WONBERFUL, IF TRUE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1623, 30 July 1887, Page 4

WONBERFUL, IF TRUE.

. Steno telegraphy Is a system of tran smls lion invented by M. G. A. Cassagnes, of Paris, and by lis means It is possible, to transmit a despatch m nhorthaod along a single wire, and to print it bt a distant station m stenographic characters with a rapidity exceeding that of any telegraphic apparatus now m übo. Tho fact that a tingle sign will represent a syllable, whioh ordinarily rt quires eereral signs for each letter, reduces the number of electric impulses par word va y greatly, and permits of 200 words a minute being sent by hand, and still more by the automatic process. Any stenographic maohine may be employed to translate the Bpoken or written words Into s'gns, but it is the Mlchela maohine whioh has been us_d hitherto. Iv this the operator aits before a keyboard of twenty keys, and by nroGslng them he produces npon a band of paper a graphic representation of the words ne de&irea to record, And from this paper they can ba read. B? the aid of this machine a practice op°ra*o'' can rpport at the rate of 200 wt rd . a m'nute— that is, faster than the mot rnpld operator can sp.ak 80 to 180 words a minute being the limits of .peel 'nr iho moat grave and the most imp v siv *. Ji a fortnight one can learn to rrad tho printed characters, while it takes .ix mouths' practice to become a fapd oyer .tor. The objeot of Mc C_beague-' invention is to cause the stenographic maohine to produoe this band at a disanca — it may be hundreds of miles — with the same rapidity as it does when the paper is m the machine itself. To this end tbe keyboard and the printing mechanism are oonneoted by a telegraph wire. — "London Engineering."