Arizona silver belt., 1892-11-26
A SPRING IN A WATCH
sN IMPORTANT BIT OF STEEL THAT
 FREQUENTLY BREAKS.


 of Weather Are Dangerous to These Uncertain Pieces of AIechanism-Main- springs in Expensive Watches.
 "Mainsprings are very much like peo- ple,1 said Q Broadway watchmaker 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 uneoil 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 snapping, They are made in Switzerland of the very finest quality of steel, absolutely tiawless, Very often the matchmaker can detect a bad spring before putting il in the watch, either by its color or the s6ftncss of it's spring. These have been too highly tempered in the making, and instead of being subjected to merely Q red heat the fire has beer brought te 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 atures.
 The watch is first placed in little metal box, which is made alright Then strong gas fame is turned on rhe under surface of the box and is kept there for two or three hours, 50 that the watch is so hot at the end of that time that it could not be touched with the bare band 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 fractional part of 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 fit survives nothing else need be feared
 Malnsprings are, however, about the only part of watch that the jeweler cannot successfully diagnose They can .,,;-gaa.ee aJy If tue ramberless little wheels or piyots or balances that go 10 make Up the anatomy of the 'Trtcif, but the handspring has as yet Jafiled the most skilled makers of watches of all | countries. It is not so much the severe extremes of tine weather that prove fatal to the spring as it is the process of ! changing from hot 10 cold, or vice versa Like inc human frame, fl the ribbonlike little coil of steel can withstand the ef- ] fleets of this change 1t may be considered l proof against breaking when the change to normal weather comes.
 Many people who have been possessors ! of new watches but a short time come into the dealers with blood in their eyes 1 declaring that they have paid an enor- nous price for the timspiece and the uainspring has broken after only a l weeks use.
 That is nothing, remarked the jewel CT. We have them snap in our case l before the watch has ever been shown 1 for sale' Others imagine that they migb. lave wound the watch too tight but this does not harm it. It is rathes i the jerk5, hurried winding that will eventually tell on the temper of the metal. Every good stem winder has a stop placed in the stem, which prevents 1 she winding too tight
 Damp weather has an i'll effect on nainsprings, and in England they dc not as a rule lest us long as in this conn 1 try. A severe thunder and lightning i storm also frequently proves disastrous so tho durability of the spring. Adealer l who took in serenty-nine watches on one ! day said that one summer on a day im- madiately following a terrific electrical storm there were twenty-one watches brought into his store within five hours i for Hew uaiusprings The cost of a new l 'nainspring is the small part of making
 ach repair It is the putting them in. the labor expended, that costs. It costs from twelve 10 fifteen dollars to put a handspring ia the Jurgensen watch and little less in Patels Philippe, while l in B cheaper American make it may costonly fifty cents or 8 dollar,
 4 man purchased S300 Jurgensen from a leading dealer several years ago, i and shortly after he left for a tour around the world. He was gone year, and when he raturued he went back to the dealer with his watch and com. i plained Here's watch I paid you $500 for year ago, and while l was travelling abroad it lost two minutes. You guaranteed it, and l want you to make it good" The watch was placed in the window with this card be- side it:
 "This watch lost only two minutes in year in trip around the world Price i $500" It sold within an hour i It is said that one bar of iron costing s will produce $250, GOO 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.
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 Ills Excuse.