Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1891 — ANTICS OF WATCHES. [ARTICLE]

ANTICS OF WATCHES.

Broken Springs Said to Follow a Display of the Aurora Borealis. Decidedly the watch is a very queer thing. It possesses soino unaccountable peculiarities. Some time ago, when thore had been a succession of fine displays of the aurora borealis, it was estimated that in a single night in Now York the main springs ot not less than 3,000 watches broke. This estimate is bused on actual inquiries. . Fine, sensitive watches are particularly liable to be affected by- electrical atmospheric disturbances. During the months of June, July- and August, when theso phenomena are most frequent, there arc more main-springs broken than during all the remaining months of the year. They- break in a variety of ways, sometimes snapping into as ninny as twenty-seven pieces. It is a fact that since the introduction of the electric light has become so general a large number of watches, some of them very fine ones, have become magnetized. While in this condition they are useless as time-keepers. This defect used to be considered incurable, nnd because of it thousands of watches have been thrown away, after much moneyhad been spent on them in vnin attempts to persuade them to keep good time. Among the methods resorted to were washing the parts in garlic juico, refinishing and passing them through the fire. But all these devices were entire failures, or only in part eft’ectivo. There are occasions when it is a very serious matter to have your watch magnetized. Tho captain of ail Atlantic steamer, before putting to sea on a recent voyage, was invited to inspect an electric dynamo machine, and examined its purts closely. Soon after getting on board the steamer he noticed that tho compass became strangely affected when he approached it. Whether he stood on tho right or the left, or immediately- in front of the compass, the needle would immediately- point to him. The compass was worse than useless when he came near it. It was dangerous and might wreck the ship. This phenomenon alarmed und puzzled the captain not a little. At length he recalled his visit to tho dy-nurno machine, and the true solution of the eccentric helm vior of the needle flashed upon him. His watch had become magnetized. AVhon he removed it tho needle resumed its constancy- to the polur star. Watches frequently get magnetized in iron mines or machine shops, where they are incautiously brought near swiftly running belts. It is a well-known fact among horologists that no wutch will keep the same time with two people. The cause has not yet been definitely- ascertained, but it would seem that in sonio mysterious way a watch is affected by- the temperament of the wearer. The mere physical difference in gait and movement between different people is not sufficient to account for all the variations that have been observed. —[Boston Globe.