In 1870 Charles F. Dowd of Saratoga, New York proposed the standard U.S. Time Zones for railroads. In 1872 these were adopted for U.S. and Canadian railroads. They had 1-hour intervals between zones.
Sandford Fleming of Canada proposed these for worldwide use in 1876. These zones were gradually adopted, e.g., Canada in 1883, Liberia in 1972. The time zones are associated with and followed international adoption of the Greenwich Meridian and GMT. Cf. the First International Geographical Congress of 1871, the Seventh in 1883. The International Meridian Conference of 1884, Resolution V, established the universal day (GMT). At the end of that conference Great Britain proposed standard time to be used as local civil time, the intervals between zones to be multiples of ten minutes of time. This proposal was withdrawn. The conferences established GMT, and countries combined this with the Dowd/Fleming proposals to define their own standard times. For details see (e.g.) "Greenwich Time and the Longitude" by Derek Howse. This includes a table of adoption dates for each country. Gordon >Tony wrote the foolowing: >" >Fellow Shadow Watchers, > Can anyone tell me when (or if) the system of=20 >International Time Zones was formally established/recognized and by what=20 >authority? Did it just evolve from each country's individual needs and=20 >interpretations or was there an international conference at some stage? > >I have the British Admiralty World Time Zone Chart (5001) revised 1992=20 >but the notes thereon give no indication of its origins. > >The information is requested for the notes to accompany a public dial and= >=20 >if anyone has this to hand it would save some urgent trawling through=20 >reference material. > >Thanks in anticipation, > > >Tony Moss
