Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1917-01-30
KEEPING THE
CORRECT TIME
Some Interesting Information Con-
cerning This Important Mat.
ter Not Generally
Known.
CLOCKS ARE INSTALLED HERE
The Accuracy Of the Wonderful Sys-
tenn That is the Result Of
Careful Thought.
CLOCKS ARE INSTALLED HERE

AS Webster City's business me-
and women glance hastily sidewis
at the several Western Union cleo
trio clocks which are installed il
the show windows of number o
business houses along Second stree
on their way to work these frost.
mornings, little thought do the;
give to the fountain head of infor
nation concerning the "time o
day." other than to take exception
with it If it indicates later hou
than they anticipated after hast!
look at their own time piece on leav
ing home.
This is an age of living by thu
clock. All the relations and pur
poses of our lives are in measur,
regulated by the passing of tn
hours, minutes and seconds. S,
great has become our frenzy to pro
mote and secure efficiency that W.
crowd our existence to the utmost
with routine affairs to the detriment
Of health and manners.
The accuracy of the wonderful
mechanism which enables us to Sc
cure the correct time, flashed to us
by telegraph every hour of the day
is worthy of more than passing &C.
ceptance.
Brief extracts frApEna recent issue
or the Mentor gives an illuminating
vision of Keeping Time" as con.
Quoted at the great naval obserya.
tory at Washington, D. c.
"This Institution is charged with
the duty of testing all the chronome-
ters used in the navy, and also of op-
Grating time-balls, which furnish a
visible time signal for the use OF
mariners at our principal seaports.
The necessity for absolute correct
time in connection with these duties
led the observatory to undertake the
incidental but really most important
task of furnishing time service to
the country at large. Recently, with
the aid of Autobiography, this SER
vice has been extended far over the
adjacent oceans, and mariners out
at sea can now regulate their chron-
ometers by the official time signals.
The time service on the Pacific coast
is maintained by the observatory at
the Mare Island Navy Yard, in Cali
fornia.
In the room at the naval observa-
tory from which the time signals arc
sent out by telegraph twice day
at noon and at 10 p. m.-are placed
two signal clocks. only one of which
is used, the other being held in re-
serve for emergencies. These clocks
are mounted on massive piers, in or
der that they may not be disturbed
by the vibrations of the building.
A few minutes before the signal
is to be transmitted nearby chron-
ograph Is set in motion. This instru-
ment is connected electrically with
the astronomical clock of the observ-
atory, the error of which is known
to small fraction of second from
observation of stars, and Is also con-
nected with the signal clock in such
a manner that the seconds of both
timepieces ara registered by strokes
of pen on a revolving sheet of pa
par. A comparison of the two rec
ords makes it possible to set the sig
nal clock to the correct time, after
making allowance for the fact that
the astronomical clock keeps side
real or star time, while the signal
is intended to show standard solar
time.
The signal is transmitted by the
clock itself. At exactly five minutes
before the hour wheel on the axis
which carries the second hand be-
gins to operate telegraph key, at
intervals of a second, and at tele-
graph Offices throughout the coun-
try, the seconds are recorded by the
saunders. Practically all other tele-
graph business is suspended while
the signals are being received.
The same impulse from the clock
which operates the ordinary tele-
graph instrument is transmitted ov-
er the wire to the great radio station
at Arlington, Virginia. where 1t au-
sends out q wireless"