AN INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS WHICH HE TERMS A SOLAR WATCH
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Sandoz, of the firm of Sandoz Brothers,
of Ponts, Switzerland, for the Invention of "AN INSTRUMENT OR
APPARATUS WHICH HE TERMS A SOLAR WATCH."-A communication
from Philino Honri Matther Doret of Locle Switzerland
Scaled the 16th August 1858, and dated the 25th June 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Sandoz at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th June 1853.
I, ALFRED SANDOZ, of the firm of Sandoz Brothers, of Ponts, Swit-
zerland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS WHICH I TERM A SOLAR WATCH" to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in combining a compass with a fixed ring or
dial marked with the hours of the day, from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. inclusive,
and with an upright split rod fixed to the dial opposite the north
point on the compass, in which a piece of silk, stretched from the
opposite part of the dial, is capable of being adjusted according to the
quarter of the globe in which the instrument is used. The silk being

page_text: adjusted, the instrument must be held perfectly horizontal; the needle
must point due north, and be exposed to the sun's rays, when the
shadow from the silk cord will be cast upon a figure or between two
figures upon the dial, which will give the hour of the day. My
instrument may be applied to any portable object. In the Drawings
annexed I have shewn it applied to the head of a walking stick. A, is
the fixed dial with the hours of the day marked thereon, from sunrise
to sunset. B, upright split rod, through which to adjust and stretch
the thread intended to shew the hour by its shadow on the dial. A
slide on the rod fixes the thread in any required position. C, is the
thread, which can be raised or lowered in the split rod according to
the latitude of the place where the instrument is used, or to the
position of the sun upon the ecliptic, so as to regulate the indications
on the dial. D, is a fixed compass dial; and E, the needle. When
applied to sticks and such like articles, in order to insure the instru-
ment being held in a horizontal position, I pass a rod G, through a
piece of metal pipe X, previously sunk in the body of the stick. By
applying a finger and thumb to the ends of the rod G, the stick will be
balanced, and the dial will be held in a horizontal position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Sandoz in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 24th December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALFRED SANDOZ, of the firm of Sandoz Brothers, of Ponts, Switzerland,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Sandoz, Her special licence
that I, the said Alfred Sandoz, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as T, the said Alfred Sandoz, my executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, ex-
ercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS WHICH I TERM A SOLAR WATCH," (communicated
to me by Philipe Henri Matthey Doret, of Locle, Switzerland.) upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Sandoz, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and scal, 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 Alfred Sandoz, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:
My Invention consists in combining a compass with a fixed ring or
dial marked with the hours of the day, from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. inclusive,
and with an upright split rod fixed to the dial opposite the north point
on the compass, in which a piece of silk, stretched from the opposite
part of the dial, is capable of being adjusted according to the quarter
of the globe in which the instrument is used. The silk being adjusted,
the instrument must be held perfectly horizontal; the needle must
point duc north, and be exposed to the sun's rays, when the shadow
from the silk cord will be cast upon a figure or between two figures
upon the dial, which will give the hour of the day. My instrument
may be applied to any portable object. In the Drawings annexed I
have shewn it applied to the head of a walking stick. A, is the
fixed dial with the hours of the day marked thereon, from sunrise to
sunset. B, upright split rod, through which to adjust and stretch the
thread intended to show the hour by its shadow on the dial. A slide
on the rod fixes the thread in any required position. C, is the thread,
which can be raised or lowered in the split rod according to the

page_text: latitude of the place where the instrument is used, or to the position
of the sun upon the ecliptic, so as to regulate the indications on the
dial. D, is a fixed compass dial; and E, the needle. When applied
to sticks and such like articles, in order to insure the instrument being
held in a horizontal position, I pass a rod G, through an aperture in
the stick, and through a piece of metal pipe X, previously sunk in the
body of the stick. By applying a finger and thumb to the ends of the
rod G, the stick will be balanced, and the dial will be held in a
horizontal position.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,―
The instrument or apparatus whereby the shadow from a thread cast
by the
rays of the sun on a dial may be made to indicate the hour of
the day, as herein-before described and represented in the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Sandoz, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
ALFRED SANDOZ. (L.S.)