Time Telling through the AgesBrearley, Harry Chase
History
Time Telling through the Ages
Brearley, Harry Chase
Clocks and watches -- History; Time measurements
CHRONOMETER, MARINE—Probably the most exact form of time-keeper,
especially for use on shipboard. The driving power is a mainspring
acting by a chain on a fusee, and governed by what is known as the
Chronometer or Detent Escapement, with, as a rule, the cylindrical
balance spring. The movement is mounted on gimbals in an air and
water-tight brass case, maintaining the dial constantly in a horizontal
position.
CHRONOSCOPE—A clock or watch in which the time is shown by figures
presented at openings in the dial.
CHURCH, DUANE H.—Credited with having contributed more to the automatic
features of watch machinery than any other man. He was born in Madison
County, N. Y., in 1849. At 16 he was apprenticed to a watchmaker of St.
Paul, Minn., and after working at the trade for 17 years, he became
in 1882 the master watchmaker for the Waltham Watch Company. Besides
his invaluable contributions to automatic machinery, he improved the
general design of watch movements and invented a form of pendant
setting which enables stem-winding movements to be set in cases not
especially adapted to them. He died in 1905.
CIRCULAR ERROR—The difference in time arising from the swinging of a
pendulum in a circular arc instead of its true theoretical path which
is a cycloidal arc. This caused much trouble in the early clocks.
Huyghens attempted to correct it (see _Huyghens' Checks_) but found
that his device caused greater error. With the heavier pendulum and
shorter arcs of vibration this error becomes negligible. The suspension
of the pendulum by a flat flexible spring instead of a cord, attributed
to Dr. Hooke, served to make the path practically cycloidal.
CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE—An Egyptian obelisk at whose base a dial was marked.
Now in London. Another similar obelisk from Egypt is in Central Park,
New York City.
CLEPSAMMIA—The sand-glass, more familiarly known as the hour-glass. See
_Hour-glass_; _Sand-glass_.
[Illustration: CLEPSYDRA]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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