Chapter 5

Of course to explain every detail of the method of repairing the various parts of a watch would take more space than you would allow in your journal, and hence I will not attempt to go into minute detail, except perhaps some of the more important items, and the most common things found in everyday experience. Among these are broken pivots, worn pivots (sometimes requiring new ones), worn holes in plates, and at the intersection of barrel arbor, ratch and bridge of Swiss watches, etc., which, as a rule, require common sense as much as practice, and it varies in different watches, so that the common sense rule applies the best to nearly all of these, and if you have not got common mechanical sense, then you have mistaken your calling and should do something else. In any of these repairs don't go it blind, but study your case carefully and do the best thing you study out. When there is a worn pivot hole in a plate, and one side is countersunk for oil, then have a punch rounded at the point, just the shape of the countersink (and if you have not one make one, and here is where my rule, that of making a tool as the need comes for it, comes in play), and by screwing this punch into the vise, and with a smooth, flat point punch (slightly cornered of course) in one hand and holding the plate or bridge with the other, with the countersink on the punch, have a striker tap light and quick blows, and you move the punch around on the side most worn (and one side is almost invariably worn most, throwing the wheel arbor out of upright) and close up, even a little too much, and then with a round, smooth broach enlarge it, so that it will be right size, and this leaves it hard and smooth.

Broken pivots, as I have hinted, I place the arbor in a split chuck, and if true, I drill into the staff with a drill, made from a nice piece of steel wire, the old and ordinary shape of a drill, which is a trifle larger at the cutting point than it is back of the point, and I make these as I need them, and harden simply by holding the wire in a flame till red hot, and then dash into an apple, potato, soap, or pure rubber. Which is the best of these I have as yet been unable to determine, so I use either as the most handy. Take a good, tough and small pointed graver and turn a slight center in the end of arbor I am to drill, and then by giving my lathe a back and forward motion, I begin to drill, and by the sense of feeling I can tell whether my drill is cutting or not, and if not, I have a small, smooth oilstone at hand and sharpen the drill as often as it refuses to cut, and if that drill will not cut, I make another.

I make my drills of very small wire, filing them at point and then tap the point (holding the wire in a very fine pin vise), thus flattening as well as spreading it, and then shape the cutting edges as spoken of above. When you have drilled sufficiently to hold a plug firmly, then have a piece of steel of spring temper filed so as to fit closely and so straight that it will not act too wedging (and split the arbor), drive it in, cut it off and turn down, finishing with an oilstone slip, and polish by running the lathe rapidly and with a piece of thin boxwood (or hard pegwood) charged with diamantine, being sure that the end of the pivot has no burr, thrown either way, over end or on side, for such a burr will cause a lack of freedom of a balance pivot particularly. This matter of setting pivots requires a longer experience than almost any other work, and it needs a long practice to do a nice job. If your split chuck will not hold your staff or arbor true, then use cement; but in this, too, you must be sure that your center is true, and that the sound pivot enters it perfectly. Sometimes you meet with steel so hard that you cannot touch it with a drill, in which case draw the temper of the staff or arbor you are drilling, and if it projects so little that you cannot draw the temper without injury to the wheel, then unstake or separate the wheel, and by drilling a hole into a piece of brass wire, about the size of the staff you are drilling, insert the staff in this hole, and then heat the wire near the staff and thus gradually and yet effectively draw the temper.

I consider it well for young workmen to practice pivot setting in some old and useless watch any spare time they may have, and thus become adepts at this work. Unhindered, I am not over on an average of one-half hour in setting any ordinary pivot, especially if I do not have to cement my work. If this is a balance pivot, be very careful to see that your balance is true and poised before putting on hairspring and roller. There are some pivots that are underturned (to make look tidy and light), and sometimes it is about an impossibility to put in a new one, and in this case, if an American watch, I always put in an entire new staff, and hence keep a full assortment on hand.

Regarding replacing broken jewels, I also keep a full stock of these, turned (the setting) to match any make or style of watch; except, of course, Swiss watches, and for these I keep a large assortment of sizes, both of cock and foot and wheel jewels, and a full stock once procured, they last a long time and are a good investment, for with them you can meet any emergency.

In a Swiss watch, or any watch where the jewel is set into the plate, have some one of the devices for throwing up the burnished lip, and then select a jewel that just fills the space, and then with a smooth pointed punch, such as I described I used for closing up a pivot hole, I turn this lip back by sliding this round pointed punch around the outside, making it act as a burnish. Cap jewels I either treat in the same manner as the last, or cut away the setting, and insert them as they are inserted in most Swiss watches.

I have now taken up the more common repairs, and will close by hastily speaking of the more rare cases, and the adjustment of the hair spring, etc., etc. It is often the case that there is never end shake to the balance to make it absolutely safe when screwed into the case, and when this happens I take the point of a sharp graver and prick up a burr on the bridge, and never on the plate, as any unskilled workman does, for the under side of the bridge never being finished, you really mar nothing, and sometimes this raising of the cock (or bridge) becomes a necessity, to have it clear the rim of the balance, which, if raised, it will clear, and then by bending down the end of the cock at point where the jewel is, and thus regulate the end shake. I hardly know how to give directions how to proceed in adjusting hairsprings, when they are disarranged, but if I could see you, I could explain by example what I cannot well do in words. To commence, a hairspring, when there is no power applied to balance from the jewel pin, should be, when pinned, just as free from any twist or cramping as it would be if lying flat and free on a smooth piece of glass, before it has been pinned at either end, and when it is pinned in the watch (at stud and collet) it should be thus free. To bring it thus requires demonstration that cannot be made on paper, unless you could make diagrams, too numerous for this article.

What I have said regarding it, however, gives an idea of how a hairspring should be pinned. Common sense is demanded here as elsewhere. To put a watch in beat, too, is a very important item, which I do by placing sharp pointed tweezers, first on one side of the arm of balance and then on the other, and so pin my hairspring in the stud, that it will let off as readily on one side as the other. I had forgotten to say that every watch should have a little oil on the face of the pallet stones. I know full well that some workmen will say that there should be none, but I can tell of scores of watches that have failed and indeed stopped simply for want of oil on the pallets. Selecting mainsprings, too, needs much more care than is usually given to this department, and as a rule even the watch factories fill the barrel too full, that is, too long springs. Whether I am correct in this or not, you cannot be too particular in selecting the right strength, length, and width of mainsprings. Mainsprings should be well and carefully oiled.

There are many ways of replacing broken teeth in wheels, and the width of the web and the size of the teeth has much to do with how they are put in, but I usually dovetail them in, and then with the very tiniest bit of soft solder fasten them, but in so doing be positive you have got off all soldering fluid, that it will not rust the pinion into which it meshes, and be very particular to have it exactly like the rest of the teeth in same wheel, and don't mar the web of the wheel more than is possible.

I will now draw this article to a close, well appreciating the fact that I have only made a superficial attempt to instruct younger men in the cleaning and repairing of watches, for there is almost an endless variety of special repairs coming almost unexpectedly to any one, even if they have been in the business a long time, as I have, and as I first said, I am learning daily some new phase of the business, and am surprised that I never had known it before. I have, too, taken perhaps more space than I ought, regarding tools and bench, yet the older I grow, the more I can see the importance of this part, that I may be enabled to do work well and quick. Besides, I have left such repairs as the chain and fusee, uprighting wheels, repairing cases, adjustment to position, heat and cold, isochronism, enlarging jewels, or changing angles of pallet stones, etc., etc., all of which I do as necessity demands, as well as the care of striking watches, fly backs, etc., which, too, I make a specialty of, and of chronometer escapement watches, which would take more space than I feel disposed to ask you to give me.--_American Jeweler._

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THE NEW CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION AT FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN.

The new central railway station at Frankfort on the Main is one of the most imposing structures of modern times, not only as regards its dimensions, but also because of the effect which its architectural proportions produce upon the eye. Nobody looking at the long line of buildings surrounded by gigantic perron halls can help being impressed with their grandeur. The beholder, however, is not only struck by the general aspect, but also by the beauty of detail in this magnificent specimen of the Renaissance style. The interior of the perron hall shown in one of our engravings is especially impressive, and every one will admire the graceful outlines of the heavy iron structures in the upper part, which, in consequence of their enormous height, look from below like a spider web.

The base and the earth works were begun in the summer of 1881, and if we take into consideration the fact that 2,700,000 cubic meters of sand and gravel were necessary for the foundation, we will have some idea of the scale on which the edifice was undertaken. In 1883, the great hall, which has a width of 220 meters and which will shortly be opened to traffic, was begun. The perspective view of this portion of the station is given in one of our engravings. Inspector Eggert had the general management of the building, which was erected after the plan submitted by him, and which received the prize in the competition between the different architects. Herr Frantz, a distinguished engineer, who undertook the general supervision of the construction, had an important part in the execution of the entrance hall for the trains, and it was he, also, who built the perron hall, after designs of Herr Schwedler.

The middle part of the station, which contains the porch, the ticket offices, the baggage department, the police quarters and the telegraph offices, projects, as shown in the picture, considerably beyond the rest of the building, and by the distinct membering of its moulding stands out conspicuously from the whole. Protruding portals of peculiar structure and corner pavilions enliven the aspect of the wings of the edifice, the great round arched windows of which are separated from each other by powerful stone pillars. The corner pavilions to the left in the view contain the so-called imperial apartments for the reception of royal travelers, and on the other side are the meeting hall and reception rooms of the different railway administrations. On the right and left of the imposing main vestibule, which is distinguished by the strength and the beauty of its style, lobbies with arched roofs lead to the waiting and dining rooms, the ladies' rooms, the imperial apartments and the above mentioned meeting hall of the administration.

The ladies' and gentlemen's toilet rooms also are in that part of the building.

The architect has laid especial stress upon the architectural ornamentation of the building. Upon the apex of the arch over the main vestibule a great group will be placed, representing Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders, and supported in his work by the allegorical figures of Steam and Electricity.

This group, which is at the present moment being executed in copper by Houwald, in Brunswick, is the work of a Frankfort sculptor, Herr Gustav Herold. In the arch itself, near the clock, we see two allegorical female figures, over life size, in a sitting posture, modeled by Prof. Gustav Kaupert in Frankfort, and representing Day and Night. In front of the pillars supporting the arch, two other female sitting figures, also above life size, will be perceived. These were modeled by Professor Calandrelli in Berlin, and represent Agriculture and Commerce, and in the niches on both sides there are the statues of Navigation and Industry, the work of the sculptor Hundrieser, of Berlin. The two side portals of the entrance hall are surmounted by figures of boys, having a height 2.40 meters; on the left the commercial traveler and traveling student, modelled by Rudolph Eckhardt in Frankfort; on the right the traveler for pleasure and the emigrant, the works of the sculptor Scholl, of Mayence. The groups of the corner pavilions, allegoric representations of machine building and engineering, were modeled by Professor Max Wiese, of Hanau. The figures, like the whole building, are of Heibronn sandstone. Either wing has a vestibule leading to the middle perron of the great hall. They resemble in style the architecture of the front of the middle building, only their arches are smaller. Here also we meet rich architectural ornamentation on the pillars in the great arch. The ornaments consist, as in the former case, of allegorical figures of boys. They have a height of 2.20 meters, and represent Agriculture and Art Industry on the one side and Art and the Retail Trade of Frankfort on the other side. The two former figures are the work of the sculptor A. Brutt, of Berlin; the two latter were modeled by Hermann Becker, of Frankfort. The side facades are very long, but of simpler style than the front of the building, and connect with the perron halls, which on their part end in semi-towers. There the offices of the administrations are located. The main vestibule leads directly to the middle of the perron in the large hall, which consists of three naves, and into which enter the trains of six railway lines, each separated from the other by perrons. The perron hall has a length of 186 meters and a width of 168 meters. The height of the naves, with their low arched roofs, rises in the center to 28.5 meters. Tunnels connect the different railway lines, in order to assist the rapid transit of through trains. The port also benefits by these tunnels. The inside front of the main vestibule is very richly decorated. In its center a large clock is situated, and on both sides of it are colossal allegorical figures modeled by F. Kruger, of Frankfort, and representing the hours of Morning and Evening, while on the pillars we perceive large male figures in a sitting posture, representing the Defense of the Country and Mining, the work of Herr Keller, of Frankfort. The pillars are crowned by groups of sculpture, representing the Honeymoon Travel and Instruction in Traveling, the one modeled by A. C. Rumpf, and the other by Friedrich Schierholz, of Frankfort.

The whole edifice is fire proof, scarcely any wood having been used in its erection. The hall as well as the other parts of the building are heated by steam and lighted by electricity. The whole cost of the structure amounted to about $8,500,000.--_Illustrirte Zeitung._

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THE COMMERCIAL EXCHANGE, PARIS.

At the beginning of the year 1881, the committee on finances of the common council of Paris received a petition from the central committee of the syndical chambers asking for the establishment of an official exchange for merchandise and commercial transactions for the especial use of Parisian commerce. To this petition was added a project of organization which proposed the appropriation of the grain market, with a clearing of the approaches. The Paris chamber of commerce had likewise been for a long time contemplating the establishment of a merchandise exchange, and was studying the practical means of organizing it.

Called upon to decide, the common council, at its session of May 28, 1881, decreed that an official merchandise exchange for the commerce of Paris should be organized, and that the grain market, or any other place considered favorable by the administration, should be appropriated.

Desirous of aiding in carrying out this decree, the chamber of commerce offered its services to the city. It proposed to take upon itself the responsibility of organizing and managing the exchange, and of borrowing the money necessary for converting the grain market into a merchandise exchange, and for clearing the approaches and opening Louvre Street.

The study of this project soon became connected, by reason of the proximity of the places, with the one having for its object the enlarging of the central markets and the construction of two pavilions to complete them. It was recognized that it would be of interest to make the appropriation necessary for the enlarging of the markets and to unite the two operations. After many vicissitudes, this project received the approval of the common council.

The contract for the work was given on the 2d of March, 1886, to Mr. Blondel, the well known architect.

Let us now see how the contract has been followed out. The grain market was built in 1767, upon the site of the hotel of Soissons. Of this, nothing was preserved but the astronomical tower of Catherine de Medicis, which still remains. The central part of the market left free was soon covered with a wooden framework, which was destroyed by fire in 1802. This was then replaced by the architect Brunet with an iron cupola covered with sheet copper. This market was designed for the reception of the grain and flour necessary to supply the city, but was soon supplanted by public granaries, and then by general stores. It afterward became a depot in which grain and flour brokers received merchandise from shippers in order to effect a sale of it. The abolition of the _factorat_ gave it its last blow.

Let us examine the transformations made by Mr. Blondel in the old structure. He began by excavating under the entire extent of the market a basement 13 ft. in depth. The old foundations of the circular walls, which are more than 6 ft. thick, and which are extremely solid, extend to a depth of about 2½ ft. beneath the surface. The ceiling of the basement, in the annular part between the walls, is formed of large T iron girders, resting upon the circular walls. These support transverse girders, which, in turn, support the floor irons.

The flooring of the hall is formed of ordinary floor irons, assembled upon large girders, which are supported here and there by cast iron columns. Under this flooring there is a second one, leaving a free space of about ten inches, in which will be placed the tubes serving for ventilation. To these pipes will be joined vertical ones debouching in the flooring of the hall.

The old dome did not have apertures enough, and the skylight even was not transparent, and so the lighting of the hall was very defective. The mode of covering the dome was therefore completely modified. The copper was removed, and upon the old framework was laid a wooden framework, to which will be nailed laths designed to receive a slate roof. The slate will not extend to the summit of the dome, but will leave above it a spherical cap, which will be glazed, and through which the light will enter the hall in abundance.

In the basement will be installed the ventilating and heating apparatus. Another part of the basement will be occupied by the dynamo machines that are to furnish the electric light. Another part will receive the bake ovens that belong to the laboratory of the committee on grain and flour. The rest of the basement will be rented. The central part will probably be converted into a cold room for the preservation of early fruit and vegetables.

On the ground floor, we find, in the first place, the rooms that the contractor is to furnish gratuitously for post office, telegraph, and telephones, and to licensed brokers, and especially a hall of superb dimensions designed for the public sale of raw materials by the brokers.

What remains of the ground floor will be devoted to offices looking at once upon the hall and Viarones Street. The entresol and the two stories will be connected by several staircases. The various stories will also be reached through elevators. A circular balcony will extend around the hall at the level of each of the two upper stories. These will be occupied by offices smaller than those on the ground floor, which will, some of them, get their light from the hall, and others from the street.

A part of the second story will be reserved for the service of the committees on grain and flour, who, as experts, are called upon to determine to what type each specimen is to be referred.

From the exchange, let us pass to the annexes. The one on the right is destined to become a large hotel for the accommodation of provincial and foreign merchants. The one to the left will be a tenement house, with shops and apartments. Along each of these annexes, on Viarones Street, will extend a covered colonnade.--_Abstract from Le Genie Civil._

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A BASIS FROM WHICH TO CALCULATE CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC MOTOR SERVICE.[1]

[Footnote 1: Read before the electric light convention, New York, August, 1888.]

The theoretical side of the electric motor question has been very ably presented to and discussed by this association, but thus far the practical side has been somewhat neglected.

It will be my purpose in this paper, if possible, to show that there is a general average controlling the use of machinery which it will be safe for electric light and power companies to follow in making their charges for motor service, rather than adopt an arbitrary price per horse power regardless of the character of service required of the motor.

I have arranged what might be called a power curve, representing the approximate average actual service in electric motors in connection with the several classes of work represented in the list accompanying the diagram.

This curve is calculated on motors which are only of sufficient capacity in each case to carry the full load. If the motor should be larger than is necessary to drive the machinery, the percentage of actual service will, of course, drop below that shown in the diagram.