The Somerset reporter., 1894-03-01
WATCH DISEASES.
SOMETHING LIKE THOSE OF THE HU-
MAN MECHANISM.
A JeweIer Calls the Ailments of IA Watch
Consumption, Rheumatism and Heart
Failure and Explains the Analysis In



Each Case.
That's the twenty-third today
we're going to have an electric storm,
remarked down town jeweler as he
was handed a watch having broken
handspring for repair.
How do you make that out?' in
quired the customer,
Why. by the number of broken
mainsprines, to be sure, WAS the reply.
There is a regular epidemic to which
watches are subject, much as human
ity is to smallpox and cholera. 1t is
produced by certain electric conditions
OF the atmosphere. The handspring be-
GENES magnetized and mere brittle. and
a slight shock will break 1t. Occasion
ally 1t will snap with no apparent cause
whatever. | have had II happen TO
watches lying in the showcase or upon
the rick there. You know. Of course,
that such atmospheric conditions fire.
quently disturb telegraph and telephone
lines and even prevent communication.
That might he expected as they are
operated by electricity. Int the effect
on watches is singular. Frequently
even a severe thunderstorm will produce
it. but an auroral display. which seems
to be an electrical disturbance. IL sure
to result in many broken watch springs,
and no Letter term could he applied To-
the trouble than epidemic
No, there is no reliable protection
against it, though mary things have
been tried and many thousands Of dol
lars have been spent. Attempts have
been made to temper TIN springs ly
electricity. "A sort OF incubation against
the disease. Then a small plate on disk
OF soft iron placed within the case to
absorb the magnetism, a dlsnfectaut
so 10 speak. has given SOM good results.
Do You know. h. continued in a
discursivc tone, that watch is SINH
lar in many ways to ii human being; 1t
| has its diseases and decays It's epidem
| les old age and finally dissolution
! Yes, and each watch has IL individual
ity and special characteristics, and the
finer the watch the stronger this person
ality, If 1T can be So called, exactly as
culture develops and strengthens indi-
yidnal character among mankind.
Now in this epidemic this watch
feels the atmospheric condition as you
do before "A thunderstorm only more
acutely, as does a equity or rheumatic
person, being specially susceptible to
such influence, and, perhaps having an
inherent weakness at ole point in the
handspring that snaps, fractures vital
organ. Heart failure II might be
termed, for the mainspu.g of the
watch is its heart its driving force.
True. we can replace the handspring,
which cannot be said for the human
heart, but there is no telling how soon
surgery will attain that result.
Then there's the hairspring of the
watch, equivalent to its nrain. 1t is
affected by proximity 10 a strong local
lied electric forco-for instance, the
generator or dynamo Of an electric
plant. 1t becomes magne1lzed and stops
"a sort of paralysis. The nonmagnetic
watches have hairspriugs made of a
composition metal, tin. zinc and other
varieties The soft iron plate or disk |
menti med before gives protection to the
hairspring as well as the handspring ly
absorbing the magnetism. a few years
since Il number of railroad companies
had these iron disks applied to the
watches of many Of their employees,
but they are by no means a complete
disintertant.
TIE lever of watch also is subject
to electric influences, and when polar
lied aving IA fork'd end, it hecomes
regular horseshoe magnet and first re-
tards, then stops the hairspring- sort
of spinal meningitis, you see.
THE jewels and hearings are its
| joints and processes and are subject to
sprans and dislocations as we'll as in
| hammation or too much friction. Any
severe shock may result in sprain or
even dislocation to these joints. The
latter will stop it and probably have
Immediate attention, while the sprain
may remain unnutieed. but will render
its movement irregular and eventually
cause far greater injury than AN actual
breaking of the joints. At seas on the
approach of storm the ships chro
nometers, of which three are usually
carried. are put to bed, as it is called
being packed in pillows to prevent in
jury by sudden jar from the ships vio-
lent motion. A few minutes error in
the time of making observations might
throw a vessel many miles ont of its
course.
Then watch has kind of rheu
matism The oil with which its joints
are fabricated dries and forms c0run
dunn. which irritates and cuts the pin
ions and bearings. creating friction or
inhammatio
Dirt to "a watch, like bilionsness
to humanity, is its most frequent, dis
agreeable and least dangerous ailment.
1t come from all sorts of things-small
fbcTs from the pocket, fine dust, micro
scopic matter from many sources, work
through into the case and collectively
disturb, retard and finally prevent mo-
ton altogether. The system becomes
clogged, and thorough cleaning out is
the only corrective. In both these lat
ter diseases atmospheric conditions ma
terially influence the patient $ condition,
dry, dusty weather Fastening the devel-
upment and rendering the attack more
acute Rust or consumption is as dead
| " to a watch as to humanity and after
it reaches a certain stage is incurable.
Once IN the system its effects are never
wholly eradicated, and warm, moist
atmosphere may at any time induce
return of the disease. y