Unique Timepiece On Exhibit at Museum

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 96, 26 April 1939, Page 7

Unique Timepiece On Exhibit at Museum

LINK WITH EARLY DAYS AUCKLAND, April 22. A timepiece which for a number of years recorded the mean time for Auckland has been deposited in the Auckland War Memorial Museum by Mr. J. H. Bartlett, of Paeroa, on behalf of the family of the late Mr. Alfred Gregory Bartlett. The exhibit is at present lodged in tho entrance hall tc tho right of the main door. Tho regulator, which is housed in a handsome case, has a face showing the complete 24 hours and two other faces showing the mean times of Wellington and Greenwich. In spito of its age, it is in perfect working order. A feature of tire mechanical working is a device by which tho margin of error caused by the slowing down of tlie pendulum during tho heat of the day is compensated for by a rise in the height of a column of mercury inside tho pendulum. Tho incorporation of this device results in tho variation of tho regulator from strict time being very slight.

In a covering letter, Mr. Bartlett states that the regulator, which was niado in London in 1930, was brought to Auckland by the late Mr. Bartlett in 1862 and was usod in conjunction with a transit instrument in keeping the mean time. This service was continued until the setting up of the Government observatory.