-^^ 



— rTr'T-J>^^^"" "5 



^,..„..^ .. .., ,^| ,,, I M I 1 1 1 I t i':\\ "t'l I IJT] I I'lj^S |j. 



factor, then we see that this will require 90 turns of 

 the main spring, a manifest impossibility in view of 

 the space available.^ 



^ Those who ha\c seen the Watcrbuiy watch, w liich developed 

 from this design, may be drawn to the conckision that this ex- 

 plains why it took so long to wind the Waterbury. Such is not 

 really the case; in the Waterbury the winding wheel (wliich is 

 on the outer rim of the barrel) was nearly as large as the inside 

 diameter of the case while the pinion engaging with it was of 

 only nominal diameter. This meant that one turn of the wind- 

 ing crown wound the barrel a much smaller fraction of a 

 revolution than in a watch of conventional design. 



Figure 5. — Hopkins' Bal.^nce .Arresti.ng Device, 

 the subject of U. S. patent 165830. This and the 

 device illustrated in figure 4 originally were sub- 

 mitted together to the Patent Office on June 9, 1875, 

 and later were divided into two patents. 



P.A.PER 4: .\UBURND.-\I.E WAICU ( OMI'ANV 



nKO.:i:m:.i^ ^ 



/rmn;:'-' 



Tti'vf-'':''^ 



Figure 4. -Dr.avving from L'. .S. P.\te.st 165831, 

 showing Hopkins' first design improvement, an arbor 

 for the barrel and train to turn on and the balance 

 displaced from center. 



Probably no attempt was made to produce a 

 finished and practical watch at this time, although 

 Hopkins, the inventor, was an actual watchmaker as 

 well as a retail jeweler, with premises virtually in the 

 shadow of the Patent Office. He was a native of 

 Maine "" and had been estai)lished in Washington 

 since 1863, or perhaps some time in 1862.' 



Developing the Invention 



Edward .\. Locke had long been seeking a simple 

 watch adapted to easy manufacture and a selling price 

 of three to four dollars. While on a trip to Washing- 

 ton his attention was drawn to the Hopkins watch by 

 William D. Colt of Washington.' A result of this 

 meeting appears to have been the issuance to Jason 



' District of Columbia death record 145,013. 



' Hopkins is not in the W'aihinglon and Gcorgttown directory of 

 1860 or 1862, and 1861 was not available to check. Starting 

 with 1863 he is listed each year through 1871. Starting with 

 1872 Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia lists Hopkins as 

 a resident each year (including 1902, the year of his death at 

 84 years) except 1877, when he was out of the city in connec- 

 tion with the exploitation of his rotary watch patents. Carl V\ . 

 Drcpperd, American clocks and clockmakers (Garden City, N.^ ., 

 1947), in referring to Hopkins, says, "Lincoln, Mc. 1840's - 

 1850's: Bangor, Mo., to 1862. Inventor of the .\uburndale 

 Watch. .Also manufactured pianos and clock cases." 



s Chas. .S. Crossman, ".\ complete history of watch and clock 

 making in America," Jnvelers Circular and Horological Reiieu, 

 January 1888, pp. 400, 401. This history ran as a continuinc 

 series of short articles appearing over a period of years. In his 

 sketch of the Waterbury Watch Co., Crossman gives the name 

 as William D. C^jates, a name not found in Boyd's Directory of the 

 District oj Columbia for 1875. The directory docs, however, 

 contain the name of William D. Colt, a patent attorney. 



53 



