Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-08-19

According to A. f.. Beal, CnleI U II AN'N
Section of the Bureau of Standards, and a mem,
Der of the institute, the electric light time slgnal
is quite desirable from the standpoii Oh tne
public.
$50 far as the power companies are concerned,
however," he explained, there are a few dlnl-
culties to consider. If the signal is operated by
hand. a reliable man must be appointed to OPP
crate the switch each evening. If the man en-
trusted with this duty delayed giving the slsnal
for a minute or two, or forgot to flash 1t alto
gether, there might be criticism of the company
However, mistakes are very unlikely TO happen;
The chances are that the time signal would
never be in error more than ten seconds, and II
is entirely beyond the question to assume that IL
would be in error as much as a minute with a
reliable man at the switch. II a small mistake
did occur,, however, and the signal were given a
few seconds too soon or too late, all the CLOCKS
of the city would still be uniform If adjusted by
Automatic Device Practical.
9TH operation of the signal could easily De
complish this would involve a small initial ex-
pense, but by using an utomatic signat the
company would be practically free from re-
racy. Whether the signal is operated by hana
or automatically there must be a reliable clock
to be used as a guide. 1t may be figured that a
couple of hundred dollars would cover the eX-
pense to the power company. At is quite possible
that this would be provided by many cities by
popular subscription"
In a city or town of rs, 900 people where one
power plant supplies the electricity, the signal
would be easiest to manage. One man could give
it by throwing a single switch at 8 ocock eacn
night.
In cities that have several plans the sishai
would have to be given from each base. IL mas
been suggested that where the same circuits are
used for lighting current and for power 10 driVe
heavy machinery the flash down and up OF the
current might possibly involve difficulties. En-
gineers have considered this point, however, ana
believe the signal would not cause any trouble.
These difficulties which a power company
would have to consider and investigate THOR
oughly before offering to give the time slgnal are
offset by certain advantages to the company;
There are at least two advantages, Mr.. Beai
points out:
known as good will" which means satisfaction
and kindly feeling between a company ana is
patrons; and this would undoubtedly be stlmu-
lated by supplying the time signal; Tnen, sec
would be likely to profit by giving the slgnai as
this would be an extra advantage OF using eleco
would be without the signal unless they We're
able to catch it from some outside electric nght.
The important thing about the ne. e peop1e Of a
whole city so that they are compelled Tor an IN
slant to think about the time. Instinctively, they
pull out their watches or look at the clock ana
note the variation. Without the signal they
could get the approximate time daily at a num-
Der of more or less reliable clocks ABOUT me
streets, but that involves effort and the effort Is
not impelled by an outside influence as in the
case of the electric light signal.
Need For Such Reform.
The need for a single standard of correct
time is apparent in our cities. Because of the
large number of such calls, telephone operators
are forbidden to respond to appeals tQr 'tne
right time please" Comparisons of the big
cIcks on towers and posts and the chronome-
los in windows will show that scarcely Two
have exactly the same time. According to Mr..
Beal, most people would be surprised 10 Know
how much window chronometers are permitted
to. get in error, even though they may carry a
card inscribed correct time" Yet, people set
their watches by these different clocks and chro-
nometers daily, each feeling that the parlculai
one he selects as a standard Is the most re-
liable.
ularly by electricity are as trustworthy guides
MS orr cities now offer. TneSe CLOCKS nave d.
their standard the Naval Observatory timeplece
at Washington, the correct time being wirea &c
each city at noon every day. The Naval Cd
servatory clock is one of the master CLOCKS VI
the country. There is another at the Bureau Oh
Standards. Such clocks vary as little as one
hundredth of a second in twenty-four hours. TIC
appreciat> this high degree of accuracy, com
pare 1t with the average small watch varyrhs
perhaps half a minute a day, or in other WORDS
1000 times as much as the master clock.
The Western Union clocks offer a sufficiently
reliable time standard, but they do not begin to
reach an entire population. Other clocks are
used by many people who have long mad the
habit Of consulting a clock at some particular
point passed daily.
The time ball is another sufficiently accurate
signal, which like the Western Union clocks
reaches a large number of people In a city. put
The time bali is a mariners device and is
used principally in ports. The need for a snip
to get the correct time was first met by the time
ball at the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, about
seventy years ago. A ball was raised to the top
of a. high pole near the wharf, and at noon II
was released so that it slid down the pole. The
captain of a ship near the port could watch ior
the signal through his spy glass and determine
by it the errors of the ships chronometers..
This became a popular signal in ports, and is
used occasionally elsewhere. On the State, war
and Navy Building in this city. for instance
bail time is the standard for many of the gov
eminent clerks. The ball is raised by hand and
q device set so that at exactly twelve O'CLOCK II
automatically slides down the pole. ,
From this ball signal, the electric light signal
is sometimes referred to as the electric time
BALI despite the fact that there is no ball con-
t,nntnA with thu SIGNAL given nv aiming II
lights.