December, 1912 
ANCIENT. TIMEPIECES 
N 1288, says the London Globe, a clock- 
tower and clock were set up in Westmin- 
ster at the expense of Chief Justice de 
Hengham, as a punishment for falsifying 
the record of a fine; and weight-clocks are 
known to have been used in European mon- 
astic houses as early as the Tenth Century. 
It is doubtful, however, if these clocks had 
a dial, face and hands. Probably they 
merely sounded a bell at stated. intervals. 
Sand-glasses boast an antiquity of more 
than two thousand years, and although now 
enjoying an honorable retirement or merely 
presiding in old-fashioned kitchens over the 
boiling of the breakfast egg, they formerly 
had a place in almost every parish church, 
where they served to keep the sermon within 
reasonable bounds. At one time the hour- 
glasses of superior quality contained not 
sand but egg-shells, which, when finely pow- 
dered and kiln-dried, were less likely to ab- 
sorb moisture from the atmosphere. 
Of even greater antiquity is the clepsydra, 
or water-clock, which was made in several 
forms. One of the simplest was the Hindu’s 
copper basin, pierced with a small hole in 
the bottom, which, when placed in a vessel 
of water, filled and sank after a certain 
established interval. More elaborate forms 
were known in Europe and Egypt. 
Although varying somewhat in construc- 
tion, all used a “float.” The float was 
placed either in a full cylinder from which 
the water gradually escaped by a hole in 
the bottom,—usually bored through a pearl 
on account of its resistance to erosion—or 
in an empty vessel to which water was 
admitted from above. In both varieties the 
float, falling or rising as the case might be, 
pointed to the scale of hours marked on the 
side of the vessel. The float sometimes 
took the form of a miniature boat, in which 
an outstretched oar was the pointer. 
Clepsydrz such as these were used in the 
Athenian courts of law, and were put in 
charge of a special officer. One “water” 
apiece was allowed to plaintiff, defendant 
and judge. During the reading of any docu- 
ment that bore upon the case the flow of 
water was stopped. A clepsydra, which in 
its action and appearance foreshadowed the 
modern clock, carried upon its float an up- 
right rod that acted on a toothed wheel, 
which in turn moved a hand upon a dial. 
But the precursor both of the sand glass 
and the clepsydra was without doubt the 
gnomon of the sun-dial; a simple rod which, 
standing upright in a sunny place, measured 
the passage of time by the moving shadow 
that it cast upon the ground. 
The earliest time-teller at all conveniently 
portable was the dial-ring. Within its broad- 
banded circle the hours were engraved; a 
ray of sunlight falling through a small hole 
in the upper side of the ring when held 
erect gave the time approximately. 
ELEPHANTS AND RAILWAYS 
ORE than one railway train in Siam 
has of late had encounters with ele- 
phants, says Harpers Weekly. In two 
cases the animals were killed, but in one 
the train was derailed and several cars 
were telescoped. Oriental cars have no 
“cowcatchers,”’ for Old World engineers 
generally smile at cowcatchers as devices 
suitable only for what they deem to be 
American conditions of traffic. It is now 
observed, however, that the American de- 
vice might be very serviceable in the case 
of stray elephants. Cowcatchers have al- 
ready been introduced on the large loco- 
motives of the line between Damascus 
and Mecca in anticipation of possible 
collisions with camels. 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
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SEI LEIS 
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The Modern Gasoline Automobile 
Its Construction, Operation, Maintenance and Repair 
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By VICTOR W. PAGE, M. E. 
700 (6x9) Pages. 500 Illustra ions. 
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