Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-02-18
Clocks and Watches.

AssyTl2ns, VINO invented the clepSYdra,
or water clock, at period too remote
for precise calculation. All that Is
known for certain is, that the apparatus
existed before the overthrow of the first
Assyrian empire by Abaces and Belesss,
in the wear 759 B. @. This water clock
was nothing more than a brass vessel
Of cylindrical shape holding seyerai
gallons Of water. A very small hole
was bored IN one of Its sides, through
which the liquid WAS allowed to trickle,
and II was calculated that the vessel
could empty itself about five or six
times day.
The clepsydTa remained In its prlmi-
tive condition for many centuries, and
II was not until the invention Of the
sun dial at Alexandria, $50 yeaTs before
Christ, that it underwent any improve
ment. About that time an Egyptian of
Memphis added a dial, with hand, TO
the clepsydra. The hand reYolved Oh
q pivot, and communicated with a string
which was fastened 70 float. AS the
water leaked ont the float fell with 1t,
and the tension Of the string caused the
hand TO move around with spasmOdic
Jerks. This reform, though meritorious
II theory, proved deficient in practice.
Egypt, which had become the great
mart OF the new timeplece, exported
clepsydras to the different countries OF
the East rs rare curiosities and at
fabulous prices. When Pompey re
turned to Rome IN the year 81 before
Christ, from trIumpbing over Antiochus
and Mlthudates, one of the most val
liable trophies ne brought with him
from the treasures of the king of
Pontus was an Egyptian clepsydrs,
marking the hours and minutes ac-
crding 10 the method OF horology III
use IL Rome. The cylinder which
served as a receptacle for the water
was OF gold, as was also the dial
plate. The hands were studded with
small rubies. and each of the ciphers
that denoted the Jwenty-fours of the
day was cut ont of a sapphire. The
cylinder only needed replenishing once
"a day. Then came the age of total
darkness that followed the overthrow of
the Roman empire, when science, art,
and everything that was refined fell
into contempt and obhyion. The bar
barians who conquered the imperial
city had very primitive modes of mark
ing the course Of time. The methods
differed according to the locality. In
peasant districts the labOrer reckoned
by the number of burrows he could
plOw, or, if 1t was harvest time, by the
quantity of corn he could reap. In
towns where some remnant of Roman
civilization survived the reckoning was
Kept yy watchmen. AT daybreak
soldier started on foot, or, if the town
was large one, on horseback, to walk
around the CITY When he had gone
his round the first watch was over, and
he returned 70 his quarters blowing
loudly on a trumpet, when a second
soldier set out III silence TO perform the
second watch. This continued unin-
terruptedly day and night, the only
difference being that after sunset there
was no trumpet blowing, and the watch
men. instead Of going round singly,
went their rounds IN patches of ten or a
OuZsu. As a last instance OF barbarous
curguoEetry, aliusiCn should be made
10 the method employed IL monasteries.
The monks were IN the habit of com
putting time by the number of prayers
they could say, and 1t was from this
that the custom OF wearing chaplets OF
beads arose.
1t was tie famous Caliph Of Bagdad,
H5rOau-al R-scLid, who restored the
old water olOck to Europe. In the year
SUI, he sent very beautiful clepsydra
.rTHa -
as a thing to be admired and not to be
copied after. The reason of this was
that the sab.ier. sand glass, had been
invented IN France shortly before the
accession of Charlemagne, and this con
trivauce was considered handler and
mere simple than the other. The first
sablier was invented by the man who
re-iuYented the blowing of glass after
the secret had been lost for wears.
He was q monk of Chartres named
LuIfprand, and the sand-glass he made
was the exact prototype Of all those
that have been made since. 1t con-
sisted Of two pear-shaped receptacles
joined by their slender ends. When
the sand had all run from one end to
the other, the lower glass was turned
uppermOst, and kept IN that position
until empty. Charlemagne caused a
monster sabIier to be made with the
hUral divisions marked on the outside
Oy thin lines of red paint. This was
the first hour-glass. 1t required to lie
TUNED over only once IN twelve hours,
and 1t kept time with as much precis-
ion as the best of our lever clocks.
Many persons still consider the hour
glass the best time-keeper ever invented.
King Alfred devised a method of COM
putting time by means of a rush light
set In a lantern. Anything more unsat-
isfRctory or expensive than this it was
impossible to imagine.
The first real clock was set up in
1874, during the reign of Charles Y. of
France. The maker was one Henri de
VIC, an Arab, who had been converted
Christianity. This clock was q monster
machine, weighing five hundred weight.
Il was put up IN the round tower OF the
royal palace, now the Palals de Justice,
and attracted crowds for several months
after II was erected. The maker re-
ceived pension of a hundred crowns
of gold for life and was ennobled He
Is the first artihcer on whom this dis
tincaon was ever conferred in France.
From this time the making OF large
clocks for public edIfices was extern
sively carried on throughout Europe.
But it was not until the beginning of
the Sixteenth century that small clocks
were made for apartments. The first
one came from Florence in 1918. as a
present from Juho de MedIci to King
Francis I. of France. The invention of
watches had preceded by a few years
that OF small clocks. Popular tradition
sscribes the invention of watches to
Peter Hele of Nuremburg, in the year
1890. But King Robert of Scotland
possess ell one as tar back as 1910.
GerNan watches were not introduced
at the English court until 1897. They
cost fabulous sums of money, and were
made IL fancy forms, such as acorns,
olives, walnats and crosses, and we're
also worn as pendants to ladies' brace
lets. Claude, wife of Francis / of
France, had one so small that it was set
IN a ring. Hugens of ZaIichem in
vented the pendulum clock, the simplest
and the most admirable machine. The
invention of the spring pocket watch
is accorded to the Englishman Hooke
IN l6JO, and eighteen years after this
the first repeating watch WAS made at
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