THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH OF THE FUTURE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 232, 29 September 1881, Page 4

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH OF THE FUTURE.

The speed of all former systems is thrown into the shade by tbe new 4merican high speed apparatus. With this apparatus no fewer than 1000 to 1200 word 9 a minute can be tranßmitfci over a ehorfc wire. Over a 'on-2 wire !h3 number i?, of coursp, proportionately ksi, afi at. the velocity which 1000 worJs a minute implies — o arly sen times as fast as an ordinary speaker would pronounce them — the elefi;ric currents would overtake one another, end produce a single lina instead of dots end dashes, just ns speaking, which would not bo too rapid in a small room, would have f,o be materially slackened in a public hall to admit of •ho sound waves reaching the eara of 'he audience in due succession Making this allowance, however, it is clear tliet the American hi^h epeed apparatus h&s nearly doubled ihe result obtained by the Wheßtatone automatic appsra'U', or, in other words, one wire dots the work of twenty. We ought to say a few wcrds as to the way in which tli3 wonderful result is brought about, because this has a direct bearing on the future prophesied in the opening paragraph. It should be understood, then, tb&t with all fast-speed instruments, as they are called, the telegrams have to be prepared beforehand. " This • cocßists in punching boles in a slip of ribbon of paper, such holes to repreeent thj dots and dashes of the Morse alphabet. The peculiarity of tbe American eyatem la that the holes being punches on two licee, it is possioie to get nearly double aa many words in the same space as the Wbeatstone system. This both expedites transmission end facilitates the "reading-off" at the other end because the dote and dashes being co much closer together, (he eye has not to travel so great a space. This will be at once apparent by an example in letters. It will take less time to read the word "Baatitude" when printed thus than when printed "Beatitude," and it is found in practice that the Americm dip can be •eai at tbe receiving end at the rate of 100 words a minut3, which is more than three times as faat ss an ordinary "slip" can be read. The slip when prepared by the " puncher," is eimply p j aced on the instrument, a handle is turned and the slip is worked through the . electric current being continually interrupted and reestablished by the. holes in (he slip. One hole produces , a dot on the Blip at the other en*, two ■ holes produce a dash ; BD d as the ■ punched slip is worked through at one «od the clip markeJ wish dots and dashes has to be unwound at tbe other end. The company which has been working ia America with this hijbi speed apparatus etaSes the! on a single wire 250 milea io lengfch, between New York and Boston, they have succeedad in disposing of no fewer than 1200 telegrams in an hour. The staff they employed to perform this work wee fifteen punchers (that is, assistants to prepare slips for transmission), fifteen copyists (that ig, assistants to oopy tbe *:ip when received), and two assistants at each end to tura the handles of tbe iustromenie. They find that anyone an learn wkh a few week's practice to punch between 1000 and 1200 an i nour, and Jo read the slip at the rate of 101) words a minute. Thus the coat of ■ skilled labour is, if n o nt t altogether i -ibolisbed, at any rate reduced to b i minimum ; and the company is able to . accept telegrams at a very much lower rate of charges than that of the other telegraph companies. The present charges are 7£i for twenty words, the names and addresses being, aa with us, transmitted grjUuitoualy. But the company, having diacovered bo*7 simple a matter it ia for anyone to learn the Morae alphabet, have introduced a perforator for business men, which is simpler in construction than the one in use in the company's offices, but cannot be worked quits so fosfc. Armed with such a perforator, everyone becomes his own telegraph clerk. He punches his slip ready for transmission (or gets bis clerk to do it for him), and has delivered to him the received slip, he reads off for himself. The Telegraph Company thus becomeß eimply a form of carriers, and (hey

propoaa to charge this new species of telegram at so much per yard,— Pall Mall Gazette.