The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-27
KEEPING WATCHES RIGHT.
HOW THE RAILROADS LOOK AFTER
THE TIMEPIECES.

Ous III tse--1he HeSultS frObubly
Little or No Better Than Are Sc
cured by Simpler Process Here.
Some Railroads Provide Watches
for Train Hands-IIOw the Cars
for Peaches Are Iced.
The watch inspector general of the Atch-
ison, Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad has
applied a system of watch inspecting on
that line which is apparently wen calcu-
lated to cause himself and his assistants
a considerable waste of time, without, it
is said, securing results much, if any bet
er than are now obtained by the less COM
pick system pursued in this section.
His method of inspection consists, first,
of the rating or timing of watches to posi-
ton, and is easiest of explanation in print
by stating that watch is first run twenty
four hours pendant or stem up. The next
twentyfour hours the watch is run dial
up, or on its back. The next twenty-four
hours the watch is run dial down, or on its
face. If the watch runs more than six
seconds faster or slower in the dial up po-
ton, or six seconds faster or slower in
the dial down position than it did in
the pendant up position, it
is condemned. Suppose watch
runs five seconds faster in the first, or
pendant up position; then in the dial up
position it must not exceed eleven seconds
fast nor run more than one second slow to
permit of its being passed into service.
The performance in the dial down posi-
ton applies identically with the dial up
position. The watch, of course, is reset
for each position test When a watch is
OF good grade and merely fails in one or
two of the positions, the owner is given
the privilege of sending Ii to the factory
and having it readjusted, which is done
by the majority of factories at nominal
tNcost IL watch is condemned outright
either from failure in grade or from its
wretched performance the employee is re-
CURED to purchase a new watch, at least
| seventeen jewels, Bregnet hairspriug,
stem winding, lever-setting, and adjusted
TO temperature, position 80 and isochron-
| ism. Pendant-set watches are barred be-
! cause the stem is likely to get pulled out
! and thus permit the hands to turn back
ward or forward, being, therefore, danger
| GUS and impracticable
! Where an employees watch is condemned
the employe is at liberty to buy any make
of watch he may see fit so long as it con-
| forms to the standard mentioned and per
! forms in position as required The mere
! fact that an emplOye purchases what may
! be deemed a high grade watch does not
/
| IL must be rated and should it fail to run
within the six seconds limit of error it
would be condemned regardless of make
! or name. 1t is a question of merit only.
| The general inspector nor the company do
not recommend any make of watch.
Watch inspectors in Savannah take but
! little stock in al 1.-The trouble this inspec-
/ tor general has gone to. The watches of
| all railroad men running in and out of Sa-
| vannah are inspected here and accurate
! time is kept for them by far simpler
methods. Seventeen jewel watches are
required by the railroads entering Savan-
nah as in this Northwestern road.
1t has not been long since non-mag-
netic watches were required, but it was
found that their claims were without good
! basis, and the order, so far as
they were concerned. was revoked. The
men are required to get good
watches, time pieces that can be relied
upon, and to keep them in order Every
three months, at least, a certificate must
be secured from the watch inspectors APP
| pointed by the railroad. No charge is
made for the certificate. A watch must
not lose or gain more than two minutes
in a month
Some watches will not vary more than
forty seconds in that time. When a
/ watch is brought in it is examined to see
that 1t Is clean, all its parts in good work.
ing order and its record secured.
In the North a number of railroads
supply watchmakers, buy watches with
cheap durable cases, but good works, and
furnish them to the employees needing a
time piece in their work. When a con-
ductor goes out on a run he gets a
] watch from the man in charge, and when
I he comes back turns it in. In this way
the company sees to it that the men have
no excuse as to watches being incorrect,
! and the danger from accident from that
cause is wiped out. No road in Georgia
has yet reached this point Of perfection,
! though.
The statement is made that 1t takes
! anywhere from six TO ten tons of ice to
place a carload of Georgia peaches in a
| Western or Northern market in God
! shape, and more frequently the latter
amount. Ice is a big item of expense in
the handling of the crop. Carload lots of
it are shipped down from the West to the
peach district, Fort Valley and Marshall
vile being the main depots, and there the
refrigerator cars receive their first hap
tism of GOODNESS. An arctic temperature IS
secured before the car is handed the ship
per for the reception of his fruit.
The heat from the freshly picked
peaches though forces reicing to some
extent at a comparatively nearby point,
and at Atlanta most of the cars receive
another large quantity of ice to keep the
temperature down to the desired point of
! preservation. This second icing will 1t
is said, keep the fruit in splendid shape
and not requiring any further supply until
! Alexandria, Va, or some point there
abouts, is reached, if they are East bound
or to the Ohio river, If going West In
| between, though, a careful watch is kept
on the temperature Of the cars, and If
there is any necessity for further icing
the matter is attended to at the most con-
Venient point.
The refrigerator car company is pledged
to get the fruit to market in good shape
! for sale, and the matter of a ton or two
more of ice Is not allowed to enter into
consideration, when a carload of peaches.
worth hundreds of dollars, is at stake. In
very hot weather the quantity used may
run above the maximum mentioned Aft-
err the peaches get chilled through the con-
sumption of ice is not as great as at
first. Considerable latent heat is let loose
! from carload of peaches, and the effect