THEIR TIME "TO A SECOND."

Otago Witness, Issue 2522, 16 July 1902, Page 81

THEIR TIME "TO A SECOND. "

♦ STOP-WATCH SPECIALISTS AT WORK. In these hurrying days a deal is heard aa to "times." We are told how long it has taken a President to consume a railway buffet luncheon during a station wait, the number of minutes occupied by a famous statesman in walking from his residence to "the House," and how soon a society lady can -exchange greetings with each of a hundred guests. In the prevailing rage for records, indeed, we -find that nearly all things — judges' sentences, cargo unloading, sermons, furniture removing, mowing, proclamation making, sheep shearing, etc. — are clocked. Ordinary time-taking is simple enough work, though a really good timekeeper re- :

quires to be EpeciaJly trained. Still there I are some aspects of th# business that present novel features, and three of these are here illustrated. ' ' The pace at which fish swim is first dealt with. Several small vessels are moored in the track along which the fish are likely to pass, and the timekeeper in each is equipped as the pictxire shows. He lies at full length on a platform suspended over the •water from the vessel's side, and a special but simple contrivance enables him to peer into the depths below. This is just a big cone of blackened tin, the small end of which is placed to the eye, whilst at the* other and larger extremity, whioh goes beneath the waves, a disc of glass keeps out the water. Anything that passes below, j from a shark to a shoal of shrimp?, is at once seen, and timed from one man to another by their watches. j

For one such in vet 'gat ion there were timekeepers in four boats, and the gentleman in boat No. 3 was astonished to find by his watch that some mackerel had done a two minutes' distance in 54 seconds Was this, then, a special kind of racing mackerel? "We must follow them and capture a specimen." Then from boat No. 2 came an explanation. The eager timekeeper ther* had fallen in on top of the fish, and so i prompted their burst of speed. | The popular notion of an express tra>n is one that will accomplish "a mile n minute." Especially on their trial trips with clever engineer-drivers in command, big engines often outdo this. The engineer ' knows well how to got the last ounce of , power out of every pound of coal he burns, and on down grado» 80 to 90 miles an hour may be accomplished. America i°. of course, the land for sensational railway ! runs, for the companies there, unlike our own, are always striving to "break the record" by way of advertisement. With us the timekeeper usually travels on the engine ; with our cousins he aiay ride not only j on but in front of it, in a special timekeeper's "cab" put up over the cow-catcher. It is claimed that thus the exact fraction of a second can be noted when the flying I engine actually reaches a station or passes j a distance post. The railway timetaker, j one would think, should be a man not at all nervous as to collisions. 1 Our railway time specialists may work with no fewer than three or four stopwatches. One watch is stopped and another at the same instant set going as each quar-ter-mile post is passed, while one watch runs on for the whole time to be taken. The timekeeper has as assistant an efficient shorthand writer, who at once jots down the figures as they are shouted out. The work of theee experts has been very cruel to the reputation of some engines. On one hue a "Lightning Express" was for years credited with doing ninety to a hundred miles, an hour on some sections. Then along came the heartless watch-holder, and he announced that on a down grade 78 miles an ■Lour was the utmost that could be attained, though, of course, oven lhafc is not slow ! How to time ths flight of wild birds was a problem for long unsolved. Here we give a pictorial illustration of the key to the difficulty. A number of observers with watches are required for the task, and they ore stationed upon long lines, drawn parallel.

over big tracte of land. On a sunny day tile birds that pass over these are timed by their shadows, each man stopping his watch as the shadow flits over his particular line, and afterwards comparing results. Hera ajain the watch talk « jttffsHttt

tale from many accounts that have long been believed. Some kinds of ducks, for instance, were credited with 140 miles an hour, and carrier pigeons with 110 miles. "Fifty each," said the watch. Some naturalists Lave given the marten a pace of 190 miles an hour, and the swallow 180 miles. The chronograph not only reverses the position of the two birds, but cuts the figures down j to 65 and 60 miles respectively, thus show- j ing the marten to move at exactly a mile , a minute. ' i A mile a minute f And to demonstrate how varied aie the timekeepers' experiences it may be mentioned that one of them was recently employed for days "clocking" the ( progress of drops of different oils down a big sheet of glass, in order to establish their j various values as lubricants.