The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1909-08-12
TIME OF THE NATION,
How 1t Is Kept at the Naval OBJ
servatory In Washington.
THE SIGNAL FOR HIGH NOON.
II 10 Flashed Out Over Nearly a Mil
lion Miles Of Telegraph Wires Every
Day In the Year-Ths Finely Ad-
Iusted Instruments That Are Used.

justed instruments That Are Used.
A few minutes before L. O'Clock noon
every day In the year young man
Walks into certain room of the main
building ut the naval observatory,
which Is set NJ en- Il hill In the north
western part Of the District OF Column
Ola. lie Chances at the various clocks
In the room aud then goes over to n
table which IS covered with electric
apparatus.
lie watches the clocks IL his left
closely and waits for the hands tn
reach IL -. As the second hand an
proaches the GO on the dial he pre-
pares TO shift switch The clock Is
so finely adjusted that when the SEC
ond hand points Ia ~ II exactly marks
the beginning of new minute.
As IL touches the Ga the switches
are thrown on. That starts a signal
that goes out instantaneously over
100000 miles OF telegraph lines. In
Washington. New York. Buffalo. Cleve-
hnd. Newport. baltimore Newport
News. Norfolk. Savannah. New Or
leans. Key West. Galveston. Chicago
and elsewhere the time balls 10 up on
their poles. People know that IL Is
hve minutes To noon. Washington time.
The clock which keeps the time i'm
the observatory ticks on. With each
tick there is contact of electric
points. \ circuit Is closed. and an In
strument on the table similar In APP
pearance to a telegraph sounder ticks
away loudly.
1T goes on 70 the twenty -ninth sec
ond. then skips one tick. then resumes
ifs steady sounding until the last five
seconds: then there il another gan.
These gaps are for the purpose Of
giving listeners AT the ether ends of
the great system OF wires n chance 10
know what part Of the minute the
clock Is on. So II goes up To the last
minute.
Al the twentF-ninth second there IL
again the skipping of one second.
Finally the clock gets around to the
fiftieth second. Then the circuit re-.
mains open for ten seconds There IL
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:
In about second the sounder is down.
and that tells hundreds of thousands
OF people that 1t Is noon In Washing.
ton.
10 mi
ting the time, and highly technical.
Finely adjusted clocks, chronographs
and other instruments OF great value
are used. and the taking and recording
or the time have reached a point where
the human equation is practically elm
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 A
cable carries the fash to Havana; an
other to Panama and Callao. Peru.
The observatory here does not send
the time much farther west than the
Rockies, but they have an observatory
at the Mare Island navy yard, and
from there the time IL sent up and
down the Pacific coast. just as IL is
from here TO the eastern part of the
United States. In the cities where tho
central time Is used the fash marks
IL O'Clock. An hour later local opera
tors drop the time balls.
The mean time liz determined by as
Economical observations. When GER
tain stars pass the seventy-fifth merih-
IAN, called the meridian of Washing.
ton, 1t Is certain time. The operator
watches for the stars through a tele-
scope. the field OF which Is covered
with fine wires.
As the stars reach n certain point IN
transit the operator presses a key in
Ills hand \ contact Is made and re-
'orded on chronograph. The chrome
graph consists Of a cylinder covered
With paper A fountain pen rests on
he paper. II liz held by an arm Mt
ached to the mechanism The cyIfn-
Ter reVolves once n minute, and the
zen moves along the surface Of the
'apcr. making a spiral line.
A sidereal clock Of the finest make IL
IN n vault underneath the oh.
ervatory. With each tick of the
JOCK there In contact of two points.
-hese two points are attached TO wires
hat lead TO an electro magnet Al
ached to the arm that holds the pen
the chronograph. The clock Is 40
dJusted that each minute the pen
jumps to one side. Consequently there
a break I'm the line
There are other breaks, too. when
he observer watches the stars
ross the lines In the field Of IN,
elescopa. The mean time thus re-
orded for each star after being cor
ected sor errors. is the clock time Of
ne stars transit. Whatever difference
here is between the clock time aud
ne sidereal time marked by the trans
OF the stars IN the error Of the
ock. From these astronomical oh
srvations the sidereai time II oh
lined. The error amounts 10 but
tile, rarely being more than from
We one hundredths 10 ten one-hun-
redths Of second
The time Of sending fash over the
Tres IN practically nothing. 4 fash
Is reached Greenwich. England. In
o. second Washington
Or. Chicago Inter Ocean.