Watchmakers’ CMWatchmakers ‘Hanelbedk Y most wageoe Ay UY ; 0 a WALTHAM WATE Comet ND = ALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTSTIME AND TIMING Ses the mates How thoy cat Bog many Goeryatash ap te vez, ‘Heary Vb) NE revolution of the earth on its axis in relation to a fixed sles hae, o3 account of ts periect uniformity, been adapted fa the dandard for messuring time, We are told that three 7} jatleycorns make an inch, and thet the distance from the S277 Eyuator to the North Pole is very near 1,000,000,000 centi- matera, But we know, positively, from the calculations of ‘the eclipses that one revolution of the earth is made in exactly the same Tougth of time now as 2100 yoars ago within 409 part of a second. The time requiced by tho earth in meking one revolution on its ‘axis; in relation te a fixed star, is called a sidereal day, and is about 445, Ghovior than a mean solar day. This difference is caused by the earth's travelling etound the sun once year, in what might be called the same crevdtion as it rovolres on its axia. This, from our point of view, makes the aun lose one round in every 366, as compared with the fixed stars. Truc sun timeisthe time ocoapied by the earth in making one rovolu- tion on te axis in ration lo the stn, — that Is, from midday to midday, tothe sun gassestheraeridian, The duration of these intervals varies dur. ing the yser, because the earth's orbit around th san ig not ciroular, but ‘SMipicel, with tho sin in one of the foci, The earth travels fastor when fiisin the part of this orbit which is nearest the sun, on account of the Greder attraction ofthe! body. The variation of tine during a year from tee calse s as grea! es seventoon minutes plus or minus from mean time, Mean time is oblained by dividing a whole year in ap many equal parti as the number of solar days it contains. we take one of those Pan aolar days of 96,400 wecords for a compariton, the sidereal day is 95,164.09 seconds long, or exactly 3 minutes 55.91 seconds shorter than the mean solar day Page 2 To illustrate the gonoral principles of timing, it may be of interest to first make a comparison between the balence in a watch and the pendulum in a clock, at both of them evidently perform the function of measuring, or beating, time. HOW THE PENDULUM WORKS ‘The pendulum, as we all know, reqires no special spring to bring it to its center line, the perpendicular, as the force of gravity furnishes the necessary power for doing this work in a vary ideal way. When a pen. Jalum te pet ia motion, it makes @ vibration in a certain intorval of timo, in proportion to its lenath, regardless of its weight, because the force of gravity acts on it in proportion to its mass. The length of = perdulum is reckoned from its center of suspension to its center of o5- Pilation, which latter polnt is located a hort distance below the middle ofthe bob, If a weight is added above this point, the clock will gain, be- Cause it raises the center of oscillation and hat the same effect on the fmekeeping af raising the whole bob, which is equivalent to a short- ening of the pendalum. If « weight is added below thls poiat, it hee the opposite effect, as it really lengthens the pendulum, Reasoning from these facts we come to the conclusion that we can meke a certain change in the rate of a clock in three different ways, We may make it gain (1) Ly raising the bob, @) by adding weight diove the center of oscillation, and (3) by reducing the weight below hat point. ‘An interesting fact 1m relation to the pondulum, which may not be generally known among watchmakers ia that iis rate of vibration varios Sighly with change of latitude, and also of altitude (that ‘sits height Stove the sea level), making # clock love at the Equator and at high ‘Sittudes, and gein as we go nearer the zea level and the Poles. This is Gue parily fo the distance from the center of the earth, which is greater ft the Equatcr than at the Poles, and partly to the centrifagel force resulting trom the rotation of the earth on its axia, WALTHAM * * * Feet rémerican Wateh