[tz] [PROPOSED PATCH] * northamerica: Credit W.F. Allen's work on US time zones.

[Derick Rethans]

On Wed, 21 Sep 2016, Paul Eggert wrote:

> 2016-09-11  Paul Eggert  <eggert at cs.ucla.edu>
> 
> Revert Cyprus change for now
> See: http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2016-September/024106.html

This change has nothing to do with Cyprus, only with some comments in 
North America.

cheers,
Derick

> ---
>  northamerica | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/northamerica b/northamerica
> index 0bafb00..6b0d905 100644
> --- a/northamerica
> +++ b/northamerica
> @@ -24,8 +24,30 @@
>  # was the result of his proposals at the Convention of Railroad Trunk Lines
>  # in New York City (1869-10).  His 1870 proposal was based on Washington, DC,
>  # but in 1872-05 he moved the proposed origin to Greenwich.
> -# His proposal was adopted by the railroads on 1883-11-18 at 12:00,
> -# and the most of the country soon followed suit.
> +
> +# From Paul Eggert (2016-09-20):
> +# Dowd's proposal left many details unresolved, such as where to draw
> +# lines between time zones.  The key individual who made time zones
> +# work in the US was William Frederick Allen - railway engineer,
> +# managing editor of the Travelers' Guide, and secretary of the
> +# General Time Convention, a railway standardization group.  Allen
> +# spent months in dialogs with with scientific and railway leaders,
> +# developed a workable plan to institute time zones, and presented it
> +# to the General Time Convention on 1883-04-11, saying that his plan
> +# meant "local time would be practically abolished" - a plus for
> +# railway scheduling.  By the next convention on 1883-10-11 nearly all
> +# railroads had agreed and it took effect on 1883-11-18 at 12:00.
> +# Allen witnessed the transition in New York City, writing:
> +#
> +#   I heard the bells of St. Paul's strike on the old time.  Four
> +#   minutes later, obedient to the electrical signal from the Naval
> +#   Observatory ... the time-ball made its rapid descent, the chimes
> +#   of old Trinity rang twelve measured strokes, and local time was
> +#   abandoned, probably forever.
> +#
> +# Most of the US soon followed suit.  See:
> +# Bartky IR.  The adoption of standard time. Technol Cult 1989 Jan;30(1)25-56.
> +# http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3105430
>  
>  # From Paul Eggert (2005-04-16):
>  # That 1883 transition occurred at 12:00 new time, not at 12:00 old time.
> 

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