Henry Harrison was still acting as the baronet's
carpenter and joiner. In course of time young Harrison joined
his father in the workshop, and proved of great use to him. His
opportunities for acquiring knowledge were still very few, but he
applied his powers of observation and his workmanship upon the
things which were nearest him. He worked in wood, and to wood he
first turned his attention.
He was still fond of machines going upon wheels. He had enjoyed
the sight of the big watch going upon brass wheels when he was a
boy; but, now that he was a workman in wood, he proposed to make
an eight-day clock, with wheels of this material. He made the
clock in 1713, when he was twenty years old,[4] so that he must
have made diligent use of his opportunities. He had of course
difficulties to encounter, and nothing can be accomplished
without them; for it is difficulties that train the habits of
application and perseverance. But he succeeded in making an
effective clock, which counted the time with regularity. This
clock is still in existence. It is to be seen at the Museum of
Patents, South Kensington; and when we visited it a few months
ago it was going, and still marking the moments as they passed.
It is contained in a case about six feet high, with a glass
front, showing a pendulum and two weights. Over the clock is the
following inscription:
"This clock was made at Barrow, Lincolnshire, in the year 1715,
by John Harrison, celebrated as the inventor of a nautical
timepiece, or chronometer, which gained the reward of 20,000L.
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