Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1911-09-07
MUST CARRY GOOD WATCHES
Railroad Men An Compelled to Uso

J.
Railroad Men Are Compelled to us,
Accurate Timepieces.
1t may be news TO many that the
watch of the railroad man Is as NEG
essary in modern railroading as tue
air brake. Without accurate time
keeping there would probably be more
accidents than Ii there were no air
brakes The train dispatcher starts a
train at a certain time; he hats IL at
certain stations at certain times; he
side tracks it for a period of varying
length; the watch of the conductor on
the side tracked train must agree with
the watch of the conductor on the ex-
press to which he had to give way;
I each station master along the road
checks the time OF every train that
stops or flies past.
! In order that there may be agree
ment among all these railroad men
| 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 if they agree with some
standard. The railroad man is there
fore compelled to buy not simply an
ordinary watch of reasonable value.
but particularly good watch. time
piece which is adjusted to heat, cold
and at least three positions. These
three positions are pendant up, as
carried in the pocket; dial up and dial
down. Such an instrument will not
vary more than thirty seconds a 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 a good
railroad watch. for a 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. If
we take into consideration the number
of watches that are used on other
roads throughout the country it is
evident that the value must run up
into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In order that the watch may be kept
up to a regular standard it must be
Inspected regularly. There is not only
4 general time inspector on most rail-
'oads, but a staff of local inspectors
Who are placed along the road at con-
7enient points and to whom the men
nay resort when they wish to CON- =
'are their time with the standard time l
t that place. Once every two weeks g
be railroad man submits his watch to N
uch an inspector. usually a jeweler Y
r matchmaker by profession.
The inspector gives his expert opin-
IN on the condition of the timepiece.
1t needs cleaning he says so and
oes it; If it is fast or slow he regu- :
ites it, and not until 1t is running
nth sufficient accuracy is it allowed
} escape from his care. A watch's
ecord is kept as if it were thief So
lr as repairing goes, the railroad man c
under 40 compulsion. He need not <
and over his watch to any particular
'atchmaker or inspector for repair. @
ut he can give it to any matchmaker
whom he has confidence 1t must,
oWever. be submitted to the in
rector before 1t can be used in actual
rvice.
That no favoritism is shown in the
after of watches is evident in the
ct that no less than eight diff
rent manufacturers supply railroad
American.