The Cairo bulletin., 1911-07-31
MUST CARRY GOOD WATCHES
Railroad Men Are Compelled to Use
Accurate Timepieces.


Accurate Timepieces.
1t may be news to many that the
watch of the railroad man Is as nee
sssary in modern railroading as the
air brake. Without accurate time
teeping there would probably be more
accidents than II there were no air
brakes. Che train dispatcher starts Il
t,riin ut Il certain time: he halis II nc
certain stations ut certain times: he
side tracks 1t for period Of varying
the side tracked train must agree with
the watch of the conductor on the ex
press to which he had to give way.
each station master along the road
checks the time Of every train that
stops or dies past.
In order that there mny be agree
ment among all these railroad meu
there must obviously be not only time
pieces. but accurate timepieces. There
must also be some means Of inspect
ing the timepieces to see If they are
accurate and II they agree with some
standard. The ralrond man IL there
fore compelled to buy not simply an
ordinary watch or reasonable value.
but particularly good watch. a time
piece which Is adjusted to heat cod
and at least three positions. These
three positions are pendant up. us
carried In the pocket: dial up and dial
down, Such I'm instrument will nor
vary more thnn thirty seconds week.
which Is good deal more accurate
than many scientific Instruments OF
precision used IN laboratories, Even
human proneness to error is consid-
cred In this matter OF choosing good
railroad watch for lever set watch
Is preferred to the pendant set watch
because there Is just the chance that
the stem Of the pendant set may not
be pushed back after setting through
an oversight.
On one great line about 5000
watches. worth on an average Of S25
apiece "a low average). are used. Ii
we take into consideration the number
of watches that are used on other
roads throughout the country II In
evident that the value must run up
into hundreds of thousands OF dollars,
In order that the watch may be Kept
up to regular standard II must be
inspected regularly. There Is not only
q general time inspector on most rail-
roads. but staff of local inspectors
who are placed along the road at con.
venient points and to whom the men
may resort when they wish to COM
pare their time with the standard time
at that place. Once every two weeks
the railroad man submits his watch to
such an inspector. usually jeweler
or matchmaker by profession.
The Inspector gives his expert opin.
ion on the condition of the tinepiece.
II it needs cleaning be says so and
does 1t; If 1t is fast or slow he regu-
lates it. and not until it is running
with sufficient accuracy is 1t allowed
to escape from his care A watch's
record is kept as IL 1t were thief. So
far as repairing goes. the railroad man
Is under. no compulsion. He need not
hand over his watch to any particular
matchmaker or inspector for repair,
but he can give II to any matchmaker
in whom he has confidence II must,
however be submitted to the In.
spector before 1t can be used In actual
service.
That no favoritism Is shown In the
matter of watches Is evident In the
fact that no less than eight diff
ferent manufacturers supply railroad
watches. Scientific American.