Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-08-03
TIME BY MERIDlANs
ARRANGEMENT THAT MAKES
THE COMMON STANDARD.
System Dates From 1888, and Was
Devised to Meet the Require
ments of the Railroads
Explanation Is Simple.

The measure of any circle, fnclud'
ing the circumference Of the earth, of
course, is $50 degrees. The earth re-
wolves on its axis once in "a hours;
hence the sun appears to pass over
one-twenty-fourth of the circumfer,
ence of the earth in one hour. It is
always noon at some point On the
earth's surface, and of course at a
point halfway around the earth, it is
midnight The extension Of the rail
way systems Of the United States,
which cover nearly so degrees of
longitude, caused all kinds of trouble
because of the difference of time. 1t
is noon by the sun at any point on
the earth's surface when the sun is
directly over the meridian OF that
point-that is, 1t is noon by sun time;
but nobody runs by sun time. Why?
Because the movement of the earth
in its orbit is faster in winter than
IN summer; so that the time common
ly called sun time" at each city, is
not sun time, as measured by the
minute the sun reaches the meridian
of that point; but, what is called
mean time" which is the average
time throughout the year that the
sun would be on the meridian if the
motion of the earth were absolutely
equal at all points in its orbit.
The more the railway business of
the country increased, the greater be-
came the trouble. So, in 1888, the
system called STANDARD time" was de-
vtsed and adopted by all the railroads
in the United States. The plan-and
ignate certain meridians, l. degrees
apart-and where the difference in
actual sun time would, of course, be
exactly one hour-and have the time
be the same for space of country,
Of which these meridians should be
the middle.
The first meridian is that OF rs de-
grees west of Greenwich. This line
passes just east of Philadelphia. For
seven and one-half degrees east and
west of this, the railroads keep what
Is known as eastern time" The
next meridian is that of 80 degrees
west Of Greenwich, which passes
through Wisconsin, eastern Iowa and
close to Memphis. This is called
central time" The next is the
space, Is degrees wide, of which the
meridian of los degrees west of
Greenwich is the middle. That merid
ian passes through the eastern edges
m 81
west of Denver This is called
mountain time" The next time-strip
has its middle on the meridian of
120 degrees west of Greenwich, which
passes through Washington, Oregon
and California. This is called "Paci
flc time
For instance, suppose one is travel
ing from San Francisco east, and sets
his watch in that city. Suppose he
comes east over the Union Pacific. At
Ogden, which the railroad has made
the point of time-division, he sets his
watch an hour faster. At Cheyenne
Mills. Colo, he sets it an hour faster
again, for the changes from mountain
to central time. He reaches Chicago,
and goes east over the Lake Shore.
At Buffalo he sets his watch one hour
faster, that being the dividing point
between central and eastern time
When he does this he finds his watch
agreeing with the time of the places
through which he passes, and with
the railway timecards. If he travelled
westward, he would simply set his
watch one hour slower at the point
named.