as an ordinary lead pencil and pass over pulleys having spikes set
around them to prevent the cords from slipping. The weights descend
7 ft. in 12 hours, so they must be pulled up--not wound up--twice a
day. The single hour hand is a work of art and is cut through like
lace. Public clocks may still be seen in Europe with only one hand.
Many have been puzzled by finding that old, rudely made clocks often
have fine dials, but this is not remarkable when we state that art
and engraving had reached a high level before the days of clocks.
It is worthy of note that clocks in the early days were generally
built in the form of a church tower with the bell under the dome
and Figs. 32, 33 show a good example. It is highly probable that the
maker of this clock had access to some old church clock--a wonderful
machine in those days--and that he laboriously copied it. It strikes
the hours, only, by the old "count wheel" or "locking plate" method.
Between this and our modern clocks appeared a type showing quarter
hours on a small dial under the hour dial. No doubt this was at that
time a great advance and looked like cutting time up pretty fine. As
the hand on the quarter dial made the circuit in an hour the next
step was easy, by simply dividing the circle of quarters into sixty
minutes. The old fellows who thought in hours must have given it up
at this point, so the seconds and fifths seconds came easily.
[Illustration: Fig. 35--Triple-Case Turkish Watch]
[Illustration: Fig. 36--Double-Case Watch of Repoussé Work]
The first watches, about 1500, had the foliot and verge escapement,
and in some early attempts to govern the foliot a hog's bristle was
used as a spring. By putting a ring around the ends of the foliot
and adding the hair spring of Dr. Hooke, about 1640, we have the
verge watches of our grandfathers. This balance wheel and hair spring
stand today, but the "lever" escapement has taken the place of the
verge. It is a modification of the dead beat, Fig. 29, by adding
a lever to the anchor, and this lever is acted on by the balance,
hence the name "lever watch." All this you can see by opening your
watch, so no detailed explanation is necessary. Figure 34 shows two
triple-cased Turkish watches with verge escapements, the one to the
left being shown partly opened in Fig. 35. The watch with its inner
case, including the glass, is shown to the right. This inner case
is complete with two hinges and has a winding hole in the back. The
upper case, of "chased" work, goes on next, and then the third, or
outer case, covered with tortoise shell fastened with silver rivets,
goes on outside the other two. When all three cases are opened and
laid on the table, they look like a heap of oyster shells, but they
go easily together, forming the grand and dignified watch shown to
the left in Fig. 34. Oliver Cromwell wore an immense triple-case
watch of this kind, and the poor plebeians who were permitted to
examine such a magnificent instrument were favored!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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