A careless impetus given to the pendulum may result in a very beautiful harmonogram, but you may try innumerable times to duplicate this chance record without success.  No two hamonograms are exactly alike.  The harmonograph, while its pendulum swings in accordance with well known natural laws, is exceedingly erratic when it comes to obeying any preconceived calculations of its operator.  In this uncertainty lies the charm.  If time hangs heavily or a person is slightly nervous or uneasy, a harmonograph is a good prescription.

The prime essential in a well working harmonograph is a properly constructed universal joint.  Where such a joint is made with pivots for its bearings, one pair of pivots are very liable to have more friction than the other, which retards the movement and causes the harmonograph to undergo a continuous change of axis.  To obviate this difficulty, the joint should be made similar to those used on scales.  The general appearance of such a joint is shown in the first illustration, Fig. 1.  Stirrups A and B are made of 7/8 by 1/4-in. metal.  Holes are drilled in each end of these stirrups and filed out as shown at C. The two holes shown in the center of the stirrup A are drilled to fasten the apparatus to the ceiling.  Two corresponding holes are drilled in B to fasten the long pendulum F to the joint.  The cross of the joint D has the ends shaped as shown at E. The rounded shoulder on E is to prevent the cross from becoming displaced by a jar or accident.  The ends of the cross are inserted through the holes C of the stirrups, then slipped back so the knife edges engage in the V-shaped holes of the stirrups.  The cross must be so made that the knife edges will be in the same plane.  This can be determined by placing two of the knife edges on the jaws of a vise and then laying two rules across the other two edges.  The rules should just touch the jaws of the vise and the two knife edges of the cross.  This makes a universal joint almost free from friction and, what is most important, prevents the pendulum from twisting on its own axis.

The pendulum F should be made of ash or oak, 1-3/4 by 2 in., with a length depending on the height of the ceiling.  A length of 7 ft. is about right for a 10-ft. ceiling.

A small table or platform, K, as shown in the lower part of Fig. 1, is fastened to the lower end of the pendulum as a support for the cards on which harmonograms are made.  A weight, G, of about 30 or 40 lb.-a box filled with small weights will do—­is attached to the pendulum just above the table.  Another weight of about 10 lb. is attached as shown at H. A pedestal, J, provides a means of support for the stylus.  The stylus arm should have pin-point bearings, to prevent any side motion.

The length of the short pendulum H, which can be regulated, as shown in Fig. 1, should bear a certain and exactly fixed relation to the length of the main pendulum, for the swinging times of pendulums are inversely proportionate to their lengths, and unless the shorter pendulum is, for instance, exactly one-third, one-fourth, one-fifth, etc., as long as the other, that is, makes respectively 3, 4 or 5 swings to one swing of the long pendulum, they will not harmonize and a perfect harmonogram is not obtained.