Ed, there is probably a more modern way to time things -- such as measured stretches of land as used in land speed racing. I've thought about this and got responses saying it couldn't work, but I still think it'd be a feasible idea. I'll try again -- maybe you can find someone that can figure it out.
The system would use timing lights, just like we have now -- but instead of a simple light triggering a contact closure which is sensed at the other end of a long wire (or however it's done now) --
The interruption of the light beam would trigger a contact closure, which closure would be noted as having happened at some specific time on a clock mounted right there, at the timing light. The clock would be receiving a continuous clock signal from a central clock system, as would all of the timing light clocks -- so each and every clock would have the precise same time, down to the accuracy needed for the event. Time lag for the clock signal to get to each clock would be discoverable - so any difference due to distance from central to outlying could be "tuned out" of the system -- and every clock would be reading the same time. Since the distance from central to any clock would be no more than (perhaps) five miles, the lag would be measured in microseconds -- but still could be tuned out with some feedback, if necessary.
Then - take the data that includes the time of the contact closure and the location of the light - and transmit that back to the timing central system. Because the signal would contain accurate timing information - any lag, whether it be microseconds or minutes, would be irrelevant - because the received data would include the correct time that the event happened. Compare the data from two clocks in order and you'd have the elapsed time between lights.
The data would be digital so there wouldn't be interference (at least, none that couldn't be taken care of, and there could also be repetitive transmissions of the data so that if one burst was lost -- it'd be repeated a millisecond or five ms later and the signal would still be back to Central in plenty of time). And because the system is two-way -- error correction could be included to help fine-tune and also further reject interference.
Whaddaya think? Seems workable to me -- but one of the racers (Mike, from Columbus Ohio) says it wouldn't - and he's way more of a computer guy than I. let me know -- and if you find that it's workable, and find someone to designed and build it -- give me credit, or put my name on the patent applications, please.
Thanks for letting me try stating this idea again. I get it better each time I think it through.
