The upcoming time change this year starts on Sunday, March 9 and lasts until Sunday, November 2. It sparks more than one conversation about the necessity for “going forward an hour” and also speculates about the value of time.
Back in the 1800’s there were literally hundreds of time zones throughout the country and the need for continuity of some kind became important.
American railroads maintained many different time zones during the late 1800s. Each train station set its own clock making it difficult to coordinate train schedules and confusing passengers. Time calculation became a serious problem for people traveling by train (sometimes hundreds of miles in a day), according to the Library of Congress. Every city in the United States used a different time standard, so there were more than 300 local sun-times to choose from. Railroad managers tried to address the problem by establishing 100 railroad time zones, but this was only a partial solution to the problem.
Operators of the new railroad lines needed a new time plan that would offer a uniform train schedule for departures and arrivals. Four standard time zones for the continental United States were introduced on November 18, 1883.
Those time zones are Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. A man once said that his home is in Eastern and his mail box that is across his road was in Central!
Wikipedia defines time as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, the present, into the future.” Yes, you read that right!
These quotes are “timely” (sorry, just had to say it!):
- Time is free, but it’s priceless.
- You can’t own time, but you can use it.
- You can’t keep time, but you can spend it.
- Once you’ve lost time, you can never get it back.
Recall as a young person how time just dragged on and on. Now as an older person it seems like it goes too fast and you can never get enough of it. Time is precious for sure.
A recent funeral for a friend had a pastor preside who spoke about the value of the “dash” between the birth date and the death date. The question pertained to the meaning of the time between the two dates and how time was spent. Well said!
Time telling continues to evolve as our Smartspeakers let us know time, temps, and weather.
Beginning in prehistoric days, humans started reading the elements around them in order to measure time. Ancient humans used the power of simple observation, deductive reasoning, and the earth itself to complete their time tracking goals. These observations were all about reading the stars high up in the heavens, the changes in the seasons, and also by the presence of day and night.
Humans learned to come up with very primitive methods to determine time. Telling time made it possible for prehistoric folks to be able to plan any type of nomadic activity, any farming, sacred kind of feasts, or anything else that was important.
One of the earliest of all devices to tell time was the sundial. The sundial is looked on as being a form of sun-powered clock.
Ancient civilizations such as the Sumerians did have this knowledge, but when the culture died, knowledge was lost along with many other aspects of the civilization unfortunately. One thing that is known is this.
It was the ancient Egyptians who did come up with a form of system to divide the day up into parts. These parts were a whole lot like hours in description. The Egyptians constructed obelisks, which were four-sided and well tapered monuments, and they were geographically located in certain places. These obelisks were believed to have been constructed around 3500 BC and a shadow would be cast by the obelisk as the sun made it’s way across the sky. This obelisk would be marked out in certain sections to see the two halves of the day.
There was another more advanced shadow clock or sundial in use by the ancient Egyptians around 1500 BC. This shadow clock or sundial permitted one to measure the passage of hours within a day.
Another very early form of clock to tell the time was the water clock. The water clock was used by the ancient Greeks. It is considered to be one of the earliest forms of timekeeping devices that didn’t take use the observance of the celestial bodies to help calculate the passage of time. It is believed that the ancient Greeks started using these early timekeeping devices around 325 BC. These clocks were mainly used to determine the hours of nighttime, but they may also have been used for daylight hours as well.
The hourglass is another form of early timekeeping device that was used in ancient times. The hourglass was constructed from two separate glass bulbs that were rounded. These two glass bulbs were connected by a neck of narrow glass that was situated between the bulbs. This hourglass contained particles of sand within it, and when it was turned upside down, a measured amount of sand particles would drop down from the top part of the glass to the bottom part of the glass.
The hourglass of ancient times is said to be the early predecessor for the egg timer of modern times. Telling time before clocks did take place. It was just done in a different way from how it is done today.
The story ends with lyrics from a classic Pink Floyd song:
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say.
About the Author: “Porcupine Pat” McKinney is a part-time environmental education coordinator for the Schuylkill Conservation District and provides programming for people of all ages with a special emphasis on schools, nature center development and public programming.
“Porcupine Pat” is originally from Marion, Ohio and holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree with Distinction in Natural Resources with an emphasis on Environmental Interpretation from The Ohio State University.
He is a recipient of the prestigious Sandy Cochran Award for Excellence in Natural Resources Education from the Pennsylvania Forestry Association in 2005, the 2007 Schuylkill Pride Award, the 2010 Schuylkill Outdoors Personality of the Year and a recipient of the 2013 PA Association of Environmental Educators “Outstanding Environmental Educator Award.”
Photo: Canva
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