They met with a
ready sale, but all his ventures of this kind were subject to serious
risks. The works, being of wood, would frequently become damp and
swollen on the voyage, thus rendering them unfit for use. Mr. Jerome
endeavored in various ways to remedy this defect, but was finally
compelled to admit that, until he could change the nature of the wood,
he could not prevent it from being influenced by moisture.
He passed many sleepless nights while engaged in seeking this remedy,
for he plainly foresaw that unless the defect could be removed, the days
of the wooden clock business were numbered.
In the midst of his depression, the idea occurred to him, one night
while lying awake, that the works of a clock could be manufactured as
cheaply of brass as of wood. The thought came to him with the force of a
revelation. He sprang out of bed, lit his candle, and passed the rest of
the night in making calculations which proved to him that he could not
only make brass works as cheaply as wooden ones, but, by the employment
of certain labor-saving machinery, at a cost decidedly less. There was
one important obstacle in his way, however.
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