, 1886-05-05
CURIOUS TIMEPlEces.

A Transparent watoh-with One wheel
PENIS HIstory-The Canary.
In the year 1899 a transparent watch
Of small size, constructed principally of
rock crystal, was presented to the Acad-
envy of Sciences in Paris. The works
were all visible; the two-teethed wheels
which carried the hands were Of rock
crystal and. the others were metal. All
the screws were fixed in crystal and
each axis turned on rubies. The escape
ment was Of sapphire, the balance wheel
OF rock crystal and the spring Of gold.
1t kept excellent time.
A curiosity in the way Of watches was
shown by the director of the watohmak-
ers school at Geneva before the horolog-
zeal section of the society of Arts at a
meeting last year. This wonder is moth
ing less than a watch with one wheel,
manufactured at Paris in the last CEN
tury. The watch was presented to the
National institute in 1890, being then in
a deplorable state; but the teacher Of the
repairing section at the school has, after
many hours OF labor, succeeded in re-
establishing harmony between the vari-
Gus organs, so that it is now in going or
der. 1t would take a professional watch
maker to describe the in which
the one wheel is made to perform the
whole duty Of keeping time.
A recent number of The jewelers.
Circular describes an ancient musical
clock now in possession of a citizen of
Marietta, Wis. 1T is 235 years old, and
r.aRA a-..I .. mi =.
made Of wood, lead and iron. The
weight that runs the musical part weighs
fifty pounds. 1t plays a piece every
hodr, but it is rather hoarse at present
from old age. The dial is large and has
the paintings of William Penn describ-
ing his history. At the top are five
musicians dressed in uniforms, who
raise their instruments to their lips as
they begin to play. The case is made Of
maple and mahogany. 1t was made in
the year 1919, and was brought to this
country in 1s47 by a party of immi-
grants, being the only timepiece brought
with them
A paragraph went the rounds of the
newspapers some time ago describing the
novel invention Of a Salt Lake jeweler.
1t is a timepiece in the shape of a steel
wire stretched across a show window, on
which a stuffed canary hops from left TO
right, indicating as it goes the hours of
the day by pointing with his beak at a
dial stretched beneath the wire and hav-
ing the figures from one to twenty-four.
When it reaches the latter figure it
glides across the wire to one again.
There is no mechanism whatever that
can be seen. it all being inside the bird.
The inventor says he was three years in
studying it out.
A clock of some historic interest was
recently sold at auction in Carlisle, Mass.
1t stood in a house at Lexington at the
time the shot was fired which was heard
-round the world" The British set fire to
the house, but the clock escaped in some
way, and has just turned up again after
the lapse of a century in perfect running
order. 1t was purchased by a resident
Of Lexington, and is now performing its
daily round of duties in its old home.
1t bears the date INA, and is supposed to
be remotely connected to that other
ancient timepiece," which to the poet
seemed always to be saying: Forever
observation-disclosures"
A novel form Of clock has recently
been designed by an English artisan.
The face has the form of a t%ambourine
decorated with a wreath of twelve flow
ers at equal distances apart. These mark
the hours, and over them glide two gayly
painted butterflies, one larger than the
other. These are the hands, the larger
indicating the minutes, the smaller the
hours. The works are concealed behind
the tambourine, and the motions of the
butterflies, which are made of magnetic
metal, are produced by magnets carried
on the arms forming the real hands of
the clock. Another clock worthy of
mention is exhibited in a well-known
clock makers window in London. 1t is
a framed and colored photograph of the
houses Of parliament, Westminster, with
a real dial let into the tower to represent
-Big Ben The dial is very small, to
match the photograph; nevertheless it is
said to keep good time.-N. Y. Observer.