The Green Forest tribune., 1894-10-11
Speaking Watches.

way "a Watches stcms difficult.
Tho precision Of The present
/ construction leaves little margin to
ptoSress, and the indications that
~ n0o been possible to give these
small Instruments are So numer
Gus ANA Interfere So little with the
! perfect luhhihg Ut them that we
ih'gnt consider perfection us
haN lhy been nearly reached in
matchmaking, says La Nature.
MI olvau, u trcncn matchmaker.
established at Geneva, has, never.
.heiess, succeeded IN steppinp
outoiue Ut the beaten track in
uovIslhg u chronometer that speaks
tue houls, Instead ot striking them.
through an Ingenious application
ut The phonoglaph.
lhe ordinary repeating watch
carries u dstent through which it
is possible 10 tree u small move.
ncnt that actuatcs lIttle hammers
Which strike spring bells. 1t is
thus possible 10 strlke the hours.
quarteis and even the minutes
al Will. This bell device, which
is ESSENTIALLY monotonout, requires,
moreover, close attention on the
part OF the owner of the watch,
who is oblighed to count the
strokes and to distinguish the
intervales between the hours,
quarters and minutes. There are
no such inconvcnienccs in the
Siven watch. The spring bells are
replaced by Il vulcanized ruoher
disk provided with grooves upon
which the hammers bear, through
point.
When the detent is pressed, the
rnbber disk begins to revolve, the
point that follows its sinuosites
vibrates, and the vibrations are
manifested by such expressions
as 1T is eight o'clock, at is half
past twelve" etc. The grooves,
intact, are the exact reproduction,
upon u plane, OF the helicodial
groove produced by human voice
upon Il phonograph cylinder.
Naturally, watches are not the
solo pieces of wheel work to which
this ingenious system is applicable.
All clocks may be provided with
ii, and for the moment, Mr.. Siven
is already constructing alarm
clocks, which instead Of the strid-
ent and ear peacing bell that every
one is acquainted with, have
speaking disks. One can thus
have himself awakened by the
growing OF the cock, or by the
vigorous accents OF IL well known
voice. The inventor is construct
my some alarms, which, with II
disk OF 6 or 7 centlmetels. cry out
to you from one room to another,
through closed doors, such phrases
as ''Got up" "Come, wake up"
loudly enough and long enough to
snatch you II ON the arms OF Nor
pheus.
In addition to tho difficulty
resulting from the dispropor:ion
between the smallness OF the groves
and the force that is necessary to
give the sound, Mr.. Swan has had
several others to surmOunt. 1t
was necessary, in the first place, to
introduce the system into Il watch
case without exaggeratirg the
latter's dimensions, aud afterwards
TO ind plastic, although resistant,
material disks. These obstacles
have been happily surmounted.
Mr.. Siven's watches resemble the
ordinary repeatcrs; and their disks,
despite the pressure OF the point,
are capable OF speaking several
thousand times without showing
any appreciable wear.
Further, by retouching the pho,
nopharhic grooves, suppresslng
some OF them, and exaggerat ny
others, the inventor has succeeded
in giving the words pronounced
the peculiar accent characteristic
OF such or such locality. ANA.
teuree who may not be content
with ordinary disks will thus be
able to order others that will be
true family souvenirs There is
no limit to the variety of the com
binations OF which the realization
becomes possible with this Syst' m.
There is one thing, however,
that it will be necessary to see to,
and that is, that in houses that
possess several speaking watches
~. I..A ,,l.,lI n