THE KANSAS CITY ELECTRIC TIME BALL. 721 
the last year the dropping has been automatically effected by the clock at the Ob- 
servatory. The working of the apparatus has been in the main satisfactory, and 
the ball has been dropped quite regularly, the failures being caused almost entirely 
by temporary breaks in the wire or other causes which could not be foreseen. 
In the evening papers of the day and in the papers of the next morning a 
notice is regularly inserted, stating whether the ball dropped at correct time, 
and if not, its error, fast or slow. Many are at a loss to know how this correc- 
tion is obtained. It is arrived at in the following manner: The time of the falling 
of the ball records itself automatically by electricity, near the standard clock of 
the Western Union Company in the building, the clock itself being regulated by 
the daily clock-signals from Washington. The difference between the time of fall- 
ing of the ball and noon, as indicated by the clock, is thus obtained by a direct 
comparison. ‘This assumes of course the accuracy of the clock and during along 
continued season of cloudy weather, or in case of accident to the clock itself, the 
time might be somewhat in error, although the published correction might show 
but a few hundreths of a second. At present however, the Western Union has 
the benefit also of the Alleghany and Cambridge signals, for the regulation of 
this clock, so that even during the longest season of cloudy weather it is not prob- 
able that the clock could be much in error. 
The Boston time ball, which is dropped at noon of Boston time, by means of 
the noon-time signal from the standard clock of the Harvard College Observatory, 
is placed upon the large building of the Equitable Life Assurance Company and 
was paid for and is now maintained by this company. The ball is of copper and 
weighs about 250 pounds. The machinery used in raising and controlling it is 
hence much more complicated and costly than in either of the cases before men- 
tioned. The cost of ball and machinery was about $1200. The electric 
signal which drops it, is given by the clock itself, the ball having a drop 
of fifteen feet. The nearness of the Observatory, and the fact that the wire used | 
is wholly under its control, give additional convenience and certainty in the drop- 
ping of this ball, and reduces the probability of accidents to a minimum, so that 
it is effected with great regularity and precision. Prof. Pickering, Director of the 
Observatory, reports that for the year ending Nov. rst 1880, the ball was dropped 
exactly at noon on 355 days; on four other days at five minutes past noon, in ac~ 
cordance with the rule adopted; on four other days it was not dropped, leaving 
only three cases of inaccuracy of dropping. 
Quite recently a time ball has been established at Hartford, Conn., and drop- 
ped by the Winchester Observatory of Yale College. 
The time ball recently erected at Kansas City, and which is dropped as a part 
of the time service of the Morrison Observatory, is the first attempt in this direc- 
tion in the west. It was paid for chiefly by an appropriation of the City Council 
of that city. The site selected was the large building just erected by the Messrs. 
Bullene, Moores & Emery, on Delaware street. The ball when raised to the top 
of the staff is about 140 feet above the street, and is generally visible to the busi-+ 
