The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1892-09-30
REGULATING TIME.
The Intricate System Of the Navy
Department.
An Electric spark sets All the Big Clocks
In the Country and Tells Is when
IL Is Noon In wash
tngton.

Away out Mt the western end OF the
city Of Washington is a wooded hill
overlooking the Potomac, and forming
part of large government reservation
or park, which reaches down 70 the
rivers edge. On the top of this hill,
remote from all the other public build
;ngs in Washington, stands the United
States naval observatory.
This branch of the navy department
Is OF great service 10 the government,
and plays a very important part in the
daily affairs of the country: for it is
here that standard government time is
reckoned for this use OF the depart
men,s, and for the primary purpose of
Resting and rating the thermometers
used ON the United States war vessels,
and i, is from this observatory that
standard time is regulated all over the
eountry.
Precisely at noon each day it sends out
an electric signal TO the various govern
nent offices and buildings throughout
he District of Columbia, and, by means
Of the telegraph, this same signal is
dashed over the United States ut the
Same instant
In order that this signal may be
|ent ont At the right time. il is neceS-
parry that the officers in charge of the
government time service at the OBJ
ervatory should know at just what
Instant the sun crosses the seventy
f!th meridian. or is directly above the
neridian scventy-fve degrees west
longitude, which, rs you have learned,
$ one of a number Of imaginary lines
tretched from pole 10 pole across the
arths surface, and reckoned accord
ng To their distance east or west from
reenwich. Now, this seventy-tifth
leridlan has been chosen rs the stand
rd for regulating time, 81 that when
le sun gets exactly over that line il is
we've o'clock NJ Washington, eleven
clock At Chicago, ten o'clock at Dem
er and nine O'Clock at San Francisco;
Or, rs YOU perhaps know, according TO
MS system OF standard or railroad
me NJ being originally adopted for
| he convenience of the railroads. the
puntry Is divided into four sections
a>tern. Central, Mountain and Pa
hc-each just one hour in advance of
ne other. and time ut all places in the
liae section is the same. Accordingly,
en- 1t i noon At Washington il is also
on at Philadelphia. New York, Bo>-
and every other place included |
lthln the eastern section. This, OF |
urSe' is not strictly correct. for it is |
a'ly noon 1T only such places
rough which the Scventy-tifth merid- !
happens TO pass, rs the trGc noon |
| ~ 81 place is when the sun Is direct |
overhead. Washington, for example. !
OH the sevcnty-seventh meridian, or /
20 degrees farther west. and. couse- |
ientiy' according 10 its local time il
only eight minutes of twelve, while |
true time of Boston. which is four
grees 10 the east. is sixteen minutes
advance. But if every city We're 10
us own time, il would, in many
Ses' give rise To IA good deal OF contu-
Oh ana inconvenience; and IL was for
very purpose of avoiding this that
| E'N'"s SNhhth Cl Sidhhaiu lAhV
As adopted
As we have seen, the time for send
ont the noon signal from Washing
Is the instant the sun crosses the
'ehty fifth meridian. This, however,
not the sun which gives us light and
A. but an invisible, imaginary one;
cause for certain reasons, the true
Goes not cross the meridian at the
ne moment every day, but during
part Of the year he gets over il a
'le more ahead of time each day, and
ing the other part he is correspond
<'y behind time; and SO this fictitious
II used, because its apparent path
'und the earth brings il exactly over
same line at the same moment
ny day. Now at just what instant
sun crosses the meridian is deter
ned by means OF the stars; for time
the observatory is not reckoned by
sun, but by the stars.
very clear night an astronomer at
observatory looks through a large 1
e>eope for certain stars which he
o"s must cross q certain line at GER