[Dixonary] OT: Daylight Savings Time

[Dodi Schultz]

>> As I understand it, because it was originally touted as a cost-saving
>> measure. And before the advent of widespread air conditioning, it
>> did conserve energy.

Oh. Yeah, I can see that. Thanks, Dan.

--Dodi

[Tim Lodge]

Dodi

In the UK, I believe the longer evenings were seen as a way of getting
the harvest in more quickly.

This discussion jogged a vague memory of walking through Sloane Square
in London, on my way to school, past a memorial plaque to the person
who first proposed daylight saving time in the UK (and yes, Americans,
I'm aware that Benjamin Franklin thought of it first!). I thought I
remembered that the plaque marked the spot where he had been killed by
being run over by a car. I'm obviously mixing him up with someone
else, as a little research on the Internet tells me that William
Willett died of influenza in 1915. However, the Sloane Square
connection is true, because he was an architect who practised in Sloane
Square and there is apparently a William Willett building there to this
day.

-- Tim L

[Paul Keating]

I'm not sure about the harvest connection. In preindustrial societies people
rose and retired with the sun. They had no need of daylight saving, which is
a child of the Industrial Revolution and fixed working hours.

It makes sense to concentrate economic activity in the brightest part of the
day. So, if one works an 8-hour day, then the obvious working hours are
08h00 to 16h00. But at 50degN that means having to get up in the dark for 4
months of the year, and people hate to get up in the dark. So office hours
instead became 09h00 to 17h00. Summer time arrangements are needed to shift
working hours back to the optimum times of day, while giving the illusion of
not changing things by keeping the starting time constant according to the
clock.

The Factory Act of 1850 did much the same thing by a more direct route: it
limited the working day for women and children to 06h00-18h00 in summer and
07h00-19h00 in winter.

--
Paul Keating
The Hague

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Lodge" <iel7j001 (AT) sneakemail (DOT) com>
Subject: Re: [Dixonary] OT: Daylight Savings Time


> Dodi
>
> In the UK, I believe the longer evenings were seen as a way of getting
> the harvest in more quickly.
>