St. Landry democrat., 1881-08-13
laid down in the sewers of the first,

laid down in the sewers of the first,
second and ninth ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF
the city. There was, however. no dis
tributon of time to private residences.
Soon, however, company, known as
| the Compaq1aie Generate des HOrIOges
P,aeunantiques, was authorized to per-
form this service. and year ago last
March it was ready to begin the work.
Six miles OF pipes had been laid down,
and four clocks, which received the
pneumatic time from the central works,
were fixed on lamps on the boulevards.
| These public clocks came to be of gre 1t
use Their time was always correct,
and people got into the habit of regu-
lating their watches by them. Suisse
quently the system was further extend
ed, and now there are sixteen miles of
pipes laid down in the sewers, and
1000 pneumatic clocks in 500 houses
are connected with the central works
and are receiving the time from them.
The number OF public clocks in the
streets has also been increased to four
teen, with thrty-three dials.
/ The system has worked so well and
has proved of SO great public conven-
fence that of late, we are told, the pat
| entees have obtained concession from
! the Project of the Seine which will en-
| able them to vastly extend their az
rangements for distributing the time.
Their plan is to lay down pipes through
which they can send compressed air
which will actuate all the clocks of
Paris, il necessary.
/ This is the way in which the time is
sent Al the central works there is a
great clock, which controls the whole
system. 1t is a pendulum clock of re-
markable precision and perfection Of
mechanism. TO it is connected q pc
culiar contrivance. by means of which a
valve is opened and shut every minute.
When the valve is opened compressed
air furnished by steam engines working
air-compressing machines is admitted
into the system of pipes, and all the
clocks connected with it are actuated
at the same time The opening takes
place at the sixtieth second of each
minute, and the air flows for twenty
seconds. when the valve is closed. This
space OF time allowed is the result of
experience, and may be varied accord
ing to the distances through which the
compressed air has to travel.
1t is not necessary for us to describe
the machinery in detail; nor shall we
attempt to explain, the mechanism of
the clocks worked by the pneumatic
system 1t is enough to say that as the
central clock moves SO move all those
connected with it. In this way exact
and uniform time is furnished, and
when the Pneumatic Company take adj
vantage of their concession, which gives
them monopoly of laying pipes for
fifty years, twill be supplied through
out Paris.A The cost, too, is SO small
that the people generally will be able
to have it, Thus. the charge for sin
| gle clock is only one cent a day, and if
There are more in house the price for
each is much reduced. This price,
however, includes having the pipes and
fsuppymg ahe clock, or. if desired, fitting
works to existing clocks. Since the
pneumatic system saves the household
Ter frornal lskeare about his clocks and
Hall expenye,for TIER repair it will be
seen that Che cost is at least no greater
than that. OF maintaining the old time
pieces. BY it, too, he can always be
sure .tFat he has the correct time.
I The pneumatic clock. therefore, is a
great gain, and is likely to be intro
| duced unto many cities We are tod
THAT not onlyaP arts aud Vienna, but also
St. Petersburg and Madrid and two
large towns in France, are soon to have
time distributed by the system, and
that it is to be introduced into England.