WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
TIME ZONES
Profile America — Monday, November 16th. This month in 1883, the ancestor of today's familiar U.S. time zones first appeared at the initiative of the American Railway Association. A schoolteacher named Charles Dowd is credited with first proposing the notion of time zones as early as 1863 in order to rationalize railroad timetables, there being 80 time standards then in use by localities. There was wide but incomplete acceptance of the railway association's zones, and the adjusted zones were not made law until 1918. In 1884, delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, D.C., and established a standard system of 24 time zones around the world. Making timepieces is about a $307 million a year business for 94 establishments in the U.S., employing some 1,600 people. Profile America is in its19th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources:
Charles Dowd biography: http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/224500/view
Time Zones go into effect: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/railroads-create-the-first-time-zones
Global time zones: http://www.thegreenwichmeridian.org/tgm/articles.php?article=10
Timepiece making establishments and employment/NAICS 334518:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=BP_2011_00A1&prodType=table
Timepiece manufacturing revenues/NAICS 334518: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ASM_2011_31VS101&prodType=table
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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