Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-16
HUMAN HAND HELD
/ TO Be TOO SPEEDY
Scientist Asserts Injustice
t May Be Done Clocking
Tenth Seconds.
BY ALAN GOULD,
Associated Press Sports Editor.

n TEW YORK, July 16.-Inac-
m curacies of the hand that
i Y holds the stopwatch, strik-
ingly demonstrated by lab
oratory research in the Interna-
tional Y. M C. A. College, at
Springfield, Mass, have revived
the controversy over tenth-second
timing and raised new questions
that concern the record sprinting
performances of such track stars
as Eddie Tolan and Frank Wykoff.
Records made with Stop-watch
timing are not reliable" concludes the
report Of a two-year study. outlined for
the Associated Press by Prof. Thomas
X. Cureton, jr. "A great injustice may
be done in approving a record listed as
one-tenth second better than another.
''Wyko1, whose 100-yard record Of
o. seconds will undoubtedly be &C
cepted, may not have actually bettered
Tolan's mark of 95 seconds. And 80
with various other world and intercol-
legiate records.
AN electrical timing device that is
foolproof in every respect Is surely
needed not only for track, but for
swimming and perhaps auto and horse
racing. Another practical application
of electrical timing is that it can be
used excellently for judging places"
Haste Is Tendency.
Prof. Cureton, with associates and
students at Springfield in the depart
ment Of applied physics and animal
mechanics, has conducted exhaustive
tests of human handling of the stop
watch in comparison with electrical
timing, accurate to one-hundredth of a
second.
These tests revealed the human hand
as invariably clocking q race ne-tenth
70 one-fifth second faster than 1t was
actually run. Considering one set Of
data, ~ student timers recorded an
average error of .234 seconds In clock
ing an indoor Spring race. The same
experiment outdoors, in which "a timers
were used, showed an even greater
average error Of .285 seconds. Applica-
ton of the same test to experienced
timers, working at a varsity meet be-
tween Springfield and New York Uni
Versity, on rainy day. showed an error
OF .43 seconds in timing the 120-yard
nigh hurdles and 81 seconds in clocking
the 100-yard dash.
rAAAdlyolS u Tile experiments mas
shown, Prof. Cureton says, that the
timers invariably reacted slowly to the
starting guns flash or sm-ke, also that
they stopped their watches a fraction
OF a second before the runner hit the
tape.
Gun Makes Difference.
ITO sum up the points Of technique
considered" he adds, I'VE may say
frst, use either your forefnger or thumb
In starting and stopping a watch;
second, q 80 ca1iber gun will tend to
decrease the error In timing; third,
time on the smoke Of the gun-you
viii be sure to see the smoke; and
lastly, concentrate your best effort In
attempting to get the runner just as he
touches the tape, for here lies variable
error that assumes great magnitude in
many races"
Results Of the Springfield research.
while they DO not, for example, alter
the fact that Wykoff has proved a
faster Splinter within the past two
years than Tolan, nevertheless tend
to cast doubt on the tenth-second
slices that have been made on the
world l00-yard record. 1t was not until
three years ago. at Amsterdam, that the
International Amateur Athletic Fedora
ton, which passes on all track and
neld world records, decided tenth-sec-
OnO watches were accurate enough to
be officially recognized
The !. A. F. F., at that time, re-
fused to make its ruling retroactive
thereby preventing. recognition Of
Charley Paddocks mark of 9.5 seconds
Roland Locks record Of 205 seconds
for 220 yards was accepted at 206,
which surpassed anything on the books
Subsequently Tolan's century in 95
seconds was approved as the new world
record. Wykoff twice has shaved a
tenth-second off this. He was credited
with 9.5 in winning the national 100
yard championship at Lincoln last July
4. when several watches caught him as
fast as % seconds.
If such research as that at Spring.
field leads as Prof. Cureton believes, to
the general use of electrical timing de-
vices, the whole list of spring records
may have to be revised.