Barbour County index., 1884-01-25
Queer Freaks OF Watches.

|
Decidedly watches are queer
things" said ID. II. Hopkinson, of the
JeUeiierS' Circular, seated in the easy
1 chair of his editorial sanctuary. .tThey
! possess some tinaccountable peculiari-
| ties. For instance, some time about
the beginning of last summer, when
| there lad been a succession of fine
! displays of the aurora borealis, it was
estimated that in a single night in the
city of New York the main spiinos of
not less than three thousand watches
broke. This estimate is based on ac-
! tual inquiries. Fine sensitive watches
are part cularly liable TO be effected by
! electrical atmospheric disturbances
During the months of June, July and
August, when these phenomena arr
most fre juent, there are more main
springs broken than during all the re-
manning months of the year. They
break m variety of ways, sometimes
swapping into IS many as twenty-seven
pieces.
''It is fact that since the introduc-
ton of the electric light has become SO
general large number of watches,
some Of them very fine ones, have be-
come magneiized. While in this con-
dition they are useless as time keepers.
This defect used to be considered incur
able, and because Of il thousands of
watches have been thrown away after
much money had been spent on them
i'm vain attempts TO persuade them to
keep good time. Among the methods
resOrted To were wash ng the parts in
garlic juice, rehnishing and pas sing
them through the fire. But all these
devices were entire failures or only in
part effective. / know of man who
had fine and valuable movement
which kept excellent time. He trans
ferred it from a silver case TO a second
hand gold one. Immediately it lost all
its characteristics of stead ness and re-
liability, and. in fact. did not keep time
at all. When replaced in the silver case
ii kept good time again. The owner, n
iewelcr. puzzled himself and expert
mented in vain to discover the cause of
this strange partiality on the part of
his watch for silver. At length he sent
1t to an expert. He discovered that the
lifting spring of the gold case had be-
come magnetized. On substituting an
other for it, the watch kept as good
time in the gold case as in the silver
case.
'Ihere are occasions when it is a
very serious mater to have YOUR watch
magnetized. The mos. striking in
stance in point is one which lately came
under my notice. Captain w. X. Smith
commands the steamer Delaware. which
plies between New York and New Lon
don. Before putting to sea on a recent
voyage he was invited TO inspect an
electric light dynamite mach ne. and
exam ned its parts closely. Soon after
gett ng on board the steamer he OBJ
served that the compass became
strangely affected when he approached
it. Whether he stood on the right or
the let, or Immediately in front of the
compass. the needle would invariably
point To him. The compass was worse
than useless when he came near l.. 1t
was dangerous and might wreck the
ship. You can ina rine that this
phenomenon alarmed and puzzled Cap
tain Smith not little. At length he
recalled his visit to the dynamo ma
chine and the true solution of the eccen-
tr.c behavior of the needle flashed upon
him. His watch had become magnet
irNh. w utu Dc ItiUONtu IL Ilc needle
resumed its constancy to the polar star.
Watches frequently get magnetized
in iron mines or in machine shops,
where they are incautiously brought
near swiftly running belts. knew a
workman who used to hang his watch
between the parts of a running belt He
expended a small fortune on main
springs.
at is well-known fact among horol-
ogists that no watch will keep the same
me with two people. The cause has
not yet been definitely ascertained, but
it would seem that in some mysterious
way watch is affected by the tempera-
ment of the wearer. The mere physic-
al differences in gait and movement be-
tween different people is not suffice at
to account for all the variations that
have been observed. ~ J.. tribune.