Written by Lin Donn
Illustrated by Phillip Martin
In ancient times, people told
time by the sun. When the
sun was overhead, it was the
middle of the day.
Sundials were invented, but
they were more fun than
necessary as anyone could
look up and estimate the
time of day by the position
of the sun in the sky.
Of course, every person saw a slightly different time depending
upon where they were standing.
In the Middle Ages, mechanical clocks
began to be used. Each town usually had
one clock, with a great big face so
everyone could read it from a distance.
The town clock was built in a special clock
tower.
The time on the town clock was set at
noon when the sun was directly overhead.
This system was called Local Time,
because everyone in town used the same
time. It took some of the guesswork out
of telling time. Every town had a slightly
different time.
When the railroads were built, people recognized a need for a more
standard time system so that goods and passengers could arrive and
depart on published schedules. Time zones were established around
the world. These were big areas. In the continental United States,
we have four time zones - Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific.
This system is called Standard Time.
In the beginning, in the United States, the use of Standard Time
was not a law. It was voluntary. Some towns, even some pretty big
towns like Detroit, refused to use standard time. They preferred
their town clock.
In 1918, the US
Government
made the system
of standard time
in time zones a
law. But it's not
the law all over
the world. In
some places,
it's still voluntary,
which can be
somewhat
confusing for
travelers.
To learn more about time,
see these sites:
A Walk Through Time
Daylight Savings Time
Free Powerpoints about Time
Time Games
Free Time Clipart
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