Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-30

spaces, but the scS6oth representing the
twenty-nin seco9djs missing. and so are
those representing the thirty fifth. fifty
sixth, fifty-seventf. .fifty-eighth and fifty
ninth seconds. As this wheel revolves the
teeth come In contact with q spring which
is in connection with the current closing
the circuit and causing the sounder to re-
spond. The twenty-ninth signal drops out
and that intermission indicates the approach
of the half minutei In the same way, an
intermssien OF five,sheats indicates the ap-
proach of the end OF the minute. This arbi-
trary arrangement is designed to warn oper-
ators all over the country when they cut in
at just what point, they have come on the
circuit. Before the final signal there Will be
a lapse of twenty seconds. This is brought
about by the action of the operator at the
observatory and Is not automatic Ike the
other intermissions. 1t is produced by the
operator moving the switch key, which
throws out of the circuit the wheel mark
ing the seconds and throws into circuit the
wheel that marks the minutes. II an opera
tor comes In on the circuit and the first
intermission he notes Is single second he
knows that he has come In on the half min
ute. If the intermissiOn Is five seconds, he
knows he has come In Just before the min
ute, but not the final minute. If he counts
more than five seconds he knows that 1t Is
the final intermission before the noon hour
and he acts accordingly.
Dropping the Time Ball.
What this operator and what all opera
tors have to do in regulating the time ball
is to turn a switch between the sounding
of the fortieth second and the signal which
marks the final minute. AS soon as the
operator has counted more than five Sec
onds in the intermission he knows that the
next signal will make the exact hour of
noon. The time ball has been hoisted to
it's position at the top of the pole.
These poles are In conspicuous places in
every large city IN the United States.
al 1yy he TON, Nff ha e<or mt
Telegraph building The ball is of canvas
over a globular form. There is a mechan-
ical device by which a single impulse sent
over the wire when the time ball is in cir
cult pulls the trigger and releases the ball
SO that it falls to the bottom Of the pole.
In the intermission which he knows pre-
cedes the final signal, the operator throws
the switch, and in this way all the time
balls in the country are brought into the
circuit with the naval observatory !, Z
When Neon Arrives.
In the last Tooth of the last second of the
fifty-ninth minute Of the eleventh hour at
Washington the tooth of the minute wheel
touches the spring which closes the circuit
and simultaneously the time balls all over
the country drop. When 1 say simulta-
neously, Of course, I make no allowance
for the fraction Of a second during which
the electric impulse Is going out from
Washington. Such an impulse has been
sent from washington to San Francisco in
one.fifth of a second: 49, la ..F,s,,a
The dropping Of the time ball sets the
clocks on Governors Island. one Of the
military posts at New York. through the
intermediary Of bugle call. Just before
noon Of each day two enlisted men are sta
toned at a point commanding a view of
the tower Of the Western Union building.
One of these is a signalman, with power
full field glass The other is the post bu-
gler. The signalman motions to the bugler
at the moment of the time balrs drop and
the bugler sounds the call for noon. All
over the island watches and clocks are ad-
Justed,' and, though, they do not achieve
correct time to that fraction of a second
which marks the electrically controlled
clock. they become accurate enough for all
military purposes,aI7 g ?'1 - '--i@
The clock regulating is done by another
piece of mechanism The same signal
which drops the time balls throws lever
in the thousands Of clocks all over the
country. This lever strikes a cam which
governs the second. : minute and hour
hands and with one motion the lever
throws these hands to the perpendicular,
making the clock mark the exact hour
minute and second OF noon.