Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-19
REGULATES u. S. TIME
FOR HUNDRED YEARS
Naval Observatory in Washington Has
Notable RecOrd-Many Discoveries
Made i'm the Skies.


heavily insulated underground vault,
buried in the very center of the OBJ
servatory grounds. are three electrically
wound clocks-Riefler clocks, the tech
nicians call them. They operate In
glass Jars in q partial vacuum and at
Q constant temperature. During day.
light and for days on q stretch, some
times, when the weather Is stormy or
the skies cloudy, these clocks are time
keepers for the nation.
They are not perfect. Each clock has
Its error. which the clock man checks
| by the stars and allows for In setting
the sending apparatus for the daily
| averages more than seven-hundredths
Of second In "a hours.
1T was nearly 80 years ago that these
clocks were installed" explained Can't.
| j. r. Heilweg, superintendent OF the
observatory. Then they represented
the highest refinement in timekeepine.
But any mechanism viii wear In time,
and during the last two decades the in
ventors have not been idle. Today, one
must admit. there are timekeepers of
greater precision than our Riefiers. We
| expect to be able to install more modern
| equipment In the clock room before
long"
Program Of NTodernlxatiOn.
And not only in clocks but in astro-
nomical instruments as well the OBJ
servatory has planned q Commemorative
program OF nioderniZatlon. Recently a
Congressional committee authorized
items totaling $150,000 to provide sew
erai new pieces Of equipment, including
24-inch photographic telescope. This
VIII enable the astronomers to get the
positions Of stars, planets and other
objects with the greatest precision,
usually.
In addition to publishing time by
radio, the observatory publishes an an
n nua Dook-tne american Ephemris
directory Of the positions Of the sun,
moon, planets and certain fixed stars
Tor every day In the year. Published
originally Tor use Of Navy navigators,
1t Is now widely used all over the world
by ships officers, surveyors and astron-
omers. This publication compliments
the time service. BY means of 1t a
navigator who receives the time signals
anywhere in the world con determine
his longitude
The old function Of preparing and
caring for the Nays rlayigational
charts was separated years ago and as
signed to new bureau, the Hydro
Cratic once.
Another Important Function.
Duk tA1de Juliet OH IuncIOnt caring
Tor the Nays nautical instruments.
remains one of the responsibilities Of
the observatory. 1t not only rates the
chronometers but 1t also cares for the
compaSses, baruneters, binoculars, taft
ran logs, sounding machines, horoscopes
and score Of other i1avigational equip
age. The Nays rapid advance In
aeronautics In recent years has brought
q whole flock Of new Instruments 10 be
1 nCNaQhf if1gn0rfnH ofv.aA
eral hundred thousand dollars worth
OF fascinating aerial and marine CAD
gets pass through the custody of the
| observatory every year.
A hundredth birthday seems to call
for celebration. But when 1 was at
the observatory the other day none of
the officers or astronomers thought of
making an event Of the anniversary.
Sentiment isn't very strong, or at least
not evident, here. And the men who
compute the eclipses and map the sun
spots and clock the stars and radio the
time are busy with a full routine.
There are scientific institutions which
require time that Is accurate to q min
ute fraction Of a second. To serve these
the observatory determines the daily
lag Of the radio signals that Is, the
inevitable delay that occurs In the
process OF ransrnission-and sends q
weekly correction sheet. Last year this
error averaged thirty-one thousands Of
q second-a fraction too small for our
ordinary watches and clocks to meas
ure. But to the geophysical proSpec-
tors out IN the oil fields and to the
geodetic surveyors in Alaska and to the
precisionistS in the laboratories the
quantities are quite appreciable and
may measure the difference between
success and failure.
To stand by in tho observatory tims
room, TO which the sending clock-and
realize that the tick OF that clock u
heard around the worlds to get q
new sense Of the importance Of time.
Here 1t Is precious commodity, meas
ured and weighed in infinitesin1al fracs
tionS like some rare jewel. And yet,
like those other necesSaries, air and
light, It Is freely broadcast to all who
will take IT.
The sending Of the signals Is the finSy
step In long process which has its be-
ginning in the accumulated data Of the
years Of observations. Every clear night
observation continues through half q
dozen telescopes observation 10 refine
and correct the star records and to keep
check also on the accuracy Of the
standard clocks
Telescope Object Of Interest.
They find time somehow, though, 10
show visitors this fascinating place
and some one Is always dropping In 70
see the great" and famous 26-inch
telescope with which Prof. Hall discov-
cred the moons Of Mars or to look over
the library, which, believe, is the most
complete astronomical collection on this
continent.
Thursday evenings the place is
crowded. Then it is open night in one
Of the donaes, and always there are
more applicants for the free admission
tickets than there Is room to aecofnIf1o-
date them comfortably.
Letters, too, pour In. The day was
there an architect had written for adj
vice on facing an apartment house so
that the maximum number of windows
would be toward the sun in all months
Of the year. And another, an amateur
observer, had written in glow to tell
Of some strange phenomenon Of the
skies that had caught his eye the night
before.
Somehow all the inquiries and inter-
ruptions are taken care of satisfactor-
lily without inpairing the work that
John Quincy Adams dreamed of his
national obServatory-"the increase of
knowledge by new discovery" And here
are gathered eager watchers, who, even
as he dreamed they would, devote the
labors of their lives to the interchangeable
industry, the increasing vigilance and
the bright intelligence indispensable TO
success in these pursuits"
And so. as the Tooth anniversary rolls
around, it seems fitting that John
Quincy Adamss great-grandson Is the
cabinet officer in authority over this
National Observatory.