Curiosities of Science, Past and Present: A Book for Old and YoungTimbs, John
Science
Curiosities of Science, Past and Present: A Book for Old and Young
Timbs, John
Science
The account of the trial of Harrison’s watch is very interesting.
In April 1766, by desire of the Commissioners of the Board, the
Lords of the Admiralty delivered the watch into the custody of
the Astronomer-Royal, the Rev. Dr. Nevil Maskelyne. It was then
placed at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, in a box having two
different locks, fixed to the floor or wainscot, with a plate of
glass in the lid of the box, so that it might be compared as often
as convenient with the regulator and the variation set down. The
form observed by Mr. Harrison in winding up the watch was exactly
followed; and an officer of Greenwich Hospital attended every day,
at a stated hour, to see the watch wound up, and its comparison
with the regulator entered. A key to one of the locks was kept at
the Hospital for the use of the officer, and the other remained
at the Observatory for the use of the Astronomer-Royal or his
assistant.
The watch was then tried in various positions till the beginning
of July; and from thence to the end of February following in a
horizontal position with its face upwards.
The variation of the watch was then noted down, and a register was
kept of the barometer and thermometer; and the time of comparing
the same with the regulator was regularly kept, and attested by
the Astronomer-Royal or his assistant and such of the officers as
witnessed the winding-up and comparison of the watch.
Under these conditions Harrison’s watch was received by the
Astronomer-Royal at the Admiralty on May 5, 1766, in the presence
of Philip Stephens, Esq., Secretary of the Admiralty; Captain
Baillie, of the Royal Hospital, Greenwich; and Mr. Kendal the
watchmaker, who accompanied the Astronomer-Royal to Greenwich, and
saw the watch started and locked up in the box provided for it. The
watch was then compared with the transit clock daily, and wound up
in the presence of the officer of Greenwich Hospital. From May 5 to
May 17 the watch was kept in a horizontal position with its face
upwards; from May 18 to July 6 it was tried--first inclined at an
angle of 20° to the horizon, with the face upwards, and the hours
12, 6, 3, and 9, highest successively; then in a vertical position,
with the same hours highest in order; lastly, in a horizontal
position with the face downwards. From July 16, 1766, to March 4,
1767, it was always kept in a horizontal position with its face
upwards, lying upon the same cushion, and in the same box in which
Mr. Harrison had kept it in the voyage to Barbadoes.
From the observed transits of the sun over the meridian, according
to the time of the regulator of the Observatory, together with
the attested comparisons of Mr. Harrison’s watch with the transit
clock, the watch was found too fast on several days as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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