DCHP-2

Standard Time standard time DCHP-2 (July 2016)

• n. & adj. — originally Science

  an invariant method of establishing time that is used as a reference point for timekeeping around the globe.

  Type: 1. Origin — Standard Time is a concept devised by Sir Sanford Fleming (1827-1915), a Canadian railway surveyor and engineer, who in 1879 proposed and began to promote standard time zones attached to the Greenwich meridian (see the quotations). The idea caught on fast. By the early 1880s, most countries had adopted the concept as a temporal reference point (see, e.g. the 2016 quotation).
  COD-2 lists the term, s.v. "standard time", but does not mark it in any way.

  See also: Newfoundland Time  

  • 1879  The next feature of the evening was the reading of a paper from Mr. Sandford Fleming, descriptive of his newly invented method of reckoning universal time. [...] The object in view is intended to be reached by using two dial plates, the inner and central one being fixed so as to show the standard time, whilst the outer is moveable and can be adjusted to show the local time. 
  • 1883  [...] I may briefly quote from a very valuable paper read by Mr. Sandford Fleming before the International Geographical Congress at Venice in 1881: -- It is proposed that standard time, everywhere, shall be based on the one unit measure of time, denoted by the diurnal revolution of the earth, as determined by the mean solar passage, at one particular meridian to be selected as a time zero. 
  • 1900  Standard Time is now in general use all over the United States and the Dominion of Canada. The Standard meridians adopted are exactly 15 degrees (1 hour of Long.) apart, and the mean local time of each meridian is used for a distance of 7½ degrees of Longitude on each side of it. 
  • 1925  Daylight-saving time should be abolished by Federal legislation, A. J. Benoit, Liberal member for St. Johns and Iberville, will move in the House of Commons shortly. Mr. Benoit submits that the change in standard time was tried out as a war measure to save artificial light, and he does not find that this aim has been attained. 
  • 1952  The North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gaspe Peninsula fall in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone, four hours later than Greenwich Mean Time.
  • 1979  The return of Standard Time may or may not save 3 per cent of electricity (Rest of Story, Please - Nov. 3) but it discloses new wonders, such as the miracle of dawn backlighting the St. Lawrence Cement Company's stack and sending silvery fingers stealing o'er nature's landscape (built up) to shyly reveal the lyrical traffic jams on the Queen Elizabeth Way stretching from sea to shining sea. 
  • 1985  A lithograph of the reigning Queen Victoria hangs on the wall, along with family photos. Attention to detail is absolutely meticulous. The clock on the organ is set on standard time, "because daylight saving time was not introduced until the First World War," according to our guide, Maryellen Corcelli. 
  • 1993  But Congress also added daylight-saving time to save fuel, and that created a practical problem for railroads in areas of a single track: a train leaving at 1 a.m. standard time might meet a train that was still en route under a daylight-saving time departure schedule. 
  • 2005  1883 - Most of the world adopted Standard Time at noon. That Sunday was called "the Day of Two Noons" as towns moved their clocks at that hour to conform with the new time. Port Hope was 30 minutes behind Montreal until that day. When the town had tried to do the same thing in 1857, there were protests. Some believed time was being taken off their lives! 
  • 2016  The medal, presented annually since 1982, is named after Sir Sandford Fleming, the inventor of worldwide standard time zones, and is awarded to Canadian scientific communicators.