INVENTIONS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF MR S. BARNINGHAM,

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 89

INVENTIONS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF MR S. BARNINGHAM,

Br Dinohkis.

Variety is the spice of life, So says a wise old caw. Sensible people . every - recognise th© truth of it in the ordering of their,- lives. "The daily round, the humble task," may be all in all to the plodding many, /but to the more alert-minded few a recreative pursuit with which to occupy the hours of leisure is riglitly looked upon as an essential ingredient in the feast of life. Work — the work by which one gains a living — may be congenial or the reverse, but either way we all come sooner or later to perceive "the truth that, although learning a new thing is -always interesting, the practicing of an old one is monotonous." Work is very well, especially if one is fortunate in it, but, after all is said, what we labour for is mainly for the ability to do more work. That is «I1 the " fruit of toil " gathered by the great majority of workers. But that is not enough, and we see very well among people generally how varied are the ways in which the effort to strike a more favourable balance between labour and life takes shape. One way in which many sensible people find escape from the monotony of industrious daily existence consists in the pursuit of hobbies. Many of us are hobbyists, and yet bardly aware of the fact. Any consistently-followed leisuretime pursuit must be so classed. Even the inglorious, .though far from mute, "harracker" of a football team is a hobby rider, albeit ca the lower planee. Between such a lowly example and the really high-class hobbyist lie many stages — too many for present enumeration. My present purpose is to give some account of the practical achievements of a most remarkable hobbyist living in our midst — one whose productions well merit being put on record in these pages. I refer to Mr S. Barningham, Victoria Foundry, George street, whose exhibit of optical, horologicai, mechanical, and scientific instruments during " Industries Week " lately •-ttracted a very large amount of attention. The exhibit consisted of two clocks, two Takrroscoges, a l-ibbon -cutting microtome, a micrometer ruling machine, and working enlargements of a lever watch move-. I meat and of a chronometer. These lastnamed pieces of fine mechanism are what would be scientifically described as enlarged 5 diameters — that is, they are 25 times the eize of the actual mechanism as contained in a lever watch am? a ship's chronometer respectively. In a technical school, with watchmaking as a class subject, these beautiful working models -would be very useful for teaching purposes. Of the do iks, one is distinguished oy an arrangement ensuring almost perfect compensation in varying temperatures, and also by ingenious additions to the mechanism automatically recording the month, day of the month, etc. The other ig the self-winding clock, which, sealed lip in its glass case, and untouched by any hand; goes on, one may say, for ever. It is a replica of one made by the late Mr. Arthur Beverly, but Mr Barningham's clock differs in being co constructed that it goes within walls of stone or brick, whereas the Beverly self-winding

clock is adapted for wooden walls only. I hear that it is now standing still somewhere in the Otago University buildings! Mr Bamingham's clock is a very elegant piece of work, which occupied its maker's leisure hours during a period of five and a-half years. A puzzle until explained, its continuous movement is, however, found to be relatively simple when understood. The winding arrangement consists of a large tan box with a tube down the centre, having a small opening at the bottom. The tube contains about 2£gal of castor oil (preferred- because of its non- evaporating quality). On the surface of the oil in the tube is placed a float just heavy enough to slightly counterbalance the driving weight of the clock. The weight of the column of oil within ihe tube compresses the air in the 4>ox, and; therefore, as the temperature <^ the air varies, so the oil in the tube rises or falls. It will be perceived that the motive power for perpetual selfwinding is simply and solely atmospheric pressure. As the float rises and falls the power given is communicated to the clock mechanism by means of a chain attached to the float and passing over an arrangement of wheelwcrk with pawls, Tatch-ets, and brakes, by nice adjustment of which the results show accurately on the dockdiiii in minutes and hours. ,The Inechalusm is also so constituted that overwinding cannot possibly occur. In 'place of the old " wag at the wa'" " swinging appliance, a torsion pendulum of handsome design and stately, semi-revolving ■motion gives the slow, steady movement in keeping with the whole ©cheme of this wonderful horologe. Every paH of it, frcm the cutting- of the wheels to the making of the case, is Mr Barningham's own work. The quality both of calculation and workmanship that has gone to its making is to be gauged by the fact that it is a practically perfect timekeeper. Previous to being shifted for exhibition during "Industries Week" the clock had been going ' continuously during 23 years with one break of a few hours for cleaning. Mr Barndngbam being an adept' not alone in metal-working, etc., but in the grinding and polishing of lenses also, it may be inferred that the microscopes made by him are really high-class instruments. As a matter of - fact such is the case, and for fineness of definition and variety of field, combined with perfection of mechanical adjustment, his microscopes will hold their own with the .best and costliest instruments from the leading optical specialists throughout the world. The two marvellous little machines that remain to be mentioned are iboth accesGories to the' microscope in actual^" professional uee. One is the ribbon-cutting microtome, a delicate and ingeniously contrived automaton in which its maker has emrbodied a number of improvements of his own. A great deal' of the solidest progressive results attained to during recent years in zoology, physiology, " etc., have only become possible by aid of such like machines. The modern scientistwants the thinnest sections possible of the objects or tissues with which .his studies are concerned. To such the high-power microscope is useless without correspondingly fine sections. I well remember seeing, not .so very Jong- ago, sections of animal tissues sliced with a well-cutled batcher's knife. These were for the use of a medical school class in histology. Mr Barningham's machine is an -enormous advance on such primitively imperfect means towards the desired end. . The mechanical details are somewhat too technical for description here, but the machine is v«ry cleverly adapted to satisfy the most exacting, requirements. It is capable of cutting hard, soft, embedded, and frozen sections up to 10,000 to the inch. The tissue to be sliced has merely to be placed in an automatic feed attachment, the machine set in motion to cut any required thinness, and the sections are produced flat, a result that is not attained to 'n microtome machines in general use. The other machine — the micrometer ruling machine — is a wonderfully delicate instrument. Mr Barningham tells me that it cost . him more thought, more anxiety, and more disappointment than any other piece of work he has ever undertaken. But as completed and in working trim it is a triumph of mechanical ekill and finesse. Very few people realise how the scientist, ir' dealing with things tbemost minute in nature, can with confidence declare .just what their length or width may be. The spores of the common puff-ball for instance, when magnified many thousands of times, only appear as fine dust. Many of the bacteria are extremely small. There are certain diatoms so small that 9000 of tliJm, when laid eide by side, make a row one inch long. The infinity of infinitely small things can, however, all be accuiately measured by use of the micrometer scale. This in itself is just a slip of fine glares -three inch.«s'long by one inch wide, and having certain lines engraved upon it by a diamond point. Tlie engraving of these- lines is the work of the micrometer ruling machine. The elegant little apparatus* designed by Ma* Barningham for this purpose is capable of ruling micrometer scales with from 1000 to 15,000 lines to the inch. It is entirely automatic in operation, being actuated by a clockwork movement. The diamond point, set in a brass rod. not only engraves lines of the usual length (about three-sixteenths of an inch), but by a most ingenious modification c*£ the mechanism a "counter" is included by means of which the length of the' tenth divisions, of the ordinary lines, and of the fifth divisions is so regulated as to render the counting of the lines in the microscope as easy as in ordinary measurements. Technical descriptions of this beautiful piece of mechanism is out of the question in this roughly penned series of notes, "but its extreme delicacy may be inferred from the fact that to obtain the most perfect results as nearly as possible absolute freedom from vibtatioD must be ensured. The near presence of wheel traffic, passing

' tramcars, or other earth-shaking causes must be guarded against, and thus it is necessary, if the machine is to do the best it is capable of doing, that it should be put in operation only during the quietest hours of midmost night.