Popular Science Monthly 



433 



An Improvement in the Clock Scheme 

 of the Daylight Saving Plan 



THE plan to gain thirty hours of play 

 in the sunshine each summer month 

 by daylight saving, ought to appeal to 

 every pleasure and health-seeking Ameri- 

 can. It is almost equivalent to getting 

 more pleasure for nothing. And then 

 think of the cartload of money that will 

 be saved in this country by a hundred and 

 ten million of inhabitants heating and 

 lighting their homes for one hour less 

 each evening. 



It is contemplated moving the hands of 

 the clock one hour ahead in the spring, and 

 turning the hands back again in the 

 autumn. This would entail a minimum 

 amount of confusion. People would start 

 to work, eat their meals, and keep their 

 engagements when the clock hands point 

 to the customary hours. 



This scheme of moving the clock hands 

 is a good one, but there is another plan 

 which is slightly better. Why not move 

 the clock dial backwards? The same ad- 

 vantages would be obtained, and besides, 

 at noon the hands would be at the top of 

 the clock, at sunrise and sunset they would 

 be at the bottom, as they always have been 

 ever since the present style of clock has 

 been used. This could be accomplished 

 very simply by means of curved slots and 

 screws, as shown in the illustrations. An- 

 other way to accomplish the same purpose 

 would be to use two separate, suitably 

 marked dials. . 



This way of working out the day- 

 light saving scheme would be really scien- 

 tific. Moreover, in the case of striking 

 clocks, it would make unnecessary, when 

 the hour is to be set back in the autumn, 

 the turning of their minute hands eleven 

 times around. For the striking mechanism 

 of these clocks cannot be set back by 

 simply moving the hands. 



Clock makers 



assert that the 

 interference with 

 the mechanism 

 caused by alter- 

 ing the position 

 of the hands im- 

 pairs the accuracy 

 of the timepiece. 

 The hour hand 

 should never be 

 tampered with 

 and the minute 

 hand very seldom. 



Couniersir 



Instead of moving the hands ahead, the clock 

 dial is moved back in the manner indicated 



That part of the pole above the platform 

 will have to be removed and straightened 



How a Cyclone Bent a Two-Hundred- 

 Foot Flagpole 



THE zephyr which early this Spring 

 developed into a cyclone of the first 

 magnitude, took a hurried trip to Kansas 

 City, Missouri, and left its card in the 

 form of a bent flagpole in Swope Park. 

 The pole is composed of two main sections 

 which are divided into a number of smaller 

 ones. In repairing it the upper main 

 section which is fastened at the middle 

 of the pole will be 

 removed and 

 Countersunk lowered. 



It would have 

 been less remarka- 

 ble had the pole 

 been blown down or 

 actually snapped off. 

 The bend simply 

 indicates the 

 freakish ness of 

 such storms and 

 thequicknesswith 

 which they change 

 their direction. 



Countersink 



Countersunk 



