The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-06-07
THE VALUE Of CORRECT TIIE.

Correct time is necessity to every
one. Asta2 old philosopher said, Pune
tua!ity is tie essence of virtue" bat ii is
an impossible excellence to the person
whose watch is wrong In these DAYS of
railroads and rtilraad-!ikc way of doing
business. a nlaM whose time is money to
him must attend not only to his hours
and minutes hut even t. his second To
secure the nt vess,try agreement OF time
keepers, the IuNn time must somehow
he tc!cgra,hcl. either continuously or at
regular intervals. in such Il way as to be
accessible to all concerned. There are
many ways OF doing this nearly all OF
which depend upon The use of electricity.
The simplest method. and one which,
perhaps, answers well enough for all pur-
poses OF business. is that now practiccd
in New York. Every day at noon the
time is telcgraphcd from the National
Observatory ut Washington. and So
called . time-ball " is dropped on the top
OF the Western Union Telegraph build
ing.
Ihc time sent from Washington is not
strictly accurate. but sufficiently SO to
satisfy the general requirements OF bust
IeS@.
IN England and Scotland the time is
regulated ut noon each day by the Green
witch Observatory. and is indicated at all
the principal cities by Il somewhat SINH
lar plan; but instead of the ball being
dropped by hand work, By an ingenious
arrangement the astronomical clock l.,
made to perform the service, thereby
causing Il saving OF time that is unavael-
.,1, Nv ], h,rt h, I, D..
even this approximately correct way OF
obtaining time is hardly sufficient for all
purposes, as the true time is wanted con-
tinuously. Probably the time service
adopted i'll Boston exceeds all others in
precision and accuracy. The beats of
the standard clock ut Cambridge are reg
ularly tclcgrapled to number Of sta
tlnns Throughout the city. great care
being taken to keep the standard clock
correct 10y protecting it from AL sudden
changes of temperature ana atmospheric
pressure.
Electric clocks are used to some OK
tent. in which the hands are moved by
electric impulses telcgraphed by a stand
ard clock: but these are 50 liable to be
seriously affected by atmospheric changes
as to render them Enthusiastically.
\ system is being widely introduced in
England. which consists in setting the
hands OF a standard clock every hour by
the action of the electromagnetic. At the
end of each hour a couple of tinger-likc
projections catch for a moment the end
Of the minute hand and set it right.
whether fast or slow.
y very simple and satisfactory method
of controlling tower clocks which is now
in operation ut Dartmouth and Prince
ton colleges, consists in adjusting the
rate Of the town clock so that, left to
itself. it shall gain slightly, and then
stopping it. by an electrict current sent
from the observatory clock at the close
Of each hour just long enough to set it
right.
in Vienna electricity is not used. but
instead, clocks are controlled by pulse
OF compressed air, communicated through
a series Of pipes like gas mains. 1t is
difficult, however, to see what advantage
this plan possesses over those which i'll
Volve the use OF electricity.
Since there are many ways by which
clocks can. 1T small expense be made ac-
cordant it seems Il pity that there should
be such continual disagrcements between
our public time keepers as are common
to all our American cities