Ancient and Modern Time Keepers: Containing Interesting Notice of the Works of the National Watch Company at Elgin, Illinois and Their Wonderful Machinery (c.1869)

F R O M HARPER’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE. " “‘‐"‘0»‐---,,__ .4,x1 '/\3J, fiifimfléfimfi mm THE CONNECTICUT Mutual Life Insurance Comp’y OF HARTFORD, CONN. - -‐-~¢¢o‐0w¢‐‐‐ ASSETS, - - - - '- $§7,566,479.26 Surplus,(Computing re-insurance by N. Y. Legal Standard,‘ - - . - 9,671.875.26 8.978,751.25 9,563,987.00 6,785,680,00 Income for 1869, -' - - - ' Total Surplus Premiums returned to the Assured,to date, Total Death Claims p a i d to date, - - - DIVIDEND PAYABLE IN 1870, $2,300,000. TOTAL AMOUNT INSURED, OVER $177,000,000I! Over Nine Millions Loaned at the West. This Company is PURELY MUTUAL, there being NOSTOCKHCLDERS To A m o n B A N Y PORTIONOFITSEUNBS,itsSURPLUSBELCNGINGWHOLLY toitsMEMBERS.andbeingEQtITABLY APPORTIONED among them in ANNUAL DIVIDENDS, or returns of surplus premiums. In comparison with other American Life Companies, the CONNECTICUT MUTUAL has conducteditsbusinessataLOWER AVERAGE RATE OFEXPENSES;itsCLAIMSbyDEATHhave averaged LESS, in proportion, than those of any other Company having a suflicient extent of business to test the law of mortality; and Its ASSETS have been uniformly invested at a net rate of INTERmT E X C E E D I N G that real‐ izedby a n y similar institution. ’ The NECESSARY RESULT of this economy in MANAGEMENT, CAREFUL SELECTION of lives, and HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE INVESTMENTS, has been that the CONNECTICUT MUTUAL has affordedInsurancetoitsmembersat“aLessAverage Cost,thananyotherCompany. Its Investments are SECURELY and PROFITABLY made. and contain NO c o x x t T E D COM‐ )IrssroNs, FANCY STOCKS, PERSONAL SECURITIES, Nor Any Imaginary or Unrealized Assets. Beyonddoubt,the CONNECTICUT MUTUAL is the STRONGEST LIFE ISSURASC‘E Cox‐ P A N Y I N T H E WORLD: i t s r a t i o o f A s s e t s t o L i a b i l i t i e s , a s m e a s u r e d b y t h e N e w Y o r k L e g a l Standard. is $155.50 per $ 00; and it grants A L L DESIRABLE forms of Insurance upon STRICTLY EQUI’I‘ABLE TERMS. and at the CHEAPEST AT’I‘AINABLE RATES OECOST. JAMESGOODWIN,President. Z. PRESTON, l s t Vice President. W. S. OLMSTED, Secretary. E.B.WATKINSON,2dVicePresident. E.W. BRYANT,Actuary. 7. 7M.“_.7.4 GENERALAGENTS‐ MOORE ti: STEARNS, Chicago. HODGES BROS,Detroit,Mich. , XVILLIAM R. HODGES, St. Louis, Mo. JOHN H.LULL Dobuque,Iowa. G.W. FACKLER& 00,Cincinnati,Ohio. PECK dz. I-IILLMAN,Troy,N. Y. DUNHAM & SHERMAN,194Broadway,N.Y. RYANdzCARPENTER,Louisville,Ky. S. S.CARRIER, Pittsburgh,Pa. =W. H. TILDEN,Philadelphia. A [ A. H. DILLON,JR.,Baltimore,Md. JOHNG.NORTH,NewHaven. 1 L. L. BARNARD,Providence. R.PLUMMER&SONS,Bangor,Me. EDWINRAY,Boston. XV. W. ANDROSS,Rockville,Conn. VVHITTEN & HOPKINS,Leavenworth.Kan. JAS. B. ROBERTS,SanFrancisco. ‘_ROBERT E. BREN,Savannah,Ga. 1 A. H. HAYDEN,Charleston,S.C. ‘ - MAKING WATCHES BY MACHINERY. $3?" BUN-DIAL IN AN ENGLISH CHURCH-YM‐ alive .and human in the entire range of his» handiwork. Primitive man had little need of clocks or watches. T h e opening and closing of flowers; the voices of birds, beasts, and insects; the po‐ sitions of sun, moon, and stars, fold the passage of time with accuracy enough for his simple life. Mariners, hunters, shepherds, and a l l other men “ H A T o’clock is it ?” asked Emanuel much alone with nature, still keep familiar with Swedenborg, upon his death-bed. Be‐ her habits and her moods. The Indian says, ingtold,heanswered,“ I tiswell; I thankyou; may God bless you ;” and the pure spirit of the venerableteachergentlypassedaway. “What o’clock is it ?” ask little children, as they blow off the feathered seed-vessels of the dandelion, and tell the hour by the number that remain upon the stalk. “Four moons have passed,” or “ I t was ten sleeps ago ;” and the farmer, “ I t was between dayandsunrise,”or“It washalfanhourby sun.” Job’s expression, “ A s a servant earnestly desireth the shadow,” points to the earliest artificial time-keeper. The sun-dial (dialis, Civilized m a n every where, from the cradle daily) originated, nobody knows when, with to the grave, repeats this question oftener than some of the Eastern nations. Isaiah wrote, any other. Were all things at rest it could eight hundred years before Christ, “I will never be answered. Motion alone enables us bring back the shadow of the degrees which to measure time. Motion is best exemplified is gone down in the sun-dial of Ahaz ten de‐ in the heavenly bodies, particularly the sun. grees backward.” Yet man, “ the tool-making animal,"never asks, A dial, usually standing upon a. stone post “What o’sun?” but simply “What o’clock?” onasunnyknoll,isstillpreservedasarelicof He has brought artificial time-keepers to such the past in almost every English country church‐ perufiction that they are the most wonderful of yard., Around it on Sunday mornings, an hour his mechanical achievements, the things most or two before service, were wont to gather the n x k t ‘ i z m m fl m “ ... 7" ELGIN WATCHES. f_‐-‐‐‐ fore the Christian era, and has been used by nearly all nations. ' It was so canmon among our ancestors a hundred years ago that the il‐ lustration which we copy from the New England Primer of 1777was drawn from one of the most familiar objects in their daily life. In dry, equable Eastern climates the clepsy‐ dra long maintained its supremacy, and it is usedin India even to this day. It was exceed‐ ingly inaccurate, but improvements were con‐ stantly added. Sometimes w a t e r flowed in ' tearsfromtheeyesofautomata,andsometimes a floating statuerising and falling with the li‐ quid pointed to the passing hours engraved upon anupright scale. Next, a little wheel was in‐ troduced, onwhich the water fell drop by drop, turning it, and thus communicating motion to hands upon a dial. In time machinery was inserted to tell not only the hours of the day, but the age of the moon, and the motions Sf otherheavenlybodies; andfinallytheclepsydra grew into an ingenious and complicated water‐ clock. A thousand years ago a Persian caliph, the Haroun-al‐Raschid of the Arabian Nights, sent one to the Emperor Charlemagne which had a striking apparatus. When the twelve hours were completed twelve doors opened in its face; andfromeachrodeanautomatonhorse‐ man, who waited till the striking was over, and THE OLEPBYDBA. rustics,discussingcrops,theweather,andpol‐ thenrodebackagain,closingthedoorafterhim. itics, while matrons gossiped soberly, and chil‐ “ Clock" orignally signified “ bell,” and the dren tumbled in leap‐frog over mossy tomb‐ French cloclze still retains that meaning. The stones, or played ball against the tower, t i l l the parson’s tinkling bell summoned all to worship. In clear weather the dial showed the hour by day,asthestarsdidbynight;butwhenclouds came something more was needed. Hence the East originated the “ Clepsydra” (the “ Water‐ Stealer”), a transparent, graduated vase filled with liquid, which slowly trickled or stole away through a little aperture in the bottom. The re‐ ceding height marked the passage of the hours. The clepsydra “was used in ancient China, and in Egypt under the Ptolemies. Caesar found it among the native Britons. Pompey intro‐ duced it into Roman courts “ t o prevent bab‐ bling.” One of Martial’s.epigrams counseled a dulldeclaimer,who was constantlyquafiingfrom . a glass of water during his endless harangue, to relieve both himself and his audience by drink‐ ing from the clepsydra instead. I p In the Colony of Massachusetts Bay two cen‐ turies ago an hour-glass stood before the P u r i ‐ tan preacher, and was turned by a tithing-man when he began his sermon. If he stopped long before the sand rhn out, his hearers were dis‐ satisfied; if he continued long after, they grew impatient. . The hour-glass is only a modification of the invention is claimed for many different peoples and eras, from the Chinese t w o thousand years before Christ down to the Germans of eight cen‐ turies ago. The first general use of clocks was in monasteries, during the eleventh century. Before their appearance the sacristan sat up to watch the stars that he might waken the monks at the hours of prayer. The common people I attributed their origin to the devil; and had any body outside of the religious’orders incurred clepsydra. ' ~' It substitutesfinesandforwater,as something which will nei‐ ther freeze nor evaporate, and which, when the glass is full, will r u n little faster than when it is nearly empty. It was known be‐ HOUR-GLASS. O L D - F mIONED 91.001!‐ SHIP OIIRONOMETEB‐ the odium of first introducing them, he Would doubtless have been p u t to death as a sorcerer. Forseveralhundredyearstheywereexceed‐ ingly rude and irregular. But not long after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Galileo, while noticing the vibrations of a hanging lamp, dis‐ covered the great principle of the pendulum‐ thatwhenasuspendedbodyisswinging,anyin‐ dials on all the church towers, and, indeed, in _ all the dwellings, may regulate the hands of every clock in the metropolis to perfect uniform. ity. Whenthe“telegraphnervesrunintoevery house we shall all get the time of day from a common source, as we do gas and water. -The ship chronometer‐for determining lon‐ gitudeatsea‐wasinventedin1675. Onecosts about four hundred dollars. The most are of English manufacture, though there are half a dozen makers in the United States. A few ' years ago the Greenwich Observatory paid a premium o‘f three hundred pounds for a chro‐ nometer which had varied only about one sec‐ ond in twelve months. It makes no difference whether one is fast or slow; all the shipmaster requires is that it shall r u n w i t h regularity. No otherinventionsincethemariner’scompasshas so diminished the perils and uncertainties of navigation. k “.Watch" is from a Saxon word signifying “ t o wake.” At first the watch was as large asasaucer; it hadweights,andwascalled“ the crease or decrease of its speed will not change pocket clock." The earliest known use of the thenumberofvibrationsit makesin agiven modernnameoccursinarecordof1542,which time, but only the length of the are it describes. ' mentions that EdwardV I . had “ onne larum or The pendulum was soon.applied to the clock, watch of iron, the case being likewise of~iron‐ and added greatly to its accuracy. Public gilt, with two plumettes' of lead." The first clocks nevertheless have always been tempting great improvement, the substitution of the marks for the shafts of satire. The proverb, spring for weights, was made about 1560. The “Asuntrustworthyasatownclock,”stillcon‐ earliestspringswerenotcoiled,butonlystraight tinues in vogue; and there is a witty saying in pieces of steel. Early watches had only one Peterborough, England, that if the clock of the hand, and required winding twice a day. The cathedral and that of the parish church ever dials were of silver or brass; the cases had no strike simultaneously there will be a death in crystals,butopenedat backandfront,andwere and hour-glasses sufficed for those leisurely days. Why is it that the more we multiply in‐ ventions for saving time and labor, the more we arepressedforminutes,andtheharderwehave to work ? , Thirty years ago “ The varnished clock that clicked behind the door” was the great domes‐ tic time-keeper. WVhohasforgottenitsmonot‐ onous“click-clack,”oritsquaint,uprightcase, taller than a man? What true Yankee boy ever failed, sooner or later, to take it to pieces, and see how it was made? A h ! the kitchen bellows, c u t open to learn What was iiside, was very disappointing; but the old family clock, surreptitiously dissected, proved i t s o w n exceed‐ ing great reward. Until within the last two or three generations all our time-keepers were made in Europe. Now, Connecticut clocks tell the hour at Jerusalem, at Calcutta, at Pekin, and at Irkoutsk. At our factories a fair little clock, neatly cased, can be afforded for eighty cents gold. American inventiveness has done it! Town clocks and chronometers are regula‐ ted from the nearest observatories. But the electrical clock will do away with that. One at some central point will serve for a city as large as New York. Wires connecting with the minster yard. four or five inches in diameter. A plain watch UntilaftertheRevolutiontheAmericancol~ cost the equivalentof $1500 in our currency, onies had few clocks of any kind. Sun-dials and after one was ordered it took a year to make it. There is a watch in a Swiss museum only three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, insert‐ edin the top of apencil-case. Itslittle dial indicates n o t only hours, minutes, and seconds, but also days of the month. It is a relic of the old times, when watches were inserted in sad‐ dles,snuffboxes,shirt-studs,breast-pins,brace‐ lets,andfinger-rings. Manywere fantastic‐ oval, octangular, cruciform, or in the shape of pears, melons, tulips, or cofiins. S l i m WATCH OF MARY STUART. 4 ELGIN WATCHES. or.» venom wd‘ou. Mary Queen of Scots had a large/one in the form of a. skull, which is still preserved by a gentleman n e a r Edinburgh. The case is opened by dropping the under jaw, which turns upon a hinge, while the works occupy the place of the brain. Old watches are common in English muse‐ ums. There are comparatively few in the United States; and I know of none of Amer‐ .can manufacture much over fifty years old. F. W. Chamberlain, of No. 233 Hanover Street, Boston, has upward of t w o hundred‐much the largest and rarest collection on our continent. One of the most curious is an old English verge, two inches thick. If it were only half as large it would be a perfect specimen of the ancient bull’s-eye. Another of Chamberlain’s treasures‐also an Englishverge‐is over two centuries old. One would like to see a photograph of the man it was made for, knee-breeches, horse-hair wig, and all. It keeps ex‐ cellent time, n o t varying t w o minutes a. week, thoughitslittlehearthm throbbed on while s i x generations of owners have wound it, and car‐ ried it, and left it at the jeweler’s for cleaning‐‐ have been born by it, and lived by i t , and died by it. A third is a French striking watch two hun‐ dred years old, with elab‐ orate ornamentation,and allegorical male and fe‐ male figures on the dial. When the works within strike the hours these figures pound with ham‐ mers upon little counter‐ feit gold bells, asif they produced the sound. The ticking of a watch‐‐the beating of its heart‐is the playing of the two arms of the pallet in between the teeth of the scape‐wheel, at the point where the rotary motion of the wheels or “ train” changes to the vibratory motion of the balance. In nine cases o u t of ten a skilled watch‐maker can tell whether there is any thing wrong with a watch, and if so, what, by putting it to his ear, asa skilled phy‐ sician learns the condition of the human time‐ keeper by feeling its pulse or hearing its heart. M O H A I R ) FEE-SCH W A N E OLD BARREL AND FUSEE. The mainspring is the locomotive, the wheels are the train, and the balance and hair-spring the brakes. When the mainspring is first wound up its force is much greater than when it is nearly r u n down. The old barrel and fusee Watch equalized this by making the fusee spiral. When the mainspringwas fully coiled, and pulled hardest, it acted upon the small end of the fusee, where the m o s t power was needed. As the spring grew weaker the chain descends ed to where the fusee was larger, and required less force to turn it. The English yet retain the spiral fusee, on their national theory that whatever is old ought to continue. The American watch dispenses with the fusee altogether, perhaps on our na‐ tional theory that whatever is old ought to be abolished. Its mainspring instead communi‐ cates motion directly to the train, and its nice adjustment of hair‐spring and balance-wheel insures equal time through the twenty‐four hours. When a watch is first wound up the llllllilllll A mil-Willlfllill lunlulllmllll balance may make one revolution and a half at each impulse from the scape-wheel, and whenit isnearlyrundown,onlyhalfarevolu‐ rtiou; but the former will consume no more Under the influence of heat the steel’s expan‐ sion would enlarge the wheel, but then the greater expansion of the brass contracts it. When these two influences are so nicely ad‐ [uniformly through the twenty-four hours. Howshallitbemadetogouniformlythrough summerandwinteri’ A steelrodmaybefitted i n t o a hollow steel cylinder so perfectly that it will not drop out of its own weight, and yet it can be turned or pulled out by the thumb and the other, the watch.will keep equal time whetherin AlaskaorHavana. Until very lately American jewelers import‐ ed wheels, balances, and other material ready‐ made from Switzerland, fitted the various parts together by hand, put their stamp upon them, ,r [4 / ”fngf/J ~~f ''/’49,ur WWW! M. MW e , " MNf/v’ifih/Qvfl THE TOWN OF ELGIN. time than the latter, and so the watch goes justed that the one exactly counterbalances finger,anditmoveswiththesoftnessofvelvet andcalledthatwatchmaking. Itsartandmys‐ rolling on velvet. Hold the same rod in the tery was acquired in’an apprenticeship of from tshut hand for five minutes and the warmth of three to five years. In Switzerland, division of the flesh will expand it so that one can not labor had been introduced long before. bEach drive it in with a sledge‐hammer. Then put workman performed.some one process of shap‐ it in a refrigerator and it will contract till it ing, cutting, or finishing parts of the watch in rattles in the cylinder. If the metal is brass, his own little shop at home, and returned the temperature affects it still more. Winter parts to the manufacturer, as bootmaking is {will so contract the balance-wheel of a watch done in New England. And for many proc‐ 'th.:titmaygaintwominutesinaday;orit esses,littlelabor-savingmachines,runbyfoot‐ smay be thrown out of time by a few hours’ sleigh-riding, or by hanging all night against a Kcold wall. Uneven temperature is the deadly foe of uniform time-keeping. ,In 1767 John Harrison was awarded a pre‐ mium of £20,000, under an offer of the British Parliament‐which had been standing fifty‐ ‘three years‐for any invention which should so far overcome this difficulty as to enable shipmasters at sea to determine longitude within thirty miles of accuracy. He gained it by applying to ship chronometers the principle of the compensation-balance, nownsed in all fine watches. It is simply a balance-wheel lathes,hadcometobeused. In 1852, A. L. Denison, a Boston watch‐ maker, conceived the plan of producing watches by collecting all these machines under one roof, and running them by one power. His wild dream was that a time might come when, a manufactory could t u r n o u t t e n watches a day. Most of his friends voted him' crazy, but he had the one quality which makes all lunacy conta‐ gious‐profound earnestness. He soon made Edward Howard, David P. Davis, and Samuel Curtis asmad ashimself, and the four lunatic: bgjl; a factory in Roxbury. ut the Swiss authorities would n o t permit with outer rim or tire of brass, and inner rim t h e export of machines, models, or drawings; and cross a r m of steel. The cold, which would so, Yankee-like, the four pioneers invented and contract steel alone and make the circumfer‐ constructed machines for themselves. Finally, rence of the wheel less, equalizes that by con‐ they turned out a watch, the first ever made by ‘ tractingthebrassstillmore,thebrassbeingso machineryintheworld. It isyetinMr.HOW?» rconfined that its contraction enlarges the wheel. ard’s possession, and keeps excellent timer/The 6 ELGIN WATCHES. machines were very imperfect, and much of the work was still done by hand. But from that beginninghavesprungallourwatchfactories, nowsituatedrespectivelyinElgin,Illinois,New‐ ark and Marion, New Jersey, and Waltham, Roxbury,and Springfield, Massachusetts. As we step aboard the Galena train at Chi‐ cago we observe the placard, “Pacific Ex‐ press; does not Stop at Way Stations.” We ponder behind the locomotive for forty miles; then the brakeman ends o u r reverie by shouting “Elgin.” calworkmenassured themthatwiththeinvest‐ ment of a hundred thousand dollars in build‐ ingsandmachinerytheycouldbegintoturnout watches. Theyaddedfiftypercent.tothises‐ timate for a margin, and with that blessed un‐ consciousness of‘ the difficulties before them, without which no great enterprise would ever be undertaken, they organized the National Watch Company, and in November the work began. THE ELGIN WATOH FACTORY. Aftertwoyearsandahalfspentin construct‐ ingthehundredsofintricatemachinesanderect‐ ,Leavingthetrain,wegazedownuponafar‐ ingthebuildings,inMay,1867,thefirstwatch spreading little city, with court-house, acad‐ was completed. Not, however,until long after emy, and churches upon commanding knolls, brick blocks and broad streets, cottages pleas‐ antly shaded with oak, maple, and poplar, a woolen mill, a flouring mill, a butt-and-screw manufactory, and a milk-condensing establish‐ ment that ships its product toNew York‐all beside the bright river which cuts the town in twain, and, is spanned by a gossamer iron bridge; and over the house-tops, a.mile away, the tall chimney of the National Watch Fac‐ tory. In thespringof 1864halfadozenactivebusi‐ ness men of Chicago, heard a fascinating de‐ scription of the leading Massachusetts watch factory. To their willing ears it was a st with a moral, and this was the moral: " I f Boston can make watches by machinery and largely supply the Northwest, Chicago can make watches by machinery and largely sup‐ ply New England.” It was the genuine, au‐ dacious, selflrcliant Western spirit. racti‐ the first hundred and fifty thousand dollars was exhausted‐’that barely sufficed for a beginning. Before the enterprise was self‐sustaining more than five hundred thousand dollars had been expended, and its owners and friends would A W A T C H FACTORY TWENTY YEARS AGO. doubtless have doubled that sum rather than permit it to fail. The watch factory of twenty years ago‐let pencil and graver fix its humble features ere the place which once knew it shall know it no moreforever. The tiny building, with its sign, “ J o h n Smith, Watchmaker,” the single room, eight by ten, with its counter, show-case, and window hung with watches, and its one work‐ man, who repaired fifty watches a year, and “ made” t w o or three at odd times. Here and there one of these establishments y e t exists, but it is as really a relic of antiquity asa hand-loom Or a wooden plow. The National Watch Factory at Elgin is a specimen of the great museums of machinery and bee-hives of workmen which have pushed it from its stool. The front, shown in our il‐ lustration, is t w o hundred and forty feet long. SeveralotherWingsarehiddenin therear. The cars'voftheFoxRiverRailwaydelivermaterial at the very door. My first view of the factory yard was toward the close of the noon hour, when the employés were pouring back from dinner. It was a fair picture. On one side the gleaming river, with white and spotted cattle grazinguponits bank; on the other a grove of young oaks, their leaves falling from autumnal frosts ; in the fore-ground scores of ruddy-checked girls sauntering back toward'their work, while quiet artisans smoked their cigars and meerschaums upon the factory stepsandalittleplatformwhereabandofopera‐ tivesdiscoursesmusiconSaturdayafternoonsin summer. A dozen young m e n were jumping, with dumb-bells in their hands, each trial calling outshoutsofapplauseormerriment; andascore of boys playing base-ball as if their salvation depended upon it. Suddenly the great bell be‐ hind the factory struck for one o’clock, and the swarm of life poured into the building. The employés are equally divided between the sexes. I never saw so many boys andgirls in an Eastern man'ufactory. The working day is ten hours. Whenever the welcome bell pro‐ claims the hour of noon, or six in the afternoon, these young people give a whoop like released school-children, and can hardly wait to put away tools and make benches tidy before they join the merry throng streaming homeward. The average earnings of the girls are some‐ thing over six dollars per week‐in a few cases ashigh astwelve; those of the boys and men three dollars per day. BCxrd for girls costs about three dollars per week; for men, from five dollars upward. “ T h a t little girl," said the superintendent of the Steel Room to me, “candoanythinginthislargedepartmentas wellasanymanin it ;” andanumberof similar, cases were pointed out to me. ' MAKING WATCHES BY MACHINERY. 7 THE ELGIN MACHINE SHOP. l 15154, ‘ 1 ill“ i, . 1?! Hil The Machine Shop‐a hundred feet long, with thirty brawny, bare-armed workmen‐‐is the letter A in the alphabet of the watch fac‐ tory. Here all the tools and machines are‐ manufactured and repaired. Their name is le ' n; their sizes are innumerable. They i n ; clfi hair, and those which will slice up steel like“ apples; registers that w i l l measure the twenty‐ five-hundredth of an inch, and registers that willmeasureafoot; drillsformakingholesin‐ visible to the naked eye, and drills almost as large as crow-bars; and so on ad infinitum. I willnotattempttodescribethe“cams,"“tapsfi machines which will take a shaving off a 8 ' ELGIN WATCHES. .rmr‘lnlllmr <‘\‘ “clamps," “quills,” “reamers,” “ eccentrics," “chucks,” and “ wigwags.” The one thing which strikes a novice is the wonderful accuracy and minuteness, the beautiful smoothness and polish of every thing. The finest jobs of ordi‐ nary machine-shops would be thrown aside here as utterly worthless. <\\ ll, t w» Wt\ 1. Before the Wheels are punched‐2. After the Wétealsarepunched.‐3. After theWheelsno knocked on . THE STRIP OF STEEL Next we visit the Plate Room. The upper and lower brass plates are respectively the roof and floor of the watch. The upper one must have thirty-one holes bored in it, for pillars, pivots, and screws. A l i t t l e g i r l cuts them with a needle-like drill, which revolves like lightning, and goes through the thick plate in a twinkling. PUNOBING THE WHEELS. Theworksofawatch,notcountingtheplates Anothergirl,withachiselwhirlingwithequal which form the shell or frame, are of brass and rapidity, cuts away the ragged burs or edges steel in nearly equal proportions. And, by-the‐ left on the side where the drill comes out. way, why is “brassy” a term of denunciation, This “countersinking,” which leaves a cup‐ and “ as t r u e as steel” the language of compli‐ l i k e depression, is performed wherever a hole is ment,whenbrassmaybemadenearlyashardas drilledthroughbrass,steel,orjewel. steel, and will take almost as fine a temper? The four pillars‐the posts which are to bind Steel is used in a watch wherever there is great roof and floor together‐are made and inserted strainuponsomeveryslenderpart. Butwhere in thelowerplatebyamiraculouslittlecon‐ there is much friction between t w o wheels one trivance, which a coffee saucer would cover. must be of brass and the other of steel. fiBy The punching machine is a behemoth, but this some mysterious law of metals these will out‐ is a fairy. It seizes one end of a brass wire, last t w o wheels.of the hardest and m o s t highly‐ polished steel twice over. ‐ Great sheets of brass and steel are first re‐ ceived in the Punching Room, where an enor‐ mous pair of shears cuts them into ribbons. These are lengthened and thinned between al WY FOB THE WORKS. pair of steel rollers, which, if required, w i l l leave them only one-four-thousandth of an inch thick. One of these ribbons is then passed slowly between the punch and die of a huge press, driven by a heavy wheel which a workman con‐ "trols with his foot. The punch rises and falls with the motion of the wheel, coming down each time with a weight of twenty tons, and with a “click," cutting out a perfect spoked wheel. . The press is an enormous monster which bites o u t mouthfuls of steel but refuses to digest them. Like most monsters, however, it will do no dam‐ age if it is only fed. It leaves the wheels fast in the strip to be knocked out by hand. With it a man can cut - out ten thousand wheels in a single day. runs consecutively through all. The screws in a watch v , ‘ ’ r 1 number forty-four, or i? more than one-quarter “ of all its pieces. 'The Screw and Steel Depart‐ ment is one of the larg‐ est in the factory. Its magicallittle automate, sosaws. TEE OOHPENSATION BALANOE‐IN T H ] DOUGH, m FINISHED. MAKING WATCHES BY MAGHINERY. 9 y ALihi i run. IAH"M . umiui' '_ i "ii ‘ THE TRAIN ROOM. and in eleven seconds measures off a pillar, run by nimble-fingered girls, convert shining turns it down to the required size, makes a steel wire into infinitesimal screws, pare down screw-thread in each end, cuts it off, and screws their heads, and c u t slots in them for micro‐ one end into the lower plate so firmly that we scopic screw-drivers. They are polished to per‐ can not unscrew it with a pair of pincers. But it keeps the workman’s feet busy, and his hands flying as if he played a lively tune upon the piano. He will easily make and insert two thousand pillars in a day. By hand he could hardly make two dozen. ‐ When the brass pieces are finished, all be‐ longingto onewatcharestampedwiththe same number and put into one of ten little boxes hol‐ lowed out in a board like birds’-nests. The nestshave yet many journeys to make before the eggs are hatched; but the shell or frame is now ready for the works. The upper plate is next engraved. Three men and four girls are kept busy tracing the elaborate scroll‐work, and the inscription, “ B . W. Raymond, Elgin, Illinois, No. 41,280," or “ J . T. Ryerson, No. 41,290,” as the case may he. The different grades made here are “ L a d y Elgin,” “ B . W. Raymond,” “ M a t Laflin,” “Gr. M. Wheeler," “ H . Z. Culver,” “ H . H. Tay‐ of gold. A ten‐dollar piece will furnish mate‐ lor,” and “ J . T. Ryerson;" but the numbering rial for six hundred and fifty of them. The fect smoothness, and then, like every other part of the watch, brought to “ spring temper”-‐-the temper of the sword-blade‐by heating, which leaves them of a rich, deep blue. The illustra‐ tion shows the screws of their actual size, and also one magnified 100 times each way, or 10,000 times the actual size. Here are machines which will cut screws with five hundred threads to the inch; the finest used in the watch havetwo hundredandfifty. Even these threads are invisible to the naked eye, and it takes one hundred and forty-four thousand of the screws to weigh a pound. A pound of them isworthsixpoundsof puregold. Layoneupon a piece of white paper, and it looks like the tini‐ est steel‐filing. Only by placing it under a strong magnifier can we detect its threads and see that it is shining asa mirror, and astrue and perfect as the driving-wheel of a locomotive. Screws for the best compensation-balance are 4 ELGIN WATCHES. GETTING WHEEL TEETH. ~ compensation-balance comes from the Punch‐ ing through the centre of each, and turning a ing Room a solid piece of steel as large and screwtoholdthemtogether. Thegirlincharge heavyasanewpenny,andinclosedinarim thenliftsonehandleofalittlemachine,andin‐ of brass. It is ground down, worked out, and polished till it becomes a.slender wheel ‐‐theouterrimbrass,theinnerrimandcross‐ nar steel‐lighter and thinner than a finger‐ stantly a.steel cutter like a shingle-nail, but with a sharp point at one end, is brought against them, whirlingsofastthatitlookslikeaperfectwheel. Whizzing down the outer edge of the pile, it cuts a.groove or furrow in eachwheel. When ring. Throughthedoublerimtwenty-twoholes are drilled for the screws. A chuck whirls the it reaches the bottom she moves the other han‐ wheel around‐as one would spin apenny upon dle; the cutter flies up to the top, and runs the table‐four thousand eighthundred times a. whizzing down again. A single wheel has from minute, while a lad makes each hole by apply‐ sixty to eighty teeth, but the girl will finish ingthreetinydrillsoneaftertheother. He will bore one hundred wheels per day, or apply a drill oftener than once in six seconds from morning till night‐to say nothing of the time consumed in fastening on and taking off the wheels and sharpening his drills. Screws of gold or brass are then put in, and the balance is completed. On this little part alone nearly eighty operations have been performed. Next we step intothe Train Room,the larg‐ est and pleasantest in the factory. Seventy‐ five persons with busy fingers sit at six rows of benches extending its entire length, each before some little machine, shaping, smoothing, point‐ ing, grinding wheels, pinions, or pivots. twelvehundredwheelsaday. Thelong,hook‐ ed teeth of the scape-wheel, and the horn shaped tooth of the ratchet, are cut with equalfacility. In the Escapement and Jeweling depart‐ ments we first encounter precious stones, in which pivots of brass or steel will run for gen‐ erations without any perceptible wearing. In the order of hardness they stand, diamond, sap‐ ’ phire, white or milky ruby, red ruby, garnet, aqua marine. In jewelry they are valued only for their color, in watch‐making only for their hardness. Montana begins to supply garnets, but most precious stones come from India,Per‐ sia, or Brazil. They are always bought by the carat‐theone‐hundred-and-twentiethpart ofan ounceTroy‐nomatterhowlargethequantity. They are used not only,for jeweling, but also for Cuttingteethinthewheelsisdonebypiling up twenty or more, with an upright shaft pass‐ M A D N G WATCHES BY MACHINERY. tools to out other precious stones or hard metals with. lSapphire is the favorite, because it can be sharpened upon diamond, while a chisel of diamond‐the hardest of all known substances ‐‐must either be broken to give it a fresh edge, or sharpened slowly and laboriously against a n - ' other diamond. The Dutch are themost famous lapidists in the world. They sent workmen from Amster‐ dam to London to c u t the great Koh-i‐noor. They will divide a diamond weighing but one carat into two hundred and fifty little slabs, which look like fairy finger-nails. Inserted in brass handles they become ridiculous little chis‐ els, which might t u r n o u t wheels and axles for QueenMab'schariot. “Diamonddustalso,as white assnow, and finer than flour, has a hun-_ tired uses in the factory. An ounce costs five hundred dollars. Metal edges for cutting and surfaces for polishing are “charged” with i t ; that is, a little of the powder is firmly imbedded in them, and gives them a sharpness which n o ‐ thing can resist. . ) swer aswell. . The “ Lady Elgin,” an exquisite mond”‐nntil the jewel is utterly ruined; so little time-keeper, has fifteen jewels, all of ruby. the utmost care is necessary to see that no parti‐ Fourofthefifteeninthe“ B. W. Raymond"are cle of diamond dust remains in the watch. of ruby, the rest of aqua marine and garnet. Somerarewatchesarejeweledwithdiamonds BAKING THE DIALS. andsapphires,andmanywithrubies;butforall newdustofrubyorgarnetwhichthisproduces practicalpurposesgarnetsandaquamarinesan‐ willactinthesameway‐“diamondcutdia~ The precious stones are c u t into planks, and boxes goto the FinishingRoom. In following, thenintojoists,bycircularsaws,andafterWard letusstoptoglanceattheDialDepartment. brokenintocubes. Theneachisturnedoutina The dial, a plain circular plate of Lake Su‐ lathe,exactlyasabed-postisturnedinafurniture perior copper, no thicker than a silver three‐ factory. By this time it weighs less than one‐ eighty‐thousandth of a pound Troy. It is aft‐ erward burnishedintoits setting-a littlecircu‐ lar rim of brass. The hole is made through it withadiamonddrill,barelyvisibletothenaked longpairoftongsplacesthedialflatuponared‐ eye,andpolishedwithanotherwirewhichpass‐ hotironplateinthemouthofaglowingfurnace. es through it and whirls one way while the jew‐ watching it closely and frequently turning i t . el whirls the other. The t w o make twenty‐ The copper would melt but for the protecting eight thousand revolutions a minute. Final‐ enamel, and, at the end of a minute, when he lyJewelandsettingareinsertedinalittledepres‐ takesit out it is assoftandplasticasmolasses sron of the watch~plate, which they exactly fill, and held in place by tiny screws of steel, whose deep blue contrasts pleasantly with the bright gilding of the plate. , Every p a r t of a watch m u s t be absolutely a c ‐ curate,butnopartmustfitperfectly. Torun freely each pivot must have a little play, like a horseinharness;otherwisetheleastbitofdirt or expansion of metalwould stop the delicate machinery. So every jewel-hole is left a lit‐ tle larger than the pivot which is to revolve in it for the “side-shake,” and every shaft or axle a little short for the " end shake.” The tiny gauges which measure all the parts make allowance for t h i s ‐ a bit of calculation which they perform with an ease and accuracy u n ‐ known to poor human brains. candy. Thebakinghas“set”theenamel,but has left it rough, as if the dial face were marked with small-pox. After cooling it is ground smooth upon sandstone and emery, and then baked again. Now it is ready for the painters. A girl draws six lines across its surface with a lead‐ pencilguidedbyaruler,makingeachpointfor thehours. Anotherwithapencrlof‘blackenam‐ el traces coarsely the Roman letters from I to XII. A third finishes them at the ends to make them symmetrical. A fourth puts in thei minute marks. Then the dial goes to an artist, who, holding it under a magnifier, paints the words “NATIONAL W A T C H co.” in black enam‐ el with a fine camel’s-hair brush. The inscrip‐ tion measures three-fourths of an inchfrom left There is another danger to guard against. to right, and less than one‐ninetz'eth of an inch. If the least grain of diamond dust is left in a upanddown; but even then it isperfectlyleg- , jewel-hole it will inibed itself firmly in the steel ible; and the swift, cunning fingers will paint pivot, and then act as a chisel, cutting away it twice in five minutes. the jewel every tune the pivot revolves. The After the jeweling is done the birds’-nest cent piece, is first covered with a paste of fine white enamel, carefully spread onwith a knife, to the thickness of three-one-hundredths of an inch. After it dries a little, aworkman with a. “ Is it not very trying to your eyes 7” ELGIN WATCHES. tit], f SETTING 1T? T E E WATCH. “ I f I were to do it all day, or even for an es and empty ninety birds’-nests every day. hour steadily,” the painter replies, “ they would The latter go back to the Plate Room for more ache terribly. B u t I put the inscription on t w o eggs and fresh incubations; here at least there dozendials,andthenrestmysightbypainting arealwaysbirdsinlastyear’snests. on the figures, lines, and dots.” ' Hair-springs a r e made in the factory, of finest “ M y father,” observes the superintendent English steel, which comes upon spools like of the room, who is looking over his shoulder, thread. To the naked eye it is as round as a. “wasanEnglishdialpainter. Oncehetraced hair,butunderthemicroscopeitbecomesaflat the Lord’s Prayer with one of these camel’s‐ steel ribbon. We insert this ribbon between hair bruShes on a surface one‐eighth of an inch the jaws of a fine gauge, and the dial-hand long by one-ninth of an inch wide. Half the shows its diameter to be two twenty-five-hun‐ wing of acommon house-fly would cover it. It dredths of an inch. A hair plucked from a. aged the old gentleman’s eyes twenty years for man’s head measures three twenty-five‐hun‐ his work, but he could see objects at a distance just as well as ever.” One can only wonder that it did not strike him blind. vIntheFinishingRoomwefinda.drawerfull dredths‐one from the head of a little girl at a neighboring bench t w o twenty-five-hun‐ dredths. Actually, however, the finest hair is twice as thick as the steel ribbon, for the hair ofmainsprings,coiledsolooselythateachisas compressesone‐halfbetweenthemetallicjaws large as a breakfast saucer. One drawn o u t straight will be t w o feet long. It is polished like a mirror,and tempered to a beautiful deep blue. A girl coils one to the diameter of a thimble, and then, rifling one of the birds’‐ nests, inserts the mainSpring in its brass “bar‐ rel,"7 the head of which is held in by a groove like the head of a,flour-barrel. This circular chamber, only seven-tenths of an inch across, contains the whole power of the watch. One end of the mainspring is fast to the shaft which passes through it, and by which it is turned; the other, as it uncoils, carries around the bar‐ rel, and so communicates motion to the train. She puts the parts together temporarily, in‐ serting only screws enough to keep them in place. Her flying fingers set up ninety watch‐ cf the gauge. A hair-spring weighs only one-fifteen-thou‐ sandth of a pound Troy. In a straight line it is a foot long. With a pair of tweezers we draw one out in spiral form until it is six inch‐ eslong; but it springs back into place,not bent aparticlefrom its true coiling. It must be’ex‐ quisitely tempered, for it is to spring back and forth eighteen thousand times an hour, perhaps for several generations. A pound of steel in the bar may cost one dollar; in hair-springs it is worth four thousand dollars. , After the watch has been run afew hours,to adjust the length of the hair-spring, it is “ t a k ‐ en down,” and all the brass pieces sent to the Gilding Room. There each part is polished for electro-gilding. Gold coin is first rolled out READY FOR T H E CASE. MAKING WATCHES BY MACHINERY. 13 and ready for use in large or small quantities. First he runs the watch eight hours in a little box heated by a spirit-lamp to one hundred and tendegreesFahrenheit. Thenherunsit eight hours in a refrigerator, where "the temperature is nearly at zero. It m u s t keep time exactly alike under these two conditions. If he finds any variation he changes the position of the screws in the compensation-balance, or substi‐ tutes new ones, first carefully weighing them‘in a pair of tiny scales of his own contriving. When we ask him to show us‘ the minutest weight they will indicate he places a bit of whisker upon one end, and adjusts the weight. The speck of hair weighs a trifle over the'fifty‐ seven-millionth of a pound Troy. The watch is next carefully adjusted to keep equal ‘time in different positions. Then it is into sheets, and then dissolved with acids. some stagesit looks like nauseating medicine, composed of one hundred and fifty-six pieces. but when it goes into the battery the solution is The old watch, made by hand, contained eight ascolorlessasspring-water. Butit isadead‐ hundredpieces,ifwecounteachlinkofitschain ly poison. A girl in this room was kept at as a separate part. Reducingthe number four‐ home for three weeks with sores upon her hand fifths has correspondingly reduced its intricacy, caused by dipping it in the liquid. Twenty or thirty of the brass plates and wheels are hung by a copper wire in the inner they could only succeed by inaking good tin» vessel or porous cell of a galvanic battery, filled keepers. To that one result all their energy with this solution, and'the silent electric c u r ‐ has been directed. Manufacturing upon this r e n t deposits the gold evenly upon their sur‐ large scale involves the use of so much capital faces. Ordinarily they are left in it about six that after a fine watch is finished and running minutes : the quick, educated eye of the super‐ they c a n n o t keep it a year for adjusting and intendent determines how long. A twenty‐ regulating, asjewelers used to do under the old dollar gold piece will furnish him with heavy method. Most of their watches have gone o u t gilding for six hundred watches, but he could warm from the factory, but they have r u n with make it gild four thousand so that they would wonderful accuracy. The very first half dozen look equally well on first coming out; or he used upon the Pennsylvania Railway were could put five hundred dollars upon a single brought in by the engineers at the end of six At ready for the case. I t s different parts are one‐leaving the gold an inch thick all over the works‐and it would look no better. A l l the pieces c o m e o u t clothed in yellow, shining gold, and are sent back to the Finishing Room, p u t together again, and then turned over to the is accuracy soabsolutely essential. After care‐ “watchmakers”‐the only persons in the fac‐ ful trial, solely upon their o w n merits, the Elgin tory necessarily familiar with all parts of the watcheshavebeenadoptedasthestandardupon watch. A dozen sit in a.row,in a very strong several of our leading trunk lines. On the‐ light, before a longbench strewn with their mi.‐ Pennsylvania Road alone more than a hundred n u t e brushes, tweezers, magnifiers, and glass locomotives are r u n by them, and they a r e cases which cover small mountains of wheels in use among conductors and engineers upon and pinions. They insert the balance and hair‐ every railway in the Northwest, and upon the spring, see that every thing has been properly g r e a t trans‐continental line from Omaha to San fitted,and put onthe dial. Francisco. Thatisasit shouldbe‐thePacific Then the watches, each in a little circular Railway trains r u n by American watches. tin case, go in boXes of ten to the lynx»eyedI n ‐ spector, who scrutinizes every p a r t for the slight‐ “ Chicago Watch Company,” began to appear est flaw or defect. Here is a box which has in our markets. It looks well to unskilled eyes, passed through his hands. Upon two watches but is sorough and cheap that the “ movement" are little slips of paper, one labeled “ F o r k can be sold for five dollars after paying the im‐ strikes potance”‐a slight but needless fric‐ port duty. And lately another imitation, bear‐ tion;theother,“Fixthenumber”‐thefigures ingthesameinscription,butmanufacturedin upon some one piece being wrong or illegible. an Eastern factory, has made its appearance. About one‐third are thus sent back to the Buyers who would be sure of avoiding these “ watchmakers,” after his rigid examination. spurious watches should purchase only of some The last scene of all is the adjusting. In reputable and established jeweler, and never of his quiet little r o o m the Adjuster keeps the unknown, irresponsible parties, however honey‐ EquatorandtheNorthPolealwaysonhand edandseductivetheiradvertisements. Butthis friction, and difiiculties of repairing. The proprietors realized from the outset that days, and the greatest variation among them was eight seconds. The railroad is the grea. critic. Nowhere else is a watch so severely tested; nowhere else Several months ago a Swiss imitation,.labeled 14 w ELGIN WATCHES. counterfeiting, both foreign and domestic, of all the young boys and girls, the book-keepers an American product less than t w o years old, at and clerks. As eighteen is to three and a h a l f least shows that the genuine article has won sois machinery to hand-work. In watchmak‐ enviable reputation. ing alone, within the last fifteen years, Ameri‐ Two facts in the consumption of the Elgin can inventiveness has increased the efficiency watches are the shadows of coming events. of human labor morethan fivefold. First, fully half, thus far, have been sold in Increase in product always brings a stiH the East, and a large proportion of them in larger increase in demand. When Denison New England. Second, the Company are fill‐ conceived.the daring project of manufactur‐ ingorders for India,whichhavecomefromLon‐ ing three thousand watches a year, his sober don, without solicitation or advertising abroad. friends fancied that he could never find pur‐ Theprairiesarebeginningtomanufacturefor chasers. Sincethenourimportshaveincreased the Orient! What will this grow to in the near enormously. In 1868 we bought two hundred future,whenthreePacificrailwaysbringIndia, andfiftythousandwatches,costingfourmillions China, and Japan to our doors ? of dollars, from Switzerland alone. About one‐ The Company make “movements” alone, fifth were gold; the rest silver. An enormous dealing with the public only through local proportionwereofthegradeswhichsellwithout cases for from five to t e n dollars each, and which astime-keepers are worth about the value of the powder it would take to blow them up. In ad‐ making watches‐is done on a large scale by dition to this foreign supply, one hundred thou‐ jewelers, whom they leave to case each watch according to-the customer’s taste or .fancy. Making cases‐a business quite distinct from two or three houses in the United States, and sand watches a year are now manufactured in on a small scale by a great many. Crystals the United States. Still the demand is so costthejewelerfromtwoandahalfto seventy‐ greatthattheElginfactoryisoftentwoorthree five cents apiece. The finest are made in Eu‐ months behind its orders for the most popular rope ; cheaper ones in New York and Pittsburg. grades. The same is doubtless true in other Gold cases cost from fifty to one hundred and“ establishments. It will continue truegin the fifty dollars each; silver ones from six to thirty time not far distant when a good watch in dollars; German silver about three dollars and a silver case can be purchased any where fifty cents. for ten dollars, and when American factories Thuswehavefollowedthewatchthroughits areturningbutathousandwatchesaday,for various stages until it is ready for the pocket. the United States and Europe, and swarming An expertdeweler working by hand might per‐ Asia. hapsmakeawatchinthreeweeks. TheElgin Butnodegreeoffamiliaritycanevertake factory, with less than four hundred and forty the charm and interest from a great watch fac‐ employee, turns out one hundred and\twenty‐ tory. It will always be a magician’s palace, five a day, or.one every three days and a half which makes the story of Aladdin prosaic and for every worker in the establishment, including commonplace. READY FGB TEE room. ‘ and durable time-keepers. given them by the Elgin Watches, B. W. Taking into consideration the improve‐ good time-keepers. WENDELL & HYMAN, B. F. NORRIS 85CO., NOWLIN & McELWAIN, C. F. HAPPEL & CO., D. UNTERMEYER & CO., ‘H. OPPENHEIMER & CO., M. KRONBERG & CO., LEDERER & WIENER. WINONA, MINN, March 23d, 1869. NATIONAL WATCH Co.: ‘ Gents‐I have been employed on rail‐ roads now about twelve years, and have carried Watches of different manufactories, but never have seen a Watch that gave such perfect satisfaction as the one I now have, one of your “Wheeler” Watches. I MAKING WATCHES BY MACHINERY. TESTIMONIALS. ld CHICAGO, October 21st, 1867. NATIONAL WATCH COMPANY: Having carefully examined and tested your Watches, we find them perfect in all their parts, of fine finish, and well adapted to the wants of the time-keeping public. WE CONSIDER THEM THE BEST MADE WATCHES IN AMERICA F O R T H E PRICE, and equal to the finest European Watches, for accurate time, THAT COST DOUBLE OR THREE TIMES THE MONEY. We cheerfully recommend them to a l l parties wishing DURFEY &, BARNES, No. 9 John Street, New York. FELLOWS & com No. 17 Maiden Lane, New York. T. B. BYNNER & CO., ‘No. 189 Broadway, New York. CROSS & BEGUELIN, No. 21Maiden Lane, New York. HENRY GINNEL, . No. 31 Maiden Lane New York. PALMER, BACHELDERS & CO., 162 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. M. STRASBURGER, N0. 29Maiden Lane, New York. GILES, BRO. & CO., W. M. & J. B. MAYO, J. G. ASHLEMAN, MORSE, RODDIN & HAMILTON, trains of all sorts, and engines, but Wher‐ W. H. C. MILLER & CO., am employed in construction, and am on ever I carry the Watch I find it reliable and accurate every time. Under these circumstances, I very cheer‐ The names above will be recognized as fully recommend your works to the frater‐ the leadingjewelers of Chicago. nity, and any desirous Of a true and reli‐ able time-piece. MAURICE COLLINS, ForemanandConductorW.J;St.P.R.R.00. NATIONAL WATCH CO., Chicago, I l l s : Gents‐The Watches of your make sold by usduring the past.year have, with scarcely an exception, given more thanC.HELLEBUSH,Cor.PearlandMainSta: ordinary satisfaction, and are proving to Dear/r Sir‐The undersigned take pleas‐ be all that you claim for them as accurate ure in expressing to you the satisfaction ”ments you have introduced in their con‐iRaymond trade-mark, purchased of you. struction, and the general fineness of finish We have carried various Watches, of both of eventhelowestgrades,weregardthemforeignandAmerianmake,buthavenever as being well worth their price, and take carried any equal to these in time-keeping great satisfactiOn in selling them to such of qualities, running with no variation,_when our customers asdesire good time-keepers.on or off the road. We heartily recom‐ WHEELER, PARSONS & CO., No. 2 MaidenLane, New York. WARREN & SPADONE, No. 4 Maiden Lane, New York. MIDDLETON & BROTHER, No. 10 Maiden Lane, New York. POOLER & MATHEWSON, NO. 12 Maiden Lane, New York. mend them to all railroad men or others desiring a thoroughly handsome, accurate and strong Watch. Yours truly, W. WEST, Conductor Express Train M. dz0. R. R. ‘ D. A. RARDIN, Conductor M. J: C. B. R. Express Train. 47414" 16 ELGIN WATCHES. TESTIMONIALS. PAWTUCKET,R.I.,Dec.7th,1868. in theircountry. It willdriveoutallthe. NATIONAL WATCH Co.: Gents‐Your goods are giving perfect satisfaction. I have sold one Mat Laflin common imported stuff. ERNEST PESCHKE. v ‐ EBENBBURG, P A” Nov. 13, 1868. Watch that has r u n within one minute in . about three months. We think that is“ NATIONAL WATCH Co., ELGIN, ILLxNors : runningverycloseforthatgrade. * * * I have been selling your watches for I am very respectfully yours, W- W- DEXTER " ‐ ' MACON, GA., Dec. 5, 1868. MnssRs. DU’RFEY & BARNES, 9JohnStreet,NewYork: some time, and have been repairing. all‘ kinds of watches for the past fifteen years ; but the finish of the Elgin Watch is su‐ perior to any other watch of American make, and they are undoubtedly the watch, for Americansto carry,if theywant good * and reliable timekeepers. Yours,ReSpectfully, C. T. ROBERTS, . , Watchmaker. Thanks for the Elgin circulars. It gives me great pleasure to introduce these Watches. Americans can feel proud to have made such a piece of mechanism * * FAIRBANKS’ STANDARD SCALES, MANUFACTURED BY E. & T. FAIRBANKS & CO., THEORIGINALINVENTORS. ,‐‐«HA‐o.‘7 , 7 1 ” PRINCIPAL WAREHOUSES, FAIRBANKS, GREENIEAF & CO., ' . 1378x139StateSt.,Chicago. 302&.304WashingtonAve.,St.Louis. _‐._< FAIRBANKS,MORSE& CO., 139 Walnut St., Cincinnati. 182 Superior St.,‘Cleve1and. 102 Second Avenue, Pittsburgh. FAIRBANKS & co., 252 Broadway, N e w York. 166 Baltimore Street,iBaltimore. 53 Camp Street, New Orleans. FAIRBANKS & EWING, Masonic Hall, Philadelphia. FAIRBANKS, BROWN 85CO., 118 M i l k Street, Boston. FAIRBANKS & HUTO‘I‐IINSON, San Francisco, California. NATIONAL WATCH COMPANY, ELGIN,ILLINOIS, MANUFACTURERS OF ELGIN . WATCHES! -‐‐‐‐‐*-0.-‐-vo-‐‐‐‐ EVERY WATCH FULLY WARRANTED. ___A A,A._<‐‐‐‐».‘..-‐‐_‐4_4..I- 4 All the grades of Watches manufactured at Elgin~the low priced m well as the high priced-h‐have a reputation i nall parts o fthe'country, a surprisingly accurate T I M E - K E E P E R S . This reputation the Compan intend to sustain, by not entering’into competition with FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS. OR OLDER COM ANIES ‘ IN THIS COUNTRV. In the manufacture of the cheap class of Watches, which give no satisfaction as to accuracy, and are inferior asto durability, so that the public can rest assured that. any Watch hearingtheir trade mark Ii a perfect and reliable TIME-KEEPER, and w i l l give permanent satisfaction. The Company have n i n e styles new in market, bearing the following trade marks on upper plate of m o v e m e n t : TRADEMAFKS.’ H. z. CULVER, Elgln, Ill. J. 'r. RYERSON, Elgin, m. H. H. TAYLOR, Elgln, m. MAT. LAFLIN, Elgin, III. B. w RAYMOND, Elgin, m. c. M. WHEELER, Elgin,‘ m. LADY ELcm,Elgln, m. FRANCES RUBIE. Elgln, ur, w. H. FERRY, E'gin, m. All genuine Elgin'Waxtchosarebranded &- “NationalWatchCompany’wfiionthedial,andhave one «if the foregoing trade. marks engraved on the upper p'ale. ‐ Wimitutirms, both American and Foreign. are in the market. Avoid them. G E N “| N E E LG'N WATCHEs areforsalebyhonorabledealersthroughout thecountry, NO MOVEMENTS RETAILED BY THErCOMPANY. __._.«¢_..__I_. Business Oflice and Sales Room corner Lake and La Salle Streets, C II I o A (1 O . “ THE NATIONAL WITCH UOMPINY’S GOODS ARE FOR SALE BY Luther A ffaber, ' 1)'FJALE“IN WATCHES AND JEWELRY, H i g h ”Street, Holyoke, Mass.