The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1860-11-06
From the N. De PfCdH''Hes
a Day in the American Watch Conn
pany's MamufactOry at WaIthanI.
BY BELLE BRITAIN.

4 day in a Watch mandatory is as worthy
of I" special notice as a day on board the
great ship. From an inspection of both,
one sees the maximum and minimum of me-
chanical invention and achievement All
mechanical intricacies disappear as the
scale of construction is enlarged and al
though such world famous monsters as the
Pyramids, the Coliseum, and the great ship
overwhelm US by the force of mere magni-
tude, yet there Is quite much to excite
the E" bump of wonder i'll the operation of
little machine, driven by steam, that
turns out well-cut screws visible only by
the aid of the microscope Such a curious
Continuance may be seen, any day, at Walt
ham, assisting in the delicate art of making
watches And surprising as it may appear,
this enterprising and ingenious American
company have invented machinery for the
separate fabrication of almost every one of
the one hundred and twenty-five different
parts employed in the composition of a
watch. The metals the jewels, and what
ever else is used in the construction of this
beautiful and wonderful place of mechanism,
seem TO be thrown in Mt one end Of the es-
adjustment in raw and inert state, and to
come out at the other a complete and al
most living organism, with a beating
heart, IA speaking face, and "hands
raised as it were, in astonishment at phe
nomenon Of its own creation.
The value of the watch, of course, consists
in its accuracy and in one of these Ameri-
can watches we may feel the absolute conf
dence we have in friend who has never
deceived us. And for this reason : so much
of the work is made by unerring machinery,
that in their movements we are,gnaranteed
a perfection and uniformity of motion unat-
L i L Al T.. 4 -
the most expert hand for instance-here is
a machine that turns out microscopic screws
at $50, 900 to the pound and equally per
feet. 1t would be utterly impossible for any
human hand to make two exactly alike
and it is curious fact that a man can CON
struct Il machine which will do a nice piece
of work better than he can do it with his
own hands. The sewing machine sews bet
ter than the man who invented it.
But mechanical accuracy is not the only
point of success achieved by the American
Watch Company The labor saving feature
in their manufacture is enabling them to
sell a better article at a less price than can
be had of their European competitors. They
now employ in their mandatory, at Walt
ham, about $50 operatives, one-third OF
whom are women; and when it is known
that one young girl, by means of newly in
vented machinery, at salary OF 80 week,
does the work of four men, formerly employ
ed at salary of S25 a week each, the public
will understand why it is that the American
watch is cheaper than the Swiss, with only
four per cent. protection. And when our
people are fairly convinced that the home
made article is really better and cheaper
than the imported, the $5,oOO,OoO annually
sent abroad for the purchase of European
watches will be paid to our more ingenious
manufacturers in America. The law of self
interest, which is a higher and more univer-
sal law than patriotism, will always lead
men to buy where they can buy cheapest
and with the primeval laws of human nature
it is never wise to quarrel. We should now
no sooner think of sending to Geneva for a
watch than to England for yacht, to Rome
for religion, or to Washington for Congress
water.