Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1901-12-06
WHEN NOON COMES
GOVERNMENT SENDS EXACT
TIME TO EVERY CITY.

The Signal is Given by Electricity and Over
10000 Clocks are Set simultaneously and
Corectly-lt Has the Right Of Way Over
the Telegraph System Employed.
Hunters in the woods mark the
time of noon by their shadows, and
years ago our grandiathers watched
the sun dial to tell when noon ap'
preached; but to day we are more sci.
entifically exact, and most elaborate
mechanism is arranged to mark the
exact second when it is noon. Con.
suit dozen watches and clocks, and
it will be found probably that they all
differ in time from a second to five OF
10 minutes. One man says his watch
is correct, and another claims infalli.
bility for his; but the watch or clock
was never made that always kept ex.
act time.
So in order to keep the country
we'll regulated so far as time is con.
cerned the naval observatory under.
takes to correct the clocks of the
country. When the hour of noon
strikes at the observatory electric sig.
nails 60 forth to all parts of the coun
try, and over 10000 clocks are simul-
taneously set exactly at the noon
hour. If you watch one of these
clocks, the hands will, if it has lost
time, suddenly jump forward to the
exact noon hour. At the same time
thousands of time balls along the
coast drop their signals to indicate To
mariners and others that the hour oil
noon is here.
The exact hour Of noon is obtained
by astronomers at the naval observa.
tory, who with an accurate transit in.
strument watch the movement of the
stars and sun to correct the big obser'
vatory clock. This clock is regulated
so exactly that it is not a hundredth
OF fraction of a second out of the
way. Day after day this clock is cor.
rected by astronomical observations.
On either side Of this big clock are
two smaller clocks which have peculi-
ar mechanism for sending out the
noon hour automatically. Promptly
at IL :57 the telegraph company who
has the contract for sending out the
clock-time suspends all other business,
and the wires are turned over to the
operator at the naval observatory for
three minutes. In that time the au.
tomato setting OF 10000 clocks is &C.
complished. The two clocks near the
main observatory clock are correct to
correspond with the latter, varying
however, exactly eight minutes and
1900 seconds. The central clock il
sidereal time, and the other two
standard eastern time. All the clocks
in the land are corrected to correspond
with the smaller clocks, and not with
the sidereal-time clock.
In some of the larger cities there
are time balls, which were originally
erected to warn mariners of the noon
hour. These balls are covered with
canvas, and are at the top of poles in
conspicuous places. When the noon
hour approaches in Washington, the
operator who has these time balls in
charge turns an electric switch which
places them all into the circuit with
the naval observatory. When the
clock gets within fraction OF the ex
act noon hour, the tooth OF the min
ute wheel approaches a spring, which
when it touches it, closes the circuit
Instantly the electric flash spreads ir
every direction, and the time balll
all drop from the top TO the bottom o
the poles. People watch the dropping
Of these time balls, and then set theil
watches and clocks accordingly
Probably q hundred thousand clock,
are set by these time balls. 1t cost
the owner of = clock SIS a year t.
have his instrument set automatically
every noon by wire, but no charge,
are imposed upon him to correct hi
time piece each day by the dropping
of these time balls.
At all military posts time balls o.
clocks, regulated by the naval observa
tory, are placed, and when the moor
hour is marked bugler takes up tn,
word and sounds the call for noon OF
his instrument. One may thus ascer
tain the exact noon hour by listening
to the military bugle call every day
There is little variation in the clock.
set by the naval observatory because
OF the distance from Washington
The electric current travels so rapidly
that the dropping of the time balls
and regulation of clocks connected
with the circuit are almost absolutely
simultaneous. The electric signal
travels to the Pacific coast in frac.
ton of second, the record being AZ
low as one-fifth of second.
REPRESENTATIVES, Babcock says that
as soon as the tariff does more than
make up the difference in price be-
tween American and foreign labor it
becomes ga burden on the people,
This is peculiar logic from one who
believes that Z" the foreigner pays the
tax.
AMBITION is worse tyrant than
hunger.