, a very ingenious mechanic of London, who introduced several improvements
, a very ingenious mechanic of London, who introduced several improvements in the mechanism of time-keepers, for which he received premiums
from the Board of Longitude. He was the inventor of the
expansion balance, and of the present detached escapement, and the first artist who ever applied the gold cylindrical spring to the balance of a time-piece. He died in
the fifty-fifth year of his age, at Well-hall, near Eltham in
Kent, August 25, 1799. The following publications may
be consulted for an account of his improvements: “An
account kept during thirteen months in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, of the going of a Pocket Chronometer, made on a new construction by John Arnold, having
his new-invented balance spring, and a compensation for
the effects of heat and cold in the balance. Published by
permission of the Board of Longitude,
” 4to, 4to, 1781.
” On the Longitude; in a letter to the
Commissioners of that Board; containing remarks on the
accounts given of a Clock at Manheim, and tlaat of a Pocket
Chronometer at Greenwich; both made by Mr. John Arnold,“4to, 1781.
” An Answer from John Arnold to an
anonymous letter on the Longitude, 4to, 1782.