Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-30
Twonty.Four O'Clock.

The common sense and scientific plan
of numbering the hours consecutively
from midnight to midnight, abolishing
the perplexing and unnecessary use OF
the letters A. NJ. and P. ". on time cards
and elsewhere, has received another for.
ward impetus. The4eaders of The Rail.
scay Age are aware that this reform has
been urged in these columns at fire..
quent intervals for several years.
The fact was noted over two years ago
that general superintendent Smith of the
Union Pacific Company has commenced
familiarizing the employees of that road
with the new plan of adding the hours
on the "a o'clock plan to the figures in
the regular time cards, and it is now to
be announced that this company has
formally adopted the reformed method,
as appears by the following circular
order:
UNION PACIFIC R'Y. Co.,
OFFICE OF GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT, 7
OMAHA, NEB., December 7, 1886.
General Order No. AZ.
The twenty.four hour system of time
has been adopted as standard, and will
be put into effect on all divisions with
the next issue of employees timetables.
By this system the day begins and
ends at midnight, making twenty.four
hours for the day, as under the old sys-
tenn. but with the difference that the
hours are numbered conseeutively from
to "a, instead of to IL, for the hours
of midnight to noon, and repeating the
numbers to represent the hours from
noon to midnight, requiring the addition
of the letters A. NJ. or P. NJ. to dlstin.
guish which hour of the day is meant.
For the purpose of familiarizing en-
ployes with the new system preparatory
to putting it in effect, 1t has been used
| in printing the condensed timetable for
the past two years, and all employees
having occasion to refer to the time.
tables are supposed to be familiar with
lit.
The following simple rules will enable
anyone to readily change the time from
one system to the ether: To change the
time from the old system 80 the new,
add IL (the number of hours from mid
night to noon) to the number of the hour
past noon--thus / o'clock r. NJ. would
| BE- l3 o'clock under the new system,
o'clock P. M. IA o'clock, and so on.
To change from the new to the old
system the operation is sreyersed; that is,
| IL is deducted from numbers higher than
IL (ths hours from midnight to noon
numbered to II, corresponding exactly
with the old system), making Ii o'clock
equivalent to l o'clock p. M, IA o'clock
| to o'clock P. M and SO on.
Employees should accustom themselves
to thinking Of the hours by their new
numbers SO that the hours will be as
readily suggested by the new numbers
as the old, when the necessity for any
mental calculation will cease to exist.
s. T. SMITH,
General Superintendent.
Some months ago the Canadian Pa
cific railway company adopted the "a
| o'clock plan on the time cards of it's
western division, for which enterprise
much credit is due to general manager
Van Horn and general superintendent
Egan. But the Union Pacific is the first
company in the United States to prac.
tically inaugurate this important innova.
tion which is certain ere long to super.
sede the awkward and unphilosophical
plan of dividing the day into two parts
Of IL hours. A little practice will make
the use of the "a hour system just as
easy as the old method, while it will for
ever do away with any liability to the
danger of confounding day with night in
deciphering time table and in the use
of telegraphio orders for train move
ment. The..new plan is especially suitable
to long lines like the Union Pacific run
ming through several meridians and on
which o journey may occupy several
days. All the transcontinental lines
will doubtless ere long adopt the new
system and this would lead eventually
to its use by all the railways in the
country and thus by the public general
Iv- Railsp0u a 0s