The Washington times., 1920-10-09

.trument A. not an easy task. It 10 .
particularly difficult task when nan
. dozen snortinx, lurehins racing ma
chimes sweep past the timing stana IN
. bunch. for tho separate time OF
every car must be caught accurately
even when there 10 only nre-bunareo-
tbs OF q seconds dffsrsnes In time
between the cars.
odis A. Porter 10 the man who
handles the timing Of the Indianapolis
speedway rsess The timing instru-
msnt he uses IL an Assembiase OF
dslicatsly tuned electrically correlated
mechanical devices, and 10 20 extreme
ly sensitive that IL registers In frac-
tions OF seconds up TO even one Two
hundredths part. Upon the precision
and accuracy OF this Intricate ma
chine naturally depends very largely
the success and outcome or the race
One seconds laying down on the )oo.
one tiny slip-up and some driver may
be robbed or a well-earned victory
One hesitation In the operation OF the
instrument and the time or dozen
cars laundering down the speedway
stretch may be lost. causing subse-
Quent confusion and creating almost
hopeless muddle.
IMPORTANT MECHANISM.
Tho important mechanism consists
OF a series OF disks. four In numper'
with raised numerals. each disk grad
uated. The first disk. registering In
hours, is connected with a second
disk graduated, in sixtieth parts and
registering minutes The third disk.
similarly graduated, registers 1ec-
onds, and 10 connected with a fourth
disk graduated In sixtieth parts and
the latter IL connected electrically
with the second hand of ship chro-
nometer. Every tick OF the second
hand sends the wheel around In one
complete evolution. and every reVo-
luton OF he hundrelths disk kicks
over the disk registering seconds
| In turn. every revolution Of ths ssGond
! disk kicks over" the minute DISK one
notch.
A small steel wire stretched across
the speedway course connects Win
the timing instrument. whenever
car passes over the wire. the contact
through electrical stimulus causes
the timing device to record the time.
A striking arm above the four disks
strikes on q strip OF paper, register
ing the imprint OF the numerals on
the four disks Tho machine recovers
from each operation quickly enough
to permit another registration with
less than five hundredths OF a second
elapsing. On a machine running w
miles an hour, IL Is thus possible to
catch tho time OF both the front ana
rear wheels as they pass over the
wire, the two registrations showing
four hundredths of n second differ-
ence. But when a car Is exceeding
sixty miles an hour the rear wheels
do not register. the front wheels de-
messing the wire and the rear
wheels whixzing over before the wire
can rebound from the first impress
sion.
an assistant. calls out Its number, the
/ timer making this number opposite
the time recorded on the paper tape
which is shifted forward with each
registration. Scorers tabulate tne
laps made by each car, while the
timers assistants, by subtracting the
time of the preceding lap from the
last registration made. obtain the lag
time and from 1t tabulate each cars
complete lap performance and totaI
time.
i NEW TRACK RECORD.
i when Ralph DePalma in his white
iGoodyear-tired Ballot qualihed fol
the Speedway races on May rs. h,
made q new track record, ripping OF