14-8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



lFEB.I0ij§lM.LN: — 



Apparent Motion 

 OF THE Sun. 



/.*>^iMAY.I3, 



|JUIY. 28 . .6M| 



I Aug. I.- ' I 



differed by more than half an 

 hour from mean local time at 

 various points. The inhabit- 

 ants of the surrounding coun- 

 try at such points, having no 

 standard of reference except 

 the railway-clocks, accustomed 

 themselves to and used railway- 

 time without inconvenience, 

 and in a number of instances, 

 where the railway standard was 

 changed from some cause, the 

 people made the same change 

 in their time -pieces. It was 

 important in connection with 

 railway - trains to keep exact 

 time, and for all other purposes 

 any relative time was sufficient- 

 ly accurate. 



In the early part of the 

 year 1883 there were fifty-three 

 standards of time in use on the 

 railroads and by the people of 

 the United States and Canada. 

 These standards governed sec- 

 tions with no definite limits, 

 and upon railroad lines were 

 apparently inextricably mixed 

 and interwoven. The condition 

 of the matter was abnormal in 

 numerous instances, there be- 

 ing no less than three hundred 

 points where railroads, using 

 different standards of time, 

 crossed each other and ex- 

 changed traffic. At almost 

 every city of importance sev- 

 eral standards were used by 

 the railways, and in some cases 

 the city time differed from any 

 of them. Local jealousies made 



Fig 1.— Diagram SHOWING COMPARISON OP Mean (OR ^, ■, „f ^*P««+?„~ ^^f/-,^r« 



Clock) Time with Solar (or apparent) Time, the chance Ot ettectmg retorm 



AT THE SEVERAL Seasons OF THE Year. The „„„„^pTi1-lv }innplp«;s Manv who 

 perpendicular centrnllinp represent? Mean Time, apparently DOpeiess. lYiany Wiiu 



and the curved line Solar Time, at mean noon. warmly f avored Standard time 



regarded the reform as one unlikely to be soon accomplished. 



The solution of the problem necessarily required a close and long- 



.i^a*^L*'^_..0CT.27. 

 ' ' 'Nov. I - 



MiNUTts Fast. j DEC.3I.J. \| Minutes Slow. 



20 15 10 I 5 ^1 5 10 IS 20 



