The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-19 00:00:00

Society of Arts.

At the ordinary meeting of this society yesterday °veil-
ing —Mr. Webster in the chair—a paper on " Automatic
Telegraphy" was read by Mr. A. Bain. In the early days
of electric telegraphy, before any practical application of it
had been made, Mr. Bain was known as the inventor and
patentee of several kinds of instruments by which messages
might be transmitted by electricity, but the instrument
specially known as his is an automatic application of the
telegraph invented in America by Professor Morse. In the
Morse instrument, which has been more generally used
than any other, the signals are made by dots and lines on
a long strip of paper. The dots and lines are grouped
together in different positions, so that each group may in-
dicate a letter of the alphabet, as many as four combined
dots and lines being required to form some of the letters.
In transmitting a message the operator, with a very simple
instrument called a key, rapidly makes and breaks the
electric current, by which means continuous marks are
made by the action of an electro-magnet on a moving strip
of paper at the receiving station ; those marks being long
or short according to the time that the finger of the trans
mitting clerk presses down the key. In this manner, by
great practice, groups of marks signifying letters can be
transmitted with the rapidity of 25 words a minute, or quicker
than a rapid penman can write. In Mr. Bain's automatic
system the groups of dots and lines are punched on a strip
of thick paper, which is run rapidly over a metal wheel,
the electric connection being made by a metal style,
which presses on the perforated message, and the current
is transmitted each time the style comes in contact with
the wheel through the punched holes. He also applies
electro-chemical agency for making the marks instead of
an electro magnet, a blue line or dot being printed on the
paper each time metallic contact is made. In this manner
very great rapidity of transmission is attainable ; and Mr.
Bain stated that 20,000 words an hour can be thus sent
from London to the furthest part of England. The opera-
tion of punching, however, occupies more time than the
transmission by the key, but the advantages are that, when
once prepared, the same message may be sent without fur-
ther trouble through any number of instruments, and ac-
curacy may be ensured. In Mr. Bain's paper yesterday
evening he explained in detail some recent improvements
he had made in this mode of transmission, especially a plan
for receiving the same message at branch stations, when
required, by causing the electric current to make a short
detour from the main line, and return to it again. He did
not, however, mention that the plan had been practically
tried, and it may be doubted whether, at a distance from
the voltaic battery, the wire could be sufficiently charged
with electricity to enable it to make such a detour available
for telegraphic purposes. It may be observed that the
Electric Telegraph Company, soon after their establishment,
purchased this invention from Mr. Bain for a large sum of
money ; but they have brought it into use only in excep-
tional cases. It has been stated, indeed, that Mr. Bain was
indebted to an accident for the large sum he obtained for
the invention, for that when exhibiting it to the directors
of the company one of the fans of the instrument broke,
and the cylinder with the chemically prepared paper
whirled round with great velocity ; but even at that rate
the signals were perceptibie, and it was supposed that the
speed of transmission with such an instrument would be
almost unlimited.

Mr. RONALDS expressed disappointment that Mr. Bain
had not exhibited some instruments to illustrate his new
arrangement, and mentioned several improvements that
had been made in telegraphic instruments by which a rate
of transmission nearly equal to that of Mr. Bain's is attained
without the necessity of preparing the message by punching.
He alluded particularly to an autographic instrument and
to a recent improvement of Professor Wheatstone's, by
which as many as 120 words in a minute may be trans-
mitted.

Capt. SELWIN adverted to the question of the mainte-
nance of electrical communication by a better system than
that of supporting the wires on poles, which had within
the last week proved so great a failure. He said the tele-
graph companies had been driven to adopt the present
plan by the defects of insulation in underground wires,
caused by the decay of the gutta percha with which they
were covered; but a new insulating material had been re-
cently invented which would overcome that difficulty.
That substance, he stated, is paraffin mixed with gutty
percha and vulcanised. It had been proved to be an ex-
cellent insulator, to be almost indestructible by ordinary
chemical agents, and more capable of bearing heat than
gutta percha.

Mr. WEBSTER adverted to the great services which Mr.
Bain had rendered to electric telegraphy at its commence-
ment, and proposed the thanks of tho society to him fo
his paper.
The meeting then adjourned.

TIIE LIFEBOAT FATALITY AT GoRLESTON.—UP
to yesterday no further bodies had been recovered. The
weather "has completely moderated off the east coast.
Telegraphic communication with the metropolis has also
been re-established.