History of Daylight Saving Time

[elleng]

Damn, Sun Sets @ 5:00 P.M. today!

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is used to save energy and make better use of daylight. It was first used in 1908 in Thunder Bay, Canada.

First Used in Canada in 1908

In July, 1908, Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada became the first location to use DST. Other locations in Canada were also early to introduce Daylight Saving bylaws.

On April 23, 1914, Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada implemented DST. The cities of Winnipeg and Brandon in Manitoba followed on April 24, 1916. According to the April 3, 1916, edition of the Manitoba Free Press, Daylight Saving Time in Regina “proved so popular that bylaw now brings it into effect automatically”.

Germany First Country to Use DST

Germany became the first country to introduce DST when clocks were turned ahead 1 hour on April 30, 1916. The rationale was to minimize the use of artificial lighting in order to save fuel for the war effort during World War I.

The idea was quickly followed by the United Kingdom and many other countries, including France. Many countries reverted back to standard time after World War I, and it wasn’t until the next World War that DST made its return in most of Europe.

Ancient Civilizations

Although DST has only been used for about 100 years, the idea was conceived many years before. Ancient civilizations are known to have engaged in a practice similar to modern DST where they would adjust their daily schedules to the Sun's schedule. For example, the Roman water clocks used different scales for different months of the year.

Benjamin Franklin
American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” to the editor of The Journal of Paris in 1784. In the essay, he suggested, although jokingly, that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning, making use of the natural morning light instead.>>>

https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/history.html

[CBGLuthier]

1. "was used" not "is used" 24 hour society made it obsolete. There is no energy savings.

[LWolf]

2. I prefer DST to ST.

I tend to want to be out of bed before the sun, and to feel like the day has left me behind if I'm not. My energy is best in the morning, and is gone by 5:00 or so. When the time changes, I don't get to see my home or horses in daylight until the weekend, and then I'm gone all day Saturday with family responsibilities, so it's really only one day a week. The dark months? I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, looking forward to the sun's return.

While I prefer DST to ST, what I'd really like is for the nation to pick one and stick to it. The older I get, the harder time my body clock has adjusting to being yanked around twice a year.

[elleng]

5. I tend to agree with you, LWolf, but for different reasons.

I'm 'out of bed' with the dawn to catch pics, but not for long. Retired, I return to bed, and can sleep later. NOW, with sun setting @ 5, my 'day' is shortened, so may be forced actually to get out and stay out of bed to enjoy my home territory!

[LWolf]

6. I'd retire today, or, at least,

at the end of this school year if I could afford to. I can't see that far ahead at this point, though, so I keep putting in the hours.

I can never decide whether to laugh or scream when people go on about my "short" work day.

[elleng]

8. HA! RIDICULOUS!

[moondust]

4. I used to hear

that DST helped farmers by giving them more daylight to work in the fields. That made more sense back when there were more farmers on more small farms and not as much mechanization making the job less labor intensive/time consuming.

[X_Digger]

7. That was always a silly reason- farmers are out with the sun, not the clock.

Especially so if you have livestock.

Dairy cows didn't sleep in and extra hour today.

[moondust]

10. Maybe just a psychological illusion

that made some people feel more productive because with DST they could stay out in the field until 9 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.

Of course it was also about saving energy (and kerosene?) by not having to turn on the lights until an hour closer to bedtime.

I'm not so sure about the cows not sleeping in.