The Driving Clock
It is evident, by rotation of the telescope on the declination and polar axes by means of the quick-motion motors, that the tube can be pointed in any direction in the sky, towards any star. But owing to the rotation of the earth on its axis from west to east, which is the cause of the apparent motion of sun, moon and stars from east to west, the telescope will be quickly carried eastward of the star which will only remain for an instant in the field.
The mechanism by which the rotation of the earth is compensated for is called the driving clock and is contained in the case L, Fig. 2, at the north side of the south pier. In the lower half of the case a governor similar to the governor of a steam engine is driven once per second by a train of gears in the upper section actuated by a weight of 300 pounds below the floor. If the speed of the governor tends to increase the balls raise by centrifugal force and bring increased friction to bear thus reducing the speed to normal while if the speed tends to decrease, the balls drop and reduced friction quickly allows it to accelerate to normal speed. A shaft with a coarse screw thread on it, called technically a “worm” and situated at the top of the case, is driven by intermediate gearing from the governor at the rate of one revolution every two minutes. The thread on this shaft engages into teeth cut in the worm wheel G, Fig. 2, which is 9 feet in diameter. As there are 720 teeth very accurately spaced in this worm wheel, it is driven around by the worm in 2 × 720 = 1,440 minutes, 24 hours, the same rate as the earth. This worm wheel, normally loose on the polar axis on which it turns on ball bearings, allowing the axis to be moved freely to any position, can be rigidly clamped to it by pressing a button. When this is done, it will evidently turn the polar axis and hence the tube at the same rate as the earth but in the opposite direction, on an axis parallel to the axis of the earth, thus exactly compensating for the rotation of the earth. Hence any star at which the telescope is pointed will automatically remain central in the field. Owing to the great magnification all this mechanism requires the highest grade of workmanship, else there will be wandering of the image, a most annoying and troublesome defect. Few telescopes are entirely free from periodic error and that the 72-inch drives so regularly and smoothly is a great advantage and evidence of the perfection of workmanship throughout.