A description of helioscopes, and some other instruments made by Robert Hooke, Fellow of the Royal Society. HOOKE'S SPRING-REGULATED WATCH

HOOKE, Robert

Edité par Printed for John Martyn, Printer to the Royal Society, at the Bell in St. Pauls Church-Yard, London, 1676

A propos de cet article

First edition, rare. The helioscope was a telescope that used flat black reflecting lenses to dim the Sun?s image so that the ?weakest eye may look upon it.? But by far the most important invention described in this lecture is Hooke?s spring-regulated watch.

"Hooke had become interested in developing an improved pendulum clock as early as 1658, just a year after Huygens invented it, with a view to solving the longitude problem, but realising the weakness of the pendulum clock in keeping time on a ship which was pitching and tossing, he wondered about the ?use of springs instead of gravity for making a body vibrate in any posture?. Beginning his experiments around 1658 he had made two significant steps by 1660, namely the use of a balance controlled by a spiral spring and an improved escapement called the anchor escapement. Backed by Wren, Moray and Brouncker, a patent was drawn up but when Hooke realised that it would allow anyone who improved on his design to receive the royalties, he refused to continue with the patent. There the matter rested until 18 February 1675, when Henry Oldenburg, secretary of the Royal Society and long-term correspondent of Huygens, read a letter from Huygens to the Society describing his invention of a spring-regulated watch (printed in the Philosophical Transactions on 25 March). Oldenburg strongly supported the concept of Huygens receiving an English patent for his new clock. Hooke immediately protested that priority for this invention lay with him, and pointed out that he had already demonstrated watches with a spring balance before the Royal Society in the 1660s. When he failed to find anything in the Royal Society?s records documenting his demonstration of the watches he suspected manipulation and betrayal by Oldenburg .

"In the summer of 1675 Hooke was preparing for publication an expanded version of a Cutler lecture on the helioscopes he had delivered in January, and he took the opportunity to publish his charges against Oldenburg and Brouncker, and to tell his story of the origins of the longitude watch. On 3 September, when the early pages of A Description of Helioscopes and some other Instruments were with John Martyn, the Royal Society?s printer, Hooke began writing a postscript attacking Oldenburg and asserting his claim to the longitude watch. The piece was read and (according to Hooke) ?approved? by Wren three weeks later ? Helioscopes finished with an account of Hooke?s new watches, written in John Wilkins? ?Universal Character?, the new ?international? language which Hooke wanted to publicize and bring into wider use ? the passage argued that the best way to make a pocket watch that resisted gravity or shaking was to have two balance wheels ?moving constantly contrary, the first to the second?, with their motion regulated by springs or some other force . Reviewing Helioscopes [in the Philosophical Transactions, Oldenburg] . said that when Oldenburg had brought a diagram of Huygens?s watch to the Royal Society Hooke had not let him take it away ?without permitting him first to copy it?. So, the review implied, Hooke was the spy and the plagiarist, not Huygens and Oldenburg? (Inwood, The man who knew too much, pp. 209 & 213-4). After Oldenburg?s death in autumn 1677, Hooke succeeded him as Secretary of the Royal Society and was able to examine his adversary?s correspondence. He found two letters from the year 1665 showing that Huygens had received important information on Hooke?s experiments with clocks.

Hooke?s attempts to develop a spring-regulated watch had led him in the 1660s to the secret of springs, now known as ?Hooke?s law? which he revealed in the form of an anagram ?ceiiinosssttuu? in Helioscopes, the solution of which he gave two years later in Lectures on Spring.

4to, pp. [ii], 32, with 3 folding engraved plates on 2 leaves (foxing, small waterstain in lower margin of two leaves). Panelled calf antique.

N° de réf. du vendeur ABE-1772980870443

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: A description of helioscopes, and some other instruments made by Robert Hooke, Fellow of the Royal Society. HOOKE'S SPRING-REGULATED WATCH
• Éditeur: Printed for John Martyn, Printer to the Royal Society, at the Bell in St. Pauls Church-Yard, London
• Date de parution: 1676
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• Édition: Edition originale
• État de l'article: Assez bon