Part 10

(see illustration on following page) are chiefly used now to mark the solar meridian or noon. Those which indicate other hours have a gnomon with its edge parallel to the earth's axis and inclined to the horizon at the angle corresponding to the latitude of the place in which the dial is fixed.

CARILLON CHIMES.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [Illustration: Sun-Dial.] | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

These beautiful examples of _al fresco_ music, which have been hitherto chiefly identified with Belgium, are now being produced in England with perhaps even more pleasing and satisfactory musical effect. Carillons attached to Church or Turret Clocks are being set up in various churches and mansions in different parts of the kingdom, and it is not improbable that the taste for such chimes may grow with the opportunity for hearing them. As in musical clocks, the works for time-keeping and those for chiming are entirely distinct, with the exception of the means by which the clock at certain fixed intervals lets off the chiming machinery after the striking is done. Chimes were much more popular years ago than they have been until lately. The old-fashioned machinery used to be rude enough, consisting chiefly of a large wooden barrel, stuck, like that of a musical box, with pins. These pins pulled the hammers that struck upon the bells, and the time was regulated by a rope coiled round one end of the barrel driving two or three wheels connected with a fly-wheel. More recent inventions have improved upon these conditions. The barrel is sometimes of cast-iron instead of wood, with steel or brass pins fixed in it to lift the hammers, and a very heavy weight is necessary to give the motive power. Instead of the ordinary method of raising the hammers and letting them fall by means of the pins on a chime barrel, the hammers are immediately after use returned to their places in striking position ready to be liberated by the pins on the chime barrel, and upon being so liberated are prepared to strike again. The tunes to be played upon these bells will of course be such as are adapted to the particular number of bells in each case, and the cost of the entire chimes depends upon the number and sizes of the bells so used,--varying with the circumstances,--the size and capacity of the tower, and the difficulties to be overcome in providing accommodation for the necessary bells, weights, chime barrel, &c. In each instance, as with turret clocks, the cost of the whole works depends to a great extent upon the cost of fixing the machinery. The tones of the bells have to be carefully provided for, as also the best position in which they can be heard at a distance. With fourteen bells of different sizes almost any tune can be played.

One was erected recently upon the new principle, of which the cost was something under £5000, including 12 bells weighing from five to seven cwt. each, clock, architect's charges, gas-fitting, and £1200 for timber-trussing, floors, &c. The Carillon machine is let off by the clock and plays seven times on the ringing peal of bells, but is adapted to play twenty-eight tunes on fifteen bells. It is wound up every morning and plays eight times in twenty-four hours, _i_. _e_. once every three hours, giving the tune on each occasion three times, and occupying about four minutes in doing so. At the expiration of the 24 hours the tune changes involuntarily, and of course with seven tunes there is one for each day in the week. The Carillon machinery is connected with the clock and set in motion thereby, by a lever which at three hours' intervals dislodges a pin and allows the weights, 14 cwt. each, to act upon the machinery, the speed being easily regulated, as in clockwork, by revolving vanes. The barrels are five feet long, by one foot in diameter, and are studded with brass pins like that of a musical box. When the bells are required to be rung, a bar is turned down on the keys which prevents the motion of the machinery for any length of time that the ringing is to be continued. Notwithstanding that the twenty-six hammers weigh from 2 cwt. to 70lbs each, it is possible that the tunes could be played by means of an ivory keyboard, as in a church organ, and with almost as much ease and facility.

Persons requiring to know the cost of a Church or Turret Clock should furnish the Clockmaker with the following data:--

How many Dials? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ Their Diameter? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ Their Elevation, or distance | from the ground? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ If to be Illuminated? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ Of what material is | Dial to be? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ Can the Movement be | placed on a level with the | centre of Dial, if not, how | far above or below it? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ Is the Clock to strike? | if so, on what size or | weight bell? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ If to strike half-hours | or quarters, or how many | bells, and their sizes and | weights? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ What number of feet | can be obtained for descent | of weights? | -------------------------------+------------------------------ What length of Pendulum | will the building | admit of, and is a compensating| Pendulum required? | --------------------------------------------------------------

A FEW DATES AND DETAILS FOR ALMANAC READERS.

The following data may be found useful in studying an Almanac.

The columns for SUNRISE AND SUNSET are nearly the same year after year for any given place; for by the alteration of styles and the day allowed at Leap Year the civil and astronomical year are almost exactly the same; but the difference in latitude of different places makes a London almanac useless for sunrise and sunset, say at Edinburgh. The sun rises at each place to a greater height in June than in December, but he is always at a less height in Edinburgh than in London both in winter and summer, Edinburgh being farther than London from the equator, where the sun is more immediately overhead.

The RISING AND SETTING OF THE MOON vary greatly day by day. The moon is constantly moving eastward, and she is not moving in the same path with the sun; the latitude and longitude of the observer's position, the place of the moon in her orbit, the rapidity of her motion, and other particulars, are to be taken into account in computing her rising and setting.

The GOLDEN NUMBER is a term arising from the discovery that the sun performs his annual course 19 times to the moon's 235. The golden number is the number which any given year holds in the Lunar Cycle. After the lapse of 19 years the new moons occur on the same days of the same months as before. This discovery being esteemed by the Romans to be highly important, they set up the rule for ascertaining the number of the year in the Lunar Cycle in a tablet with letters of gold, hence the term Golden Number. To find the year of the Lunar Cycle add one to the present year, then divide by 19 and the remainder will show the year of the Cycle.

The EPACT is the number of days which must be added to a lunar year to complete a solar year. Twelve lunar months being nearly 11 days less than the solar year, the new moons in one year falling 11 days earlier than in the year preceding it, it becomes necessary on the fourth year, when the difference would amount to 33 days, to take off 30 days as an intercalary month, during which the moon has made a revolution, and the three remaining would be the epact or 'addition,' which thus continues to vary until the 19 years have expired, and the new moons recur as before.

The SOLAR CYCLE is complete in 28 years, after which the days of the month return to the same days of the week as before.

The DOMINICAL OR SUNDAY LETTER, as one of the first seven letters of the alphabet, used to denote the days of the week, one of which must of course fall on the Sunday throughout the year. Owing to Leap Year their order every fourth year is disturbed, so that the Solar Cycle must pass round before the letters can fall to the same days of the week.

THE NUMBER OF DIRECTION. The Council of Nice having decided, A.D. 325, that Easter Day is always the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon or next after the 21st of March, it follows that Easter Day cannot take place earlier than the 22nd of March, or later than the 25th of April. The number of Direction is that day of the 35, on which Easter Sunday falls.

ROMAN INDICTION was a period of fifteen years, appointed by the Emperor Constantine, A.D. 312, for the payment of certain taxes. It was observed by the Greek and Roman Churches.

THE JULIAN PERIOD consists of 7980 years, produced by the multiplication into each other of the Solar and Lunar Cycles and the Roman Indiction, 28×19×15=7980. This period is reckoned from 709 before the Creation of the World, when the three Cycles are supposed to have commenced together; the lapse of the entire period will be A.D. 3267.

EQUATION OF TIME is the difference between the time as indicated by a sun-dial, and that by a good clock. It is necessary because the sun, the chief agent in measuring time, does not upon all days of the year appear to move equally fast, inasmuch as an hour by a sun-dial, correctly indicating the sun's motion, is sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, than an hour by the clock, the hours of which are supposed to be perfectly equal, although the sun's are not. The Equation of Time shows how many minutes are to be added to, or subtracted from, sun-dial time in order to show clock time. The same table of equation will serve all over the world. [See following pages for Equation Table.]

TRUE OR SOLAR TIME is that marked by the sun, and it is taken at the moment when he has attained his greatest height above the horizon,--such a moment being of course dependent upon the latitude of the place of observation. The solar time by which our nautical standard is fixed, is that of the meridian of Greenwich.

SIDEREAL TIME is that measured by the fixed stars, which are at such an immense distance from the earth that the diurnal motion of the earth brings these stars to the meridian at sufficiently regular intervals. It is necessary, however, to remember when making observations for sidereal time that these must be made from fixed or twinkling stars, not from planets.

Of the various Eras from which time has been dated, the following are the chief:--

A.M. _Anno Mundi._ The Year of the World, dating from the Creation, according to Jewish Calendar 5635

The Deluge, Era of, variously reckoned 2348 to 3155 B.C.

The first Olympiad 776 B.C.

A.U.C. or _Anno Urbis Conditæ_, the year of the building of Rome 753 B.C.

The Hegira, or Flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina 622 A.D.

The Birth of Christ in the year of the World 4004

The Jewish year 5635 commenced Sept. 12, 1874 A.D.

Table Colunm Headings A. 3m.fa.45s. B. 13m.fa.50s. C. 12m.sl.36s. D. 14m.fa. 1s. E. 3m. sl. 0s. F. 2m. sl.30s. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | A TABLE OF THE EQUATION OF TIME, | | For regulating Clocks and Watches for 1875. | +-----+-----------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+ | Day | January |February | March | April | May | June | +-----+-----------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+ | 1 | A | B | C | D | E | F | | 3 | 4 41 | 14 4 | 12 11 | 3 25 | 3 14 | 2 12 | | 5 | 5 36 | 14 16 | 11 45 | 2 49 | 3 26 | 1 51 | | 7 | 6 29 | 14 24 | 11 16 | 2 14 | 3 35 | 1 30 | | 9 | 7 20 | 14 29 | 10 47 | 1 41 | 3 43 | 1 7 | | 11 | 8 9 | 14 30 | 10 16 | 1 8 | 3 48 | 0 44 | | 13 | 8 55 | 14 29 | 9 43 | 0 36 | 3 51 | 0 19 | | 15 | 9 39 | 14 24 | 9 9 | 0 5 | 3 51 | 0 fa. 6 | | 17 |10 20 | 14 16 | 8 35 | 0 sl.24 | 3 50 | 0 31 | | 19 |10 58 | 14 6 | 7 59 | 0 52 | 3 46 | 0 57 | | 21 |11 33 | 13 53 | 7 23 | 1 18 | 3 40 | 1 23 | | 23 |12 5 | 13 37 | 6 46 | 1 42 | 3 32 | 1 48 | | 25 |12 34 | 13 19 | 6 9 | 2 5 | 3 22 | 2 14 | | 27 |13 0 | 12 58 | 5 32 | 2 25 | 3 10 | 2 39 | | 29 |13 22 | - - - | 4 55 | 2 44 | 2 55 | 3 4 | | 31 |13 41 | - - - | 4 19 | - - - | 2 39 | - - - | +-----+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------+--+

Table Colunm Headings A. 3m.fa.28s. B. 6m.fa. 5s. C. 0m.sl. 3s. D. 10m.sl.16s. E. 16m.sl.18s. F. 10m.sl.52s. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | EQUATION OF TIME, 1875--_continued_. | +-----+-----------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+ | Day | July | August |September |October |November |December | +-----+-----------+---------+----------+---------+---------+----------+ | 1 | A | B | C | D. | E | F | | 3 | 3 51 | 5 57 | 0 41 | 10 54 | 16 19 | 10 5 | | 5 | 4 13 | 5 47 | 1 20 | 11 30 | 16 17 | 9 17 | | 7 | 4 33 | 5 34 | 2 0 | 12 5 | 16 12 | 8 26 | | 9 | 4 52 | 5 19 | 2 41 | 12 38 | 16 4 | 7 33 | | 11 | 5 9 | 5 2 | 3 22 | 13 10 | 15 52 | 6 38 | | 13 | 5 24 | 4 42 | 4 4 | 13 40 | 15 37 | 5 42 | | 15 | 5 38 | 4 20 | 4 47 | 14 8 | 15 18 | 4 45 | | 17 | 5 49 | 3 55 | 5 29 | 14 33 | 14 56 | 3 47 | | 19 | 5 59 | 3 29 | 6 12 | 14 56 | 14 31 | 2 47 | | 21 | 6 6 | 3 1 | 6 54 | 15 17 | 14 2 | 1 48 | | 23 | 6 11 | 2 31 | 7 36 | 15 34 | 13 30 | 0 48 | | 25 | 6 13 | 1 59 | 8 17 | 15 49 | 12 55 | 0 fa.12 | | 27 | 6 14 | 1 26 | 8 58 | 16 1 | 12 17 | 1 12 | | 29 | 6 12 | 0 52 | 9 37 | 16 10 | 11 36 | 2 11 | | 31 | 6 8 | 0 16 | - - - | 16 16 | - - - | 3 10 | +-----+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---+ |_Note_.--Fa. means clock to be fast, _that is_, your Clock, to be | |right, must be so much faster than the Sun-Dial--Sl. that your Clock | |must be so much slower than the Sun-Dial. _To set a Clock or Watch on| |any Day by means of this Table_:--Take out the number of Minutes and | |Seconds which stand against that day, and make your Clock or Watch so| |much faster or slower (according as the table is marked _fa._ or | |_sl._) than the time on a good Sun-Dial. Thus, on January 1st, the | |Clock must be set 3m. 45s. _faster_ or _before_ the Dial; on the 1st | |of October, it must be set 10m. 16s. _slower_. Correct the Watch when| |the Dial marks just an hour, as 9, 10, 11, 1, 2, 3, or 4 o'clock. | |Noon is _not_ best, nor near Sunrise or Sunset. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.

Italic text is denoted by _underscore_.

The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter is superscripted (example: 53^s).

Inconsistent hyphenation has been repaired.

The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

In ambiguous cases, the text has been left as it appears in the original book.

Corrections: Line 1304: "instance" replaced with "insistence". Line 1332: "inputation" replaced with "imputation". Line 2279: "abanboned" replaced with "abandoned". Line 2656: "Shakspere" replaced with "Shakspeare".

End of Project Gutenberg's Time and Time-Tellers, by James W. Benson