Sitting in class at 10:58 a.m. you suddenly hear a high-pitched beep. You look to the student next to you. She didn't hear it. Are you turning into Teen Wolf?
It's highly unlikely. Every hour, at two minutes to the hour, all electrical campus clocks -- some classroom clocks, some library clocks and even the Baker Tower clock -- emit a high-frequency buzzing sound.
The tone is a "synchronization signal that synchronizes all clocks to a master clock in the heating plant," Facilities, Operations and Management Electrical Engineer David Foster said.
Foster said the Simplex time keeping company manufactures clocks that understand a signal sent by a high-frequency generator and readjust their time just before each hour.
"It has to be a Simplex clock that would understand the signal," he said, therefore not all clocks make the noise.
Walt Courtemanche, a FOM employee, the signal is "right in the middle of the hearing range" and is loud enough to be heard without straining.
"Some clocks are louder than others," Courtemanche said. "Now that they have gone to transistor receivers they are not as loud as they used to be, though."
The signal, which has been used by the College's Simplex clocks for the last 50 to 60 years, can be heard in almost every area of campus from the Supercluster to the River.
Each clock has a frequency receiver and motor which can be synchronized, Courtemanche said.
Foster said the frequency of a clock can change over time, and the hourly signal tells the clock what time it should accurately read.
A coil in each clock is "engaged for a period of eight seconds" for the time correction each hour, and engages 12 seconds for the 12-hour synchronization which happens at 6 a.m. daily, Courtemanche said.
Courtemanche said computers also set off a frequency, so "if you get into an area where there are a lot of computers ... the clocks get out of synch."
He said the minor readjustment cannot be seen, but if a clock is unplugged and plugged back in, "you will see it move and get in synch at two till."
The clock in Baker Tower was specially made to receive the hourly frequency signal and correct itself, Courtemanche said.
Even though the system is old, Courtemanche said he believes it is still "the most effective way to keep the clocks in synch."
