Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-01
A SPRING In A WATCH
AN IMPORTANT BIT OF STEEL THAT
FREQUENTLY BREAKS.

Mn tWrOn f&iyl III vi " LE6 tts't
FREQUENTLY BREAKS.
Watehmakers Say That Sudden Changes
q weather Arc Dangerous to These
Unoertain Pieces of Mechanism-Main-
springs In Expensive Watches.
s'Mainsprings are very much like peo-
ple," said Broadway matchmaker the
other day. "They are as susceptible to
extreme degrees of heat and cold as
human beings. When the thermometer
Is lowering around the freezing point or
dancing away up in the nineties the lit
tie handspring will give up in disgust
and uncoil itself and die, just as men
succumb to freezing or sunstroke."
This uncertain piece of mechanism IS
supposed to be adjusted to meet the
various degrees of temperature, but
when the change is very great and
comes with short notice there is nothing
that can prevent them from swapping.
They are made in Switzerland OF the
very finest quality of steel, absolutely
dawless. Very often the matchmaker
can detect bad spring before putting
It in the watch, either by its color or
the softness Of its spring. These have
been too highly tempered in the making,
and instead Of being subjected to merely
q red heat the fire has been brought to
white heat, thus weakening the strength
of the metal. The finest watches that are
handled by reliable dealers are put
through ''cooking and freezing" proc
ess before they are sold, for the purpose
of testing their reliability in all temper
aturee.
The watch is first placed in little
metal box, which is made alright.
Then strong gas flame is turned on
the under surface of the box and is kept
there for two or three hours, so that the
watch is so hot at the end of that time
that it could not be touched with the
bare hand. From this it is immedi-
ately taken and put into another me-
tallic box which is buried in ice. There
the costly watch is allowed to freeze
for an equal length of time, when its
torture ceases and the examination is
made. IF during this excessive test the
watch appears to have ticked merrily
on without deyiating a fractional part
Of a second it is placed back in the case
and marked guaranteed for two years"
The handspring is the first piece of
mechanism that succumbs to the test.
Ifit survives nothing else need befeared.
Mainsprings are, however, about the
only part Of watch that the jeweler
cannot successfully diagnose. They can
guarantee any of the numberless little
wheels or pivots or balances that 60 to
make up the anatomy of the watch, but
the handspring has as yet baff1ed the
most skilled makers of watches of all
countries. 1t is not so much the severe
extremes Of the weather that prove fatal
to the spring as it is the process of
changing from hot to cold, or vice versa
Like the human frame, if the ribbonlike
little coil of steel can withstand the eff
fects of this change it may be considered
proof against breaking when the change
to normal weather comes.
Many people who have been possessors
of new watches but s1lvrt tinIe UurIIu
into the dealers with blood in their eyes,
declaring that they have paid an enor-
nous price for the timspiece and the
handspring has broken after only
weeks use.
''That is nothing, remarked the jewel
er. 1--WE have them snap in our case
before the watch has ever been shown
for SALE" Others imagine that they
might have wound the watch too tight.
but this does not harm it. 1t is rather
the jerky, hurried winding that will
eventually tell on the temper of the
metal. Every good stem winder has
stop placed in the stem, which prevents
the winding too tight.
Damp weather has an ill effect on
mainsplings, and in England they do
not as rule last as long as in this coun-
try. A severe thunder and lightning
storm also frequently proves disastrous
to the durability of the spring. A dealer
who took in seventy nine watches on one
day said that one summer on a day i'm
mediately following terrific electrical
storm there were twenty-one watches
brought into his store within five hours
for new mainsprings. The cost of new
handspring is the small part of making
such repair. 1t is the putting them in,
the labor expended, that costs. 1t costs
from twelve to fifteen dollars to put
handspring in the Jurgensen watch and
little less in Patek Philippe, while
in cheaper American make it may
cost only fifty cents or dollar.
A man purchased a $500 Jurgensen
from a leading dealer several years ago,
and shortly after he left for tour
around the world. He was gone year
and when he returned he went back to
the dealer with his watch and COM
planned: "Here's watch I paid you
$500 for year ago, and while 1 was
travelling abroad it lost two minutes
You guaranteed it, and I want you to
make it good" The watch was placed
in the window with this card be-
eide it:
This watch lost only two minutes in
a year in trip around the world. Price
$780," It sold within an hour.
1t is said that one bar of iron costing
$5 will produce $250,OO0 worth of main
springs.
Some springs are made in this country
by the manufacturers of cheap watches.
These springs are several feet long and
take nearly two minutes to wind up
New York World.
His Excuse.
Patient-Great Scott, doctor, that's
a. 4G.-1 L.