‘Design-Society’ Cycle: A Case Study on the Story of Longitude - Principia Designae: Pre-Design, Design, and Post-Design - page 123

With confidence from the performance of his land clocks, Harrison began
working on a sea clock, and over a period of 40 years produced a series of
timekeepers, now referred to as H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5. His first, H-1, was not
tested under the conditions required by the Board of Longitude. Instead, the
Admiralty wanted it to travel to Lisbon and back. It performed excellently,
and the Board awarded Harrison a grant of 500 Pounds for his work. However,
the “perfectionist in Harrison prevented him from sending H1 on the required trial
to the West Indies” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_reckoning ) . Instead, he
embarked on the construction of H-2, which never went to sea, and was immedi-
ately followed by H-3. H-3 incorporated two design innovations: a bimetallic strip
to compensate the balance spring for the effects of changes in temperature, and a
caged roller bearing, the best of his anti-friction devices ( http://www.rmg.co.uk/
harrison ) . However, neither H2 nor H3 was accurate enough, so Harrison went on to
produce H-4. While the first three were large clocks with special balance mecha-
nisms compensating for the ship's motion, H4 was a timepiece that resembled a
large pocket watch, and greatly exceeded the requirements for the prize.
However, for various reasons including that some of the members themselves
wanted to win the prize, the Royal Society awarded him only a portion of the money
and asked for more tests. Nevil Maskelyne, the then Astronomer Royal, remained
unconvinced that a watch could be more reliable than the lunar distance method for
finding GMT ( http://www.rmg.co.uk/harrison ). Meanwhile, an expedition by Cap-
tain Cook with a copy of H4 proved beyond doubt that longitude could be measured
from a watch ( http://www.rmg.co.uk/harrison ). It eventually took the intervention
of King George III to get Harrison, who by then was 80 years old, his full reward
and recognition, some 12 years after he had fulfilled the original conditions.
Though the British Parliament rewarded John Harrison for his marine chronom-
eter in 1773, his chronometers were yet to become standard. Chronometers such as
those by Thomas Earnshaw were suitable for general nautical use by the end of the
eighteenth century. However, they remained expensive and the lunar distance
method continued to be used for some more decades. Eventually, by 1850, most
of the ships worldwide had stopped using the lunar distance method ( http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_longitude ) .
9.9 Design-Society Cycle in the Story of Longitude
The story of development of chronometers by John Harrison demonstrates the
importance of experience, beliefs, resources and incentives in the development of
expectations and aspirations of an individual. His experience with clocks at early
stages of his childhood was instrumental in fuelling his fascination for timepieces;
his experience of assisting his father in clock-repair was valuable in forming early
expectations and aspirations with the capability of clocks. His experimentations
with the accuracy of land-clocks led to innovations in anti-friction devices
and stabilizing mechanisms, which fuelled new expectations and aspirations in