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On the Ball: The Story of Webb C. Ball & the Railroad Watch

How the ingenuity of a watchmaker saved lives by getting the railroads to run on time.

Aired 10/23/2014 | Rating NR

Cleveland Stories

On the Ball: The Story of Webb C. Ball & the Railroad Watch

Special | 26m 49sVideo has Closed Captions

How the ingenuity of a watchmaker saved lives by getting the railroads to run on time.

Even after Standard Time was adopted in 1883, most trains continued to run on nonstandard local time—and quite a few of trains ran into each other. Watchmaker Webb C. Ball, already the first jeweler to bring accurate time to Cleveland, saw opportunity and began working with the US government and railway companies to bring correct, synchronized time to railroads throughout North America.

Aired 10/23/2014 | Rating NR

Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback

Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback

Cleveland Stories is a local public television program presented by Ideastream

Cleveland Stories

On the Ball: The Story of Webb C. Ball & the Railroad Watch

Special | 26m 49sVideo has Closed Captions

Even after Standard Time was adopted in 1883, most trains continued to run on nonstandard local time—and quite a few of trains ran into each other. Watchmaker Webb C. Ball, already the first jeweler to bring accurate time to Cleveland, saw opportunity and began working with the US government and railway companies to bring correct, synchronized time to railroads throughout North America.

Aired 10/23/2014 | Rating NR

Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback

How to Watch Cleveland Stories

Cleveland Stories is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.

Cleveland Stories is a local public television program presented by Ideastream

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