nted a
new and economically sound expression of the basic ideas of Hopkins. The
Waterbury associates immediately commenced work aimed at getting their
watch on the market by June 1878.[34] News of this certainly reached
Auburndale where they were not only well aware of the cost of producing
their rotary but were also aware of the strict cost and performance
studies which Locke and Merritt would apply to any watch before they
would invest in it. Knowledge of this very able and well organized rival,
coupled with the troubles experienced in manufacturing and selling the
Auburndale Rotary, seem to account for the decision to abandon it. It was
unfortunate that the timing of events happened just as it did for a
little more work on the Auburndale and the tools for making it would
probably have placed it on a firm footing in the trade, although
obviously it could never compete with what eventually became the
low-priced watch, really a scaled-down alarm clock minus the alarm
mechanism.

It is said that about one thousand of the "Rotaries" were made. The
highest serial number to come to the author's attention, 507, may
indicate that only a part of the watches started were finished.

Accounts agree[35] that the next product of the factory was a "Timer"
containing a novel escapement patented on May 28, 1878,[36] by William
A. Wales. Early specimens are marked "Pat. Applied For," but one with the
serial number 996[37] bears no reference at all to a patent, presumably
because issuance of the patent or patents was imminent. Apparently the
timer was in full production before the patent was issued on May 28.
Specimens with higher serial numbers are stamped with three patent dates,
May 28, 1878,[38] June 24, 1879, and September 30, 1879, as seen in
figure 13, which also shows the arrangement of the train. In this
escapement the escape wheel (fig. 14) carries in the rim any suitable
number of steel pins all on the same radius from, and parallel to, the
axis of wheel rotation. In all cases the wheel makes one revolution per
second. The verge (figs. 14 and 15) is so proportioned that the distance
between the points of repose on the entrance and exit pallets will stop
the wheel at intervals equal to half the angular distance between the
pins.

In other words, with two pins in the escape wheel the escapement will
beat quarters of a second, because starting from a point of repose the
wheel will be arrested on the other point of repose afte