A manual of home-making

The pendulum clock usually has its pendulum siLspended by thin Hat spring, and to avoid breaking this spring wlien the clock is to be moved from one place to another, it is \>est either to unhook the bol> froni the pendulum rod or to secure the pendulum tightly to the clock works or case so that it cannot swing. In setting up such a clock after removal, it is necessary to put the clock *'in beat**; that is, to make the successive vi- brations of the penduhmi, or the time l)etwe(?n successive ticks of the clock, of equal length. This must \wt done by carefully leveling the clock on its support, unless the clock is provided with adjusting thumbscrew!5 at the top of the pendulum by the movement of which one way or the other it can be made to beat uniformly. I m bya ■ HOUSEHOLD MEASURE^MENTS AND THEIR USE 139 Selling a clock. The setting of a pendulum clock is usually 'jest done by turn- ing the minute hand forward, several revolutions if necessary, t« bring the hour hand U* the correct hour. If the clock does not have a striking mechanism, the hour hand, which is usually held on its slightly conical shaft by friction, may bo moved fonvard a sufficient nmnber of hours, and tlic minute hand ad- justed to the correct minute. As the hour hand may have be- come loosened on its shaft !iy tliis procedure, however, it should be pressed tightly into place after it is set correctly. In some clocks with a striking mechanism, the minute hand should not be moved backward across a striking point, although it can, without injury, be moved back short distances in other parts of the dial to set it correctly. Regulaling a clock. Few clocks of either the pendulum or the alarm-clock type are made with devices to compensate for changes in temperature, and as these changes will alter the rate, it is desirable to keep the clock in the part of a rooiu wlierc its temperature will be most constant. Even with the Ix^st conditions in this respect, it will Ix? necessary to regulate the clock's rate freciucntly on account of the changes of tenifx^rature w^th season oi with the conditions of heating or cooling of the room. A rise of tempera- ture will lengthen the pendulum rod and make the clock nm more slowly. It will be necessary, therefore, to raise the pendu- lum bob by turning tfie supporting nut, unless an adjustment device is provided by which a contact point on the suspension spring at the top of the pendulum can be changed. This is done by turning a key to right or left in a small keyhole in the face of the clock, usually near the upper part of the dial. This has Jhe effect of shortening or lengthening the pendulum. In the alarm-clock type^ the regulatioo is done by moving a small lever, usually at the back of the clock, which engages with the hairspring on the balance wheel, and so decreases or increases the effective length of the spring, thus controlling I I 140 A MANUAL OF HOME-MAKING the time of a vibmtion of the balance. The lever should moved toward the letter '*S** when one wishe.^ to make the clock run more i?!owly and toward *' V '- wlieri it shoiikl run faster. The same rule applies in the rej^ulation of a watch.