The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-04
FOREIGN ITEMS OF INTEREST.
SOMETHING ABOUT CLOCKS.

lnanulaet0ry failed few years since, through
the fault of others, involving Mr.. Barnum,
began life anew some time since near Chicago.
rive miles out from that city he established a
new mandatory, which is now capable of
turning out one hundred thousand clocks a
year. Mr.. Parton tells us that Mr. Jerome ex-
poets to be able TO sell them at New Haven
quite as cheap as those made in New Haven.
A new English volume by Edward Wood
presents some interesting facts concerning the
origin of clocks. The clepsydra or water
glass was used by the ancients for measuring
time. The sand glass, in which sand took
the place of water, was a modification of
the clepsydra. These time-keepers were
called ciepSammid. They were in use before
the time of Jerome, A. d. 331-42O. The
candle clocks of Alfred are well known. Mar
tinelli, of Spoleto, in a curious work, 1868,
speaks of clocks going by earth, air, fire, and
water. In the tiTe-clock the motion was pro-
duced upon the principle of a modern smoke
jack, the wheels being moved by means of a
lamp which also gave light to the dial. the
hours being given out by the explosion of
crackers set at proper intervals. In the air
clocks the hours were measured by the descent
of weight eXpelling the air through an ori-
flee in a tube, and giving motion to wheel
work. In 1869, the Grand Duke Cosmo was
astonished to see at the Rovai Socety's rooms
in London clock the movements of which
were derived from the vicinity of loadstone.
electrical clock. 1t seems impossible to fix
the date when clocks with wheels and weights
were first invented. Boethius is said to have
made one in the year $40 A. D. Pope Paul l
is reported to have sent wheel-clock to King
Pepin in 756. We are told that the Arabians
first made clocks to strike in SOL. Rabanus
Maurus is said to have sent clock with bell
to friend about the year $40.
wHEEL-CLoCKs.
L, .f l.. L =.
given to Pacifcus, Archdeacon of Vienna who
died in the middle of the ninth century. Ger
bert of Fleury, afterward Pope Sylvester II,
has credit for a similar invention about the
year one thousand. 1t is not clear whether
the alusion of Dante is to a mechanical clock
or to a sun dial, or whether the oroLogiun in
Signe given to Sherbome Abbey by William
the Sacrist, in the twelfth century, was of
either nature. st. Paul's Cathedral as evil
denced by the compoius JraceriIs.for A. d. 1886,
had its oroiogidriuS or clock-keeper, and an
agreement for altering and completing the
wh9elwork of the clock is eXtant in Norman
French dated November %, 1874, between
the Dean and Chapter and Walter the Orgo-
ne"' OF Southwark. The great clock house
atWestminister was set up by Edward l in
1853, out of fine of seven thousand marks
TO corruption and malpractice levied upon
Sf Ralph de Hengham, Chief Justice of the
Kings Bench. Another clock tower was
\ epcted there by Edward III in 1866.
The same writer tells us of the
ORIGIN OF WATCHES.
The origin of the watch, though not readily
tbe assigned to any particular date, is GER
tnly not of the same antiquity as that of the
fed or stationary clock. The first step
tCards it was obviously the invention of a
COED spring as the motive power, instead of
eight and pendulum. And this appears to
hFe been made during the last quarter of the
fbenth century. Nuremberg has generally
hd the credit of the earliest ''poc<et clocks''-
Nremberg eggs, as they were called, from
tpir oval shape. The same honor has been
diimed by Blois upon less plausible grounds.
len China is said to have introduced the in
ynton into Germany, whence it passed into
lance, and so into England. Peter Hele, of
Aremberg, who died in 1540, as early as 1890
ade small watches Of steel, which pointed
d and struck the hours, and might be worn
0the person.
SECONDS DESCRIBED.
By the year 1900, the manufacture was so
improved as to describe seconds of time,
aYhich period such watches were used for
economical purposes by George Purbach, a
Ithematician of Vienna. In 1914, the guild
ddaster Clockmakers in Paris secured from
hncs l the exclusive privilege of making
ccks and watches, both large and small The
Jhdon Clocllmakers' Company was incorpo-
red by charter of Charles |, 1851.
The performance of these early specimens of
t watchmaker's art was, we may suppose,
Wy imperfect. About the year 1850 metallic
oins were commonly substituted for the cat
f cord previously in general use. A great
iprovement was introduced in the year 1868,
1.-THE invention of the spiral or pendulum
sing applied to the arbor of the balance.
Ie first idea of this spring is attributed to
ingenious mathematician, DR.. Hooke. 1t
B thoroughly carried out in 1865, under his
ections, by the celebrated matchmaker,
romas Tompion. A watch of that kind made
fCharles IL bears that date, together with
t names of both inventor and constructor.
The first repeater was made by Quare in
16. The horizontal escapement was in
pted in 1924.
CURIOUS WATCHES,
pne of the most singular freaks of the art
u the lilliputian repeater, no bigger than a
ser twO-penny piece, set in a ring, presented
t6eorge Ill in 1894, by the celebrated Arnold
dDevereuX Court, Strand. A curious watch
B made for Louis XIV by COupsOn, Jr., o
lis, in 1894, in which simple spring was
sstituted for the barrel, the mainspring tn,
din, and the fusee. 1t required no winding
was set in motion for twenty-four hour
1.-The simple push of knob, like the striking
sing of repeater.
WEARING TWO WATCHES.
bout that period the foppery of wearing
t watches came into vogue, and was speedil.
fowed by the ladies'. To avoid expense
lEever. dummy, or tauSSe moatre, of SOM
swy material often took the place of a rea
q In Paris all sorts of whimsical toys wer
tned out by Julien le Roy, entitled 6trenne
<t.;o,,oe. apd he yVa even OutdOne l.