Eighth hour

Saxon post mile column from 1730 with several eighth of an hour indications

Departure plan for Zurich tram line 3 at seven-and-a-half-minute intervals, every second number is rounded

The eighth hour , even half a quarter of an hour or half-quarter of an hour called, is a historical unit of time . These alternative names for a time interval of seven and a half minutes or the eighth part of an hour were particularly common in the 17th and 18th centuries. They can be found, for example, in connection with the striking of the clock or the carillon on tower clocks . A regulation at the Evangelical Church in Württemberg says to this day that the bell is rung for “half a quarter of an hour”. In addition, the eighth hour was used to indicate the way hours on distance stones , milestones or post mile pillars . On the Saxon post mile , an eighth of an hour corresponded to a distance of 566 meters.

The world's first public transport system , the Carrosses à cinq sols in Paris , introduced in 1662 , already ran every half a quarter of an hour on a rigid schedule . Even today, the eighth hour still plays an important role as the basic unit of timetable design in metropolitan areas, because it also offers regularly recurring connections in conjunction with means of transport that only run every 15, 30 or 60 minutes . In order to avoid half minutes of departure in the official timetables - i.e. when communicating with the passenger - every second time is usually rounded off by 30 seconds. From the passenger's point of view, every second journey is then somewhat delayed . Other transport companies therefore forego half- minute departure times internally and actually serve a line every seven or eight minutes.

Special spindle pocket watches with an eighth-hour repeater , also known as eighth repeater or half-quarter repeater for short, existed for measuring an eighth of an hour as early as the second half of the 17th century . This function played particularly in the on stagecoaches used coach watches a role.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulm: Gert Kappler, the Lord of the Bells , article by Rudi Kübler on swp.de, accessed on November 18, 2018
2. ↑ Post columns and milestones . Published by the research group Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e. V. Dresden / Grillenburg (City of Tharandt). 3rd revised edition, Schütze-Engler-Weber Verlag GbR, Dresden 2007, ISBN 978-3-936203-09-7 . Pp. 37-40.
3. ^ Alfred Martin: Étude historique et statistique sur les moyens de transport dans Paris, avec plans, diagrams et cartogrammes . Paris 1894, p. 68-79 ( archive.org ).
4. ↑ Timing and nodes: How a timetable is created in: Info Forum 3/14, published by ProBahn Switzerland , p. 3
5. ↑ Historical pocket watches from 1590–1830 , accessed on November 18, 2018
6. ↑ History of the gong on breguet.com, accessed on November 18, 2018