The Auburndale Watch Company : $b first American attempt toward the dollar watch — John Shaqi
The Auburndale Watch Company : $b first American attempt toward the dollar watchBattison, Edwin A.
History
The Auburndale Watch Company : $b first American attempt toward the dollar watch
Battison, Edwin A.
Auburndale Watch Company (Auburndale, Mass.); Clock and watch making -- United States
The case was very similar to that used on the rotary. The dial, of white
enamel with snap rim fastened by a screw,[39] carried three graduated
circles, an outer circle graduated in seconds up to sixty surrounding two
smaller subsidiary dials. The top one of these smaller dials recorded
minutes elasped up to ten and the lower one recorded fractions of a
second. The same dial was used on movements indicating quarters and
eighths of seconds, all being graduated in eighths. A dial without
provision for indicating the fractions of a second on a separate small
dial may be seen in figure 17. This last has been made into a stand for
hair spring work and is shown with balance and spring just as it came
from the Auburndale factory with balance spring and wheel for a timer
still in place.
[Illustration: Figure 18.--TAG DISPLAYING DIRECTIONS FOR USE OF THE
AUBURNDALE TIMER.
(In author's collection.)]
The sweep second hand and the minute register hand are attached to
heart-shaped cams friction driven from their respective staffs. They are
reset by a bar pivoted beneath the dial and actuated by the stem through
pressure on the crown. An original instruction tag as sent from the
factory with these timers is seen in figure 18.
Figure 19 shows the mechanism of the split-second model as represented
in U. S. patent 220195 of September 30, 1879, issued to William A. Wales
and assigned to William B. Fowle.[40] A split-second mechanism is used
to time the finish of two horses in the same race or any other similar
event. In usual watches of this nature the watch will run along
indefinitely with the extra or split second hand stopped although this
hand will not record more than a difference of one minute from the main
sweep hand. This was not true of the Auburndale, as pointed out in the
instructions. The reason for this is that motion is conveyed to this hand
through a hair spring which would be damaged if allowed to overwind. To
prevent this a stop is interposed which will halt the entire watch unless
directions are followed. The serrated wheel _F_, of hardened steel,
driving the second sweep hand, is cut on the edge with 120 serrations;
stopping of this hand therefore is only to the nearest half second
regardless of how minutely the escapement is dividing time. This is
rather a serious defect as, if timing a horse race as an example, the
time of the fastest horse is taken on this hand which registers a lesser
degree of accuracy than the time recorded on the second and less
important horse. A general view of one of these watches is seen in
figure 20.
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[18] _Stimpson's Boston directory_, 1840.
[19] _Adams' new directory of the City of Boston_, 1847-48,
1849-50, 1851.
[20] Records of Veterans Administration, pension application
666 675, National Archives, Washington, D. C.
[21] The _Newton directory_ at this time was issued
biennially on odd numbered years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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