The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-07-15
OUR CLOCKS AND WATCHES.
A pR1EF GLANCE Ar THE HISTORY
OF TIMEPIEcES.
Origin Of Clocks and Watchcs-Suh-
Dials and the Clcpsydra-Timc.
keeDers as TOyY-Ihe "TUrnip.'

VI
Origin Of Clocks and Watchcs-S"h-
Dials and the Clcpsydra-Timc.
keepers as Toys-Ihe "Turnip."
Sun dials were the first markers of
time, but they were never quite to be
relied on. The fact is, the u is more
irregular in his habits than many good
and confiding people suppose. lie Is
sometimes careless about getting up in
time, and has been known to be rs much
rs half an hour late in reaching noon.
In the 3G5 days of the year he is right
only four times, and so little dependence
can tc placed on him that astronomers
have been obliged to invent q sun, and
make it mark the hour of noon. This is
called ''mcan time" making a day OF
invariable length, which is not the case
with the solar day. Sun-dials might DO
very well for primitive man or for the
shepherds of Arcadia, but mean time is
the time of civilized life. by mean time
the board of trade, the banks, the manu-
factories and business houses are opened
and closed. Without it there is no
punctuality possible, no certainty, no
secure dependence. For accurate mean
time we make the watch and clock re-
sponslble and give the sun up as ire
claimable, for the clocks noon and the
suns coincide only four times in the
year.
After the sun-dial came the clcpsydra
or water clock. a transparent graduated
vessel, filled with water, which slowly
dropped or trickled through an appcr-
ture al the bottom. The intervals be-
tween the filling and emptying of the
vessels. which, of course, varied with
the size of the vessels, were called
watches" They were used In the
Greek and Roman forums to time the
speeches of the orators. One Of Mar
tails cpigrams counscls a dull orator
who drank water constantly during his
harangue to drink from the clepsydra,
and thus relieve his audience as well as
himself. The hour glass is a moditica,
ton of the clepsydra, substituting sand
for water. Sun-dialS and hour glasses
marked the time for our forefathcrs be-
fore the Revolution. There were very
few watches or clocks owned in this
country until after that time. Clocks
were invented in the eleventh century,
and were first supposed to have origi'
mated with the devil, but as the monas-
teries Immediately adopted them, that
idea was soon d%issipated. They were
very rude nd clumsy contrivanccs until
the pcnd"l.m was discovered by Gallileo.
"As untrastworthy as a town clock Is a
provcrb that has been long in vogue.
Of the clocks il London Charles Lamb
said they allowed him to "walk from
the Strand to Temple Bar in no time
and gain five minutes"
The watch was at first called a pocket
clock, q name the Germans still adhere
to, and was as large as a saucer and run
by weights. The substitution of q spring
for weights was made about 1850. The
city of Nuremberg claims to be the place
where watches were first made, and it is
certain that Mt first and for many years
they were called Gutenberg eggs"
For q long period watches were con-
sidered more as toys than as tlmekeepers,
and the ingenuity of the artisan was en-
erted to produce something novel OF
curious. All kinds of fantastic shapes
were devised. Mary Queen of Scots had
q watch shaped like q skull. Others
were made like q cross, a bird, a tulip,
or any astonishing form the maker could
imagine. They were inserted in snuil
boxes, in finger rings, in canes. in shirt
studs, in bracelets, and even in saddles
In fact, the history Of watches for nearly
a century is q record of the whimsicali-
ties and fertile ingenuity of watchmakers
in accordance with the capricious and
fantastic taste of the times. Finally,
about o century ago, the watch as time
keeper was evolved, and it took on its
present settled form. Then 1T was that
the name "turnip" was applied to it, be:
cause it had something of the shape OF
that derided vegetable, and did not look
bcautiful-like 4 cross, a pear, or a
flower.
''The watch" said a prominent jcwcler
to the Herald reporter, ''has come to be
one of the necessities Of life, and, like
every other necessity of life, it can be
bought at any price and in all qualities:
1 can sell you one for 5000, which, if
you owned, you would believe the stars
were set by It, so accuratelydo 1t keep
time, and YOU can buy II for $3.50,
which would probably be as crate in
its motions as a comet, and yet would be
a watch by which you could guess the
time of day. There is a WatchmaAers
and jewelers. Association in the United
States, which meet annually. At our last
meeting it was reported that the daily
demand for watches in this country
amounted to nearly 81. 900. Some few
years ago We imported watches to the
value of over s., 600, 600, now our imports
reach only about $500, 900, showing that
American made watches have at last won