Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-02-23
THE DUTCH CLOCK. !"

Fifteen years ago one of tho great
annoyances that trainmen suffered
from was the dutch clock" yet MANY
trainmen today scarcely know the
meaning of the expression. The
Dutch clock" as it was called among
railroad men, was a speed recorder
which was placed in the caboose OF
freight trains and made lines on a roll
OF paper that indicated the speed OF
the trains and the duration of stops.
IL was invented by minister OF Can
ton, o.. and was taken hold of by the
exceedingly energetic agents. who
pushed 1t upon nearly every railroad
manager in the country. The railroad
tracks at that time were nearly all in
ferior, fast running was dangerous
and wrecks common. The order to en-
gineeTs not to exceed a speed of Is
miles an hour between stations was al
most universal. Those who issued the
order often did so to escape blame in
case of accident, but others were sim
cere in their efforts to prevent run
ming above the schedule speed Those
who were opposed to fast running saw
in the dutch clock" means of de-
tecting violations of the rules relating
to the train speeds, and they lost no
time in putting 1t on the cabooses of
all freight trains. Others followed suit
because 1t was the fashion, and soon
the greater part of the railways In the
middle western states were provided
with speed recorders.
American ingenuity was equal to the
task of vitiating the records made Ivy
the speed recorder 1t was operated
by clock work, and various plans were
adopted by the trainmen to prevent Il
showing speed records In excess OF
the regulations. One scheme was to
slip a piece of oiled paper under the
marker, which caused It to register an
unintelliglble blotch. That trick was
soon found out. Then some one dis
covered that If you wind up a clock
tight and hold pressure on 1t. 1t pro-
ceeds to run fast. They utilized this
knowledge to make the clock record
the stereotyped Is miles when the
train was running at much higher
| speed.
Sitting beside the recorder holding
up the winding mechanism was tire
some business, and some genius about
Kansas City invented what was known
as "The Mother-in-Law." This was an
apparatus that was attached to the
winding key, and kept up an extra
| tension as long as 1t was used. Train
men often found themselves in an
embarrassing position when they made
fast run and discovered that the
mother-in-law had dropped off. Var
ious other resorts were adopted for pre-
venting the dutch clock" from tell
ing upon the violators OF rules, and 1t
is doubtful If the apparatus did much
to fulfill the duties for which 1t was
! applied.
Railroad managers soon began to
realize that where the trainmen re
spected the speed recorder. the move
ment of trains was materially retard-
ed An anecdote Is related of John
Gault, famous railroad manager, who
was solicited to purchase speed re-
corders; What good will 1t do?" de-
manded that highly practical railroad
man. Twill it make our trains run
faster? VIII II help to make a loco
motive pull more cars up grader"
well, no." replied the agent, at will
prevent trainmen from running trains
too fast" THAT won't suit me-" said
Gault. 1.-THE trains run too slow now.
What am looking for is something
that will help to relieve the block OF
freight the road Is suffering from.
Trainmen are the best judges OF how
fast train can run safely. The train
sheet Is q good enough recorder for
me. Locomotive Engineering.