Abstract
The present note describes the results of an analysis of the variations in the rate of Shortt clock Number 23, from March 2, 1935 to January 9, 1939. A discussion of the behavior of the clock for the previous interval of four years has already been published.1 The present run of the Shortt ended in January, 1939, when the lubricating oil on one of the pivots of the resetting mechanism of the free pendulum became thickened, causing it to operate erratically. Some previous investigations (unpublished as yet) of a portion of the period being discussed were made by Mrs. Barbara Riggs Olson. The work covered an interval of only two years, all that was available at the time. She experimented with a variety of formulae to represent the rate. When the clock was started in March 1935, the case of the free pendulum was filled with nitrogen, at a pressure of about 20 millimeters. The mercury pressure gauge was removed, since it was suspected that under the low pressure there might be amalgamation of the mercury vapor with the metal of the clock. A simple oil gauge, built upon the siphon barometer principle, replaced both the mercury gauge and the original oil-pressure indicator.
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