The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1909-09-03
THE NATIONS TIME.

which is set up on a hill in the north
western part OF the District Of Coium-
bia lie chances at the various clocks
in the room and then goes over 10
table which Is covered with electric
apparatus.
lie watches the clocks TO his left
closely and waits for the hands 10
reach five minutes OF u As the sec
Ond hand approaches the so on the
dial he prepares 10 shift a switch. The
cock il SO finely adjusted that when
the second hand points TO 90 II exactly
marks the beginning OF new minute.
As il touches the 90 the switches are
thrown on That starts a signal that
goes out instantaneously over 100000
miles OF telegraph lines. In Washing
ton. New York. Buffalo. Cleveland.
Newport News. Norfolk. Savannah.
New Orleans. Key West. Galveston.
Chicago and elsewhere the time balls
% up on their poles. People know
that il Is five minutes before noon.
Washington time.
The clock which keeps time in the
observatory ticks on with each tick
there Is a contact OF electric points
A circuit Is closed and an instrument
on the table similar In appearance 10
a telegraph s0under ticks away loudly
II goes on 10 the twenty ninth sec
ond. men skips one tick. then resumes
its steady sounding until tire last five
seconds. then there Is another gap.
/ These gaps are for the purpose OF Civ
ing listeners ar other ends Of the great
system Of wires chance % know what
part OF the minute the clork IS on.
( So IL goes up 10 the last minute.
Al the twenty-ninth second there Is
I again the skipping OF one second. p.
nally the clock gets around 10 the nj
tiefh second. Then the circuit remains
open for 10 seconds There Is silence
I all alols the telegraph wires
{ Al the other ends. where there are
I time halls or merely train operators
the long pause indicates that noon Is
almost there. The second hand makes
on toward 6O and finally reaches the
1 marx Then there is another click. IN
about a second the sounder Is down and
that tells hundreds Of thousands OF
I people that II is noon in Washington
thai the Naval Observatory says so
and mat the Naval Observatory IS nov
one OF the best timekeeping institu
|
Il is a wonderful operation. this get
ting the time. and highly technical
Finely adjusted clocks. chrOnOgraph,
and other instruments OF great value
are used. and the taking and recording
OF the time has reached point wher'
the human equation is practically elm
mated
The results obtained are OF great val
ne. particularly 10 mariners. The tim
is not only flashed 10 hundreds o
points in the United States. but IL j
sent far out to sea by wireless
cable carries the fash to Havana, ar
other sends IL down TO Panama AM
Callao. Peru.
The mean time is determined by al
Economical observations. When certai
stars pass the seventy-fifth meridian
called the meridian OF Washington.
is a certain time. The operator watche
for the stars through a telescope. III
field Of which is covered with I'm
wires.
AS the stars reach a certain point
transit the operator presses key
his hand A contact is made and r
corded on a chronograph. The chrol
ograph consists Of a cylinder covere
with paper. fountain pen rests Q
J the paper II is held by an arm a
tached 10 the mechanism. The cyli
{ der revolves once a minute and u
I pen moves along the surface Of Il
: paper. making a spiral line.
A sidereal clock OF the finest make
running In a vault underneath Il
observatory. With each tick OF Il
clock there Is a contact Of two point
e These two points are attached 10 wiz
II that lead 10 an electro-magnet attach
II to the arm that holds the pen of q
chronOgraph. The clock Is so ADJUST
A that each minute the pen jumps TO o.
y side. Consequently there is break
:. the line.
There are other breaks. too, VII
the observer watches the stars Gro
: the lines in the field of the telescol
The mean time thus recorded for ca
T. star. after being corrected for erro
% Is the clock time of the stars trans
Whatever difference there is betwe
"A this clock time and the sidereal til
marked by the transit Of the stars
the error Of the clock From thu
= astronomical observations the sider'
I Illit - nt NaAOA otAN-'
ID to but little. rarely being more IN
~ from FIVE hundredths to ten one hl
m dredths Of a second.
The sidereal clocks are wonder
l pieces Of work. They were made
OF Berlin by man named Refer
There are two clocks which may
C used in automatically sending out
al time. so If one should break down
r. other would be ready for the en-
gency These clocks are made &C
"a. rate by comparison with the slider
IL clocks
The time OF sending a fash over
wires IS practically nothing. A Il
A has reached Greenwich. England.
le. three-tenths Of a second.-Washing
" Cor New York Sun.