IMPROVEMENTS IN TIMEKEEPERS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Henry Cradock Monckton, of 5, Thurloe
Place, South Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, for the
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Henry Cradock
Monckton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 8th April 1862.
I, EDWARD HENRY CRADOCK MONCKTON, of 5, Thurloe, Place, South
Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TIMEKEEPERS," to be as follows:-
screw,
This Invention consists, firstly, in novel methods of regulating the admission.
of air or gas at either or both ends of the tubes of atmospheric or gas clocks by
means of stop-cocks or screw cocks of various constructions, and of
any suit-
able material attached to them, by means of which, by merely turning the
the ascent or descent of the air can be regulated to the greatest nicety,
and thus a perfect timepiece can be attained which, has hitherto not been
accomplished; and in lieu of mercury, which is too fluid, I prefer to use simple
or compound amalgams of any suitable metal, such as, for example, of silver,
gold, tin, zinc, or lead, or metal plugs cased with any suitable material, in tubes
lubricated with oil, glycerine, or other lubricator. The screw cocks can further
be so arranged as to admit of cotton or other porous material being compressed
by the screw so as to further regulate; or instead of porous materials of suitably
shaped or perforated non-elastic. or elastic materials. The screw cocks may
consist of a hole shut by a screw, with or without a flange, or of a similar screw

page_text: a little filed away at one side or tapered or nicked, or the hole may be tapered
or filed away at one side or nicked, or the construction may be varied in
many other ways than the screw, or the orifice of the tubes may be stopped
with cane or a graduated or tapered plug of any suitable material, or the plug
may have a slanting nick or nicks cut in it or be tapered at one or more sides,
or all round, so that by pushing it in or pulling it out the passage of the air
may be regulated to a nicety.
In lieu of air or gas I propose to use fluids of any suitable kind, such as
water, spirit, ethers, or oils, using the above methods of regulating the size of
the orifices for admitting the fluid either above or below the mercury, or its
amalgam, or other metallic glass or mineral, or other suitable gravitating
medium. In this case the construction of the timekeeper may be varied in
several ways, thus, firstly, there may be an outer and inner tube, the inner one
containing the suitable gravitating medium, as mercury, for example, the size
of orifice at either or both ends of the inner tube being regulated as above,
and both tubes filled with any suitable liquid, as water, oil, or spirit; the outer
tube being either hermetically sealed or otherwise suitably stopped at both ends,
and attached to spring clasps on a frame having a double scale on it so arranged
as to enable the gravitating medium sinking in the fluid to indicate the time
by whichever end-the tubes are suspended; the tubes can further be slid-up
and down the spring clasps or sliding scale, so as to enable the gravitating
medium to be adjusted opposite to the right hour on setting it. There may
be a circular, cylindrical, or oval plug of metal, glass, or other suitable
gravitating medium, with a hole bored longitudinally through it large enough
to admit the inner tube passing through it, its outer side fitting the outer tube
so as to pass up and down between them freely, the inner tube being a capillary
one, thus the fluid would pass freely up and down, the latter with or without
stop-cocks, in the latter case the adjustment being made by adding to or
taking from the gravitating medium. A single tube and a gravitating medium
can be used with a hole perforated through it, its outer surface filling the
tube, which being filled with a fluid, air, or gas, the medium will descend or
ascend in it as the tube is turned up or down; this tube is to be attached as
the other by means of spring clasps or sliding scale or index to the frame, with
a double index on it. The size of the orifices of the gravitating medium can
be regulated in same manner if necessary as the orifices of the tubes them-
selves, and the gravitating medium, if made of lead or of soft metal, can be
closed by gently hammering, or be opened by the pressure of a pointed tool,
or by boring a little out.
Another method of regulating the orifices of any of the inner tubes above

page_text: referred to, is by having metallic capsules sufficiently soft as to admit of being
closed by hammering or being opened by the pressure of a pointed tool or by
boring, or vulcanised or natural india-rubber with a very small orifice in it
may be used as a capsule, and the orifice may be regulated by pulling the
capsule upwards or downwards or by twisting or turning it by means of a
screw or cap.
Another entirely novel method of keeping time is by placing any suitably
adjusted gravitating medium in air, gases, or fluids, when it will gravitate
downwards by its own superior specific gravity without the incumbrance of
double tubes and regulated orifices; thus, for example, into a tube closed at
one end water is to be poured, and in it a piece of pith is to be placed with a
shot struck into it; by cutting the pith and filing the lead this ball can be.
made to either rise slowly or to remain stationary. Acting on this principle,
a body of any suitable shape, or a hollow sphere of metal, for example, may be
so adjusted as to descend in a closed tube containing any suitable fluid so
slowly as to indicate time on a scale either attached to the tube or placed on
the frame, to which it is to be attached by means of spring clasps.
The methods of using a body descending by its own specific gravity are of
course various, thus, a body properly adjusted may have an index attached to it.
which can descend with it in the fluid used through the top of an open vessel.
I propose to construct the index in a novel manner, as follows, viz., by observing
the extent of the fall of the gravitating medium during a given period of
time, and marking the distance and the period on the index, which period or
division (whether it consist of hours, quarters, and minutes) being repeated by
measurements throughout the index, and the letters or figures indicating the
time properly adjusted, will correctly signify the requisite divisions of time.
thereon. This method differs from the present method of arranging the
indices of mercurial clocks, wherein the index is first constructed, and the fall
of the mercury regulated thereto. The index, where great accuracy is desirable,
may be furnished with a sliding indicator, which can be adjusted to the level
of the gravitating medium, and point to the proper hour or its division on the
index. The gravitating medium may also consist of a permanent magnet,
which would act upon a needle or other moveable attracting indicator,, and
thus indicate the time accurately. When necessary the taps, cocks, or other
metallic parts may be lacquered or varnished, in order to protect them from
the action of the mercury. These horological tubes may also be illuminated
at night, or when required, by the application of the electric light applied to
them either in the form of vacuum tubes surrounding the whole instrument,
or in any other way that is considered advisable.

page_text: Another method of denoting time is to place a tube or rod of any suitable
material, and in which or attached to which, within spring clips attached to a
vertical index, to suspend or insert a weight, to the lower extremity of the
cylinder or tube, which will then slide by its own gravity slowly through the
clips according to their number and strength and the weight of the suspended
body; an indicator on the tube or cylinder will point to the hour on the index.
Though glass tubes when carefully drawn are sufficiently accurate in their
bores for the construction of ordinary timekeepers, still in order to obtain
greater accuracy, the heated tube having a truly turned mandril inserted in
it, may in the first instance be drawn through a ring, as is done with metal
tubes, and the true cylinder thus formed be subsequently drawn out according
to the usual methods; tubes so prepared, or common tubes bent or otherwise
damaged or inaccurate in their bores, can always be straightened by being
heated and then rolled, with or without the insertion of a mandril in them,
between two sufficiently heated metal plates, the upper plate moving, the lower
one being fixed, the upper plate being arranged in a sliding frame or other-
wise so as to be parallel with the lower one. The orifices of these tubes may
be further regulated by the insertion into them of pieces of wire; and further,
by the insertion of a very fine silver or other metal wire, round, flat; or of
any desired form, or any other suitable material that can be acted on quickly
by acids into the orifice, and then hermetically sealing it over the wire. The
wire to be then eaten away by acid, thus leaving a most delicately fine but
well regulated orifice.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Henry Cradock Monckton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HENRY CRADOCK MONCKTON, of 5, Thurloe Place, South Kensington, in the
County of Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant.unto me,
the said Edward Henry Cradock Monckton, Her special licence that I,. the
said Edward Henry Cradock Monckton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Henry Cradock Monckton,

page_text: my executors, 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, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TIMEKEEPERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward
Henry Cradock Monckton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Edward Henry Cradock Monckton,
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 in
and by the following statement:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in novel methods of regulating the admission
of air or gas at either or both ends of the tubes of atmospheric or gas clocks by
means of stop cocks or screw cocks of various constructions, and of any suitable
material attached to them, by means of which, by merely turning the screw, the
ascent or descent of the air can be regulated to the greatest nicety, and thus a
perfect timepiece can be obtained, which has hitherto not been accomplished,
and in lieu of mercury, which is too fluid, I prefer to use simple or compound
amalgams of any suitable metal, such as for example, of silver, gold, tin, zinc,
or lead, or metal plugs cased with any suitable material, in tubes lubricated
with oil, glycerine, or other lubricator. The screw cocks can further be so
arranged as to admit of cotton or other porous materials being compressed by
the screw so as to further regulate, or instead of porous materials, of suitably
shaped or perforated or non-elastic or elastic materials. The screw cocks may
consist of a hole shut by a screw, with or without a flange, or of a similar screw
a little filed away at one side, or tapered or nicked, or the hole may be tapered
or filed away at one side or nicked, or the construction may be varied in many
other ways than the screw, or the orifice of the tubes may be stopped with
cane or a graduated or tapered plug of any suitable porous or equivalent.
material, such as charcoal, coke, pumice, sand, asbestos, or clay mixed with
fibrous or ground animal or vegetable substances, so that after being burnt.
the clay would be rendered sufficiently porous, or the plug may have a slanting
nick or nicks cut in it, or be tapered at one or more sides or all round, so that
by pushing it in or pulling it out the passage of the air may be regulated to

page_text: anicety. In lieu of air or gas I use fluids of any suitable kind, such as
water, spirit, ethers, or oils, using the above methods of regulating the size
of the orifices, for admitting the fluid, either above or below the mercury or
its amalgam, or other metallic, glass, or mineral, or other suitable gravitating
medium. In this case the construction of the timekeeper may be varied in
several ways, thus, firstly, there may be an outer and inner tube, the inner one
containing the suitable gravitating medium, as mercury, for example, the size
of orifice at either or both ends of the inner tube being regulated as above,
and both tubes filled with any suitable liquid, as water, oil, or spirit, the outer
tube being either hermetically sealed or otherwise suitably stopped at both
ends, and attached to spring clasps on a frame having a double scale on it, so
arranged as to enable the gravitating medium sinking in the fluid to indicate
the time by whichever end the tubes are suspended; the tubes can further
be slid up and down the spring clasps or sliding scale so as to enable
the gravitating medium to be adjusted opposite to the right hour on setting it.
There may be a circular, cylindrical, or oval plug of metal, glass, or other
suitable gravitating medium, with a hole bored longitudinally through it large
enough to admit the inner tube passing through it, its outer side fitting the
outer tube so as to pass up and down between them freely, the inner tube
being a capillary one, thus the fluid would pass frcely up and down the latter
with or without stop-cocks, in the latter case the adjustment being made by
adding to or taking from the gravitating medium. A single tube and a
gravitating medium can be used with a hole perforated through it, its outer
surface filling the tube, which being filled with a fluid, air, or gas, the medium
will descend or ascend in it as the tube is turned up or down; this tube is to
be attached as the other by means of spring clasps or sliding scale or index to
the frame, with a double index on it. The size of the orifices of the gravitating
medium can be regulated in the same manner if necessary as the orifices of the
tubes themselves, and the gravitating medium, if made of lead or of soft metal,
can be closed by gently hammering, or be opened by the pressure of a pointed
tool, or by boring a little out.
Another method of regulating the orifices of any of the inner tubes above
referred to, is by having metallic capsules sufficiently soft as to admit of being'
closed by hammering; or being opened by the pressure of a pointed tool or by
boring, or vulcanised or natural india-rubber, with a very small orifice in it,
may be used as a capsule, and the orifice may be regulated by pulling the
capsule upwards or downwards, or by twisting or turning it by means of a
screw or cap.
Another entirely novel method of keeping time is by placing any suitably.

page_text: adjusted gravitating medium in air, gases, or fluids, when it will gravitate
downwards, by its own superior specific gravity without the incumbrance of
double tubes and regulated orifices; thus, for, example, into a tube closed-at
one end, water is to be poured, and in it a piece of pith is to be placed with
a shot stuck into it; by cutting the pith and filing, the lead this ball can be.
made to either rise slowly or to. remain stationary. Acting on this principle
a body of any suitable shape, or a hollow sphere of metal, for example,, may
be so adjusted as to descend in a closed tube containing any suitable fluid so
slowly as to indicate, time on a scale either attached to the tube or placed on
the frame, to which it is to be attached by means of spring clasps. The
methods of using a body descending by its own specific gravity are of course
various; thus, a body properly adjusted may have an index attached to it,
which can descend with it in the fluid used through the top of an open vessel.
I propose to construct the. index in a novel manner, as follows, viz., by
observing the extent of the fall of the gravitating medium during a given
period of time, and marking, the distance and the period on the index, which
period or division (whether it consist of hours, quarters, and minutes) being
repeated by measurements throughout the index, and the letters or figures
indicating the time properly adjusted will correctly signify the requisite divi-
sion of time thereon. This method differs from the present method of
arranging the indices of mercurial clocks, wherein the index is first con-
structed, and the fall of the mercury regulated thereto. The index, where
great accuracy is desirable, may be furnished with a sliding indicator, which
can be adjusted to the level of the gravitating medium, and point to the
-proper hour or its division on the index.. The gravitating medium may also
consist of a permanent magnet, which would act. upon a needle or other
moveable attracting indicator, and thus indicate the time accurately. Where
necessary the taps, cocks, or other metallic parts may be lacquered or varnished,
in order to protect them from the action of the mercury. These horological
tubes may also be illuminated at night, or when required, by the application of
the electric light applied to them either in the form of vacuum tubes sur-
rounding the whole instrument, or in any other way that is considered
advisable.
Another method of denoting time is to place a tube or rod of any suitable
material, and in which or attached to which, within spring clips attached to
a vertical index, to suspend or insert a weight to the lower extremity of the
cylinder or tube, which will then slide by its own gravity slowly through the
clips, according to their number and strength and the weight of the suspended
body; an indicator on the tube or cylinder will point to the hour on the index.

page_text: Though glass tubes, when carefully drawn, are sufficiently accurate in their
bores for the construction of ordinary timekeepers, still, in order to obtain
greater accuracy, the heated tube having a truly turned mandril inserted in
it, may in the first instance be drawn through a ring, as is done with metal
tubes, and the true cylinder thus formed be subsequently drawn out according
to the usual methods; tubes so prepared, or common tubes bent or other-
wise damaged or inaccurate in their bores, can always be straightened by being
heated and then rolled, with or without the insertion of a mandril in them,
between two sufficiently heated metal plates, the upper plate moving, the lower
one being fixed, the upper plate being arranged in a sliding frame or otherwise
so as to be parallel with the lower one. The orifices of these tubes may be
further regulated by the insertion into them of pieces of wire, and further
by the insertion of a very fine silver or other metal wire, round, flat, or of any
desired form, or any other suitable material that can be acted on quickly by
acids into the orifice, and then hermetically sealing it over the wire; the
wire to be then eaten away by acid, thus leaving a most delicately fine but
well regulated orifice. Some of the foregoing examples would form substi-
tutes for hour glasses, or glasses to indicate time by the descent of sánd
through an aperture in a glass vessel.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed; I do not limit myself to the exact details,
but I claim the general arrangements of parts constituting the "Improve-
ments in Timekeepers" herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Henry Cradock Monckton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Agent for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
E. H. C. MONCKTON. (L.S.)