soo 
T I M 
T I M 
use. Fig. 8 is a section of the but-end of a 
tree, two feet in diameter, sawn or chopped 
diagonally. Fig. 9 is the other end, sawn 
square, one foot each Side : cut it exactly 
through the centre in two cross-cuts ab, de, 
it will produce four pieces ; which are put to- 
gether, as in tigs, 6 and 7, with the centre 
turned outwards, the but-'end of one piece 
with the small end of the other, and dowel or 
bolt them together as tig 10: you will then 
form a beam, whose section is shewn in ligs. 
6 and 7, regular from one end to the other, 
with the advantage of having the heart of 
the tree in the place where the hardness and 
strength are most wanted, viz. in the corners 
which form the abutments; whereas, the 
same tree squared into a parallel beam, would 
have been much smaller, and the soft or 
sappy parts of the wood < x posed to the ac- 
tion of the air and moisture. In (lush-framing 
it is observable, that the failure of all timber 
in old buildings has commenced much sooner 
than they otherwise would have done, owing 
to the sappy wood being at the corners of the 
principal beams, which soon decays, as its 
spongy quality attracts the moisture ; whereas 
the heart, especially of oak, will be as sound 
as the lirst day it was used. 
As all beams take their weight horizon- 
tally, or on any 1 transverse bearing, have 
their principal strain on the upper and lower 
surface, every workman ought to guard 
against having sap in beams, because if they 
do not immediately decay, they shrink, so as 
to let loose all the framing, and soon cripple 
the building or machine: but on Mr. Smart’s 
plan the sappy part of the wood is excluded 
from what would cause its decay, and the 
timber increased in quantity is considerably 
more than the extra labour and expence. 
A tree of oak, forty feet long and two feet 
diameter at the but-end, and one foot at the 
top, when put together on this plan, will 
have its sides each. 18 inches square, which 
contains 90 feet; whereas, on the old plan 
40 would be the content of a square beam, 
cut from the same tree ; 50 cubic feet would 
have been cut off as slabs, or chopped up for 
the tire. The expence of sawing and putting 
a beam of the above dimensions in London in 
the year 1802 would have been as follows : 
Four outside cuts at 14 inches deep l. s. d. 
Two breaking, cut at 18 ( . , . 
Length 40 feet, 306 feet sawing at C 
7 s. 6d. ) 
120 12-inch dowels, at Id. each 0 10 0 
Boring 240 holes, and putting to- 
gether - - 15 0 
2 18 0 
Allowing the 50 feet saved to be worth 61. 
then the proprietor would save 3/. 2s. in each 
beam so converted. The dowels ought not 
to go through, as that would weaken the 
timber. In an 18-inch beam the dowels 
should come within three inches of the out- 
side ; but where a mortise is cut in place of 
a dowel, it is proper to have an iron screw 
bolt to prevent the joint opening with the 
pressure of the tennon ; and the work ought 
to be put together with screw clamps, for nails 
or hammers bruise the wood, and destroy he 
cohesion of its fibres for a considerable depth. 
The method we are here describing is in- 
cluded in Mr. Smart’s patent for hollow masts 
described incur article Ship ; yet, as far as. 
relates to lessening the consumption of Eng- 
lish oak, and introducing the larch and firs 
of our own growth into general use, Mr. 
Smart has liberally granted licences to all 
who chose to apply to him for them, masts, 
yards, bowsprits, &c. excepted. 
Timber trees, in law, are properly oak, 
ash, and elm. In some particular countries, 
by local custom, other trees being commonly 
there made use of for building, are considered 
as timber. 2 Black. 28. Of these, being part 
of the freehold, larceny cannot becomnutted; 
but if they are severed atone time, and car- 
ried away at another, then the stealing of 
them is larceny. And by several late sta- 
tues the stealing of them in the first instance 
is made felony, or incurs a pecuniary forfei- 
ture. 4 Black: 233. 
For the better preservation of roots, shrubs, 
and plants, it is by the 6 G. 111. c. 48, enact- 
ed, that from and after the 24th day of June, 
1766, every person convicted of damaging, 
destroying, or carrying away any timber tree 
or trees, or trees likely to become timber, 
without consent of the owner, &c. shall for- 
feit for the lirst offence not exceeding 20/. 
with the charges attending; and on non-pay- 
ment shall be committed for not more than 
twelve, nor less than six, months ; for the se- 
cond offence, a sum not exceeding 30/. and 
on non-payment shall be committed for not 
more than eighteen, and not less than twelve, 
months ; and for the third offence is to be 
transported for seven years. All oak, beech, 
chesnut, walnut, ash, elm, cedar, fir, asp, lime, 
sycamore, and birch, trees, shall be deemed 
and taken to be timber-trees within the in- 
tent of this act. 
By the same act, the plucking or spoiling 
of roots, shrubs, or plants, is subject to a fine 
of 4/. for the first offence, and 5/. for the se- 
cond, and transportation tor the third. Jus- 
tices of peace are to put this act in execution. 
TIME, in music, is an affection of sound, 
by which we denominate it long or short, with 
regard to its continuance. 
Common, or double time, is of two spe- 
cies. 1. When every bar or measure is equal 
to a semibreve, or its value in any combi- 
nation of notes of a lesser quantity. 2. When 
every bar is equal to a minim, or its value in 
lesser notes. The movements of this kind of 
measure are various, but there are three 
common distinctions; the first slow, signified 
by the mark C ; the second brisk, signified 
by ££; the third very.quick, signified by 
The old musicians were acquainted with 
no more than two sorts of time : one of three 
measures in a bar, which they called perfect; 
and the other of two, considered as imperfect. 
, When the time was perfect, the breve was 
equal to three semibreves, which was ex- 
pressed by an entne circle, barred or not 
barred, and sometimes also by this compound 
3 
character ^ . When the time was imperfect, 
the breve was equal only to two semibreves, 
which was indicated by a semicircle, or C. 
Sometimes the C was reversed, as thus 3, 
which' signified a diminution, by one-half, of 
the powers of the notes ; a particularity some- 
times denoted in the more modern music by 
a perpendicular bar drawn through the cha- 
racter, as thus The time of the full C 
~ 4 ' 
T I M 
] was generally called the major lime, and that 
! of the reversed 3 the minor time. 
I The moderns have added to the old music 
a combination of times; but still we may say 
that we have no more than two times, com- 
mon and triple: since the time of nine 
crotchets, or nine quavers in a bar, is but a 
species of triple time; and that of six 
crotchets, or six quavers in a bar, though 
called a compound common time, being mea- 
sured by two beats, one down and one up, 
is as absolutely common time as that of four 
crotchets in a bar. 
With respect to the velocities of the dif- 
ferent species of time, they are as various as 
the measures and modifications of, music, and 
are generally expressed by some Italian word 
or phrase at the beginning of each movement, 
as larghetto (rather slow), presto (quick), 
&c. But when once the time of the improve- 
ment is determined, all the measures are to 
be perfectly equal, that is, every bar is to 
| take up the same quantity of time, and the 
j corresponding divisions of the bars areterbe 
perfectly symmetrical with respect to each 
other. 
Tim e-k eepers, in a general sense, denote 
instruments adapted tor measuring time. See 
Chronometer. 
In a more peculiar and definite sense, time- 
keeper is a term first applied by Mr. John 
Harrison to his- w atches constructed for de- 
termining the longitude at sea, and forwheih 
he received, at different times, the parlia- 
mentary reward of twenty thousand pounds. 
Several other artists have since received also 
considerable sums for their improvements of 
time-keepers, as Arnold, Mudge, &c. See 
Longitude. 
This appellation is now become common 
among artists, to distinguish such watches as 
are made with extraordinary care and accu- 
racy for nautical or astronomical observa- 
tions. 
The principles of Mr. Harrison’s time- 
keeper, as they were communicated by him- 
self to the commissioners appointed to re- 
ceive and publish the same in the year 1765, 
are as follow: 
“ In this time-keeper there is the greatest 
care taken to avoid friction, as much as can 
be, by the wheels moving on small pivots, and 
in ruby-holes, and high numbers in the wheels 
and pinions. 
“ The part which measures time goes but 
the eighth part of a minute without winding 
up ; so that part is very simple, as this wind- 
ing-up is performed at the w heel next to the 
balance-wheel, by which means there is al- 
ways an equal force acting at that wheel, and 
all the rest of the work has no more to do in 
the measuring of time than the person that 
winds up once a day. 
“ There is a spring in the inside of the 
fusee, which I will call a secondary main 
spring. This spring is always kept stretched 
to a certain tension by the main spring; and 
during the time of winding up the time- 
keeper, at which time the main spring is not 
suffered to act, this secondary spring supplies 
its place. 
“ In common watches in general, the 
wheels have about one-third the dominion 
over the balance that the balance-spring has ; 
that is, if the power which the balance-spring 
lias over the balance is called three, that from 
