
to the
British Horological
Journal
for the following sketch
and
tion of a
swing
chronometer
tool for polishing
descrip-
detent shoulders without removing the spring
when once "Figure Exhibition of Chronometer, Watch, and Making'.
Clock-
sliding
placed in position
:
an ordinary swing tool with dove-tail centres, which may be acted 1
is
Prizes will be given to those exhibitors being
work
the producers of the best specimens of
chronometers, watches, and clocks to the
;
in
also a prize
inventor of the best tool or contrivance
for facilitating the production or
quality of
improving the
work connected with the
horological
arts.
For the guidance of intending competitors, some of the branches, as below, are specified, but the invitation
is
offered
alike
to
every
branch.
Chronometer
Escape-
ments,
Hand Making, Balance-springMaking
Lever Escapments,
Main-spring Making,
Finishing,
Case Making,
Fuzee Cutting, Movements and Parts of Movements,
Case Springing,
Pivoting,
Jewelling,
Index Making,
Examining,
Name Engraving,
Compensation Balance,
Engine Turning, Case Engraving, Case Enamelling,
Cap Making,
Keyless Work,
Wheel
Cutting,
A
A, work-
ing into notches cut into the ends of dove-tail
Dial Making,
Dial Finishing,
Pallet Making,
Gilding.
—
upon by the double-headed screws slips,
when
it is
desired to find the exact centre
of the shoulder to be polished. " The vice or holder B is of brass, of such a
height that the top surface centres
to
insure perfect
is
under the
steadiness,
line of
and
Note. The clock work not to be for than ordinary one-second pendulum regulators. the purpose of receiving the point of a
Every piece of work submitted
is
by a shank turned to fit a hole in the base of the swing tool. Two flat surfaces are larger filed upon the shank exactly at right angles for fixed
will receive
screw.
set
AMERICAN HOROLOGlCAL JOURNAL.
262
" Figure 2 shows the holder taken out of the swing tool, hut with the detent c fixed ready for operating upon. It will be observed that the upright back of the holder is not in a line with the shank, but is filed far enough back to al-
low the spring
to
turn on the centre, so that
port, because, instead of driving out the plug,
you
will only drive the cylinder
balance.
If the lower plug
must fit the outside of the cylThe next thing is a suitable punch, and none is at hand it is safer to make one than
the counterbore inder. if
the three parts of the shoulder always swing risk breaking the cylinder
punches are much movable clamp with two screws easier to make than cylinders. Fig. 2 gives a provided for fixing the detent to the holder. good idea of the right shape, the point a being ;
A
correctly. is
through the
be driven out,
is to
" T. Nelson."
down narrow enough
filed
Answers
to Correspondents.
L. A. B., Michigan.
—If you
will
go
to
into the cylin-
shown by the end view at b. With these appliances and a reasonable amount of der,
as
send the care, there
is
no need ever
to
—
break a cylinder.
EL, Boston, Mass. The errors in Figs. 11 movement we can have it repaired for you, but if you had acted upon the maxim that and 12 in the essay on regulators at presthe " safest way is the best way," it would have ent in course of publication in the Jourcylinder
saved you the accident of breaking even such a nal, are due to the. engraver. These enTo drive out the upper (or gravings are designed by the author with small cylinder. lower) plug safety you ought to have
stake that would
exactly
fit it
;
made a
brass would do
for the purpose.
To make
you would have first which is a drill with a " tit " projecting from its centre. This tit must be the diameter of the plug, which is the interior diameter of the cylinder, which you can come at by measuring the outer to
make
a
this stake,
counter-bore,
diameter of the cylinder, then diminishing that
greatest amount of care, and are not be found in any other work published. The engravings are now being executed under the
the
to
personal supervision of the author, and may be expected to be more accurate than most engravings
of
a
will
are made. The number of months, and
nature
similar
essay will continue a
exhaust the subject of Watchmakers' regu-
lators.
W.
A.
Gr. ,
Ph iladelphia, Pa.
—A
difference
amount by the estimated thickness of the cyl- of opinion exists among watchmakers as to inder, which will give you its interior diameter whether the fork of a lever watch should be near enough for the purpose. The diameter of oiled or not, one party insisting that it should the drill must equal that of the shoulder over be oiled, and the other maintaining as persistwhich the hair-spring collet slips. Now drill ently that no oil should be present on that acthrough a piece of brass a hole the size of the tion. Like every other controversy, there are tit of your drill, then run down the counterbore two sides from which the question may be two-thirds the depth of the collet shoulder. viewed. If the lever is not set at the proper Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the stake angle, and if there be an unnecessary amount •
and
hole.
It is eminently necessary that these
of friction on the fork, arising from that or any
other cause, then a ficial
little oil
action of the fork is perfect, oil is
holes should
fit
the various parts of the cylin- ces
der accurately, for usually in small cylinders the brass shoulder around
is
it
the shell of the cylinder itself
but-holwever thin
may
is
If,
we
however, the consider that
not only superfluous, but in some instan-
its
J.
perhaps bene-
is
as a temporary remedy.
presence
EL
S.,
is
injurious.
Chenango
Co., N~.
Y.
— We
have
very thin, and not published a detailed description of the mealso very thin chanism of Himmer's secondary dial, as was
must be support- promised in the notice of the late Fair of the ed while the plug is being driven out. It will American Institute, for the reason that the inr not do to depend on the brass collet for sup- ventor has not yet had time to prepare the neit.
be,
it
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
263
We
still consider that the mirably. It is to prevent the barrel head (upon mechanism of these secon- which the %top work is placed) from being fordary dials is good and reliable. The hands cibly revolved by over- winding. For if the cannot by any possibility move except at the head was a little loose in its place by reason of instant the electro magnet attracts the soft iron the groove in which it rests being a trifle too armature, and when this motion does take much undercut, it might be easily revolved by place the wheel cannot move more than one the key after the stop wheels had completed tooth at a time. The arrangement Mr. Him- their revolution this would misplace the stop mer attaches to the primary clock for closing work in its relation to the main spring. The the circuit is simple and effective, and may be proper place to set the stop wheels can only be easily attached to any clock. The rubbing sur- determined by the adjusting rod applied to faces have that sliding motion, which is of such each individual spring. essential importance in keeping the points of T. T. S., C. W. The readiest way we know contact clean, thereby securing a good contact, of to fit hands, or rachet wheels, to square or and consequently a certain passage of the elec- round arbors, is, when you have the old hole, tric current from the battery to the electro run into it a square or round file as the hole magnet every time the circuit is closed. A requires, place the end of Dennison's (or some secondary dial, or any number of secondary other) gauge against the face of the rachet or dials placed in the same circuit, will show the hand, and see to what division of the scale the same time as tho primary clock if everything is point of the file reaches. Now file away the properly constructed. new hole till by trial you find the point. Write to Mr. Himmer for more particular W. F. H., Galveston, Texas.— 360° are details, or, what would be better, call upon him equal to 24 hours, time, therefore the proportion A few min- in the present case is this 360° 24 hours personally when you are in town. utes' conversation, and a look at the clocks 76° 0' 12". Rule. themselves, is worth more than any amount of Reduce the first and third terms to comnnmications in writing. seconds, multiply second and third terms toR. T., Boston. You can get your dial en- gether, and divide by the first term. graved by Mr. Ledbeter, 83 Nassau St., N. Y. A more simple way is to use the table in Any special instructions you have to give will Bowditch's Navigator for that purpose, on page be followed to the letter, which is not always 131.
cessary drawings.
construction of the
;
—
—
:
:
:
:
—
—
the case with engravers,
who
often either en-
P. R., Cincinnati, O.
Watch
cases
Goldsmiths' Hall
mark
grave a dial according to some stereotyped pat- correct. tern, or to suit their
own
R. A., Newark, JV.
removing
—-There
may be
cleaning glass which for
J.
tastes.
slight scratches
is
in gutta-percha bottles,
of water
;
from watch glass- made
with four or
sold
parts
five
with this wet a cotton rubber, and
;
afterwards wash the glass
The
the acid are removed.
till
effect
traces of
all
of this opera-
tion is to dissolve off a very thin portion of the glass,
C.
thus leaving a
W.
H., Ky.
new and
London
are not always positive
a method of evidence that the watch was
apply the rubber to the glass pretty thoroughly
suspicions are
bearing the
made
in England.
very well suited For the past few years gold cases have been
Dilute the ordinary hydrofluric acid,
es.
— Your
bright surface.
—You are mistaken
;
the
pin in the edge of the going barrel, half
little
its di-
Switzerland and sent to London, through the agency of some parties residing there, they receive the genuine Hall mark, and are returned again to Switzerland to have movements fitted to them, and the watches are sold as genuine English or London in
where,
made
would appear that the Goldin London have no power conferred on them at present to ask where the cases were made that are presented to them to receive the mark, neither can they ask what watches.
smiths'
It
Company
ameter projecting into the edge of the barrel style of movement is to befitted to the cases is not, as you suppose, for the purpose of their duties being simply to stamp the cases, if
head,
compelling the head
to
be replaced in the same the gold be of the standard quality. Of course, a practical watchmaker, like yourself, can de-
position to insure truth in the revolution of the barrel,
although
it
does subserve that object ad- tect the fraud at a glance, but there
is
no pro-
AMERICAN HOUOLOGICAL JOTJRHAL.
264
tection
We
taken
understand
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
unscrupulous
against
public
the
to
dealers.
been
have
steps
GREENWICH MEAN TIME.
abuse of the London Hall
to stop this
For June, 1873.
mark, and we hope that some means will soon be devised to remedy the evil; for selling a watch under false pretences is as reprehensible as any other form of swindling. A. B., Brooklyn,
JST.
Y.
Time
Day the Semi
of the
clock in the
New
clock over in
There
ago.
Brunswick, N.
J.,
is
which
a is
Tuesday.
Wednesday. Thursday/.
an exact counterpart of the one that Friday Saturday... was in the Post Office. Probably we will in- Sunday Monday clude this old clock in New Brunswick in our Tuesday Wednesday contemplated description of the tower clocks of .
.
Thursday." Friday
analyzed.
It
—
found
is
to consist
of seventy per Wednesday Thursday.
cent, of oxide of iron, and thirty per cent, of
chloride of
made by chloric
ammonium
(sal
ammoniac).
It is
subjecting iron to the action of hydro-
acid.
,
Saturday
The powder for polishing Sunday.. .. Monday. ... you speak of, has already been Tuesday. ..
P. P., Buffalo. jewelry, which
After the hydrogen
gas
has
.
Friday.
Saturday. Sundaj7
..
.
Monday. Tuesday Wednesday. Thursday .
.
ceased to escape, a solution of the ammoniac Friday The precipitate is filtered at a Saturday. is added. Sunday .
.
.
very low temperature to prevent rapid evapora- Monday... tion.
.
Mean time
D. C. Gk, Iowa.
—We
Time.
68.43 68.49 68.54 68.59 68.63 68.67 68.71 68.75 68.79 68.82 68 85 68.88 68.91 68.93
27.27 18.01 8.3S 58 40 48.11 37.49 26.59 15.41 3.97 52.30 40.40 28.28 15.97 3.50
0.379 0.394 0.409 423 0.436 449 461 0.472 0.482 0.492 0.501 0.509 0.517 0.523
68.94 68.96 68.97 68.97 68.97 68 97 68.97 68.96 68.95 68.94 68 93 68 91 68.89 68.87 68.84 68.81
9.11 21.85 34.72 47.66
0.529 0.533 0.537 0.541 0.543 0.544 0.544 0.542
of the Semidiameter passing
shall in the
June No.
index of the
may
68 13 73 26.78 39.84 52.85 5.77 18 61 31 32
540 0.537 533 0.528 0.521 0.512 0.503 0.493
43.88 2 56.27
8.46
3
3 20.41
be found by sub-
The Semidiameter
you do, that it would be a great convenience. The first volume is now being reprinted, and will be forwarded as soon as ready. The four volumes,
for m.^an
noon
may be assumed
the same as
that for apparent noon.
four volumes of the Journal, as there are a
many
for
tracting Os.19 from the sidereal time.
publish a complete alphabetical
great
added to Apparent
Hour.
at
said to be
the metropolis.
One
diameter Mon. Passing the Meridian
Monday
building several years
Diff.
from
of
tower of the building occupied as a Post Office in this city was of German origin, but we understand that the works were removed from Sunday the
of to be subtracted
Time
of
Day Week.
— The
Equation
Sidereal
PHASES OF THE MOON. P.
others that think as
j
© (
m
Full
H. M.
2 18 19.3
First Quarter
Moon
10 10
Last Quarter
17
New Moon
24
1.5
3 32.1 9 12.5 h.
r>.
bound, will cost $12.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL
Apogee
2
0.5
Perigee
14
2.5
Apogee
29 17.7
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
42 22 48.1
Long. Harvard Observatory New fork City Hall"
4 56
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AMERICAN
lorolosical Journal. NEW YORK,
Vol. IV.
CONTENTS.
JUNE,
187
No. 12.
3.
and the one on the
left is
Essat on "Watchmakers' Regulators,
.
.
.
265 270
Correspondence,
the diagram
it
will
the
precisely
same, but the outsides differ a
little
The
the other end.
inside s of both these ends are
little.
From
be observed that there
is
a
projection near the hole on the outside of
271
Analytical Horology, Reminiscences of an Apprentice,
....
Close op Fourth Volume,
Equation of Time Table,
.
.
.
.
.
.
•
This projection
the front end.
left
is
with the
275
view of making the hole in the centre longer, 278 and thereby causing this end to take a firmer The back end, or 278 hold on the barrel arbor. the end that the great wheels rest against, and where the ratchet teeth are cut, is shaped precisely like the diagram on the right of
ON
Fig. 22.
The patterns for these barrel ends should be WATCHMAKERS' REGULATORS, WITH PRACTImade without any hole in the centre, and in CAL DETAILS FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION. every way heavier and thicker than is shown BY HENRY
.T.
in the diagram, because
N. SMITH.
good and
CHAPTER
made
V.
solid castings
thin,
sible to
although
make them
it is difficult
when
it is
so.
to obtain
the patterns are
by no means impos-
Like
brass castings
all
used for the clock-maker's purpose, they should
THE BARREL.
be carefully hammered, and, although these
The
construction of the barrel
is
a subject pieces are of an irregular shape, they can be
which requires a greater amount of considera- easily hammered regularly with the aid of narWe row-faced hammers or punches, and with the tion than is sometimes bestowed upon it. After hammering, often meet with regulator barrels which have exercise of a little patience. a considerable more brass put into them than the castings should be placed in a wood chuck is
The value of
necessary.
of
little
this extra
or no consequence.
It
is
metal
is
the unne-
it causes on the and the consequent increase of For this reafriction, which is objectionable. son the weight of the barrel, as well as the
in the lathe,
and the tube which
cessary pressure the weight of
shake on
barrel pivots,
castings turned
to the flanges,
and a hole a
down
little
and the other parts of the
to the required thickness,
less
than 0.3 of an inch
ameter bored in the centre of each before
weight of every other part of the clock that removed from the chuck.
moves on
made no heavier
form the and without
is to
top part of the barrel fitted easy
di-
it
is
The tube which
is
form the top of the barrel should be no than is absolutely necessary to secure the re- heavier than is just necessary to cut a groove In every instance, for the cord, and for this regulator it should be quired amount of strength. except when the diameter is required to be 1.5 inch diameter outside measurement, 1.5 very small, the barrel should be made of a inch long, and turned perfectly true on the pivots,
should be
to
wood chuck. The hole in the front end of
piece of thin brass tubing with two ends of ends in a cast brass fastened into
Figure 22
is
a full-sized sectional view of the which
is
the barrel,
the end nearest to the dial should be
the diagram on the right is broached a little from the inside, and the other end end where the great wheels rest against, broached a little larger from the outside. The
ends of a barrel the
it.
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
266
reason for broaching the holes in this manner
is
amateurs
—and there are a great many
cause the thickest part of the barrel arbor to branch of the business
to
—I
in this
call special attention
be at the place where the great wheels work to these points in turning a barrel, because, if on, because, in making a barrel for a regulator, the top of a barrel is of unequal thickness, the it
be found that the arbor
will generally
re-
quires to be thickest in this particular place.
The arbor should be made from a piece of fine a little more than 0.3 of an inch thick, and not less than four inches long. It cast steel
is
always well
have the
to
This steel should be
steel
long enough.
carefully
and
centred
weight will pull with unequal force as it runs down, and if the bearing on the end be out of truth, the great to get
wheels will aleo be very
by winding the clock The shape of the outside of the
rel is altered
as
is
liable
out of truth, as their position on the barup. barrel ends,
represented in Fig. 22, will be found to be
turned true, and of the same size and taper as the holes in the barrel ends.
It is not neces-
sary that the barrel arbor should be hardened
and tempered, except on special occasions. In most cases it will last as long as any other part of the clock if it is left soft, and it is much easier to
make when
Before
soft.
bor to the barrel ends
is
it
ends into the tube that
way than when each
When the venient
arbor has been
way of fastening It
soft solder.
form the top of can be made in
to
is
the barrel, because a better this
fitting the ar-
well to place the
fit
is fitted
fitted, it
separately.
a good and con-
together
can be easily heated
is,
to use
to the re-
quired degree of heat with the blow-pipe. very
and
little
if
solder
is
sufficient for the
A
purpose,
the joints have been well fitted the sol-
good and serviceable.
AA
is
the bearing for
the great wheels to rest against ;
the ratchet teeth are to be cut.
B B is where There must be
der will not show when the work is finished. a little turned off the face of B B, as is shown Care should be taken to notice that \he solder in the diagram, so as to prevent the great adheres to the arbors properly. Perhaps it wheel from rubbing on the teeth. The space would be well to mention here \hat, should the between A A and the barrel arbor is turned clockmaker not have access to a cutting engine smooth with a tool shaped like Fig 1. The with conveniences attached to it for cutting the hollows at c c and d d, at the other end of the barrel ratchet after the barrel has been put to- barrel, are made with a tool which is made on gether, the ratchet should be cufrfirst.
Direc- the same principle as Fig. 1, only it is shaped shaping and cutting the ratchet will round and made the size of the desired holbe given in another chapter. low. When the different pieces which constitute a Although it is by no means an absolute nebarrel have been fastened together the brass cessity to have a groove cut in the top of the work has next to be turned true, and the barrel, yet it is extremely desirable that there tions for
grooves cut for the cord to run
in.
not to turn anything
arbor
off the
It is best till
should be one, so that the cord
may
the guided with certainty as the clock is
always be
wound
up.
grooves are cut, because they are usually cut It has long been a disputed question whether smoother when the arbor is strong. The most the cord should be fastened at the front end of
important points rel is to
to notice
when turning a
be sure that the top
is
bar- the barrel and wind towards the back, or of equal diame- whether it should be fastened at the back and
from the one end to the other, and that the wind towards the front. I am not aware that bearing where the great wheels rest against are there is any violation of principle, so far as the perfectly true. Of course the skilful workman regularity of the power is concerned, whether ter
will find
his
work
no
difficulty in
true
and
flat,
making every part of the cord runs one way or the other. I underbut for the benefit of stand it to be solely a question of keeping the
AMEEICAN HOEOLOGICAL JOUENAL. weight clear of the case and the pendulum In ordinary constructed regulator cases
and weight
ball.
shifts
screw so that the cord can be fastened at the the power
and wind towards the back making it in this way, the weight is the length of the barrel farther away from the front of the case when it is wound up, and about the same distance farther away from the pendulum ball when it is nearly run down, than if the cord was fastened at the back end of the barrel and wound towards the front. The cutfront of the barrel
gradually from one end of
the barrel to the other, as the clock runs down,
this
by cutting the and when the
object will be best attained
267
if the
;
is
pivots are of unequal thickness
transmitted nearly as irregular as
was
top of the barrel
both pivots of the same
because, in
reason, I think that in
a
fine clock
it
and For the above
slightly conical,
size.
will
be plain
to all that
both of the barrel pivots should
be made of an equal diameter. The front pivot should be made no larger than is absolutely necessary for a winding square, and
when we
take the fact into consideration that a fine clock
done in a fuzee with a Graham escapement requires considerable less power to keep it in motion than an are not available eight day marine chronometer does, we may
ting of the groove is usually
or a tool specially
tool,
but
when one
the
work can be done
made
of these tools
for the purpose
an ordinary screw- safely conclude that the winding squares of
in
many regulators of the Graham class might be made smaller. A pivot about 0.2 of an inch will
cutting lathe.
BARREL
SIZE OF
PIVOTS.
secure a sufficient
amount of
strength.
For the
In making the pivots on a barrel it is the reasons mentioned above, the back pivot should usual custom "to make the back pivot smaller be exactly the same diameter, and although the than the front one but, with all due respect for this time- honored custom, I
the barrel
of a regulator in this
pivots
All readers of the Journal
manner.
little
effects
of friction will be slightly greater
both pivots are of an equal
size, still
when
the force
philosophy of continuing to of the weight will be transmitted more regu-
to the
attention
make
would direct a
who have
lar,
which
is
the object aimed
Turning and
at.
polishing the pivots will be described in another
been following the friction controversy will at chapter. least admit that friction varies with pressure
WASHERS.
;
and
that a
also
amount of
friction
pivot has
large
a greater
Fig. 23 shows the two different methods of
than a smaller one, because making keys or washers for. holding the great, wheels on their place on the barrel. is the
A
the pressure on the sliding surfaces of the re-
volving body
is
farther
away from the
centre of
tors
In regulawhere the barrel pivots are of a different
size,
the effective force of the weight will vary
motion in one case than in the other.
slightly
according as the weight
up or nearly run down. pressure of the weight
is
fully
wound
In one instance the
more
on the and in plan most commonly used, and may be made of the other instance the pressure is more directly either steel or gpod hard brass. Brass is the on the small pivot than it is on the larger one, material oftenest used, but on special occasions and when the weight is half wound up, or half they are sometimes made of steel. When large pivot than
it is
is
directly
on the smaller one
;
run down, the pressure on both pivots are equal. making one of this pattern the first thing to be In the centre pinion, and in some of the done is to turn a groove in the barrel arbor as other arbors of a clock or a watch, it is some- deep as the strength of the arbor will admit of, times necessary to make one pivot considerably and about one-tenth of an inch broad, or as larger than the other difference in the affect
but in these cases the broad as the brass or the pivots does not
made from
is thick.
the regularity of the transmission of the groove must be a
steel the
One edge
little
key
is
to
be
or side of this
below the top edge of the
because the pressure that turns the great wheel, and the other edge or side should
power,
wheel
;
size of
is
always at the same point.
lator barrel,
In a regu- be made as
however, the pressure of the cord hole
is
flat
and smooth as
is possible.
A
then bored in the centre of the brass or
AMERICA^ HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
268
steel the
key
be made from, exactly the and a recess
is to
wear well is In making a collet, too much the attention can scarcely be directed to this point.
cut in the
same
size
Another
barrel arbor.
as the barrel exboL'
hole,
then
is
itself,
CLICK WOBK.
bored as near as the other holo as possible, and the two hcle3 are filed into onos tbe same p,3 is
shown in A. This hole should be made to slit
for the pin that will
of the bottom of the groove that has been easily formed.
size
fit
Figure 24
in the barrel arbor free, but without shako.
a representation of the click
is
made from a piece of cast and usually works on a screw which The
the work. steel,
click is
The great wheels are then put on their place, and this key iz made to slide over the wheel to the bottom of the
must go on
slit,
tight at
as tightly as possible.
first,
the wheels are polished,
because, it
will
It
and
after it
be free enough;
and if it k, not, the under f>ide is filed with a smooth file and polished till it is free. The under side of the key should be polished smooth, because if it is rough it will scratch the wheel going on its place. When the key har, been fitted tight on the top of the wheel a hole is drilled through & into the wheel for a small ecrew io go into- This screw ought to have a square head, with
its
shoulder resting against
tho wheel, and the small holo in the key
enough
large
pass through.
to
made
allow the head of this screw to
A screw made
best adapted for the work.
manoc?
in this
The key is mado
passes through the hole in the centre of moround by placing the b; jrol in a lathe with the tion of the click, and screws into the maintaingreat wheel and key o». their place, and turn- ing power ratchet. It is much safer, however, ing the edge of the key to the desired size. to make the screw so that it will go tight into
is
Another manner of holding the great wheels shown in Fig. 23 B is a is a side view of a collet or front view, and washer. A collet of this kind is easily made, and, for a regulator where there is plenty of
in their places is
room, hole
it
;
may always be made
A
of brass.
the hole in the wheel with
its
head on the op-
posite side of the wheel from the click, and tap
a thread in the hole in the click and click
work
projects through the wheel.
work3 in
make
the
loose on the point of the screw that
way
this
When
the click
the screw can never get
bored in a piece of brass of the neces- loose 0£ come out when the clock is being is carefully wound up. In making a click in this manner
is
sary size and quality, and the hole
broached
till it fits
on
to the barrel arbor.
It is
it
is
best to
then placed on a smooth turning arbor and thicker than turned in a lathe to the desired shape.
It
is
important that the face of this collet or washer very pin
when
the click
come is
and
steel slightly
if the
point of
in the desired position
screwed close against the
on the under side till the Boring the holo for the point will turn as far as the t eth of the ratchan important operation, and requires a et. The shape of the click is of little conse-
little
is
necessary,
the click does not
should be perfectly true and smooth, and a wheel,
a piece of
select is
it
can be
filed
undercut.
considerable
amount of
care,
and should be quence
so long as the acting parts are right.
little below the top edge of the collet. It is, however, desirable to select some pattern The slit across the top of the collet should be that has a tail to it, because a tail is very conmade precisely the shape shown at C. This venient to lift the click out of the teeth when may be easily done by filing it first with the it is necessary to do so. The tail should be edge of a thin file, and then putting it on its made a little thinner than the other part of the place and broaching it out with a small broach. click, so that there will be no danger of the The brass being softer than the steel cuts first, cord catching on it.
bored a
p.
«—
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. made
Click springs for regulators are usually
The brass
from hard sheet brass.
hammered
reason the centre of motion of
should be placed a
above a
little
all
clicks
drawn
line
and then from the edge of the ratchet, and at right angles to one drawn through its centre, and the such a thickness point of the click be where the two lines cross
file
when once
no more ing this
necessary degree of hardness.
to the
It is best to
that
this
shape of a straight spring,
the
to
is first filed
269
filing,
the brass to it
hammered
is
will require
it
but simply polishing.
we produce
By
each other.
do-
MAINTAINING POWKE SPKINGS.
a better and a more elastic
spring with the same
When
amount of work.
Figure 26 shows the end of the barrel and and also shows the action of required curve with the fingers, and rounded a two different kinds of maintaining power springs. little at the end, with round-nosed plyers, and There are a great variety of maintaining power the spring has been polished
then fastened to
it
is
bent
to
the the great wheels,
place on the wheel with springs, but the two
its
The
one screw and a steady pin.
shown
point of the illustrate the subject.
be
will
sufficient to
Circular springs cannot
when the wheels have a straight spring, and is fastened
6pring should act at as convenient a distance as be used conveniently possible from the centre of motion of the click.
When
B
arms.
is
away from this centre of near to the circumference of the maintaining an unnecessary amount of fric- power ratchet the point presses on the arm of tion at the point of the spring. the great wheel near its centre of motion. A Figure 25 is a diagram designed to illustrate spring working in this way requires to be the point the centre of motion of a click should stronger, but it works with less friction than be placed. The circular line is the ratchet; D when it is fastened in a way that the point acts farther from the centre of motion of the great too far
it acts
motion there
is
;
The
wheel.
farther the spring acts from the
centre of motion of the wheel,
but
greater force,
there
will exert the
it
be a greater
will
amount of sliding motion at the spring unless
it
could be
made
point of the
to
bend
centre of motion of the wheel, which
at the
not an
is
easy thing to do in practice.
Maintaining power springs should always be steel, and although brass ones some-
made from
times work well, yet in such an important spring it is
always safer
should be is
a line drawn through
line
drawn
its centre,
at right angles to
of the ratchet.
Now,
if
and
the centre of motion of should be done in cold chill taken off
oil it.
by dipping the spring the oil
off.
This
is
or soft water with the
The tempering in oil
is
done
and then burning
the best
an irregular shaped piece of
them
both.
If the centre
The burning
of motion of the click be placed on the line C, three times, and is
below A, the pressure of the ratchet plied
against the click will have a tendency to
the point of the click, line
B which
is
way
of bringing
steel to a spring
to
make
make
off if
may be
repeated two or
there be no other heat ap-
to the steel except the
heat of the
oil
the
thin pieces of the steel will never get softer
up but if it be placed than the thick pieces. If it is desired to blue above A, the pressure of the spring when it is finished, it may be done
fly
the ratchet against the click
dency
They
steel.
a point exactly at right angles to the temper.
centres of motion of
on the
of
a corners, because sharp corners are liable to edge make the spring break easily. The hardening
anywhere on the line A, and if the point of the click be at the place where the two lines A and D cross each other, the force of the ratchet will press on the end of the
which
make them
to
of a shape that has no sharp
A is
D from the
the click be placed
click at
made
;
will
have a ten- without making the spring softer than the made it, providing no part of the spring
the point of the click go deeper
into the ratchet tooth instead of flying out.
For brought past a blue
color.
oil is
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
270
A, Fig. 26, represents another form of spring, shape before hardening. A spring of this is the best that can be made. shape will be heated more regularly by putting
which probably It
is,
however, a
spring
make. This it into a small iron box and bent into charcoal. The tempering
little difficult to
made from
is
soft steel
with pounded done by burning
filled is
was described in tempering the other Figure 26, are two pins or small screws. One Perhaps the best way to fasten a steel prevents the weight from pulling the great spring to the wheel is to use two screws. It is wheel too hard against the maintaining power not much more work, and there is no danger of springs, and the other prevents the springs If these the steady pin coming out when the spring is from pressing the wheel too far. off oil, as
spring.
being hardened.
pins are placed at a distance that will allow the
two weak springs than one great wheel to move a distance equal strong one, because, when one spring only is teeth it is enough. It is better to use
is
two
[to be continued.]
used, the surface of the hole in the centre of
the wheel
to
pressed against the barrel arbor
with a greater force than when two springs are Ed. Horological Journal: used. Care must be exercised not to make the Your correspondent H., N. Y., did not read springs too strong maintaining power springs carefully Mr. Fricker's description of the tool being oftener too strong than too weak. The for facing pinions, in the February Number, effective force of the springs should never be or he would not have so misunderstood the greater than the force of the weight, or else the drawing given. The ring B turns freely upon
—
springs will either not
work at all or they will work imperfectly. It is necessary that the power of the weight should overcome the power of the spring, and when the power of the weight is
taken
off the
of the springs
clock
is
clock going while
when winding,
released, it
is
the force
and they keep the
being wound up.
D
D,
the screw E, which goes into the handle
;
it
should have been drawn as a repose screw,
making the tool, in fact, the same as that described by H., but with the addition of a handle, which simply renders it a little more convenient to use.
Cleveland,
R. C.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
The illustration represents two leaves and two teeth in contact. The contact part or line of centres, measured from pinion centre, is
Analytical Horology.
BY
leaves, 6.
HERRMANN, LONDON.
J.
271
(Continued from page 31.)
THE TRAIN. of this section of a horological
The design
instrument being threefold, motive power,
the division of
viz.,
conversion into rotary velocity,
its
and registration of the motions of the balance, our duty will be to elicit the conditions, principle or basis, by which a maximum and uniform transmittance of
mode
with a
force,
reduction of local resistance,
is
minimum
secured and the ;
of procedure will be, not to lay
down any
examine relaexamples of depthing,
fixed principle as a basis, but to tive effects
by a
set of
and to arrive at a conclusion by deduction and analogy, and therefore by a simple practietc.,
cal rule.
We
shall subdivide our subject into
parts, viz.
:
1st.
three
Pitching or gearing (which will
comprise gearings of various ratios of numbers, proportions and pitch, shape of teeth, etc.); 2d. the relative angular positions of the centres of
motions
;
and
3d, the pivots.
B, an angle of 40o with the line of centres and hence the contact before line of centres
at
—
360°
In glancing
at
a depth
we
= 20°.
_ 40°
It is necessary to leave this example for a and time, to take up a sub-illustration to ascertain investigation no more the result of double contact. The question
at once observe
the heterogeneous elements of sizes, shape
To make
distance.
this
complicated than necessary, epicycloidal tooth described in
we shall use the Volume II., page
126-8 of the Journal, not as assumed correct,
but simply pro
leaving
tern.,
its
or
being, does double contact continue,
and how
transitory,
is it
does either the one or the
be other occur ? After which we will examine the exami- effect, that being our main object. to
We
nation to a later period.
have
to
bear
strictly in*
mind
that the
We shall, therefore, at once take a depth, such may
as
what
wheel is the propeller or driver. Its direction be found in any old watch, no matter of motion at any one point is the tangent, or is
its
In order or
its
we
4.
at right angles to its radius of point of contact.
study of this subject,
The angular measure of the points of contact being 4° 41' 47" (see formula page 128, Vol.
nationality, as illustrated in Fig. to facilitate the
reduction to experiments in solid material,
ent or
measurement
will proceed according to the
It will be indiffer-
given in the article quoted. if
the figures are looked
any other system, or
present inches or parts
if
upon
in the metric
to
A. H,
From
J.)
the tangents to pinion contact
however, a
ratios
for
different result,
they are taken to re- varying as their
— the
radii,
being con- an angle of £-{p
and the
= 60°, the
we
their
latter
get,
angle
being at
angle formed by
the line of directions of the two points of pin-
stant in all cases.
According
II.,
the above,
we
primitive radius of our wheel
A
represent the ion contact of 60 teeth,
is also at this
magnitude.
But we
have to consider the relative directions of the Fig. 4 •-= 229.2093, and the distance of the wheel and pinion points of contact, as the concentres of wheel and pinion, or the line of ditions on which the answer to our question 252. 1302. The number of pinion hinges. These relative motions of the contacts centres
=
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
272
can be determined by their ratio
com- it approaches the line of centres, and shorter as and it recedes from it. The rectilinear direction at measured by their respective distance from right angles to the line of centres expresses the this line during a constant rotary motion. Let motion in relation to the wheel. As the varius turn to Fig. 5 for an illustration of these ef- ations of the ratios of these magnitudes depend Let A represent the centre of motion or upon the magnitude of the angles of rotation, fects.
mon
property,
the line of
viz.,
to their
centres,
and the rotation of the wheel being only the tenth
part
of the pinion in their respective
rates of rotation ter
=
6°,
approximate
will
follows that the lat-
it
uniformity while
the
others vary, and hence on those grounds can-
not move parallel.
curve of the
But here comes in the addendum to integrate this differ-
ence of relative rotary motion that would otherwise result.
To prove
this
we
will disregard for a
moment
watch pinions, namely, the straight sides, (a difficulty overcome in lantern pinions), and take the relative distance a physical
points of
any rotating body, say a pinion
let
;
difficulty in
of the extremes of the face of a pinion leaf
from the line of centres, and the distance from during a the corresponding points in the curve from the
us trace the relative distance of a point in the circumference, from the line
A B
which may here indicate the pos- same line, which distance, if equal, will prove and direction of the line of centres in a the integration. Taking the radii of wheel and
semi-rotation, ition
depth
o.
o,
d,
e,
and o', c' d e', is the arc pinion in ratio to our curve delineated as aland these ave also posi- ready quoted, Vol. II., A. H. J. 22.9209 and
B
described by point
=
o,
with the semi-diameters A 229.2093 respectively, the distance of the exo and A o o' 22° 30'. 45°, 67° 30', 90°, 67° 30', treme end of a pinion leaf after a rotation of 45° and 22° 30'. We will now notice the ratios 40° from line of centre is sine 40° 22 tions oJ o at angles
approach
—
X
14.73, and according to formula by point o 29093 and receding from A B, (page 128, Vol. II.), this distance of the corre-
of the linear distances passed over in its
=
=
to,
sponding point in the curve
during these equal stages of rotary motion.
Ao
is
=
= =
sine 3°35'
X
(229.2093-(-5.8187) 14.73; after a pinion sine 60° what magnitude that one represents), then the rotation of 60° this distance is 19.85, and by the same formula, distance passed over by o during the first 22° 22.92093 30' in the line Ao versed sine 22° the angular position of the corresponding point of 4° 42 47", its distance 30 == .07613, and the distance passed over dur- in the curve being
Lei the radius
equal one, (no matter
=
= =
ing the next 22° 30' versed sine 45°.
is
equal/ g on
Versed sine 22°
The next stage is represented A o, and is equal. 67° 30
30'
line
o
= = sine
= .22331.
hygh
—versed
A
on
line
= =
= X 229.2093 -f
4° 42' 47"
12.217 ==
19.85
This then demonstrates the peculiar curve
sine 45°
X
fact,
that
by
this
the relative rotary motion of
wheel and pinion are integrated, or, in other A on words, move through angles in an inverse ratio line A o equals radius. to their radii. This ratio, though maintained Versed sine 67° 30' .6173; the same figures in a retarding ratio ex- in the lantern pinion, is somewhat perturbed press its receding from the line A B on the op- by the solid pinion, for reasons we shall noposite side. Applying this to the motion of a tice when we come to the shape of toeth. pinion leaf in rotation to the line of centres, we Since we have ascertained by Fig. 5, that a learn that the distance passed over by a pinion point in a constant rotating circumference leaf varies in ratio to the angle formed with the moves in an accelerating ratio to, or retarding line of centres. In other words, it passes over ratio from, a fixed line and as we have further greater rectilinear distance, in equal times, as seen by the last example, that by the contact Versed sine
.394
;
and the
la6t stage represented
by
A
;
AMERICAN HOROLOGlCAL JOURHAL. of the curve of the
addendum with
the end of .2093
pinion leaf, the wheel moves through angles in-
= 7.99929 and = .15977.
273
difference
its
—7.83942
=
107.99929
Since, therefore,
under
constant rotary motion of wheel and pinion, the through in a given relative linear difference of distance of the origto the angle moved in and face of tooth and leaf increases in the
verse in magnitude to the pinion, as their radii,
the angle moved by the pinion, is through by the wheel as the radius of the that
is,
time,
latter
same
ratio as it decreases before the line
centres,
the radius of the former.
is to
it
follows that the
moment
of
the contact
We have the
exact condition of one circle takes place before the line of centres the wheel which for this definite an- is retarded in its course, and the motion of both teeth being synonymous, the increase of linear gle of the circumference is distance under which contact of curve and face rolling over another,
8.14159X2 X
22.92 93
X
3.14159_X 2
6
229.2093
•'
"60
.
of pinion
is
maintained
is
likewise retarded, and
hence the contact past line of centres must Observing, then, this constancy in their relative cease the moment contact before line of centres rotary motion, and having likewise previously takes place. Applying now this solution to Fig. noticed that the linear motion varies in an ac- 4,
we may
safely conclude that the double con-
a momentary and not a continuous conthe angle of a point from a fixed line, we shall dition, and that the contact before the line of now be able to ascertain the spaces passed over centres is maintained to the same angular pocelerating or retarding ratio in proportion to
tact is
by tooth and leaf in relation to the line of cen- sition as the one past line of centres, which tres, which will solve the question upon which ceases at the moment the one before line of
we
started as regards double contact in Fig. 4. centres takes place. Supposing that a tooth and the fice of a pinion The next question
leaf are in contact in line of centres^-their radii
tact before
and
what effect has
is,
this con-
both
after the line of centres,
being in an inverse ratio to their number of as regards transmittance of motive power, and
teeth
tudes
and leaves, as is the case in the magni- as to local resistance ? Let us take another we have taken in our example and that
—
we then take take
the
positions of the origin
sub-illustration as re-
gards action before line of centres.
and Let a c and b d, Fig. 6, be two bars movable motion about two centres a and b. Their position is so through their respective angles of two teeth and
also
face of pinion leaf that are adjacent,
two
and two
or three positions
in their
which positions accurately
leaves,
cor-
respond in magnitude of distance from the line of centres to similar angular positions past the line of centres,
leaf
from
we
The
answered.
shall then have this question
distance of the adjacent pinion
line of centres is
X
== sine 60°
22-
= 19.8501 and of the distance of the origin of the corresponding tooth == sine 6° X difference of 229 2093 = 23.9589, hence linear distance = 23.9589—19.8501 = 4.1088. After a rotation of 20° the linear distance of = sine 40° pinion face from of centres = 22.92093 14.73329, and corresponding the X 40° X 229.2093 = origin = 98884, and hence difference of linear distance a rotation 20° == 15.98884-14.73329 = 1.2555 and the decrease of space = 4.1088 — 1.2555= .92093
its
line
is
sine
15.
after
its
2.8533 at this
point.
After
= sine 20° X
22.92093
and the corresponding origin
bar a
c,
and
=
= 7.839421
sine 2°
X 229.-
b
d is
resting against the end of
at right angles to
no separate discourse
to
parts excepted) no force
it.
It will require
prove that (stability of
d
acting on
however, that angle a c in
proportion to
its
b,
say increase
increase, or its
line, so will
centres. its
would it,
and
approach
the effect of b
a c in turning it about its on a c in turning it about
b
Change,
disturb the equilibrium of these bars.
another rotation a straight
20°, the linear distance of pinion face from line
of centres
adjusted, that
centre
This
a
to
d be on is
fore proportioned to the cosine of angle
effect
there-
a c
b.
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
274
The roughness
or smoothness of the parts
which we
contact, or local friction, of
may
mention at a later period,
will
in
make
relatively in-
crease or diminish the effect, but not the con-
From
dition.
this
we
small table of ratio given shows the
L
if
20° equal
Diagram Let
gather that the trans- the
Fig.
8,
= .016
a space at
?
will assist us in this inquiry.
A be the centre of wheel, and A B
pinion,
the
B
the centre of
of centres
line
=
mittance of force by contact before the line of centres
is
inversely proportioned as the angle
of the point of contact with the line of centres,
and that
local resistance increases in proportion
to this angle.
This
fact, then,
demonstrates the
rule that action before line of centres ror.
Let us now examine the
tact past the line of centres.
is
an
er-
of the con-
effect
To do
we
this
will take another sub-illustration.
d
Let c b and
a, Fig.
be two bars mov-
7,
able about the centre c and a, a weight
suspended from the axle
c,
which
W
is
propelling 252.1302;
is
Ap
line of centres,
the face of pinion leaf past the
A
b the face of pinion leaf be-
fore the line of centres, contacts taking place
respectively at
therefore
p and
b
JAB = 20°.
;
angle
The known quantities being A and B p the radius of pitch
= dendum = and /_ s ing the bar
cMna vertical
direction.
kept in equilibrio by the other bar
is
First
which
AB.
This bar
d
a,
A
A p,
b,
we
and
|)AB = 40°, B =252.1302
circle plus ad-
229.2093 -f 12.216 == 241.4253 the quantities to be determined, be-
Ap
and /_
pBA, and
will determine the
/_ b
B A.
magnitude of /_
b
Producing A p, and dropping perpendicular by a force in the opposite direcWithout discussion of the principle of from B meeting it in r, this line B r is equal 252.1303 162.0669. the inclined plane which is here involved, and sine 40° We can for the explanation of which I would refer the now find the magnitude of '£_ p B r in terms reader to the lecture on "Economy of Force," of the secant, by making r B the radius. Hence is
propelled
tion.
=
X
=
secant p B r 241.4253 — log. log. 162.0664 -f 10 10.1516081 log. sec. 47° portion as the angle c d a approaches a right 50', and hence /_ p B A=90° - (40°-f-47* 50' )= By formula (page 128, Vol. 2) /_ p B b angle, so does the effect of c d to turn d a about 2° 10'. .-. /_ b B A 4Q its centre. Since this effect is least when c b is found to he 4° 42' 47". 47" 10' 42' -2° 47". 2830' and a d form a straight line, and greatest when
published in this Journal.
I think this
illus-
log.
=
tration proves itself to a mechanic, that in pro-
=
=
=
approaching a right angle,
proves itself to be
it
in ratio to the sine of the angle. sive, therefore,
It
is
Producing
B
b
and dropping a perpendicular
conclu- to s from A, this line
that in the action before line of 252.1302
=
we have a minimum transmittance of 79"-f20)=67 p 28'. and hence a maximum local resistancej 11.21765 29.20986.
centres force,
=
and in the action past
The magnitude of a maxi- pinion leaf of proper ratio to the number being and hence a mini- 29.92093, we have then an excess of 29.20986-
line of centres a
mum transmittance of force, mum local resistance. In all
pitching, the for.
mer, therefore, should be avoided, and the ter secured.
To
elicit
As = sine 2° 32' 47"X A s- 90° - (2° 32' And A b = secant 67 C X
11.21765, /_ b
lat-
22.9203=6.38993. It would, however, be against our
mode
of
the condition on which proceeding to take for granted that the excess
depends is our next duty. The question of size is the cause of the contact taking place on this point, then, is, why does the action com- beforo line of centres. Hence we shall exammence before the line of centres, since the ine in our next (which will not, I trust, be at
this
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. such an interval as the present), depths of " and the various magnitudes of lines of centres, with ra- This last
275
moon
affects some people's heads." remark brought out a universal dius of pinion, as found in Fig. 8, in order to laugh against " Our journeyman," but he He ascertain if error of proportion can be neutral- tried to turn the laugh over on me. illustration of that said that I was a good ized by variation of pitching.
fact;
Continued from page
155.)
asking satisfied
fits
;
FINDING THE LENGTH OF A PENDULUM.
ly,
"Our journeyman" was
of
and would not be
took periodical
questions,
with the answers I received from people who knew, but I must have a reason for every" Look here," he continued, " nobody thing. can know these things unless they have been in London and I tell you," he said emphatical-
Reminiscences of an Apprentice. (
I
that
foolish
greatly delighted be-
"it
is
the
moon
that
makes this difference in One of our compan-
the length of a pendulum."
who had a taste for geometry, thought he saw a connection between the moon, the tides, and the length of a pendulum. He supported "Our journeyman's" assertions, and commenced to make a diagram on the hard sand with the toe of his boot, to demonstrate that as our town present, to expose his supposed ignorance on was on the sea shore, and as London was some the subject. distance back from the sea, that as a natural One evening as he and I and a number of consequence a pendulum was more affected in the young men of our town were walking to- one place than the other and this explanation gether on the sea shore, the conversation turn- was considered a satisfactory one by all but ed on the new clock that had recently been myself. placed on the front of the church gallery. Now, there are a class of people who when One of the young men remarked that he had they hear anything explained to them that they
cause the " Maister" did not apparently under- ions,
why
was that a pendulum, in order to keep the same time, required to be made a different length in London than it did in our town, and he embraced every opportunity that presented itself, when the " Maister" was not stand
it
;
heard his father talk about
it
thing for the watchmaker to
make
dulum
for
being a clever do not understand, like to listen to high sounda new pen- ing namesand learned phrases, and in fact the
knowing the more mysterious and unintelligible the explaOur journeyman" nation is, and the more confusing the diagrams
without
this clock
But
length of the old one.
"
said that it was all nothing that although he are, the better they like it but, somehow or had made the pendulum, he did not understand another, I could never join with these people. anything about it, and could not explain why As regards the explanation about the moon it was that a pendulum required to be made a affecting a pendulum, I did not object to the different length in London than in our town- lines drawn on the sand, and was perfectly " And what is the reason ?" I asked him playful- willing to listen to all the talk about bisecting ;
;
" is it because they make the clocks better in and trisecting isosceles and scalene triangles, and London, and the wheels run easier, that they to hear him speak about axioms, postulates and require a pendulum made a different length to scholiums, if he would also tell us at the same ly
;
regulate them ?'' " Yes," says he, quite serious- time why it was that the moon influenced a ly " that is one reason but it is not the scientific pendulum so much as to require one only 11 \ " And what is the scientific reason ?" we inches for our town and 7 feet one." 3f |- inches for " It is the moon," answered "Our London. all asked. As that point was not made clear ;
;
journeyman" solemnly. " The moon !" I asked enough for me to understand, " Our journeyin astonishment " what can the moon have to do man" decided that it was another proot of my with a pendulum ?" " Aye," says he, " that is all thick-headedness that I could not be made ;
;
you,
not
know about it look tho moon that makes ;
at the sea there, is
it
to
understand anything
;
that in
fact
I
was
the tides ?"
"Yes," nothing but a stupid jackass. I could not, says one of our companions, " and tho moon af- however, conduct myself with the characteristic
fects
the
weather."
" Yes,"
says
another,
meekness of that patient animal, and I
positive-
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
276
moon had such pendulums iu London as he said it had but the reader must understand that at this period I had never been in London, and " Our journeyman" had been there two years, which made a great difference. In many of the old countries boys are kept under a more severe discipline than is generally practised in the United States, and apprentices ly refused to believe that the
weaker than
an
itation
affinity for ;
much
are not often allowed to practise
familiar-
to
And
do with a
" Oh, yes,
I inquired.
"
at the poles."
anything
it
has grav-
pendulum?"
has everything to do
and you must understand all about that before you can comprehend anything about the motion of a pendulum, for the same force that causes a stone or any heavy body to fall to the ground also causes a pendulum to swing." I remarked that I thought it was with
the
it,
clock
that
made
pendulum
the
swing.
However, the conver- " Yes, when the pendulum is once 6et in mosation with " Our journeyman" and our com- tion the clock keeps it going; but if a pendupanions on the sea shore had awakened a deeper lum is detached from a clock, and the ball is desire in my mind than before, to be able to pulled to one side by the hand and let go, it is ity
with the "Maister."
understand
all
the questions
connected with the force of gravitation that
c rases
it
to fall
pendulum for the down towards the centre, and the momentum church clock, and I made up my mind to break it gathers in falling causes it to ascend nearly and when the force through the conventional rules and ask the as far on the other side " Maister" more about it, and remind him that of the momentum is expended the attraction he had never said anything on the subject since of gravitation pulls it down again, and the mothe first explanation he gave me and one day mentum it again gathers in falling forces it when we were at work I asked him if the moon up on the other side, and so on, a little less affected the length of a pendulum. " The moon," every vibration, till finally the ball stops swingsays he, " what puts that in your head ?" " Oh," ing altogether and if the material from which says I, " Our journeyman' says that it has a it was suspended was not strong enough, the great influence on the length of a pendulum, force of gravitation would pull the ball to the and makes a difference of several feet between ground. The clock maintains the vibrations of here and London." The " Maister" smiled and the pendulum against the resistance of the air remarked jokingly that it was too bad to tell and other obstacles but it is the force of gravisuch lies about the moon. I noticed' that " Our tation acting on the pendulum which regulates His the motion of the clock. journeyman" became a little fidgety. " But why is it," I asked, " that a pendulum glass would not hold on his eye, but he managthe finding the length of the
;
;
;
-
;
ed to hold his tongue, no doubt reflecting on requires to be a different length here than in
Wait a little I am about to examount of opposition from people who plain that. If any heavy body is allowed to fall do not know them, and are not willing to at the equator it will fall through a less space learn. in the same time than it would do at the poles, That afternoon I was called to the " Mais- because the force of gravitation is stronger at ter's " bench, and he told me that he was now the poles than it is at the equator. London is ready to give me any information or explana- a little nearer to the equator than we are, and the fact that the greatest truths meet with the
London
?
"
"
;
greatest
tion I desired
on the subject of finding the consequently the force of gravitation is not I asked first if there quite so strong in London as it is here, and a
length of a pendulum.
difference iu the length of a pendulum pendulum requires to be a different length; between here and London. " Yes, a little," but the difference is so little that it is scarceby says he "you know that the earth is not equal worth mentioning." "Well," thinks I to myin diameter all over that the distance from self, " according to these statements, we can its centre is greater at the equator than at the beat London a little in. the force of gravitation, poles, and the force of gravitation varies accor- if we cannot do it in anything else " however, ding to the distance from the centre of the I made no audible remark on that subject,
was any
;
;
;
earth's attraction.
Gravitation
is
strongest at
the poles, and becomes gradually less "approach the equator,
where
its
as
but asked
if
the
we on a pendulum.
force is a little
little
influence
;
moon
really
had any
" Yes, theoretically
however,
it is
influence
it
doubtful
exerts a if it
be
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. much as ever to give you any trouble to make a clock go well." " But what influence so
does
it
exert ? " I inquired.
" Well,
it
may be
When that the
customer went away and
the
" Maister "
was
first
277
at leisure again,
the
he told
me
time Ave had talked about finding
If a pendulum is sus- the length of a pendulum that we were making manner near to a large one to suit a clock that was already made but mountain, the pendulum, it is said, will not suppose a clock had to be made to suit a penduhang perpendicular, but will be attracted a lum of a given length, say 20 inches, how explained in this
pended in a
little
way
:
delicate
;
towards the mountain, because
bodies attract smaller ones.
In a
all
like
large
manner
Avould
says
I.
you proceed to do it ? "I don't know," " Well then the first thing to be done is
number of vibrations the 20-inch pendulum Avill make m a minute. We know that side of the earth where the pendulums are that a pendulum 89.2 inches long vibrates suspended, in the same manner as it attracts 60 times in a minute, and which is in the the waters of the ocean and causes the tides." ratio to the oscillations of the small one as the " Our journeyman " listened to all this in meek square root of the length of the small pendusilence, for what benefit was to be derived in lum is to the square root of the length of the arguing questions of this nature with people large one, and which, we will find, gives 84 vibrations that a pendulum 20 inches long who had never been in London ? " There is," continued the " Maister," "a most makes in one minute. We have then to conimportant point on the subject of gravita- struct the AA'heels and pinions Avith such numtion, which I wish to impress on your mind, bers of teeth that the scape-wheel teeth will and which will explain the reasons why the act 84 times on the pallets for one revolution of number of vibrations a pendulum makes is the Avheel that carries the minute hand." After listoning to all this, and going over the in proportion to the square root of its length. It is known that if a ball is allowed to figures, I Avished that I had paid a little more does not attention to these things Avhen at school. The it fall from an elevated position, approach the ground at a uniform rate of most of the things I had heard were also told speed, but its motion accelerates as it falls. me there, but at that period I learned and reThe body will fall a given distance the first in- membered only what I could not help or avoid, stant of time, and gravity continuing to act and now I was beginning to realize my folly. upon it will cause it to fall a proportionably It was a long time before I could fully undergreater distance during the next instant, and so stand all I had been told, and comprehend the on till it reaches the ground. The space many other intricate questions connected with through Avhich the body will have fallen in any the subject. On Sabbaths, when sitting in given number of. seconds, increases as the church, if there was a lull in the services and squares of the times. If a body falls sixteen the ticking of the clock became audible, a train feet in one second, in two seconds it will have of thought Avould often be started in my mind fallen four times as far in three seconds nine which sometimes excluded the more important However, I suptimes as far in four seconds sixteen times as thoughts of the sanctuary. In a pose I Avas not the first person whose mind has far, 'and so on in the same proportion. like manner a pendulum that swings once in wandered on a pendulum when in church, or half a second must bo 4 times as long to reflected on the grand and beautiful studies swing once in a second 9 times as long to which are so intimately connected with it.
the
moon has a tendency
pendulums towards
to attract the balls of
itself,
when
it
to find out the
shines on
;
;
;
saving once in 1|. seconds; 16 times as long
to
swing once in 2 secondsj and so on in exact proAt this stage a customer called, and portion." while the "Maister" was waiting on him I slipped round to " Our journeyman " and asked
ESfP' In consequence of so
much
space be-
ing occupied Avith the table of contents several
was about the moon now. " Oh," communications that were in type, as Avell as says he, as he blew his breath on a Avatch the answers to correspondents, have to be laid frame, "the 'Maister' likes to hear himself over for the next number. talk."
him how
it
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
278
EQUATION OF TIME TABLE.
Close of Fourth Yolume.
GREEK WICH MEAN TIME.
In accordance with a frequently expressed desire for a
For July, 1873.
more complete Index of the prece-
we have prepared
ding volumes of the Journal,
Sidereal
them each
and
assured that
feel
readers will find
all
it
Diff.
Day the Semi- Time
of the
respective volumes,
of
of
Day
tached and added to their
Equation
Time
separately, so that they can be deof
diameter Mon. Passing the
Week.
a
to be added to Apparent
for
One Hour.
Time.
Meridian.
great
number
This
convenience.
the
closes
M. s. 3 32.11 3 43.54
s.
During the past the Journal
Fourth Volume.
Tuesday.
1 2
.
.
Wednesday.
has been ture
we
left to
speak
and
for itself,
shall only say that
proposed
is
it
for the futo
Thursday. . Friday Saturday...
it
even more worthy of the patronage of Monday
4 5
.
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
.
Tuesday
workman, and urge
the intelligent
its
present Wednesday Thursday.
friends to aid us in extending
We
fulness.
sphere of use-
its
Friday Saturday
.
.
.
again desire to express our deep Sunday
sense of obligation for the
many
Monday.
...
Wednesday tributions
from practical mechanics, which
is
a
Thursday.
16 17 18 19 20
.
.
Friday.
convincing evidence that the influence of the Saturday.
Journal as an instructor
is fully
appreciated.
.
Sunday Monday. Tuesday Wednesday. Thursday
has been
made
.
in the
development and con-
struction of fine tools than ever before,
responding improvement made
partment of watch work.
ume
and
.
.
.
Sunday
Monday in
every de- Tuesday Wednesday
In the coming
the bringing into notice of
cor-
Friday Saturday.
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
.
.
During the past four years more progress
all
new
vol-
tools of
Thursday
.
Mean time
mary
that for apparent noon.
The Semidiameter
workman.
each and every one remitting,
enabling us
made up with
to
for the
at
once,
the
coming volume,
AMERICAN HOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
% '
4
page ... "
6 6 6 6 6
-0.074
8.54 5.81
0.100 0.126
may be found by
for
mean noon may be assumed
sub-
tbe same as
H. M.
D.
©
Full
i
%
2
Moon
1110.2
9 18 33.7
Last Quarter
16
New Moon
23 22 33.8
8 58
D.
.
H.
(
Perigee
11 17
i
Apogee
27
.
9.2
Latitude of Harvard Observatory
42 22 48
Long. Harvard Observatory New York City Hall
4 44 29 . 05
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