By William “Skip” Deegans
In the 1800s, clocks and watches might run fast or slow and have to be reset. As railroad travel became more prevalent, knowing the correct time was important to avoid missing a train. For military purposes, the synchronization of clocks was critically important. To that end, the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D. C. started the Observatory Time Service and began sending a time signal by telegraph to the Office of the Navy. Later, at 11:50 each day, the Western Union Telegraph Company suspended regular work and exactly at noon, the Naval Observatory sent a synchronizing signal to all Western Union offices east of the Rockies.
In 1866, after self-winding clocks were developed, Western Union in cooperation with the Self Winding Clock Company began to rent clocks (shown in the photograph) for $1 a month. Western Union would send a signal by telegraph that electronically stimulated the clock to set the correct time. In 1915, Western Union set a master clock in Ronceverte each hour, and it in turn set additional clocks at the Court House, Old Stone Church, Lewisburg Female Institute, J. M. Wilkerson & Co.’s jewelry store, Moomau’s drug store, Greenbrier Presbytery Military School, Lewisburg Drug Store, and the Limestone Telephone office.
Once telephones became commonplace, telephone operators would kindly provide callers the time. Today, many people rely on cellular telephones for the time. The Naval Observatory continues to provide an important service. For iPhones, Apple uses a network of time servers that synchronize time with the Naval Observatory. IPhones are provided the correct time once every 24 hours.
Sources: Greenbrier Independent, U. S. Naval Observatory, Western Union, Morse Telegraph Club.
Photo from Wikimedia.