The morning news., 1888-05-11
THE TIME BALL TO DROP.
ITS MACHINERY TO BE PUT IN
WORKING ORDER


ence Between Sun Time and Sidereal
Time and How Each is Obtained
How the Naval Observatory Sends
Out the Noon Signal-The Savannah
Time Ball to Drop at IL O'clock,
Central Time.
The complaints to the Naval Observatory
at Washington have been many in the past
three months because the time bali on the
custom house has not dropped within that
time, owing to the fact that it was out Of
repair 1t was felt more generally by mas
ters of vessels, who, when they come into
port, regulate their chronometers by it.
The merchants on the Bay seemed to think
1t not worth while to advance the money to
put the apparatus in repair, thinking the
government ought to do it, but as no funds
were at the disposal of the Navy Depart
ment, some gentleman who is interested in
the time observations generously donated
the amount, and yesterday Commander A.
ID. Brown, United States Navy, AS
sistant Superintendent of the Naval OBJ
servatory, was in the city and arranged for
having the repairs made. The Commander
informed MORNING NEWS reporter that
the time ball will be in working order some
time during next week, and that the ball
will fall at IL O'Clock a. m central standard
time.
In alluding to the matter, Commander
Brown took occasion to speak in very
complimentary way of Mr.. William j.
Bryan, the janitor of the custom house,
who attended to the time ball for year
and half without compensation, and in
whose charge he has left the repairs The
ball was adopted here three years ago.
THE TIME QUESTION.
In long, entertaining and pleasant in
terview with Commander Brown he talked
very instructively on the question of time.
The observatory with which he is connected
was established in 1874, and has been send
ing out the noon signal since 1862. His at
tention was called to the query in the
MORNING NEWS of last Wednesday, asking
If former communication referring To
sun time and sidereal time as being identi-
cal was correct, and introduc-
tory to an expression from the commander
on a disputed question in the recent time
discussion through The columns of the
MORNING NEWS by correspondents, Com
mander Brown was asked by the reporter
this question:
What is central standard time at the
hour when the ball drops Y'
Central standard time" he replied, "is
the mean solar noon of the 18th meridian,
er what is the same thing, the mean solar
I'VE hours of Greenwich, thus referring the
navigator directly to the prime meridian
from which his longitude is reckoned."
WHAT SUN TIME is.
"What is sun timer he was asked
practically speaking, in business life
there is no such thing. The reverse is true
in the cotton field, where they care nothing
about clocks-working from sun rise to sun
set. The only instrument that will show
sun time is the sun dial, which went out of
use 300 or 400 years ago. 1t would be prac-
tically impossible to construct clock which
would show the true time by the sun. This
is owing to the fact that the apparent mo-
ton of the sun in the heavens is irregular
This apparent motion is caused by the real
motion of the earth in her orbit, which
varies from day TO day, so that no two sue
ceSsive apparent solar days are of the same
length. In order to obtain solar days of
equal length the astronomer has been
Obliged to resort to fiction; in other words
to the creation of what he calls a mean
sun. This is body which hasno existence,
and hence is fictitious entirely"
''How do they get this mean sunp" was
inquired.
"A mean sum-" Commander Brown re-
piled, us supposed to move in the equinoc-
tial at the average rate at which the true
sun moves in the eclptic."
WHAT sIDEREAL TINE Is.
"What then is sidereal time, Com
manders"
Technically speaking, it is the hour
angle of the first point of Aries, and it is
obtained directly from observation of the
stars. The sidereal day is three minutes
fifty-six seconds shorter than the mean
solar day. At the Naval Observatory the
sun is never used to obtain the time, OBJ
servations always being made on the stars.
and thus the sidereal time is obtained The
sidereal clock is compared with the mean
solar clock, and the error Of the former
being known from the observations that of
the latter is determined by mathematical
computation, involving what is known as
the reduction of sldereal to mean time
This clock shows the Washington mean
time, approximately"
''Sun time, then, that we now have in
Savannah, is not the same as sidereal timer
''lt is not. 1t is the same as sidereal
time on one day at the beginning of wear,
but at the end OF that year it differs from
IL a whole day.n
"How is the time transmitted to Savan-
nah" the Commander WAS asked
'The transmitting clcck at the obse rva-
tory is compared a few minutes before
noon with the standard mean time clock
the error of which is obtained as has lust
been mentioned, and by simple manipula-
tlon OF the pendulum, according as it is
fast or slow, IL is made to show the exact
time of the 10Th meridian. At three and
one-quarter minutes before noon the clock
is switched into loop from the main line
of the Western Union telegraph and it's
beats are transmitted over the wires of the
Western Union Telegraph Company in all
directions The whole operation is auto
matte i'll its nature"
THE WESTERN UNIONS CLOCK.
"What kind of clock is the one in the
Savannah Office of the Western Union
through which this time is transmitted.n
at is the same kind that is in general use
for receiving the transmitted time and is
what is known as a Gardner clock, which is
fitted with apparatus by which, when the
noon signal passes over the wires, the hands.
of the clock are moved TO zero, which means
no minutes and no seconds after II o'clock
Eastern standard time. Another of these
clocks may be found in the Central railroad
depot which, with the one in the Western
Union Office. are reported to give entire
satisfaction to tie people who use them"
Are they electric cloclIsin
mo. They are plain ordinary eight-day
Seth Thomas clocks and the Gardner ap-
parasus is merely an attachment by which
the clock is set, and has nothing whatever
to do with its running If the clock should
gain or lose time from noon TO noon. or il it
should be set backward or forward bv any
iptartOa1diiuor pareon tho nnor, ufr,,aI f,..s,