Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-25

&<I Sxs OF Its business to deter
TfS@~ mine and give away to any
enc who chooses to ask for is absolutely correct
time at noon each day. Experts paid by Uncle
Sam make the computations and press the but
ton at precisely IL O'Clock. thus communicate
Ing the hour TO the various departments in this
city. The Western Union is permitted to have
Its instruments in the rooms whence the mes
sage is sent, with an attachment to the button,
% that the news is flashed directly from the
observatory. without even the aid OF an opera
tor, all over the United States. reaching even
SO distant q point as San Francisco within the
space Of not more than one-fifth of a second.
For such is the utmost twinklng required for
the passage Of an electric spark through 5000
miles of wire.
To accomplish this the telegraph company is
obliged to take all other business off the wires
each day jus, before IL O'Clock. Three MN
utes and half before noon arrives operators
In all parts of the country Cease sending or
receiving messages and devote their attention
70 attaching wires In such manner to es-
tabllsh unbroken connections from Washing
ton with points In every section OF the Union
to which the lines extend their ramitications.
A dozen seconds before the time bell is TO
strike = few warning ticks come flashing along,
and at the very moment when the sun passes
over the seventy fifth meridian a current gives
Q single throb from Maine to Florida and from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, Informing an ex-
pectant nation of the time of day.
THE DIFFERENCE OF TINE.
OF course, there is difference of three
hours between Washington and San Francisco.
but that difficulty is got over by dividing the
whole country into four perpendicular strips
each strip setting its clock by the time Of the
meridian that bIsects II from north to south
Thus each strip Is always one hour later than
the next strip to the east. When you get TO
mt ba bap If ob
hour back; having reached Omaha YOU set
them another hour rearward, and upon arriv-
ing II san Francisco you find yourself still one
hour In advance. In this way the noon signals
sent out from Washington serve to indicate IL
q. m. for Chicago, 10 a m. for Omaha and a. H.
for San Francisco.
HOW THE MONEY Is MADE.
Now, the way in which the telegraph COM
pany makes money by distributing the time in
this manner is by selling it to people all over
the United States who have clocks and find it
of importance to keep them right In this
manner it keeps corrected by electricity to alb
Doiute solar time no less than 1000 clocks in
the city Of New York alone. Each clock is
charged for this service SO year. which
makes An income of 100000 so derived from
the metropolis only. Doubtless quite 81 200. UOO
annually is obtained from the setting OF clocks
once q day in the populated centers. small and
Large, Of the Union. All that the company is
obliged to pay for the time winch sells Tor so
vast yearly sum Is the cost u. maintaining its
instruments at the observatory and the wires
connecting these instruments with the main
Office IN Washington. But 1t must be reneln-
bered that the cost OF stopping telegraphic
operations for four minutes In the busiest part
Of each day throughout the entire country Is
not uncomfortable.
PRIVATE oBsERvAroRIEs PROTESTING.
Nevertheless, the profit is sufficiently great
to excite the indignation of the private observ-
stories, which wish to sci, time themselves
sgainst the Western Union. They contend
that although they are able to make and de-
liver an equally good and accurate quality of
tune themselves, the prestige naturally at
tAching to government time drives their
product out of the market and ruins the local
trade they might otherwise lind profit ill., Who
- going to buy time OF them when the same
commodity 10 to be purchased at a cheap rate
from the national astronomer?
In response to their protest, addressed to the
Secretary Of the Navy, the latter has replied
that any one is welcome to share the same
privileges enjoyed by the Western Union COM
pany In she getting OF time free OF charge; the
postal telegraph. for example. is welcome to
pnt its own instruments In and fash the mes
sage Of the button wheresover 1t listeth As
things stand at present the government is
glad 70 extend IN any fashion the courtesles Of
the hour to go, 0O0. 900 people and more particu-
larry TO secure the accurate dropping of the
noon-tims balls in all the impor Ca MT sesports
In order that mariners may be able TO correct
their chronometers. This last was from the
start the prime object Of the service SO far
- the expense Of obtaining perfectly accurate
nme is concerned the Western Union or any
other concern could establish and run All effect
i've plant at a first cost of 5000 and 81. 900 a
year. The clocks that are set every noon in a
thousand cities and towns by a single pressure
Of the button in Washington are equipped with
. peculiar electric continuance. SO that the cur
rent passing through them springs tile hands
OF each timepiece simultaneously TO the point
of IL
REcKoYISa TIME
The observatory does not reckon its time by
the sun, but By the so-called fixed" stars.
which are SO far off that their position with
relation to the earth does not change appre-
ciably within q few months or years Star
time u the only true time therefore The
operator looks through bib telescope and
watches for gwen star that he knows TO cross
the plane Of the meridian. AS II crosses he
records what momen. IL does So as
shown by . star-hme clock with a twenty
four-hour dial. Then he consults
printed table that shows him at
Just what number of hours. minutes and
seconds the star In question must actually have
crossed the meridian plane. The table Is right
and by as much the star-time clock dlffers
rom II the latter Is wrong. No attempt Is
made to set the star clock right, allowance be-
ING simply made IN subsequent calculations for
The error thus discovered, winch amounts only
10 . fraction OF a second in some days Next
the corrected time, taken from the star
CLOCK, Ii reduced to sun time. which requires
some figuring. inasmuch the star year is one
day longer than the sun year. \ sun time VI
standard" time clock stands close by and the
amount that this varies from the truth having
been ascertained, allowance Is made Tor the
error In sending the noon stroke all over the
country.
REGULATING cHROSoMErEHs
At the observatory all the thermometer,
made for the navy are tested and regulated
before they are sent out on vessels each one OF
which 10 supplied with three frst-ciass chronotn
sters, we'll one that Is half used up
called . hack" for carrying about and foI
rough service generally. IL takes tweuty-onS
weeks of testing to properly regulate ana prov,
achrOnometer. and part OF the trial consists il
subjectlng the instrument to the action OF cold
IN an Ice box and to heat communicated
through steam pipes. Each chrOnometer
telling jus: how IL Will vary under certain
Temperatures. A curious exhibit now shown a
the observatory includes eight chronometer
that went down III the great gale that swampeC
. fair part OF Uncle Sans navy at Samoa
Their glasses are broken and their works SO IA
used up that they are no good any longer.
DISCOVERING THE MOONS OF MANS
The astronomer Of the national observatory
Prot Hall, who made the famous discovery o
the moons Of Mars not long ago, spoke OF thos,
two interesting satellites yesterday as bein,
each about the size of a forty-acre lo;. Revolv