Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1877-01-25


At the Navy Observatory In Washington
stands the clock which regulates the time
for the whole country. IL is not beautiful
like many lovely French clocks that noise
lessy tick upon the parlor mantle; in fact,
it is large and tall, with plain face, and bo-
dy Of dark wood, and without ornaments
ton. 1t Is much like the old fashlondcd
clock that stood In our grandmother's
kitchens. Ii nowhere touches either the
floor or walls of the building but is secure
ly fastened To a stone pier, which rests up
on a solid stone foundation, so that 1t may
not be affected by any motion of the build
ing or ground. Rains may descend. floods
come, winds blow and beat upon the house
but the clock feels it not, for it Is built up
on 4 rock.
II is splendid tine-keepcr. At the
present time it gains At the rate Of As OF i
second per day.
Ia order that people all over the country
may have uniform time, so important for
railroads, steamboats,, and other public
conveyances, ut three minutes before
twelve each day this clock is connected by
means of a galvauic battery, with the wires
Of the Western Union Telegraph. which
extend into the room containing the clock.
Al! other messages. however important,
must give way for these three minutes and
IN every town and station from Maine to
California, where there j. a telegraph oper-
ator a the pendulum OF the clock ticks.
each second click is recorded by the telc-
graph and at the very instant of twelve
two clicks are given.
At the same instant huge black ball
which is drawn up few moments before,
descends upon the dome of the ObSeryato-
ry, and hundreds all over the city stand,
watch in hand, TO see It drop, to keep, as
We say, bail time Thus when this drops
a click in every large town in the land tells
the hour of twelve.
This clock is also connected with the
Fire Alarm III Boston. and the time Is sent
10 the central office. and then sounded by
the three bells that give the fire alarm.
SO while the clerks in Washingtos are
watching the ball, the restless schoolboy
OF Minnesota is waiting TO hear the biz
clock upon the town house sound its mer-
~ peal, the signal of dismissal and the
tired factory girl of Lowell listens eagerly
for the same sound.
But you must remember that only places
sn the same meridian with Washington
have, after all, exactly the same time. The
sun, in passing round the earth, which ls
divided into three hundred and sixty hours
must pass through Que degree, which is
about siXty-nine miles. every four minutes.
So. if the sun rises in Boston at seven
o'clock it will not rise in New York, two
hundred miles west. till twelve minutes
past seven, or seven o'clock will not come
to them for twelve minutes after it has
reached Boston. Neither will il be twelve
O'Clock till twelve minutes later than Bo>-
ton.
Take the Pacific railroad and travel
west, with your watch correct in Boston;
when you reach Omaha, you will be an
hour and halt ahead of their time; and
when you reach San Francisco, your
watch will be three and a half hours fast,
because old Sol is still on his way When
in Boston you are going IL church AT
eleven o'clock. the boys in San Francisco
are just taking their Breakfast It half past
seven.
So, while tell you that all the towns
| received the click of twelve at the same
time you must remember that in places sit
uated in longitude east OF west form WASH
ington, the nun. Der of minutes it takes the
sun to pass those degrees must be added
to or subtractedIfrom twelve, to give them
correct time.
Another thing in the room where the
clock Is, would interestthe boys who are
delighted in everything that pertains to
a ship. This room may be termed gov
ernment depot, for here are some two
hundred ships chronometers. These are
| simply large sized watches, and are fur
ished 10 every government seagoing yes-
sci. Here they are kept several months
to be regulated and their accuracy tested
by this clock. The officer ia charge exam
ines them daily at certain hour. and
carefully rates the time kept by each.
When government vessel Is ordered to
sea, the officer takes them with all pos
Sibie care To the vessel, protecting them as
far as possible from all jars or violent jolt
ing.
When on his cruise, the captain also
rates daily the time kept by the chronome-
ter. This he does by lunar obsery yation.-
He marks the time between the moon and
some star by his quadrant, which he veri-
fes by his nautical almanac. One was seen
at the Observatory that tad been absent
three years with an Eastern squadron, aud
had varied during the whole time but few
seconds. Vide Atodke.