Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-08-26
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gREAES or WATCHES.
Tbou.auds OF Main-sprirss Brcakira ""'"
the Aurorn Bcreaiis Appears.

the Aurorn Borealis Appears
..w,tcbes are queer things" said y. II:
rIoot,nsor. OF The New York Jeireile's
,s..,,,iav seated in toe easy chair OF us
cs;,or,al ssncturs. "They possess some un-
scco',ntahle pesullartles. For instance,
One time ago. about the beginning OF last
summer when there had been SUCCESSION
81 fine displays OF the aurora DO
realis. IL was estimated that IN singIo
MONT In the city Of New York the NAM
sn,,nss n; not less than 5000 watches broke.
Nit estimate Is based OIL actual inquiries.
Fire sensitive watches are particularN
liable 10 be affected by electrical atmos'
nh.ric dIstiu Dances. During the months
~ lime. July, and August, when these
nhonomena are most frequent, tnere are
more mgin.springs broken than all the re.
m ,,o,r,no months OF the year. They break
In variety OF ways, sometimes swapping
into "a many as twenty seven pieles.
al il a fact thai siuce the introddc-
,iop Of the electric Hight has become so
General n large number OF watches. some
oi them very tine ones. have become u'ls-
net,yed. while in this condition they arc
useless a. time. keepers. This deiect ''scd
10 he considered incurable. and because VI
II Thousands Of watches have been thIo"u
away after much money had been spent on
them in vain attempts TO persuade them W
keep good time. Among the methous re-
soyted 10 were washing the parts IN gafllc
iuicc. Tefnishing and passing them 'hrousn
the fire. But all these de'lceS were en'lo
failures or only in part elective. i hhpn
Of n man who bad fine ana Ni'u'U ~
movement which kept excellent tll'Ie' ~
transferred il from silver use 70 ascoou ,.-
Land gold one. Immediately IL ios. ~
CHARACTERISTICS % steadiness ana relaDrlity,
snd. in fact. did not keep time AZ all. wren
replaced IN the silver case II kept Soou t',i3
again. The owner, a leweslef, pu|A,e"
himself and cxperimonted IN vain 10 as
cover The cause Of this strange Partially on
The nari OF the watch for silver. AZ last ne
cent Il TO an expert. lie discovered INT
tho liuipc-spring OF the gold case had De-
come magnetized. ON substituting another
for II the watch kept rs good time IN the
gold ease a. in the silver case.
.There are occasions when It Is a very
serious matter TO have your watch megne-
tied. The most striking instance IN point
i one which lately came under my notice.
Carfain W. Il. smith commands tue slelul-
or Delaware. which plies between New
! ork and New London. Before putting 20
.ra on a recent voyage. be was ,nYlled 10
inspect an electric hight dynamo-nachlne,
and examined is parts closely. soon aiter
Getting on board the steamer he noticed
that the compass became strangely az
fccied when BE approached 1t. whether
Ice stood on The right or the lett or i'm ne
diafelv in front OF the compass the nee
de would invariably point TO him. The
compa,s was worse than useless Wnen ne
came nearIt II WAS dangerous and might
wreck The ship. You can imagine that this
phenomenon alarmed and puzzled Captain
smith not "A 1T lc. At length n recalled
his visit 10 the dynamO-machiue, and the
true solul5 n OF the eccentric beaayoroi the
needle flashed upon him. His watch had
become magnctizcd. When he removed IL
fhe rcedle resumed is cOn,tancy to the
polar star. On his return 10 the city he
took the watchto firm. who demagnc;iZed
IL Tor bin. This firm be, Invented some
machine the mechanism Of which - So
crot. By which they demaenctize o magnet
lied watch speedily and etiec'ually. They
get watches sent them from all parts OF the
world to be- thus treated.
watches frequently re. magnotiZcd in
iron.mincs or in machnn-shOQs, where they
are iucautiouSly brought sWifi-running
belts. ! knew workman who used TO
hang his watch between The paris OF run
ming belt. lie expended small fortunoon
main-srrings.
at j. wclI-known fact among horo-
logis.s that no watch will keep tine str.e
time with two people. The cause has not
vet been definitely a-certlined, but il Wou'd
seem that IN some mysterious way a watch
Il aGccted by the temperament Of The weucr.
The mere physical difference, in gait and
movement between different people are not
sufficient 10 account for all the variations
that have been Observed