Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-07-26
CIIRONOMETERS.
AN OLD SALT WATER SAILOR CHATS
ABOUT THEM.
How the Ocean Navigator Takes Care Of
His Chron ometer -- Life or Death In -
Second Effect OF Temper
ature "Nlltc."



old salt water sailor, who now lives on Kos
suth street, "that you had something In tho
paper about chronometcrs. Now, happen
to have had some experience in the use OF
chronometers. People SEQ them In the jew-
elers window, compare their watches and
pass. Few stop to think Of tho relations
they hold to lifo and pror erty on the ocean.
Time was when ships were guided to differ
eut parts Of tho world without them, but at
a frightful sacrifice Of time and often Of
ship, cargo and crow. Then the only
means they had OF determining their
longitude was by dead reckoning, and that
was very poor thing to dop nd on.
The old way was to get into the latitude Of
the port sailed for and then steer east or
west rs the case domanioi. But tho chro-
nomcter has done away with all that. Now
a captain can leave port and shade his
course to any part Of tn, globe and know
his true position, in clear wcatiIer, every
day. Thore arc two gentlemen, in this city
whose fathers sailed from tho shores Of
Massachusetts bay, around Cape Horn and
cape Of Good Hope without chronomoters,
but there are very few that would under.
take it now. Some captains own thcir
chronometers, some hire them, others
belong to the ship. Some carry two
and If tho captain carries his wife with him
she has good cause to be jealous Of tho caro-
and attention that her husband gives to tho
chronomcter. She il only second In his
thought on shipboard / have known a
captain TO take the pillow from under his
wife's head to set the chronometnr on during
heavy sea. havo oftsn taken tho chro-
nometer out OF its outer box and set 1t on
pillows, when we were handling heavy
cargo, to save it from any sudden jar.
All captains have certain time to
wind their chronometers, generally at
eight bells in tho morning. Tho captains
wife, as general thing, dare not look at It,
and she feels toward it accordingly But
there arc exceptions t. this rule. There are
some captains wives that are iirst-class nav.
igators. For instance, some years ago the
American ship Ne Plus Ultra left Liverpool
for Bombay, Capt Plummer. He had his
wife and family with him After q few days
no was taken with a paralytic shock. His
wife naviSated the ship successfully TO her
destination, buried two children on the pas
sage and lost her husband three days after
reaching port She and her only boy came
home In the ship that I was in. She looked
fully rs noble rs she had proved herself
to be.
sailors have 20 he very careful with their
chronnmeterS A brass plate fits ov, the
kcyhoe. and works with n string, so that rs
soon aS the key is removed II covers tho hole
on the instrument so that no dust can posi-
bly, get into the works. Every chronometer
carries her record with her. The cover
forms almost half OF tho box In which She
sets. In that cover Is whore tho rates arc
kept from the time that she left the makers
hands. II she Is q good chronometer you
will find all her rates there After each
voyage she Is taken TO chronometer-
maker and rerated. and they often run for
years on the same rate Now, IL q chro-
nometsr gaius one-tenth Of second to-day
and loses one-tenth tomorrow, which Is a
very small Item, she Is no use For tho pur-
pose for which she was intended, but
she would DO Just the thing for
a jewelers. window But If, on the other
hand she gained two hours every twenty
four hours or lost the samo, and kept doing
So then you have first-class chronometer.
This seems strange but In the first oase you
could not keep track OF her, and in the sec
ond case you could. No matter what she
gains or loses =. long as she keeps on doing
the same thing sho is all that you want.
Some will say, Why arc they so particular
about time ut seat But when II fs taken
into consideration what proportion sec
ond is to a mile IL will be plainly seen why
We have to be SO particular. There gro fifteen
degrees to the hour, four minutes to the de-
greo, fifteen mile TO the minute, and four
seconds to the mile, so that an error of one
recond is one-fourth of a mile
"The trouble with chronometers is that
they are so Affected by the temperature. The
slower the movement, and the colder it is
the faster she runs. We toll the longitude
by the chronometer This is set to Green-
wich timo, and the calculations are based on
the principle that for every degree Of longi-
tude east Of Greenwich local time will be
four minutes faster and for every degree
west, four minutes slower The best chro-
nometers will run with surprising accuracy
in all temperatures, but they are not perfect,
and as tho slightest variation means much to
the navigator, he has his instrument tested
frequently, and the rate ascertained The
rate Is the variation of the instrument
with temperature, and by observing tenn
pvraturs the captain keeps record Of the
'ariations OF his chronomotor, and thus cor
oct the time as indicated by the instruments
In testing chronometers they are subjected
in turn to different degrees OF temperature
nnd their variation, scientifically observed,
Is registered inside the cover there. Every
good chronometsr will so accurately at two
temperatures, and can be adjusted to any
given temperature. For instance, ono
instrument may be made to go
accurately in temperature OF 10, and also
in temperature OF 80, at other Temporal
tures being not so accurate, BY constantly
endeavoring to keep his chronometer in It's
best temperature the captain Is usually able
to rely confidently upon its accuracy, though
many wrecks have been caused by over
confidence in chronometers.
Magnetic Telephone.