Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1909-10-28
TIME OF THE NATION,
How 1t Is Kept at the Naval OBJ
seryatory In Washington.
THE SIGNAL FOR HIGH NOON,
I. Is Flashed Out Over Nearly a Mil
lion Miles of Telegraph Wires Every
Day In the Year--The Finely Ad-
iusted Instruments That Are Used.

A few minutes before II O'Clock noon
every day in the year Il young man
walks into Il certain room Of the main
building at the naval observatory,
which is ser up on IA Hill In the north
western part of the District of Column
bia. He glanccs at the various clocks
In the room and then goes over TO a
table which is covered with electric
apparatus.
He watches the clocks TO his left
closely and waits for the hands to
reach l %. As the second hand APP
proaches the 60 ON the dial he pre-
pares to shift switch The clock is
so finely adjusted that when the sec
oud hand points to 90 1t exactly marks
the beginning of new minute.
AS it touches the GO the switches
are thrown on. That starts n signal
that goes out nstantaneously over
100000 miles of telegraph lines. In
Washington. New York, Buffalo, Cleye-
land. Newport. Baltimore, Newport
News. Norfolk. Savannah New Or
and elsewhere the time balls 20 up on
their poles People know that ii is
five minutes to noon, Washington time
The clock which keeps the time in
the observatory ticks on. With each
tick there Is contact of electric
points A circuit Is closed, and an in
strument on the table similar in ap-
pearauce to a telegraph sounder ticks
away loudly.
1t goes on to the twenty-ninth sec
ond. then skips one tick, then resumes
its steady sounding until the last five
seconds; then there is another gap
These gaps are for the purpose of
giving listeners at the other ends Of
the great system of wires a chance to
know what part Of the minute the
clock is on. SO it goes Up to the last
minute
At the twenty-ninth second there is
again the skipping of one second.
Finally the clock gets around TO the
fftleth second Then the circuit re
mains open for ten seconds. There is
silence all along the telegraph wires
At the other end. where there are
time balls or merely train operators.
the long pause indicates that noon il
almost there The second hand makes
on toward 60 and finally reaches
the mark. Then there is another click F:
I'm about a second the sounder is down.
aud that tells hundreds of thousands
of people that it is noon in Washing-
ton.
II is a wonderful operation. this get,
ting the time, and highly technical
Finely adjusted clocks. chronographs
aud other instruments of great VALUE,
are used, aud the taking and recording
of the time have reached point where
the human equation is practically elim.
mated
The results obtained are Of great
value, particularly to mariners The
time is not only flashed TO hundreds
Of points in the United States. but II
Is sent far out to sea by wireless \
cable carries the flash to Havana; an.
other To Panama and Callau. Peru
The observatory here does not send
the time much farther west than the
Rockies, bur they have an observatory
ut the Mare Island navy yard ami
from there the time is sent mp aud
down the Pacific coast just as II is
from here to the eastern parl of the
United States. In the cities whrrr The
central time is used the fash marks
II O'Clock IN hour later local opera
tors drop the time balls
The mean time Is determined by as
trononilu observations When cor
tain stats uaSs the scvruiy-hlth mcrid
ian. called rhc meridian OF Washing.
ton. 10 is a certain time The operator
watches for thc stars Trough tclc
scope the HELD of which Is covered
Wlth enc wires
As lac stars rouCh "a certain point In
transit the operator presses key nv
his hand 4 contact is made and re-
corded ON ghr1uoglwph The rhuuu
graph consists uf ,y.iudgr covered
with paper A loUuHu pu nS,~ 40
the rappr II s hcid by an a1u yi.
tnchrd 10 The mechanism The ryli
der rerolrrS once % minute. ANA the
pen moves alng the surface W the
paper making spiral liuc
A Sidcrul ciurk uf The finest make Is
runumg n d vault underneath The ol-
scyutory Win each tick ~ the
clock there Is d coulacl Of two points
Those two points are attached 10 wires
ihJl head tu am Ipctro-mu.usl at
taahcd 40 tbe urm THAT holds ghp pom
of tbr chruuogruph The clock is So
adjusted THAT each minnie rhe pen
Jump, tu one side Consequently there
is a break I'M the line
There are other breaks. too. when
the observer watches the stars
cross the lines i'm he field ot the
telescope The mean rimr thus &c
corded for each STAR. after being cor
retted tor errors Is The clock lmc ~
Che stars transit Whatever differences
there Is between fhp olueE iimc aud
the siderca time marked hy the trans
il of the stars IS the crynr af The
clock From these Astronomical. OBJ
scrvatouS the Sidcrea gimp is OBJ
yalncd The error amounts 90 but
ugrle rarely being more Than from
live one-huudredtbs TO ten one. hun
drcdths III Il second