IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPHY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 206, 5 September 1901, Page 4

IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPHY.

CAPABILITIES OF A SINGLE WffiE. Some important experiments in connection frith a new telegraph system, which is claimed to considerably cheapen the cos 5 tf telegrams, have recently bean conducted by the postal engineers between London and Glasgow. The new apparatus ie the invention of a French engineer named Mercadier, j Mid by ite means it 1b possible to send 12 separate messages over one wire at, tke same time. The system is also capable of being duplexed, by which 24 separate messages can be sent ac one time over a single wire. The details of the apparatus are comparatively simple. The wire is attached at either end to 12 shorter wires, which lead in ono case to 12 Bending keys, and in another cise to 12 receivers. At the sci ding eod the currents are interrupted by 12 rapidiy vibrating metal reeds, each reed vibrating nat a different rate of speed. At the receiving end are 12 telephone receivers, with membranes of different thicknesses, capable of vibrating at a certain rate, at no other. The different rates ■■ t these receivers are identical with t .e rates of the reids at the aendii'g station. When ■<■ message is sect), or when 12 separate massages are sent, what happens is th*: The 12 currents eattr the wire, each impressed with a distinct vibrating rate. At the receiving station they pass through a microphonic receiver, which gives thtm added strength. They are then diichargrd through 12 receivers. As each of these receivers only responds to vibrations of a certain rate, they select each tin currents belonging to its own particular message, but are impervious to •D the others. By thiß means the mesaages ar-j accurately sortsd out and kept dittiact. The experiments in England were fairly successful, bat were frequently intwrepted by the bad weather. Bventually some parts of the apparatus failed and bad to be returned to the inventor in Paris for repairs. On completion of these the experiments will be reranud. As the main coat of telegraphing is in the expense of erecting and maintaining lines, the value of any system which increases the carrying capacity of the present wires cannot be, exaggerated. It is claimed for the present system that it increases the capacity twelvefold. It is gome seeh invention as this that will bring as threepenny telegrams.— Daily Mail.