In addition to the saving cfTcclcd by not requiring 

 bani^ing pins, the escape wheel was much cheaper to 

 cut, as the teeth were very short and strong (see fig. 

 11). Since tlie banking took place between the pallets 

 and the escape wheel, there was no adjustment for 

 the amount of slide; and since the watches were not 

 made to close tolerances, the slide was necessarily 

 excessive and consequently power consuming. The 

 conventional club-tooth escapement was probably 

 substituted as less troublesome, although the banking 

 pins were fixed and could only be adjusted by bending 

 them. The pallets remained solid steel, without 

 adjustable stone inserts. 



.\i this stage of affairs approximately $140,000 had 

 been invested in the venture, the market was already 

 glutted with conventional watches which enjoyed 

 the confidence of retailers, and the Auburndale 

 Rotary had won a bad re[)utation. The success of 

 any watch depends largely on the confidence the 

 retail dealers have in it. They are looking for a 

 product easy to sell at an attractive profit as well as 

 one that will stay sold and create a satisfied customer. 

 Fowle was ofcour.se very much disa])|)ointed; before 

 going into the venture he had been advised that he 

 could expect to ])roduce 200 watches per day on an 

 (■X|)rnditure of SI 6,000.^'' The watches reached the 

 marki'i at a time, the fall of 1877, almost coincidental 

 with api)lication by 1). Azro A. Buck for [latents 

 on \vhal was to become the Walcrbury rotary. 

 These j>atents represented a new and economically 

 sound expression of the basic ideas of Hopkins. The 

 W'aterbury a.ssociates immediately commenced work 

 aimed at getting their watch on the market Ijv June 

 1878.'^ News of this certainly reached Aul)urndale 

 where they were not only well aware of the cost of 

 producing their rotary but were also aware of the 

 strict cost and performance studies which Locke 

 and Merrill would apply lo any wauh before they 

 would invest in it. Knowledge of this very able 

 and well organized rival, coupled with the troubles 

 experienced in manufacturing and selling the Au- 

 burndale Rotary, seem to account for the decision 

 to abandon it. It was unfortunate that the timing 

 of events happened just as ii did for a little more 

 work on the Auburndale and the tools for making it 

 would probably have placed it on a firm footing in 

 the trade, although obviously it could never compete 

 with what eventually became the low-jiriced watch. 



really a sealed-down alarm clock minus the alarm 

 mechani.sm. 



It is said that about one thousand of the "Rotaries" 

 were made. The highest .serial number to come to 

 the author's attention, 507, may indicate ihai only 

 a part of the watches started were finished. 



.Accounts agree ''^ that the next product of the 

 factory was a "Timer" containing a novel escape- 

 ment patented on May 28, 1878,'"' by William A. 

 Wales. Early specimens are marked "Pat. Ai)])lied 

 For," bill one with the serial number 996 ■'" bears 

 no reference at all lo a patent, presumably because 

 issuance oi' llie paieni or patents was imminent. 

 Apparently the timer was in full production before 

 the patent was i.ssued on May 28. Specimens with 

 higher serial numbers are stam|jed with three patent 

 dates, May 28, 1878,^* June 24, 1879, and September 

 30, 1879, as seen in figure l.i. which also shows the 

 arrangement of the train. In tliis escapement the 

 escape wheel (fig. 14) carries in the rim any suitable 

 number of steel pins all on the same radius from, 

 and parallel to, the axis of wheel rotation. In all 

 eases the wheel makes one revolution per second. 

 The verge (figs. 14 and 15) is so proportioned that 

 the distance between the points of repose on the 

 entrance and exil ])allets will stop the wheel at 

 intervals equal lo half the angular distance between 

 the pins. 



In other words, with two pins in the escape wheel 

 the escapement will beat quarters of a second, because 

 starting from a point of repose the wheel will be ar- 

 rested on the other point of repose after turning 

 through 90°. With four pins in the escape wheel and 

 a suitably proportioned verge the escape wheel ad- 

 vances in steps of 45° and beats eighths of a second. 

 The growing trend in this period to standardize the 



" Grossman, op. cil. (footnote 8), December 1887, p. 400. 

 '* Grossman, op. cil. (footnote 8), January 1888, p. 33. 



3'^ Cros.sman, op. cil. (foutnotc 8), January 1888, pp. 400 401; 

 .Abbot, op. cil. (footnote 29). 



3« U. S. patent 204400. 



3"U. S. National Museum cat. no. 248691. 



3» U. ,S. patent 204400. The text of this patent speaks of 

 dividing the seeond into "halves, quarters, eighths, etc." and 

 in the summation of claims of "an escape wheel, A, provided 

 with one or more pairs of pins . . ." showing that measuring 

 tenths of a second with a tivi--pin escape wheel was not con- 

 ceived at this time. It is interesting to note that in referring 

 to the drawings shown in figure 12 the text .states "In the 

 present instance two pairs of pins are used to denote quarter 

 seconds." Only one pair of pins is shown, which is correct. 

 This seems, however, to reflect carelessness on the part of 

 patent attorneys and examiners, as the error exists in the 

 original manuscript patent application preserved in the Na- 

 tional .\rchives, Washington, D. C. 



62 



BULLETIN 218: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTOR\' .AND TECHNOLOGY 



