DOCXJMKNTS ON TIME REFORM ISSUED BY THE ^MERiGAN Society of Civil Engineers. 1. Address of D. J. Whittemore, Esq., the President of the Society, delivered at the BuflTalo Convention, June, iS84.—£xfraas. 2. Report of the Special Committee on Standard Time, submitted at the Buffalo Convention, June, 1884. 3. Remarks of the Chairman of Special Committee on the proposal to adopt the 24 o'clock System, (^^) 2 I. Address of D. J. Whittemore, Esq., tJ^c Prcsidait of the Society, delivered at the buffalo convention. (Extracts.) " The high object of our profession is to consider and determine the most economic use of time, power and matter. In this we are gravely responsible, not merely to ourselves, nor yet alone to this Society, but to that large, restless and progressive portion of the civilized world which our organization assumes to represent. Upon the results of your industry and study largely depend the fortunes of a great people and the future of a continent yet in the infancy of its physical resources and material power. * * ='- *' Among the important subjects legitimately under consideration by our Society ac the present time, is that of reckoning and denoting time. It is not surprising that members of our profession should have been the first to suggest practicable reforms in this direction ; and it is a gratifying fact in the history of our Society, that the energetic support you have given to the establishment of standard meridians of time in the United States, and the intelligent industry of your Committee in distributing its printed publications on this subject, have contributed probably more than any other cause to the adoption of this reform over a large portion of this continent. Something remains to be accomplished in order to fully realize our views in this direction, — a step so natural and simple in the path of rational progress that no serious argument is required to establish its value or propriety. If he who causes a blade of grass to grow where none grew before, is a benefactor to his race, so is he a benefactor to his race who enable us to economize time and space by the use of one word instead of three in the notation of time. " Hence it is not strange that the members of our profession, with great unanimity, favor the numbering of the hours consecutively throughout the entire day, instead of dividing each day into halves of twelve hours each. We are fully aware that we contend with the prejudice of custom in our attempts in this direction. That great agent of modern civilization, the railway, rendered the adoption of standard time possible. Now if that great agency in public education, the press, will adopt the proposed reform in its record of the daily hours, it is believed that ante and post meridian time will soon be relegated to the past." 2- BUFFALO CUNVKXTION OP THE American Society of Civil Engineers. REPORT OP THE Special Committee on Standard Time. The Committee beg leave to refer to the Report submitted at the Annual Meeting of the Society, held at New York, on the i6th January last, in which they set forth the various steps taken by the Society, in promoting the proper regulation of Time, and the adoption of Time Standards. The Committee referred with much satisfaction to the fact that the Railway authorities generally had determined to adopt one of the reforms advocated by the Society, and that on the i8th November last, trains commenced to run throughout the United States and Canada, by Hour Standards, and that the public, with singular unanimity, accepted the change, which they now universally recognize as a great public boon. • In the documents widely circulated tv d years ago by the Committee under the authority of the Society, a series of questions bearing on the whole subject, were submitted to men in prominent positions in the Railway world, including Engineers, Traffic Managers and known Scientists in every State in the Union, and in every Province in Canada. To these questions the Committee invited replies, and among the large number of replies received, the Committee had an emphatic expression of opinion from many persons with respect to the division of the day into hours. Ninety-two (92) per cent, of those heard from, gave their unqualified support to the proposal, to abandon the old traditional division of the day into halves of twelve (12) hours each, and to adopt a single series of hours from midnight to midnight, numbered from one to twenty-four (i to 24.) A list of gentlemen who have carefully examined this branch of the subject and who in their replies referred to, have given opinions decidedly in favor of the proposed change, is appended to this Report. It is proposed to adapt clocks and watches now in use to the change, by having inscribed on the existing dials the new numbers of the afternoon hours, — thirteen to twenty -four (13 to 24) incUisive, as in the Plate No, i l-'lato No 1. The only practical difficulty to be overcome is met by the simple expedient of placing on the face of the watch or clock a supplementary dial showing the new afternoon hours in Arabic numerals within the present Roman figures. Plate c^ ^?4^^ ^ ft-J^ No. S. Plate No. 2 shawsthe supplementary dial, it must be of thin material and it has been found that made simply of paper and secured to its position by any gum which will adhere to an enamelled surface, the object is attained without any further alteration of the watch or clock. The Committee is aware that these seem trifling matters to bring under the notice of the Convention, but questions of great moment not seldom hinge on small details. It is evident from what has been set forth, that every person in the community, may, at the cost of a few cents in each case, adapt his watch to the 24 o'clock system. The Committee accordingly repeat their conviction that with the disappearance of the only practical difficulty at an insignificant cost, there is nothing to prevent the Railway authorities and the Community at large, adopting the change as soon as they become alive to its advantages. The Committee do not, on this occasion, consider it necessary again to refer to the public benefits to be derived from the new Notation of the day. The advantages have been fully established and have been frequently discussed at various meetings of this Society. That the American Society of Engineers, as a body, fully appreciates the importance of the change is evident from the fact that since the last Annual Meetin the Society has practically adopted the 24 o'clock .system in all irrangements of meetings, and in all matters in which the hour of the day is referred to. The Committee cannot doubt that the influence of the Society in this reform, will ultimately lead to equally satisfactory results, as have been obtained by their efforts in the establishment of the Standard Hour system throughout the Continent. The Committee deem it proper to recall the action taken at the Washington Contention in May 1882. On that occasion the Society resolved to petition Congress to take steps to establish a Prime Meridian as a zero for reckoning Time, and for the computation of longitudes. Subsequently Congress passed a Joint Resolution authoriz- ing the President to call an International Conference to fix on and recommend for universal adoption such a zero, and in conformity with the Act of Congress, the President has called an International Confe- rence to be held at Washington, on the ist October next The Act of Congress has authorized the appointment of Three Delegates for the United States to the Conference, and it appears to the Committee appropriate that the Railway and the other interests of the Country of which to a certain extent the American Society of Civil Engineers is the exponent, should be there represented. Your Committee accordingly recommend that the President of the United States be respectfully memorialized by the Society to appoint one delegate to represent these important interesvS at the Washington Conference. For the Special Committee on Standard Time. SANDFORD FLEMING, Chairman. Buffalo, loth June, 1884. 6 Appendix to Report of the Special Committee submitted at the Buffalo Convention^ June loth, 1884. The 24 o'clock System. List of Engineers, Railway Presidents, Traffic Managers, Scientists and other prominent persons, who, in their replies to questions issued in 1882 by the Standard Time Committee, gave their unqualified preference to a division of the day into a single series of hours numbered from one to twenty-four (i to 24). In addition to this list a number of gentlemen expressed them- selves in favor of the 24 o'clock system for Railway Time 'I'ables, but were in doubt as to the possibility of bringing it into common use for all purposes. Only eight (8) per cent, of all heard from expressed themselves as unfavorable to the 24 o'clock system. The names with an asterisk (*) are members of the American Socic/ty of Civil Engineers. Name. W.J.McAlpine.M.I.C.E' M.J. Becker* Martin W. Harrington . . , H. r. Eddy, Ph. D Official Title. D. Robert Fletcher, Ph P. H. Philbrick* E. A. Doane* Henry H. Richardson* til Stanley fjoodwm* , -1-, r-jAsst Gen. Super. R. R. Co. Robert Briggs*. -S. Spencer. ..... C B. Comstock* Francis J. Lynch, M.I.C.E James H. Rowan, C. E . . R. M. Harrod, C. E.*... C. S. Masten* S., James Hall, D. P, W. A. Sweet* Wm. T. Jennings. . . M. G. Howe* Robert H. Sayre .... Robert Moore, C. E* J. Foster Crowell* . . Past Pres. Am Soc Civil Engineer Chief Eng'r P. C ^f St. L. R. W. Co Director Astron, Observatory Prof of Mathematics, Astron. and Civil Eng., Univer. of Cincinnati. Prof, of Civil Engineering Prof. C E , State Univ. of Iowa . . . Chief Eng , Rome, W. and Og'gh. R. Chief State Engineer I^high Valley 3rd V. P., B. <&- O. R. R. , Lieut.-Colonel of Engineers. Address. "W. A. Doane* f¥««eipal Asst. ^ti^T^UK 6-O.R.R In charge Canad'n Pacific R'y office Ex-District Eng., C. P. Railway. . . Member Miss. River Commission . . Engineer in charge Western Division W., St. L. &= P. Rv. Ex-Sheriff and Ex-M.P Prest Sanderson St. Co Rest. Engr. C.PR Eng. and Sup^-H ^ T.C.RR.-. . . . Sup. and Eng^ Lehigh Valley R.R. Assistant Engineer, P. R.R . . Bay Ridge, N. Y. Pittsburgh. Pa. Ann Arbor, Mich. Cincinnati, Ohio. Hanover, N. H. Iowa City, Iowa. Oswego, N. Y. New Orleans, La. Bethlehem, Pennr- Philadelphia, Pa. lialtimore, Md. Detroit, Mich. Oswego, N. Y. Ottawa, Canada. Winnipeg, Man. New Orleans. St. Ix)u{s, Mo. Peterboro', Ont. Syracuse, N. Y. Keewatin, Man. Houston, Texas. Bethlehem, Pa. St. Louis, Mo. Pittsburgh, Pa. Namk. T. J. r-otter W. B. Smellie Julius W. Adams* .... F. N. (iisboinc James II. Harlow* . . . . Kdward S. I'liilbrick*. . Kivas TuUy T. H. Perry J. \V. Futiram* •Charles H. S«"an* . . . . Sir Charles 'I'upper. . . . Jos. P. Davis* P. S. Archibald H. E. Stevens* B. S. Heniiing J. Milton Titlow* C. A. Young Robert A. Shailer* L. B. Archibald E. P. Stearns* <>. S. Davidson Edward Maguire E. G. Ferris Collingwood Schreilier. Henry Gannett . ...... Tames P. Howley \V. H. Wood F. M. Towar Julius J. Duraye lliomas S. Sedgwick*. Geo. M. Dawson T. C. Mendenhall I.. J. I.eConte* Edward C. Pickering . . H. F. Royce J. S. Sewall* Wm. B. Hazen Ofkiciai. Title. 3rd Vice-Pres .etc.. C.B. &' O R.R. Cons Eng , Canadian Pacific R'y.. Past Pres., .\ni. Soc'y CMvil Eng.. Super. Tel Sig. Serv , Dom Canada Eng Monongahela Navigation Co . . Address. ( hicago, 111. Montreal, Ca. Brooklyn, N. Y. Ottawa. Pittsburg, Ohio. 1 2 W . St . Boston, Mass. Toronto, l^afayette, Ind. New Orleans. Highlands, Boston. Ottawa, Ca. N. Y. City. Monckton, N. B. Philadelphia, Pa, Princeton, N. J. Wilmington, Del. Charlottetown. Atlanta, Mass. Hartford, Conn. Sout