The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-29
THE METHOD OF CALCULATING
TIME IN THE UNITED STATES
Some Interesting Facts About Why it Exists and Some
of It's Vagaries and Defects-Sent Out From ob-
servatory at Washington.


end indicating time is a legacy from
the ancient Romans Having became
accustomed to it through long years
Of use we fail to notice it's shOrtcom-
ings, Inconsistencies and absurdities. Ii
is only when our attention IS partlcu-
larly directed to some glarlng lncon-
sistency or some unbearable hardship
that we wake up to the situation and
take measures to relieve ourselves OF
some burden that it imposes upon US.
Such ac ondition forced itself upon
the attention Of the public in 1888.
Previous to that year each city and
town reckoned its time from it's meri-
dian. This is to say, from the merl-
dian passing through that particular
place. 1t was impracticable for rail-
ways to arrange their time tables TO
conform strictly with this condition.
Some attempts made to do so created
considerable confusion. 1t neceSSltat-
ed the engineer and other train hands
setting their watches at nearly every
important station. This proved
very costly practice to the railroad
companies and was the direct cause
Of some disasters. There were upward
of SO different kinds of railway time
in the United States, and ii WAS q
usual thing for jewelry stores to pro-
vide their regulators with two minute
hands one for local time and one for
railway time. This caused so much
inconvenience to the public and be-
came such a source of trouble to rail-
way managers tlat, in order to relieve
the situation, an agreement was Ter
ed into to adopt four meri0lans from
which time for the United States
should be taken
The meridians adopted for this pur-
pose were the seventy fifth, from
which Eastern time is taken: she
min of b for ,fv-D1 hn
hundred and twentieth, for Pacific
time. These meridians Of Is degrees
apart, making a difference in time of
exactly one hour between each. All
the railways throughout the United
States now arrange their time tables
approximately in conformity with
these meridians.
system went into effect and there was
general resetting Of clocks and
watches all over the country. livery
city and town now uses for It's LEGAL
time one of these meridians, the one
used being identical with that used by
the railways passing through cr term
mating at that place.
To fully comprehend the use of
these meridians it must be borne in
mind that longitude is universally
reckoned from Greenwich. Every sea
captain all over the world, regardless
of from what port he sails or to what
port he is bound, sets his chronone ter
by Greenwich time. 1t must also be
borne in mind that the time occupied
by the earth in making a revolution
is "a hours. Dividing $50 degrees by
"a hours gives 5 degrees; cOnse-
quently s degrees has time value Of
one hour. This is to say, the apparent
motion of the sun from east to west
Is at the rate of Il degrees per hour
The meridians, it will be understood
run north and south. The sixtieth
from which Atlantic time is taken
passes through the eastern parts of the
province of Quebec and New Bruins
wick. Canada. This meridian is useC
on some of the Canadian railways, bu
is not used in the United States Tn.
seventy-ffth meridian. from which
Eastern time is reckoned, passes
through Herkimer New York western
New Jersey and Eastern Pennsyl
vania, about midway between Trenton
and Philadelphia. The ninetieth mer
idian, from which Central time i
lecNoned, passes throuh the extrem
eastern edge of Minnesota, the west
ern part of Michigan. the center o
Wisconsin; through Illinois, II mile
west of it's capital-Springfeld
IL miles east of ST. Louis, throug
the extreme eastern parts Of Missoul
and Arkansas, the western part @
Tennessee, three miles east of Mem
phis, through Mississippi, two mile
west of Jackson, and through til
eastern side of Louisiana, five mile
east of New Orleans. The one hun
dred and fifth meridian, from whic
mountain time is reckOned, passe
through Eastern Montana, 40 mile
east Of Miles City; through Easter
Wyoming, 10 miles west of Cheyenne
through Denver, and 10 miles west {
Colorado Springs; through New Me,
leo, 30 miles east Of Santa Fe; an
through the extreme west of Texa
80 miles east of Ell Paso. The on
hundred and twentieth meridian. frol
which Pacific time is reckoned, pass&
centrally through the State of Wash
lngton and Oregon, forms the dividin
line betweeen Nevada and Califorli
10 point IL miles west of Carso
city, thence through the center
California.
The ninetieth meridian furnish
time for a larger area than any olhs
e. - t<a<, 4 ~