The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1899-08-18
BIG FLASH-LIGHT SIGNALS.
Few system In Philadelphia for
Keeping People rostee on
Correct Time.

A useful plan that might he tried ad.
vantageously in many smaller place.
has jdst been adopted in Philadelphia
In Washington, at the naval obser,a-
tory. there is clock which supplies ex-
act time tn most of the large cities east
OF the Mississippi once every day. just
before noon its pendulum is conne-' ed
with an electric circuit in such a way
thatit ticks of seconds ON all telegraph
ic instruments on the line. Then, about
one minute before IL. the ticking Is sus-
pended. and every listener along the
line watches for the resumption. which
occurs exactly at noon. In some cases
a bell IL struck once precisely AZ ~. by
! noting how many seconds fast or slow
ones watch is AZ the sound. man can
set his timepiece by the best standard
in the United States.
The observatory clock is kept right TO
within a small fraction of second. and
varies from day To day only a few hun
drcdths of second. Many railroads,
colleges, astronomical obScrNatories
and other institutions all over the Coun.
try get their time corrected in this man
ner daily In New York city the West.
ern union furnishes the public with a
MONDAY signal. by means of which pco-
pie who are on the street near the main
Office can get the correct time. On top
Of their building ball l. arranged ON a
pole so that il can be liberated auto
matically 10y electricity when the noon
signal comes from Washington. Any.
one who is watching can see the bali
drop.
Now. in Philadelphia the plan has
been modified little. so as 10 operate
in the evening instead Of the daytime
And the signal is given Toy turning on
lof of electric lights that have been tenn.
purarily rNtiucuishtd. \ row of are
lights ON the new city hall around the
statue Of Franklin are kept burning un.
til about s;55 o'clock Then they are
shut of. Exactly at nine O'Clock they
fash up into view once more IL j.
hoped that eventually the turning ON
may be effected by an automatic device.
But az present IL is done by hand, at the
instant q Geographic signal il heard.
aAA'Af ~ many ANN AAE aliN NAlAhEfH IN
the country that might proiitably imi.
tate Philadelphia. II the local author.
titles do not undertake this time service.
some enterpris,ng merchant could al.
Nautageously advertise himself by fur
nlshing either day signal like that in
New York. or one at night like that
which the City of Brothcrly Love has
adopted. IL Is astonishing how much
'naccuracy there is in the clocks and
watches that supply people with time.
IL IL not at all uncommon 10 see clocks
i've, ten or even IS minutes out of the
way in the homes OF persons who are
usually accurate In other matters. They |
do not attempt TO set their timepieccs
right for days or weeks az time. and |
then guess At the time by the whistle |
OF passing railway train. which may
be several minutes behind time. The |
moral effect Of having ones timepiece
correct. and of keeping ones engage
ments on The very minute. il too great |
to be overlooked. Anyone who fur. |
nishes town with Washington time |
daily would he comforting a double /
blessing on the community. 49, y. y.
Tribune.