HOROLOGY. 



115 



BSMVV. professors, and was at that time the only place in Eu- 

 . - rope where any learning or science was to be found. 



The argument against Gerbert'* horologium being a 

 clock, in our acceptation of the word, is, that he made 

 f the pole star, as if to set a sun-dial by it ; and 

 .re have no positive information that it was a sun- 

 dial. Berthoud admits, that such a clock as Vk-k's could 

 not have been a new invention ; and he thinks, " that the 

 different parts which compose the balance clock, have 

 only been made after a long train of risaaich and of 

 time, which mpfiosss the highest antiquity for the suc- 

 eessive discoveries, and that docks were not known in 

 France till the middle of the 14th century " 



The art of horology might be going slowly en 

 in del-many, though the balance clock was unknown 

 in France nil 1 v ". previous to which Vick had been 

 sent for. Had this not taken place, h might per- 

 haps have remained still longer unknown. It must 

 be allowed, that there is something inconsistent in 

 Father Alexander's argument, far giving the clock to 

 Gerbert, and refusing it to Pacincus, " because it was 

 not known hi France till 25O years after. The disco- 

 very was of too great utility not to be spread abroad, 

 particularly in monasteries, where it was so much re- 

 onvcd to regulate the eeVeef the night. In the famous 

 monastery of Cluny. however, the sacristan, in 1108, 

 went on* to see the stars, in order to know the time when 

 to awaken the monks to prayer." In the early stage of 

 the art very tew clocks could have been made, and Oioee 

 which were CMsstisKsed could net he of much 



" As all arts are at 



. observed of these rlirja. that they 

 cetved; and hence in the Or* Chasers 

 MM. the person who regulated the dock is ordered, 

 in case it should go wrong, ut notet in crreo, et in 



ad harem eorapetcntrra.' The * 

 in the CmthtmtiomeM Hi 



iswsv Hin**fnemtu." 

 here, it may be inferred, that evw 

 is in the earliest periods, could not piece much de- 



id with great proba- 



Theart of 



They wen. f*~rZ cs^edally the higher orders, 

 cssMstrl of wealth, time, and leisure to cultivate each 

 ef the arts and sciences m were then to be attained ; and 

 ifthcartofboroio^esdDotans^uwewithtsMm.thsy 



did every thing in 



... tl. 



hul, t ,.,k,,U, 

 night, their attention was 



to a subject in which they were so 



Those who wish sWmeeeinfuematisn on the origin ef 

 eieoka. n mferts Jte Use fallow ing works. Tkr Artificial 



;!". l.y W.iliam IVrhain. D I) l^n.lon. I.-M 

 /amsre/eW Horlogu, par le R. P. Dem. Jacque 

 aMigien Benedictin de la csesnegesian de 

 AParisl74 Alternation by Hamberger 

 i's llutoryoflmfemiio+t, vol. iii. bond. ! 

 Ai*.s>r.Ve Messjrr . Trss** jmr it. Woriogw, par 

 r^nd Berthend. miH^rin/de la marmsTfrc. fee. 

 A Paris 1802. This last is a verv interesting work, for 

 an amateur in horology, and was the result of seven yean 



labour, when the author was at a very advanced period 

 of life. To these may be added Hisioire de I'Atlrono- 

 mie Moderite, torn. i. p. 60, edition de 1785, and Hit- 

 toire de PAttronomie Ancienne. Ectaircissement, liv. iv. 

 5 3 K liv. ix. 5. Vitruvius's Architecture. Pollius 

 Vitruvtus lived 40 yean before Christ, and was archi- 

 tect to Augustus. In a triumph ot' 1'onipcy, among 

 the spoils brought from the Hast, was a water clock, 

 the case of which wa* strung round with pearls. Pliny, 

 lib. xxxvii. cap. i. Mfmoirei de C Academic det Iittcrip- 

 timr, torn. xx. p. 448. 



It would be a waste of time to describe the nature 

 ef wheels and pinions, as this kind of machinery is now 

 so generally known. It may be sufficient to remark, 

 that a dock or a watch movement is an assemblage of 

 wheels and pinions, contained in a frame of two brass 

 plates, cormectfd by means of pillars ; the first or 

 greet wheel of which, in an eight day clock movement, 

 has concentric with H a cylindrical barrel, having a 

 spiral groove cut on it. To this cylinder is attached 

 one end of a cord, which is wrapped round in the 

 groove, for any determined number of turns, and to 

 the other end of the cord is hung a weight, which con. 

 stitutes a power or force to set the wheels in motion. 

 Their time of continuing in motion will depend on the 

 height through which the weight has to descend, on t!ie 

 number of teeth in the first or great wheel, and on the 

 number of teeth or leaves of the pinion upon which 

 this wheel acts, Ate. The wheels in spring docks and 

 in watches are urged on by the force of a spiral 

 spring, contained in a hollow cylindrical barrel or box, 

 to which one end of a cord or chain is fixed, and lapping 

 it round the barrel for several turns ouuide ; the other 

 end is fixed to the bottom of a solid, shaped like the 

 ft stum of a cone, known by the name of the Ju.rrc. 

 haling a spiral groove cut on it ; on the botbun of thit 

 cone, or fusee, the first or great wheel is put. The 

 arbor on which the spring barrel turns, is so fixt-<l in 

 the frame, that it cannot turn when the fusee is wind 

 ing up ; the inner end of the spring books on to the 

 barrel arbor, and the outer end books to the ini<lr oi 

 the barrel. Now if the fusee M turned round in the 

 direction, it will take on the cord or chain, and 

 take it off from the barrel This bendi 

 ; and if the fusee and greet wheel are left 

 to' themselves, the force exerted by the spring in tin 

 barrel to unbend itself, will make the barrel turn in a 

 eontrnrrdirectiente that by which it was bent up. This 

 force of the spring unbending itself, being communi- 

 cated to the wheels, will set them in motion, and they 

 will move with considerable velocity. Their time of 

 in motion will depend on the number of 

 groove on the fusee, the number of 

 vheel, and on the number of 

 which the great wheel acts . 



Arc. The wheels in any sort of movement, when at 

 liberty or free to turn, and when impelled by a force, 

 whether it is that of a weight or of a spring, would 

 soon allow this force to terminate ; fur, as the action of 

 the force is constant from its first commencement, the 

 i would be greatly accelerated in their course, 

 it would be an improper machine to registei time 



General de- 



tcriptiuu ot 



a dock. 



PLATE 



008 



Fig. 1 &l. 



General de- 

 Kripuoo at 

 a watch. 

 PLATE 

 CCCII. 

 Fia. 1. 



cenanmmg m motion win < 



Mm, ..ftfu- .(.ir.il ,.,,> ,, 

 teeth m the first or great wr, 

 leaves hi the pinion upon w 



or ha parts. The neceesky of checJung thisacceierat on. 

 and making the wheels move with an uniform motion, 

 gave rise to the invention of the etcmpemrnt, or 'icape- 

 mfnl as H is commonly called. To effect this, an alter- 

 nate motion was necessary, which required no small 

 effort of human ingenuity to produce. 



