Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-08-13
TIME OF THE nation
How It Is Kept at the Naval OBJ
servatory In Washington.
THE SIGNAL FOR HIGH NOON

The SIGNAL FOR HIGH NOON
T. Is Flashed Out Over Nearly MIL
lion Miles Of Telegraph Wires Every
pav In tho Year-The Finely Ad-
iu,ted Instruments That Arc Used.
A few minutes before IL o'clock noon
every day in the year young man
walks into a certain room of the nam
building at the naval observatory,
which Is set up on a hill in the north
western part of the District Of Colum-
bia. He glances at the various CLOCKS
! IN the room and then goes over to q
table which is covered with electric
apparatus.
He watches the clocks to his left
closely and waits for the hands to
| reach 11:55. AS the second hand ap-
! proaches the GO on the dial he pre-
pares to shift switch. The clock Ia
30 finely adjusted that when the sec.
ond hand points to 60 it exactly marks
| nae DoSluuluk VI q uC" AAAAuSSs
As it touches the GO 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-
land. Newport, Baltimore, Newport
News. Norfolk. Savannah, New Or
leans, Key West. Galveston, Chicago
and elsewhere the time balls go up on
their poles. People know that it is
FIVE minutes to noon. Washington time.
The clock which keeps the time In
the observatory ticks on. With each
| tick there is a contact of electric
points. A circuit is closed, and an In
strument on the table similar in ap-
| pearance to a telegraph sounder ticks
away loudly.
It goes on to the twenty-ninth Sec
ond. then skips one tick, then resumes
it's 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 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
fft1eth 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 is
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 it is noon in Washing
ton.
1t is a wonderful operation. this get
ting the time, and highly technical.
Finely adjusted clocks, chronographs
and other instruments of great value
are used, and the taking and recording
of the time have reached 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 it
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 is sent up and
down the Pacific coast, just as 1t Is
from here to the eastern part of the
United States. In'the cities where the
central time is used the flash marks
II O'Clock. An hour later local opera
tors drop the time balls. 49,
The mean time is determined by as
Economical observations. When GER
tain stars pass the seventy-6fth merid-
ian, called the meridian Of Washing
ton, it is d certain time. The operator
watches for the stars through tele-
scope, the field of which is covered
with fine wires. +. r&
AS the stars reach q certain point in
transit the; operator presses key In
his hand. A contact is made and re-
corded on a chronograph. The chrome
graph consists OF cylinder covered
with paper. 4 fountain pen rests on
| the paper. 1t is held by an arm at
tached to the mechanism. The cylin-
der revolves5 once II minute. and the
pen moves along the surface of the
paper. making a spiral line. /. a #
A sidereai clock Of the finest make is
! running In vault underneath the OBJ
| servatory. With each tick Of the
clock there is a contact Of two points.
These two points are attached 80 wires
| that lead to- an electro-magnet at
| tached to the arm that holds the pen
Of the chronograph. y The clock is so
| adjusted that each minute the pen
| Jumps to one side. Consequently there
is break In the Tine. Il slsz:s 4 s s.ss
There are other breaks. too. when
1.-THE observer watches the stars
cross the lines in the aeld OF the
1 - kf,asr