AN IMPROVED MODE OR MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR REGULATING CLOCKS."
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Harry Whiteside Cook, of Ovington Square, in.
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MODE OR MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR REGULATING CLOCKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Harry Whiteside Cook
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th March 1869...
I, HARRY WHITESIDE COOK, of Ovington Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OR MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR
REGULATING CLOCKS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the application of electrical regulators to
various kinds of clocks worked in the ordinary manner either by weights
or springs or by any other means except electricity, the electrical agency
to be employed according to my Invention merely, serving to regulate
the action of clocks which are to be driven by other power.
[Price 8d.

page_text: This
The precise mode of applying my Invention will necessarily vary
with the nature and construction of the clock to which it is to be applied.
Supposing then it is to be applied to an ordinary church clock driven
by a weight and regulated by a pendulum, I set this clock to gain from
ten minutes to half an hour a day; a contact breaker is then affixed to
one of the wheels so as to admit of completing an electric circuit through
an electro-magnet at stated intervals, say, every two minutes.
electro-magnet will then catch the pendulum at one end of its swing,
and as the clock is going too fast it will of course be checked a fraction
of a minute before the two minutes has really elapsed. At the expiration
of the two minutes real time a small regulating clock cuts off the current
and breaks the electric circuit and thus releases the pendulum of the
church clock from the electro-magnet and allows it to start again at
correct time. It will be evident that if the church clock be gaining a
quarter of an hour a day, it will never be more than a second and a
quarter wrong at any time, provided the regulating clock keeps good time.
In applying the check clock to other clocks of smaller dimensions the
magnet check may (when very accurate time is not required) be applied
to the escapement wheel so as to check it every ten or twelve seconds,
a small light pendulum being substituted for the proper one so that
when the wheel is released the clock shall start even if the pendulum
shall have ceased swinging. When the clock to be regulated is keeping
pretty good time the check may be applied to the wheels which actually
carry the hands, the clock itself being set to gain slightly. In this case
the clock itself will never be touched.
The first advantage of this Invention is in the ease of its application
to existing clocks, as one regulating clock (keeping correct time) would
suffice to keep right any number of clocks of whatever construction
they might be. Any new clocks that may be constructed with a view
to the application of this principle may be made in the simplest manner..
In this case to avoid all unnecessary wheelwork the hour and minute
hands may be worked and checked separately and any motive power
may be applied. I find a small water wheel when it can be adopted a
most convenient motor for actuating clocks. The particular form I con-
sider as most suited to the circumstances is made as follows:-Four
pieces of pipe are joined together in the form of a cross, and are supplied
with water from a central pipe round which they revolve; each pipe is
provided with a small reservoir at the end and a tap which is turned
on and off automatically as the wheel revolves. In using this wheel it

page_text: is well to arrange a check to prevent the too rapid motion of the wheel.
This can be done by causing it in revolving to press water through a
small aperture, or any other check found convenient may be used.;
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters l'atent,
filed by the said Harry Whiteside Cook in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HARRY
WHITESIDE COOK, of Ovington Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year
of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Harry Whiteside Cook, Her special
licence that I, the said Harry Whiteside Cook, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Harry
Whiteside Cook, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OR MODES OF AND APPARATUS FOR
REGULATING CLOCKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Harry Whiteside Cook, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Harry Whiteside Cook, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained

page_text: in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings.
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):-
"
My Invention of An Improved Mode or Modes of and Apparatus for
Regulating Clocks" consists in the application of electrical regulators
to various kinds of clocks which are or may be worked in the ordinary
manner either by weights or springs or by any other means except
electricity, the electrical agency to be employed according to my
Invention merely serving to regulate the action of the clocks, which are
to be driven by other power.
The precise mode of applying my Invention will necessarily vary with
the nature and construction of the clock to which it is to be applied.
Supposing then it is intended to be applied to an ordinary church
clock which is driven by a weight and regulated by a pendulum 1
adapt my regulating apparatus to such a clock in the manner shewn
in Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, in which A represents the
clock which it is intended to regulate. I set this clock to gain from
ten minutes to half an hour a day; a contact breaker a is then adapted
to one of the wheels so as to admit of completing an electric circuit
through an electro-magnet b below at stated intervals, say, every five
niinutes, or a longer interval if preferred. This electro-magnet will
then catch the pendulum c at one end of its swing and as the clock A
is going too fast it will of course be stopped a fraction of a minute before
the five minutes or other interval has really elapsed. A small
regulating clock B provided with a contact breaker a¹ somewhat similar
to that adapted to the clock A is put in electric communication with the
clock A, and the contact breaker a¹ of the regulating clock B must make
contact some few minutes in advance of the clock A so that when the
latter (which is a trifle faster in time than the regulator B) arrives at
the quarter of an hour or other determined interval a complete electric
circuit will be made and maintained, and the pendulum c will be held
stationary until the regulating clock B has caught up the clock A,
when the contact breaker a¹ of the regulator will break the circuit and
thus release the pendulum c of the church clock A from the electro-
magnet b and allow it to start again at correct time. It will be evident
hour a day it will
that if the church clock A be gaining a quarter of an
never be more than a second or two wrong at any time, provided the
regulating clock B keeps good time. When the clock to be regulated is

page_text: keeping pretty good time the check may be arranged to come into
operation at intervals of a quarter of an hour, and may be applied to the
wheels which actually carry the hands, such as to the wheel of the
minute hand as shewn in the Drawing. The clock A being thus
regulated to go with perfect accuracy may in its turn be used as a
regulator for another clock, and for this purpose must be provided with
an insulated contact breaker like a' and also with the necessary
electro-magnet battery, &c. as shewn. This second clock may in its turn
serve in a similar manner to regulate a third, and so on for any number
of clocks.
As a modification of the above instead of stopping the pendulum, as
shewn in Fig. 1, a small electro-magnet may be placed inside the clock
and made to act on a stop lever e, as shewn in Fig. 2, Sheet I., so that
when the clock A completes the electric circuit the end of the lever e
will be brought under one of the pins of the wheel a and will stop the
hands until the circuit is broken by the regulating clock B.
The first advantage of this Invention is (in the case of its application
to existing clocks) that one regulating clock (keeping correct time)
would suffice to keep right any number of clocks of whatever con-
struction they might be. Any new clocks that may be constructed with
a view to the application of this principle may be made in the simplest
manner, and any motive power may be applied. I find a small water
wheel (when it can be adopted) is a most convenient motor for actuating
clocks.
The particular arrangement of water wheel I consider as most
suited to the circumstances is such as that for which I have applied for
Letters Patent, bearing date Eighteenth August One thousand eight hun-
dred and sixty-nine (No. 2474), and is made as shewn in Figures 3 and 4,
Sheet II. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 3 being a side view and
Fig. 4 a back view of a clock driven by water power. Four pieces of
pipe f, f, are joined together in the form of a cross, and are supplied
with water from a central pipe g, round which they revolve.
Each pipe
is provided with a small reservoir h at the end, and a tap i which is
turned on and off automatically as the wheel revolves by coming in
contact with adjustable stops j, j'.
The first stop will open the tap i
and allow the water in the vertical pipe f to rise into the reservoir h
and cause the wheel to turn round. The tap i will then be brought
against the second stop and will be turned off so that no more water
may pass from the pipe f into the reservoir. It will of course be

page_text: understood that as the wheel rotates the water from the lower reservoirs
will be emptied out into the tray k and allowed to run away. In using
this wheel it is well to arrange a check to prevent the too rapid motion
of the wheel. This can be done by causing it in revolving to press
water through a small aperture or any other convenient and suitable
check may be used. I would also remark that the taps i, i, and the
stops j, j, must be so arranged as to allow only the necessary quantity of
water to rise up into the reservoirs, otherwise the reservoirs will
overflow and the water be wasted.
Having now described my Invention of an improved mode or modes
of and apparatus for regulating clocks, and having explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the mode or modes
herein set forth for regulating clocks, and also the application of electrical
apparatus for the purpose as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Harry Whiteside Cook, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, the Thirty-first day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
ninë.