Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-09-13
History of Clocks and Watches.

The clock, which at the present day is
considered an almost indispensable arti-
Gle in every household in the land, and
the watch, which is generally required to
| complete the wardrobe of nearly every
man and woman, compared to the
history of the world, are but of recent
origin or invention.
The "ancients" used to mark the pro-
gress of time by the moving of the
heavenly bodies, and for a more brief
space by the shadow of the sun cast on
sun dial, certain marks on the dial
noting the length of time. The dial is
used to-day, and the sun at its true
meridian is found through this system
at the present time. The North Ameri-
can Indians fixed their time and age, or
any event, by so many moons, and so
many winters, and leaves falling from
the trees. Less time was so many suns
or days in certain moons. By this way
OF computing time, an old Indian could
tell how many days, months and years
he had lived.
In the absence of thesun, the ancients
always used a clepsydra, a vessel
containing water escaping through a
small orifice in equal quantities at equal
times. A floating body in q vessel
which received the water, denoted the
time by its rise to certain numbers on
the side of the vessel The Romans in
troduced this instrument in the days of
Pompey, from Greece, seventy years
before the Christian era. They employed
it to denote the length of speeches in
the Roman Senate.
The sand or hour glass was an ancient
invention, and used in Egypt before the
days of Christ. This cheap and conve-
nient instrument has been handed down
to the present day, and is still employed
for some purposes which require the
frequent measurement of short time as
half minute, running out hOrOlogue,
or three minutes to boil eggs.
In the early times of Archimedes, the
great mathematician, 250 years before
Christ, wheel work was made to move
by springs and weights to impel equal
motion at equal times. From this mo-
tive power frst sprung the clock Tor
keeping time, which was used in Europe
as early as the eleventh century, and the
invention of which was due to the
Saracens.
A clock that would strike the hours
was known as early as 1921. There was
a clock in Dover Castle, Eng, in 134S.
From the large public clocks sprung the
small family clocks of all kinds and
sizes. Clocks of different movements
were constructed with quite as much
ingenuity and intricacy 200 years ago as
at the present time.
It is stated that watches were made in
Nuremberg as early as 1477, yet there is
no accurate authority for the statement.
There was q watch in Sir Ashton Levers
museum bearing the date of 1541. Hen
~ VIII, who died in 1547, owned
watch. The hair spring was applied to
the watch to regulate the time by DR..
Hook in 1858. Glass at one time was
used for hair springs, but 1t soon grew
out of use for reason of its breaking so
easily by a jar, but they were acknowl-
edged to keep a watch in more accurate
time. From those days Improvements
have been constantly going on till the
watch is nearly perfect as to time.
For many years all the improvements
were made in England and imported 10
this country, but machinery mas been
made to do many parts Of the work, and
nearly all the watches made IN TINS
country at the present time are Amerl-
can movements. In 1867 the value OF
watch movements imported to TINS eo1n> Hi
try was S., ,823,O 900; in 1875 it was y ,OSA,'
900, the duty of which was Sooo'OOO'