Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-03-22
12STANDARD- time CLOCKS
To be Installed in Mineral Point by
the Western Union Telegraph Co.

the Western Union Telegraph Co.
Within the next ten days the West
ern Union Telegraph company will in
stall in Mineral Point twelve more
standard time clocks, which will be set
automatically every hour from the
master clock in the local Western
Union office, which is itself regulated
from the main line at Washington, d.
G.. These clocks will be distributed as
follows: Mineral Point Telephone
company, Hotel Royal, Louis Kneu-
buehler, Globe Hotel, Mineral Point &
Northern Railway, Mineral Point Zinc
company, w. J. Penhallegon q Co.,
Mineral Point Public Service Co., Ell
mer Peters, William Hack. J. j. Mau
ger, r. j. Kieffer.
STANDARD TIME.
How standard time is regulated is
told as follows:
The time used in all the affairs Of civil
life in practically every civilized country is
what is known as mean solar time as dis
tinguishcd from true solar time recorded by
sun dials. The mean solar day begins at
midnight.
Prior to 1888 there existed throughout
the United States a great variety of time"
derived from various sources and used in
the conduct Of public and private affairs.
The result was confusion and inconvenience.
On November l8, 1888, by the joint ac-
ton of the railway companies and the peo-
pie of the several communities, seconded
by the support of number of the depart
ments of the United States Government
acting independently, uniform standard
time system was adopted. The country was
divided into time zones known as Eastern,
Central, Mountain and Pacific time respec-
lively, governed by the mean time of the
18th, Doth, l05th and l2Oth degrees west Of
Greenwich.
The time at all places in any zone is the
same, and the difference in time, travelling
west, between any two adjacent zones is one
hour earlier At twelve o'clock Eastern
Time, it is 100 a. m Central Time, 1000
a. m. Mountain Time and 900 a M Pacific
time.
The meridian passing through Greenwich,
England, which was adopted as the Prime
Meridian at an International Meridian Con-
ference held at Washington in October,
1884, is the meridian from which all calcu-
latons Of time are made both on land and
on the high seas all over the world In a
few sections of the country mean local
time is used in addition to Standard Time,
but this practice is gradually being aban-
doned.
At the United States Naval 0bserVatories
at Washington, d. {. ard Mare Island,
California, Government experts daily deter
mine by astronomical observations the cor
rect solar time The results of these obser-
vations are recorded by means of a chrono-
graph from which the transmitting clocks
are regulated.
The transmitting clocks are regulated
very accurately and are seldom in error to
a greater amount than one-tenth or two
tenths of a second. These transmitting
clocks are connected by wire with the
Western Unions operating departments in
Washington and San Francisco and every
day in the year excepting Sundays and
general holidays, beginning at ll;55 a. m.
and ending at exactly 1900 noon at the
18th and I20th meridians, the time shown
by the Naval Observatory transmitting
clocks is transmitted in seconds to our op-
Grating departments, where the beats are
picked up and automatically transmitted
over the company's telegraph system
throughout the length and breadth of the
United States.
This is the standard time of the United
States. 1t furnishes the basis for practi-
cally the whole industrial, commercial and
social life of the country.