Show II WATCH STOP CLOCKING OF SPORT EVENTS INACCURATE TEST SHOWS c a T T y r TT T T T Tr v r f r i f T- T TT ic- ic T T- T T r f f T-T-T- T T j RESEARCH WORK SHOWS GREAT VARIATION IN TIME REPORTS Claim Injustice Labeling Races Tenth One-Tenth Second Faster Seek Electric Device B By Alan G Gould uld Associated Press Correspondent NEW YORK July 16 16 1 Inaccuracies des cies of the hand that holds the stop stopwatch stopwatch wat watch h. h strikingly demonstrated by WY Wykoff oi I laboratory a b 0 rat 0 r j research research re reo search in the international international inter inter- national Y M. M C C. A. A colle college g e at Springfield Mass have revived the controversy over tenth second timing timing timing tim tim- ing and raised new questions that I concern the record sprinting performances perform ances of such track stars as Eddie To To- Ian and Frank Wykoff 1 Records made wit with h watch stop-watch I timing are are not reliable concludes concludes' the report of a year two-year study outlined outlined outlined out out- lined for Zor the Associated Press by Professor Pro Pro- fessor lessor Thomas K Cureton Jr A lOA great creat injustice may be done in approving ap proving a record listed as tenth one-tenth second better than another W Wykoff whose yard rard record of 94 seconds will undoubtedly be accepted accepted ac ac- ac- ac may not have actually bettered bet Tolan's mark of 95 seconds And so with various other world and intercollegiate records An electrical timing device that thatIs Is lis foolproof in every respect is surely needed not only for track but for swimming and perhaps auto and horse horre racing Another practical application ap- ap application ap II of electrical timing Is that I it can be used u d excellently for br Judging places I TEST MADE ON OX HUMAN HANDLING OF CLOCKS Professor Cureton with associates I and students at Springfield in the department of or applied physics and animal mechanics has conducted exhaustive ex- ex exhaustive ex tests of human handling of the watch stop in comparison with electrical electric l timing accurate to one- one hundredth of a second These tests revealed the human hand as invariably clocking a race tenth one to one fifth second faster than it was actually run Considering one set of or data twenty seven student timers recorded an n average error of seconds in clocking an indoor sprint race The same experiment outdoors in which twenty four our timers were used showed an even greater average error of or seconds second Application Application cation of or the same test to experienced timers working at a varsity meet between between between be be- tween Springfield and New York university university uni uni- on a rainy day da showed an error of 43 seconds in timing the yard high hurdles and 37 second in iii clocking the yard dash Analysis of the experiments has shown Professor Cureton sa says s 's that the timers Invariably reacted slowly to the starting guns gun's flash or smoke also that they stopped their watches a fraction of a second before fore the runner runner run run- ner hit the tape It If such research as that at Springfield Springfield Spring Spring- field leads as Professor Cureton believes be be- to the general use of electrical timing devices the whole list of or spring records may have t to be revised re re- L L |