Figure 20 {left). — Auburndale I imi.r uirii Si'i.it 

 Second Hand. Note the stop and start lever for 

 the "spHt"' hand at the side of the case. (In auihor's 

 collection.) 



Figure 21 {above). — Auburndale Three-Quarter 

 Plate Watch, typical of both Lincoln and Bentley 

 grades. (In auilior's collection.) 



were issued to William A. Wales, assignor to the 

 Auhtirndale Watch C^o., of Weston. Massachusetts, 

 on \\n\\ 12. 1881. Whedicr these ])atenls represent 

 the first thermometers made at Aul)tnndale or reflect 

 the result of experience gained in making conven- 

 tional models is not clear. The earliest evidence dat- 

 ing the appearance of the thermometer is the 1881 

 Boston directory which appeared on July 1. This il- 

 lustrates the same inodel of thermometer seen in 

 figure 22. The patents cover means of eliminating 

 springs of any sort from the mechanism, so that the 

 hand or dial pointer is entirely under the influence of 

 the fused bimetallic thermal strips. Manufacture of 

 the timers was carried along with thermometer manu- 

 facture at first, bin productitjn of ihc timer was 

 finally dropped, as the slock on hand was constantly 

 increasing, and for a while the factory was at last 

 operated at a profit, on thermometers alone. These 

 were furnished in cases from 20 inches in diameter 

 down to the size of a ten cent piece, according to 

 the advertising. 



Unfortunately Mr. Fowle had suffered so much loss 

 through the watch venture and from other investments 

 that he was forced to make an assignment of his 

 personal estate. The watch company, without his 



support, was carrying too large a burden of debt to 

 be .self-supporting. In the fall of 1883 a \-oluntary 

 assignment was inade and the equipment was sold in 

 February 1884.^'* The \ewton directory of 188.5 lists 

 W. B. Fowle as a thennomcter manufacturer on 

 Woodbine Street, "house near." His home, "Tangle- 

 wood,"" was on Woodbine .Street and perhaps the 

 thermometer busiitess was operating in one of the 

 outbuildings. William A. Wales assigned to the 

 .\uburndale Watch Co. ]5alent 276101, of December 

 4, 1883, covering details of a unit counter for kee|)ing 

 score in games, and for similar work. .Vinon^ tlie 

 relics in the author"s collection is a box bearing the 

 label ".'\uburndale C'ountcr, W. B. Fowle & Son, 

 .Xuburndale, Mass." These comiters were packed 

 two in a box, the box jiLst mentioned being suitable to 

 contain counters the size of the thermometer in figure 

 22. Figure 23 shows a larger comiter measuring 

 4'.> inches in diameter. From this and the fact that 

 Fowle as late as 1887, is carried in the .\eivton 

 directory as a manufacturer of metallic ilu-rmonieters, 

 it seems that some attem|3t was made after dissolution 

 of the watch company to carry on manufacturing. 



«8 nid. 



66 



BULLETIN 218: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



