A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE, CALL'D THE WATCHMAN'S NOCTUARY, OR LABOURER'S REGULATOR
Year: 1803

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
DAY, of the Parish of Charter House, Hinton, in the County of Somerset,
Esq, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth day of April,
in the forty-third year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Day, His especial licence that I, the said Samuel Day, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, might, during the term of years therein mentioned,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINE, CALL'D THE
WATCHMAN'S NOCTUARY, OR LABOURER'S REGULATOR;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Samuel Day,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be perform'd, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within one calendar month next after the date of the said Letters Patent,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Day, do hereby declare that my said Invention of a Watchman's
Nactuary, or Labourer Regurlator, is described by the above Drawings and
references thereto, and in the following explanation (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists partly of a large horizontal wheel that is moved regu-
larly round every twelve hours by clock-work. The uper side of this horizontal
wheel is divided by two circles, one within the other (see the above Drawing),
the outer one or periphery having the hours and quarters marked on it, which
may be called the lateral dial, the inner circle having also a dial, which may
be called the vertical one. The space between these circles or dials is divided
into cells, each cell corresponding with a quarter or half an hour of the different
hours mark'd on the dials, and if thought proper the cells might be so
multiplied as that each would correspond with a period of five minutes. Such is
the upper side of the horizontal wheel, which may be made of copper, or tin,
of various other materials, and is of the diameter of 9 inches. The under side
of the same has a brass wheel, with teeth, of the diameter of 3 inches and a
quarter, fixed to it's central part, the teeth of which, letting in with those of a
smaller wheel or pinion, of course gives movement to the large horizontal
wheel (of which it forms a part) by the motion it receives from the pinion, this
pinion being set in motion by the common clock-work and a weight or spring.
The revolution of the horizontal wheel is completed once in twelve hours, and
thus regularly going round, will at all times shew the time of the day or night.
As it moves round it carries the cells above mentioned under a kind of chink,
just large enough to receive a token, of the size, we will suppose, of a farthing.
This chink sinks down from an external brass box, which is sufficiently large to
admit a man's fingers to let in the token by an external aperture or mouth of
the chink, the token being directed perpendicularly, through the above-
mentioned deep chink into such cells as is imediatly under it, and which must
correspond with the time of night or day. The head of the case of the machine
has double doors in front (see the Drawings); the outer door covers the whole
face, together with a space over it, sufficiently large to admit a man's head, to
examine the horizontal wheel for such tokens as have been dropping into it.
A smaller door opens in this larger one upon the brass box above mentioned,
the opening of which belongs solely to the watchman,, or such other persons
who may be required to use the same, for the purpose of seeing the time and
dropping his tokens, a minute dial being placed under the hour index. The
great outer door first mentioned is only to be opened by the master of the
timepiece, and ought to be well secured; but for greater security, both
against thieves and weather, there is an inside door in which the the

page_text: brass box above mentioned is fixed, and this inner door being open, throws
into view the horizontal wheel for the purpose above mentioned. For
fixing the pendulum, weights, &c. in the middle of the case; the door may be
in front, as in a common clock case, or in the back or side, as most convenient.
It may be observed that the machine is fixed to a board, and dovetailed into
the bottom of the head of the case, and that the head of the time-piece is
let into another board under the great wheel G, whereby it is kept perfectly
steady so as to withstand almost any shock it might receive.
To denote more fully the several parts of the said machine, references are
added to the Drawings as above:-G, as above, is in Fig. the 2d. The advan-
tages to be derived from this timepiece are various and striking, but I shall
only mention some of the principal. It appears, then, that by placing one of
these machines at each extreme end of a watchman's round, and obliging him
as he passes the machine to drop a token (which shall be numbered, and his
named stamped upon it) every half hour, quarter, or half quarter, as the
vigilance of the place shall require, you will find the test of the man's duty and
diligence, according to the time he has been employed. No trick or contrivance
on his part can counteract the movement of the horizontal wheel, over which
he has no command, and each cell (as it moves under the chink or drop) is a
kind of speaking witness of his diligence and fidility in going his round, and will
answer the next morning to the exact times be either was, or ought to have been,
there. The same machine will answer in custom houses, warehouses, banking
houses, and every place where watching, to be useful, must be exact. Even
centinels on military duty might be required to leave tokens often, as memorials
of their vigilence. It often happens that the excise requires great exactness as
to time in the duty of their officers, particularly in their visits to distillers,
malsters, &c. One of these machines would indicate to five minutes, if placed
in such houses, at what time the officer had been there, and no fraud could be
practised. Another use may be derived from it by farmers, manufacturers, ship
carpenters, and others who employ many labourers, by giving them to know at
what hours in the morning, evening, &c. their men come and leave their work;
and, by a small variety in the form and direction of the drop, the time-piece
may be placed in the inside of a house, where it would answer all the purposes
of a common eight-days clock (as it goes eight days), and at the same time gives
intimation of servants or labourers coming to or going from their work. This is
done by means of the drops passing through the wall of the house into the cells
of the clock; and by changing the situation of the figures on the superficial
dial plate, the scale of the machine may be enlarged to any degree, so that
the horizontal wheel might be made large enough to receive the tokens of

page_text: several hundred men, and striking movements may be added to any of them
at pleasure. In addition to the above explanation of the Drawings, it is proper
to observe that the projection, under the brass box C, in Fig. 2d, is a guide
from the chink to the receiving wheel to keep the tokens upright in their
fall to the cell. The said guide must be kept full half an inch from the
receiving wheel, and the tokens must be as broad as a farthing. It is thought
unnecessary to give a scale of inches to the above Drawings; as the horizontal
wheel is taken at nine inches, the other parts must be in like proportion.
several hundred men, and striking movements may be added to any of them
at pleasure. In addition to the above explanation of the Drawings, it is proper
to observe that the projection, under the brass box C, in Fig. 2d, is a guide
from the chink to the receiving wheel to keep the tokens upright in their
fall to the cell. The said guide must be kept full half an inch from the
receiving wheel, and the tokens must be as broad as a farthing. It is thought
unnecessary to give a scale of inches to the above Drawings; as the horizontal
wheel is taken at nine inches, the other parts must be in like proportion.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Day, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and three.
Fig. 1st. A, shews the outside of the machine or the box that encloses it,
which is shut up by two doors; B; shews a small door open for the watchman
to put in his token; C, shews the opening made of brass, in which is the
chink to put in the token; D, shews the edge of the horizontal wheel to
receive the tokens, which shews the hours and quarters as it goes round; E, a
minute dial. The place to put in the token at C is proposed to be placed
about 5 feet and a half from the ground as a convenient height for the weight
of the clock, & the person to put in his token.
Fig. 2d. A, shews the inside of the box above the clock (with the two
doors open), and the horizontal wheel that moves round every twelve hours to
receive the tokens. C, is the back part of the brass box that goes over the
wheel (that receives the tokens) when the door is shut; D, the opening with
glass that comes before the edge of the wheel, that shews the hours, and cor-
responds with D in Fig. 1st. E, the minute dial; F, the horizontal wheel,
B, the small door open.
Fig. 3d.--C, is the section of a box to put in the tokens when it is intended
to be used on the outside of a house, and to go through a wall to the clock
and token wheel within.
Fig. 4th shows the inside of the clock, with the horizontal wheel to receive
the tokens upon it; F, the horizontal wheel to receive the tokens, which
corresponds with the same letter on Fig. Second. G, shews a brass wheel
with teeth, moving round by the pinion H, which pinion is fixed to an
arbor with a second pinion I, which last-mentioned pinion is moved by the
side tecth K in the first wheel of the clock; L, the pendulum; M, the

page_text: minute hand; N, the bottom of the head of the case in Figures 1st and 2d;
O, where it joins the case for the pendulum and weights.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of May, in the
year above mentioned, the aforesaid Samuel Day came before our Lord the
King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all
and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the Speci-
fication was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in that case made
and provided.
Inrolled the same Eighteenth day of May, in the year above written.