Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-04-10
80 q
TIME BY MER|lDIANS
ARRANGEMENT THAT MAKES
THE COMMON STANDARD.
System Dates From 1888, and Wa,
Devised to Meet the Require.
ments Of the Railroads.
3d., Explanation 10 Simple.

The measure Of any circle, includ
ing the circumference Of the earth. OF
course. is 800 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. 1t is
always noon at some point on the
>earths 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 60 degrees of
longitude, caused all kinds OF trouble
because Of the difference OF time. It
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 1883, the
system called STANDARD time was de-
vised and adopted by all the railroads
In the United States. The plan-and
remarkably wise one-was to des-
ignate certain meridians, 10 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 lie called
central time" The next is the
space. Is degrees wide, of which the
meridian OF 105 degrees west OF
Greenwich is the middle That merid-
Ian passes through the eastern edges
on Montana and Wyoming, and just
west Of Denver. This IL called
mountain time" The next time-strip
has its middle on the meridian of
120 degrees west Of Greenwich. which
passes thrc- gh Washington. Oregon
and California. This Is called "Paci-
&c 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 bis
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 tho places
through which he passes, and with
the railway timecards. II he travelled
westward, he would simply set his
watch one hour slower at the point
named.