A NEW METHOD, BY MEANS OF MACHINERY, OF ASCERTAINING THE VELOCITY OF OR THE SPACE PASSED THROUGH BY SHIPS, VESSELS, CARRIAGES, AND OTHER MEANS OF LOCOMOTION, PART OF WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE MEASUREMENT OF TIME
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN JOHN-
STON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters. Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fourth day of September, One thousand eight hundred
and forty, and in the fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Johnston, Her special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John John-
ston, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Johnston, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in
all Her Colonies and Plantations abroad, "A NEW METHOD, BY MEANS OF
MACHINERY, OF ASCERTAINING THE VELOCITY OF OR THE SPACE PASSED THROUGH BY
SHIPS, VESSELS, CARRIAGES, AND OTHER MEANS OF LOCOMOTION, PART OF WHICH IS
ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE MEASUREMENT OF TIME;" in which said Letters Patent
is-contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Johnston, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Johnston, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained by the Drawings hereto annexed, and as follows (that is to
say):
The nature of the said Invention consists in the application of what I call
a suspended weight or secondry governor to the lever or balance immediately
connected with a watch escapement, or to the balance of a chronometer, so
that this weight, by means of locomotion, may increase the number of the
vibrations of the balance, and thus determine the space passed through by any
locomotive body.
A, Eig. 1st, is the suspended weight connected by the slight hair springs
B, B, to the small rods C, C. D, D, are other weights attached to the axles
E, E, which axles turn on the pivots F, F, and G, G, which operate in studs
in the watch plate. The use of these weights is in supporting the principal
weight A by the rods C, C, and also in maintaining the power of A on the
watch or chronometer during any disturbing movement in the locomotive body
to which it may be attached. The weights D, D, are regulators to A; but as
various kinds of regulators may be used, the principle thereof may only be
attended to, which is to counteract the influence on A of the dipping or heav
ing of any locomotive body, such as that of a vessel at sea. In some cases
the hair spring I fixed to the-stud Jin the watch plate, as shewn in Figure 2,
may be used to recover the suspended weight A. The small rods C, C, can
bé elevated or lowered to a proper height by the screw nuts o, 0, 0, 0, above
and below the weights D, D. The small rods C, C, may, however, in all cases
be fixed, with no need for the weights D, D, when the power of it can be
maintained in a regular way without them by a constant and proper horizontal
level of the watch or chronometer. In applying this suspended weight to a
watch or chronometer, the balance thereof must neither be of too large nor of
too small a compass, but of a proper extent, well known to those who are
thoroughly acquainted with the laws of motion, and with the principles of the
movement of a watch; but as the extent and the weight together of the
balance must depend on the power of the watch or chronometer movement,
and as it is already well known what these should be, it is not necessary that
they should be mentioned here. In attaching this weight to a chronometer,

page_text: it must be fitted to the balance exactly, so that it will influence the going and
returning of the balance equally. The same must be done in respect to a
watch; but it is necessary to mention this, as different escapements give the
balance a different throw. The effect of A on the watch or chronometer, by
the natural resistance of any body to motion, will be, that by two seconds
being gained for one mile in respect to proper time, four will be gained by
two miles, or by four seconds being gained by one mile eight will be gained
by two miles, &c. This suspended weight may not only be used in a watch
at sea for noting the number of miles sailed by any vessel, but also for noting
the longitude and latitude, by keeping the direction of power by locomotion
east and west or north and south, under the influence of a magnetic needle.
The application of the needle is not, however, specified as part of the Inven-
tion. This suspended weight may be attached to a lever or staff, as shewn by
Figures 2d and 3d, and the gravity thereof must regard the power of the watch
so far as to allow the commencement and continuation of motion, and can only
be fitted by trial. A watch for proper time alone must also be used, so that
the minutes and seconds gained over proper time by this one may be known.
To find the leeway of a vessel when the magnetic needle is not used, a
movement for the sideway direction will be necessary.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Johnston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-one.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord. One
thousand eight hundred and forty-one.