The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-29
is that the hands of their CLOCK "ouio

is that the hands of their clock would
point at instead of :.
We would soon become accustomed
to the proposed change ano the great
benefit and saving resulting therefrom
would reDay us many times over Tor
any slight inconvenience that masnt
at first be felt With this system III
force there would be no setting and
resetting of travellers or railroad en-
ployee watches. one nnght tIapei
from coast to coast without disturb
ing his watch. The reading of rail-
Way time tables would be SO .simplified
that there would be no excuse for
making mistakes. The absurdit1es that
now exist in the matter OF time
would be eliminated.
By our present system of reckoning
time it would have been possible for
an event to have occurred in New
York on January /, 1911, at l a. M,
and for that event to have been known
in San Francisco at 10 p. m. Decem-
Der 81, 1910. 1t is now possible to
leave Ell Paso for the West one hour
from the East-according to railway
time tables. The writer recently saw
the appa rent anomaly of two trains
standing side by side in the station at
Buffalo, both headed for the West
yet the engineers and conductors
WaICnoS on one tram were JUST one
hour ahead of the other. This sort
of incongruity would be impossible
with the proposed new system.
Half a century ago there was not
| a watch in existence capable of meet
| ing the requirements of American rail-
way time service today. Railway time
inspection has set the limit of Varia-
| ton from true time, for its employ
ees' watches, at 80 seconds a week.
This means that the balance wheel
shall not vary in it's motion to the ex-
! tent Of one vibration out of every TO-
| 900. Taking into consideration the
various causes Of disturbance to
subjected, the jolts and jars, the
changes Of temperature and the
magnetic influence incidental to the
proximity of large masses of iron and
steel, this performance is truly re-
markable That it is possible to Sc
cure such accuracy in such tiny
piece of mechanism subjected to those
adverse influences is little short of
marvellous and justifies the claim
that the watch of today is The most
! wonderful piece Of mechanism that
the ingenuity of man has ever pro
duced
The requirement for accuracy ir
railway watches in particular, and 70,
others as well, is becoming more ex.
acting every day Horologists are al
their wits end to meet them. The
time is surely coming when purely
mechanical device will not longer suf.
flee to produce sufficient accuracy
What then? Some other force Of ma.
I ture must be enlisted. What will il
be? What else but that mysteriou.
force, electricity? That wonderful
power, which is being harnessed tt
tighten mans burdens and minister t.
his wants and pleasures Yes; wire
less electricity is destined to solve the
pro bfem.
The time is now sent out from tht
Observatory at Washington from al
!, astronomical clock, SO protected
against all disturbing influences tha
it runs with infinitesimal variation
and is corrected by nightly stellar OBJ
observations. Centrally located clock,
controlled from this master clock a.
| Washington will be used to send ou
, aerial electric waves. These clocks
will control a radius of, perhaps. 1Ol
miles. The watch and the clock O
the future, like their precursors. tn,
sun-dial and the clepsydra, will b,
relegated to the shelves Of our muse
urns, their places taken by electric re
+ celVerS cOntrived to indicate time re
ce1ved from these central clocks.