WATER 



6213 



WATER 



time. Good watches were also made in France 

 and Italy. About the beginning of the nine- 

 teenth century several attempts were made to 

 establish a watch-making industry in the United 

 States. Fifty years later the invention of ma- 

 chines for making the parts of watches gave 

 opportunity for an industry on a new scale. 

 The manufacture of watches is centered at 

 Waltham, Mass., and other points around Bos- 

 ton and New York; one of the largest watch 

 factories in the world is at Elgin, Illinois. :in<l 

 another almost as large is at Canton, Ohio. 

 The annual production of watches and watch- 

 cases in the United States has a value of over 

 $25,000,000, and the industry employs about 

 15,000 men. Improvements in machinery have 

 developed cheap watches, which are sold for 

 a dollar or two; one famous dollar watch is 

 manufactured in New Jersey. The parts are all 

 stamped out with dies; no jewels are used, and 

 little attempt is made to regulate the move- 

 ment or to adjust the parts. These cheap 

 watches often keep good time, but if any 

 trouble develops it is almost useless to attempt 

 repairs. 



Improved machinery has made it possible to 

 reduce the sizes of watches. From a thickness 

 of one-half an inch or more watches have been 

 reduced to one-fourth of an inch, and the di- 

 ameter and weight have been reduced in pro- 

 portion. The average weight of a man's watch 

 is from three to four ounces; a lady's watch is 

 sometimes but half as heavy. 



The average man, woman or child who car- 

 ries a watch has no idea of the delicacy of its 

 works or the care and accuracy required in its 

 manufacture. The smallest screws used in a 

 watch have about 260 threads to the inch, and 

 weigh about one two-thousandth of an ounce. 

 The average hairspring is about twelve inches 

 long, but it weighs only one one-thousandth of 

 an ounce. The jewels used in \\.it.-h.-s are usu- 

 ally chips which the jeweler has discarded. The 

 smallest jewels m a watch are in the ends of 

 tli-- horns of the pallet; 150,000 of them weigh 

 a pound. An average watch is composed of 

 about 150 separate pieces. All of these tiny 

 parts are now made by machim iv with m 

 accuracy and ease than was ever possible by 

 the most expert watch maker. W.F.Z. 



Consult Glasgow's Watch and Clock Making; 

 Saulnier's The Watch Uakcrt' Hand Book. 



WATER, a liquid which covers five-sevenths 

 of the whole earth and is one of the most 

 necessary substances for the maintenance of all 

 life. It sprouts the seeds and feeds plants an.l 



animals; and without it man would die of hun- 

 ger as well as of thirst. He should use two to 

 three pints a day for drinking purposes; it is 

 necessary to the life of the living cells of which 

 the body is composed. It has been confined 

 by man and pressed into service to furnish 

 power for his mills and steam for his engines. 

 It is estimated that from fifteen to fifty gal- 

 lons a day are used for personal purposes for 

 each person in civilized states. 



For centuries water was considered an "de- 

 but toward the close of the nineteenth 

 century it was proved to be a compound of two 

 volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxy- 

 gen, or by weight, two parts of hydrogen and 

 sixteen parts of oxygen. Hence it is represented 

 in chemistry by the formula HoO. When per- 

 fectly pure, water is colorless, tasteless and 

 odorless, but all natural waters contain im- 

 purities. 



Sources and Kinds of Water. Of all natural 

 sources the ocean is by far the most abundant, 

 and from it, in fact, all other water is derived. 

 The alkaline substances of its waters do not 

 evaporate, and consequently the great stream 

 of vapor continually rising from its surface, 

 which is recondensed in colder regions, is free 

 from all salt and impurities. Rain thus con- 

 tains only those foreign substances which it 

 derives from the atmosphere, and is the purest 

 natural form of water. When it forms rivers, 

 lakes and pools, the water contains solutions of 

 the various substances existing in their beds. 

 The fourth form in which water appears is in 

 wells and springs, formed by water which ha.> 

 seeped through the earth and which contains 

 solutions of mineral substances. 



Since water absorbs noxious gases and i* tin 

 most powerful solvent known, it easily becomes 

 contaminated with organic matter, nitrates and 

 ammonia, which render it dangerous to drink. 

 The source of water for domestic use should 

 therefore be at a distance from drains and 

 . and should be protected from surface 



Since lead is especially soluble in 

 lead-lined cisterns and pipes should be avoided. 

 The boiling of water to free it from impurities 

 renders it fiat to the taste, owing to the fact 

 that all of the air has been driven out. 



Water is said to be hard or soft according to 

 the amount of bicarbonate of lime and magne- 

 sium salts in solution. The hardest waters arc 

 obtained from wells, lakes and some streams. 

 Soft waters are preferable for washing pur- 

 poses, since they more readily dissolve the 

 soap, but the hard water is better for drinking. 



