Do You Know

From The American Horologist magazine, February, 1939

Do You Know?
Directed by 
W. H. Samelius, Chairman
Science of Horology and Technical Board

During the 16th and 17th Century amber jewelry was worth its weight in gold. Some of the finest examples of amber jewelry may be seen in the Kramlin, Moscow. Amber has also been used for decorating purposes such as looking glass frames, snuff boxes and many trinkets. There is a superstition that amber beads worn about the neck will cure a goitre. It is also thought to be helpful for relieving rheumatism if worn on the affected parts of the body.

The end of a minute hand for a 12inch dial travels .0104 inch for each beat of the seconds-beat pendulum.

If a watch loses time in heat, move two opposite balance screws toward the free end of the rim. If a watch gains time in heat, move two opposite screws away from the free end of the rim.

Ferdinand Berthoud, a noted English horologist estimated that 82% of the error in rate of a watch due to temperature change comes from the variation of elastic force of the hairspring. Other errors arise from expansion and contraction of the balance and the change in the length of the hairspring. Early watches having solid balances varied as much as from 4 to 8 minutes in 24 hours.

A polar clock is an optical apparatus invented by Professor Wheatstone, 1840, where the hour of the day is found by means of polarization of light.

Keys and locks are ascribed to Theodore of Samos, about 730 B. C.

Professor Wheatstone is credited with inventing our earliest electric clocks in 1840.

The compass box and hanging compass used by navigators was invented by William Barlowe of England, 1608.

The flying pendulum used extensively for novelty clocks was patented by J. C.
Briggs, U. S. A., 1855.

What is claimed to be the smallest watch in the world was recently exhibited at the exposition at Stockholm, Sweden.

It is of Swiss construction and has more than 70 parts. The watch was one-half inch long and less than one-fifth inch wide.

A good quench for hardening cutters is made up as follows: 1 ounce cyanide, 1 ounce salt petre, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 gallon water. Heat steel to cherry-red before quenching.

The minute markings on the dial of Westminster Clock in London, or commonly known as Big Ben, are 12 inches square.

Some of our earliest clocks or timepieces did not have a dial or hands.

These clocks were placed in church towers and merely struck the hour. A gnome was placed on the side of a building as a sundial and was used to show the fractional part of the hour.

Our first timepieces were known as Horologes, later as clocks by the English, Glocke by the Germans, Clocke by the French, Clugg by the Saxons and Clog by the Irish.

The oldest church clock in New York City is in the tower of St. Paul's chapel.  It was built by John Thwaites of London, England, in 1798.