340
WATCHES, BY DEXT, FRODSHAM, ROBERTS, Ac.
[Class Xo.
clocks, in which the pallets consist of semi-cylinders ofjewels, at right angles to the plane of the scape-wheel.These clocks are generally made with the escapement infront of the dial, so as to be visible, and also to allowthe scape-wheel to be taken out without disturbing therest of the clock.
In addition to these Medals, which we have awardedchiefly on account of the good execution or arrangementof the movements, we have given one to Messrs. Reyderand Colin (No. 9S4, p. 1226), who exhibit a number ofhouse clocks of various kinds, all remarkable for thelowness of their price, and sufficiently well executed forthe ordinary uses of such clocks. And in speaking ofcheap house clocks, of course the American clocks oughtnot to be unnoticed, though we have thought it unneces-sary to attempt to distinguish any of them by a PrizeMedal, as they are all substantially alike; and they arenow so universally known for their cheapness—a qualitywhich generally receives its own reward—that the addi-tional distinction of a Medal on that account would bemore than usually superfluous. There is, however, onequality for which they are entitled to greater credit thanis generally known, and that is the small weights ormoving force which they require, showing that there ismuch less power wasted by friction and the inertia of thetrain than in most other clocks. The small amount ofinertia is caused by the lightness of the wheels; and thesmall friction (which certainly cannot be aUributedeither to the high finish or high numbers of thepinions) is accounted for by the use of lantern pinions,which (when driven by the wheels) have much less fric-tion than leaved pinions of such low numbers, and are alsoless liable to be clogged with dirt, and are less affectedby the wheel-teeth being inaccurately cut, as they gene-rally are in clocks of much greater pretension than these.
To this class of domestic clocks belong the variousforms of striking mid chiming clocks, and alarums, andalso tell-tale or watchmen’s clocks, and clocks going along time without winding, and perpetual almanacclocks, whatever be the number of phenomena whichthey profess to show. There is now so little difficulty inmaking these things, and so little use in most of themwhen made, that we do not think it necessary to distin-guish any of them by a Medal, although in some in-stances they display ingenious contrivances for effectingtheir different objects. The Jury, however, agreed tomention some small alarum clocks by M. Pierret, ofParis , (No. 958, p. 1225), on account of their cheapness,and because alarums really are, for certain purposes,useful articles of household furniture.
Watches.
The only horological instruments which remain to benoticed are watches, in which term are included carriageclocks, since these are, in fact, only large watches, set incases like those of small clocks, and with the balanceplaced at right angles to the rest of the wheels, so thatits axis may stand vertically, because it vibrates withless friction in that position—a fact of which some ofthe exhibitors do not seem to be aware.
Watches, like house clocks, are so much an article ofgeneral manufacture, and there is so little difference inthe quality of those of several of the best makers, that itis difficult to establish any principle on which prizes canbe given for them, except with reference to the generalreputation of the exhibitors of articles which appear inthemselves to be good.
The three principal places in England where watchesare made, are London , Liverpool , and Coventry . Amongthe London makers, several who have received Medalsfor chronometers or other articles, would have been en-titled to receive them for their exhibition watches alone.There is a very beautiful collection of carriage clocksand watches, of various kinds, by Mr. Dent; some ofthem exhibiting, besides the compensated balance, whichall first-rate watches now possess, a contrivance (differentfrom most others for the same purpose) for winding upand setting the hands without a key, by turning theknob in the handle or pendant; and others having whatis called a split seconds-hand, that is to say, two seconds-
hands, which travel together and appear as one, till youmove a pin in the case, whereupon one of the handsseparates from the other, and stops until you move thepin again, when the hand starts forward and rejoins theproper seconds-hand, after any length of stoppage ; andthis is done without the use of an independent train todrive the extra seconds-hand. There are various con-trivances, of different kinds, for the same purpose, amongthe other watches in the Exhibition. Mr. Dent alsoexhibits a night-watch, or a watch for blind persons,technically called a <«c-watch, with an external hand,which moves round with the hour-hand, and the positionof which can be felt with tolerable accuracy, with refer-ence to twelve studs set round the rim of the case, forthe twelve hours, reckoning of course from the handle.There is also a watch similar to this among the Swissones; but Mr. Dent’s has a special provision to preveutthe position of the hand from being altered by the act offeeling it. lie is to be considered as entitled to a PrizeMedai for his collection of watches, independently of theCouncil Medal awarded to him for the large clock.
In like manner the Prize Medals awarded to Mr. C.Frodsham (No. 51, pp. 414, 415), and Messrs. Par-kinson and II. Frodsham (No. 35, p. 411), for chro-nometers, are to be understood as awarded also in respectof their exhibition of watches.
The former of these exhibitors states that his watchesare made on a certain caliper (as the watchmakers callthe working plan of a -watch), in which the sizes of thewheels are uetermiued according to a set of rules, partlyarbitrary and partly founded on experience, according tothe size of the barrel, or, in other words, according to thepower of the mainspring. All makers of watches on alarge scale must have some such system of their own;but Mr. Frodsham proposes that a general system shallbe adopted, in which the sizes of the various pieces of awatch shall not be expressed by the usual conventionalnumbers, known only to those who have to use them, butin decimals of an inch, and according to certain tables ofproportion with reference to the size of the barrel, asabove mentioned. It would probably be convenient ifsome such system were adopted, either according to Mr.Frodsham’s ’rules (so far as they are arbitrary), or anyothers which might be generally agreed on.
Such a system as this is still more completely carriedout by Mr. Roberts’s watch-plate drilling machine(No. 130, p. 422), a most ingenious and apparently suc-cessful invention, by which any given caliper or propor-tion of the parts of a watch of any size can be at oncetransferred, by a mere mechanical process, to any otherwatches of any other sizes: piercing all the holes requiredfor the pivots of the wheels, and other purposes, withunfailing accuracy. And in connection with this machinethere is a sector for proportioning the sizes of wheels forany required number of teeth, also by a mechanicaloperation without the necessity of calculation. IhePrize Medal before mentioned as given to Mr. Roberts(p. 422) for his cast-iron clock is therefore to be con-sidered as awarded equally in respect of his watch-platedrilling machine.
It should be mentioned also that he exhibits somewatches with a remoutoire escapement, and one, whichhe calls a recorder watch, with two seconds-hands, ofwhich one can be stopped to denote the exact time of anyobservation, as is done in various other watches in theExhibition. Indeed, the number of them is so great thatwe have not been able to give a Prize Medal to anymaker solely on account of such a contrivance, except toM. Riecssec (No. 1685, p. 1257), a well-known watch-maker of Paris , for his watches with a seconds-hand,which, on touching a pin at the time of observation,makes a black spot on the dial; and this can be repeatedat very close intervals, so as to record the exact epochsof a number of observed phenomena succeeding eachother very closely, without the necessity of taking theeye off the object to be watched for in order to look atthe dial.
What are called the movements of watches and smallclocks arc made by machinery, on a very large scale, byMM. Japy Brothers, of Paris (No. 275), to whom we