Time Switch

Everyone in Stockholm seemed to have set his Time Switch to sound off be fore dawn. By 4 a.m., cars, motor scooters and flower-decked taxis that had been hired months before streamed downtown to the Kungsgatan, the city’s main street. There they waited through a solemn radio countdown. At the stroke of five, loudspeakers blared: “Now is the time to change over.” In a brief but monumental traffic jam, Sweden switched to the right side of the road.

Alarm clocks and clock radios are types of Timer Switch synchronized with real time. A very useful variation on the sound alarm is an electrical outlet on the back of some clock radios. Instead of sounding an alarm, a coffee maker can be plugged in to start brewing morning coffee on time to wake the soundest sleeper with the fresh aroma.