[time-nuts] How did they distribute time in the old days?

[Tom Harris]

I heard of a system used in Melbourne between two major stations using
pulses in a pipe of water to sync. I suppose that pulses travel much faster
in water being incompressible, so better accuracy!


Tom Harris <celephicus at gmail.com>

On 20 October 2015 at 07:00, Brian Inglis <Brian.Inglis at systematicsw.ab.ca>
wrote:

> On 2015-10-15 08:32, Tom Van Baak wrote:
>
>> Nick Sayer writes:
>>
>>> The WU standard time service goes back further than the turn of the 20th
>>> century. It started in 1870.
>>>
>>
> Also, for a screen full of irresistible SWCC photos, try this:
>> https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=self-winding+clock+company
>>
>> My understanding (perhaps incorrect) was that the sync pulse was once
>>> daily and, as you said,
>>> would cause the hands to “snap” to 12. The trailing edge of the pulse
>>> was synchronized and would
>>> release the clock to operate normally.
>>>
>>> That they had something as accurate and widespread as it was so early is
>>> astonishing.
>>>
>>
>> Oh, Padawan, that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the deep
>> and fascinating history of precise timekeeping.
>>
>
> Recently restored (after a building fire where some were lost) to working
> 19 Art Nouveau master/slave clocks from 1910:
> http://www.gsaarchives.net/2013/04/mackintosh-clocks-feature-on-bbc-news/
> more pictures in linked articles from BBC
> --
> Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis
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