Har nettopp lest, og anbefaler på det varmeste On the Ball av George Wolff. Handler om Ball Watches og hvordan Webb Ball synkroniserte klokker og tider i USA i jernbanens ungdom. Virkelig morsom bok.
“After an investigation that covered four months I got my plans concretely formed and put them into operation. Local time inspectors, the best mechanics obtainable, were appointed at the end of every division on the Lake Shore road. Conductors and engineers were required to have their watches examined every two weeks. If the watch fell behind or gained thirty seconds in fourteen days, it had to be repaired or regulated immediately. Small cards were given to engineers and conductors and complete records of their watches were written down in ink at least once in two weeks by the official inspectors.”
Sitat Webb Ball, ca 1910. 30 sek på to uker er respektabelt det. Hadde vært fornøyd med det i dag jeg.
"Just how many local times there were is not known, but the extent of confusion is shown by the fact that Wisconsin had 38 different local times, Illinois 27, and Indiana 23. Prior to 1883, the nation’s railroads were operating on as many as 100 different times! In one large Eastern city there were actually six varying time standards governing arrivals and departures of trains. A traveler going from Maine to California would have to change his watch dozens of times. When it was noon in Chicago it was 12:31 in Pittsburgh, 12:24 in Cleveland, 12:17 in Toledo, 12:13 in Cincinnati, 12:09 in Louisville, 12:07 in Indianapolis, 11:50 in St. Louis, 11:48 in Dubuque, 11:41 in St. Paul, and 11:27 Omaha."
