NOVEL TIMEKEEPER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 16 January 1926, Page 16

NOVEL TIMEKEEPER.

NEW MADISON SQUARE,

GIANT COLOURED CLOCKS.

When Tex Rickard's new Madison Square Garden at Eighth Avenue and Fiftieth Street throws open its doors to the New York public there will be placed on view the very last word in boxing arenas (says an American writer). Now Rickard comes-out with the announcement that among the other noveltie she has in store for the boxing enthusiasts is an electric timer, a huge clock-face tha-t! will be installed (or, rather, two of them, one at each end of the boxing hall) by means of which speetotars at bouts will be able to tell at a glance just how far a round has proceeded and how much time is left before the bell will ring.

Rickard conceived the idea of an electric timer from a watch presented to him by Francois Descamps, manager of the French heavy-weight boxer, Georges Carpentier. “When little Francois Descamps came to this country with Georges Carpentier on their last trip,” writes an American boxing expert, “Descamps was sporting a timing watch which greatly interested Tex. The face of the watch was divided into four sections, each one a different colour. A line across Hie middle ot the face and down through the centre made the divisions, so that, by glancing at the watch, he could see in a flash .just what miniite the men were fighting in. “The second hand ran over a red block in the first minute,' over a blue in the second minute, over a black in the third, and a white during the rest period. “Rickard liked the watch so much that Descamps gave it- to him with his compliments. 'Rickard is going the watch one better in his new Madison Square Garden. Ho is going to install two giant electric clocjrs of the same design as the watch, with the I same quarter coloured faces, so that the fans by a glance can see. from either side "of the building just how far the fighters liavo travelled, how much time is left to fight or what is ,j left of the rest period. “It may work beautifully, but never will be fool-proof. Electric clocks i have not been all that they should be ]in the past. It is not. likely that the j boxing fathers will accept them as offi- | cial. The best that they can do will be to keep a tab on the official timing. If the clocks are. started off with the official bell at the beginning of a fight, woe betide the unhappy timekeepers if they do not keep pace with the big flocks. I “It is a new wrinkle, of course, and j will be appreciated by the fans, who ! can glance up quickly, see liow much | time is left, and root like sixty for i their man.” I This writer can .sco no particular I reason why such electric timers would be undesirable in any sense. In fact, they should create a lot of interest and some diversion among the spectators. as well as adding a certain zest to the bouts

The occasion frequently arises, in the course of a ring fight, when the spectator is. keenly desirous of knowing how much 'time remains- before the finish of a round. In particular lie wants to know it when one boxer has another groggy or on the run. If he knows how much of the round is leftlie can figure whether or not the “pug” is likely to.weather the season or go down to a knock-out def e a -Of .course, Rickard will have to keep the clocks in good order, or there will be a merrv mixup. But it is to be presumed that the manufacturer of the timers will see to their accuracy as well as point out. the proper wav to keep them functioning at their best.