The Washington herald., 1909-01-29

pricty be asked OF the watch manufac-
turers Of the United States in regard 10
watches. There is one manufacturer who
is row turning them out at the rate OF
I0000 a day, and he is but one OF dozens
OF manufacturers. There is no line OF
invention that has called forth more in
genuity than the making OF clocks and
watches. For instance. Thomas Y. Law
son. the great system smasher, has a
$4,000 watch that never allows him 10
forget the market. At go in the morn
ing the gong sounds in no uncertain way,
and again at $50. II he does not then
give attention 20 its warning, it again. at
s:55, proclaims the fact that the market
Is about 10 open IN the afternoon, just
before the market closes, It gets busy
again, 50 as 10 remind him that the last
chance 10 get in on the closing market
IS passing. Mr.. Lawson wears with this
watch gold chain made Of links. on
each OF which is carved a typical gypsy,
the whole chain portraying every type OK
gypsy in the world.
Jersey City now boasts OF the biggest
clock in the world. IN fact. It IS so big
that its dial makes that Of its next near
est competitor look like the face Of q
lilIiputian clock This dial measures thiT-
ty-eight feet by day and forty BY night,
the electric lights which mark the min
utes being placed a foot outside the peri
phery OF the daytime dial When the
clock was put into position II required
sixteen men TO carry the hour hand,
which is fifteen feet from end TO end and
three feet ten inches wide at Its widest
point. The minute hand is twenty feet
long and wide in proportion Every mir
Ute the tip OF this hand moves twenty
three inches. and during a day it travels
more than half q mile In place Of nu-
meraIs. cOffin-shaped strokes Of black,
sixty-six inches long, are used 70 repre-
sent the hours With all the great
weight of hands. the mechanism is 50
perfectly adjusted that Two ounces Of
pressure on the pendulum suffice 20 give
il the necessary motion It Is guaranteed
not TO vary more than few seconds a
month
Easily the most remarkable clock IN
the world is the new TadiUm clock which
VIII run thirty thousand years without
resetting. A half grain Of radium is
introduced into q tube, and two small
leaves Of aluminium are also added These
leaves become charged with current
that drives them against the glass. When
they touch the glass this current passes
out Of them and they return 70 the
former position. only to repeat the per
formance necessarily. BY the introduc-
ton Of a cOherer, similar TO those used
n wireless telegTaphy. a small electric
bell can be made TO ring or the hours
This little clock has been adapted 70
meet commercial purposes, and a few
OF them have been imported into the
United States and can be bought for
about $50
The four-hundred-day French clocks
are regarded as great novelties IN the
United States They are geared so high
that one turn OF the main spring wheel
viii produce thousands OF turns OF the
ratchet wheel, and the ratchet wheel
turns once in every 10 seconds. The
pendulum is suspended on a minute strip
Of brass and requires fifty seconds 10
make 2 complete vibration The clock
Is about the simplest tlme-keeper on the
market The works are enclosed under
a giass globe, leaving the whole mechan-
ism in full view
The most remarkable clock ever con-
structed was built for the town hall al
Munich. Germany. It has three separate
clock towers IN one -Four years were
required 10 build il and two years to
make the calculation on which its con
struction was based The builder was
Christian Reichmann. One dial shows the
time Of day. Another shows the time
N eighty OF the principal cities OF the
globe Another dial represents the solar
f.r.
Of the planets and their attending satel-
Iites. Another dial shows the movement
Of the various consultations and the rela-
tIOus OF the solar system 20 them Still
another dial shows the moon in all its
phases and changes. When II IS related
that one dial alone requires ~ wheels
and 1000 teeth. one begins TO get a
conception OF the great task Of making
this clock
Another remarkable timepiece is 70 be
found in a German town tower The case
represents country church. Il by y by 3
feet In addition to having the regular
features Of an astronomical clock, il fur
uishes music, gives the bugle calls at the
proper times, blows the watchman's horn,
and initiates the cocks crow and the
CuCkOO's call At 9 O'Clock every morning
the side doors OF the church open, reveal
ing the peasant worshipers inside at their
morning deyOtiOns- The figure OF Death
appears every hour. and before It pass
the four ages Of man At other times the
figure OF Christ appears. bowed down in
reverent worship. and before Him pass in
review the twelve apostles IN solemn pro-
cession. Morning and evening. 70 the ac-
compartment OF chimes and chords from
some choral. six monks march from their
there TO make their devotiOns. Every one
OF these things happens in its appropriate
time and no detail has been overlooked.
A Maryland man has made q clock.
every. part Of which is OF slate Not con
tent with his first effort. ne IS now at
work on another. which is many times
larger than the first one Another inter
esting clock tells the time Of day by the
opening and closing Of flowers. A recent
inventor offers an indicator which tells
when q watch is wound tight enough.
There are many watches 50 deIicateIv
adjusted that II they we're wound too
tight. the mechanism would be more OF
less injured A patent was recently is
sued Tor a clock whose face can be seen
in the dark. When a sleeper wakes I'd
in the middle Of the night ana wants 10
know the tine, all he has 10 do is TO press
little button and the dial is illumi-
mated.
A New York jeweler has a lighthouse
clock in his show window. Il is rigged
up ike q Dutch windmill. each arm be-
ing a separate clock. The windmill
turns around, indicating New York time
on the square dial and the tine Of other
cities or the different dials which con
stitute the arms Of the Windmill
is said TO be the one in the basement Of
the astronomical observatory at Berlin.