The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-08-16

10 ncCeStatC vne uVtd OF tceSc &sSerHCCS yor
Themselves On the contrary. it was with ex
IRENE reluctance, apparently. that say Ameri-
can electricians. even On she great exrerimen-
tai tzislA were permitted to witaess his opera
tons ct Ksyham, or attempt any OF their own
Mr.. Hughes, the inventor Of the last teIegraphc
instrument in use, was allowed but an hour to
teet tie principle o. which 1t Is now believed
the final success Of the cable is to depend. The
result has been. therefore, not in accordance. so
far, with the first or even the last calculations
Of Mr.. Whitehouse. Indeed, at the experiments
publicly made, Mr.. Whitehouse succeeded 10
transmitting only eighteen words in seventeen
minutes, while Mr. Hughes sent at the rate OF
four and hAif words per minute. Now that it
Is laid in the sea TO words or even letters as far
~ we know, have been sent through.
What Is the caxse cfthiss
The electric current passes vigorously, bat 40
words are communicated. The real cause is
said to be that Mr.. Warehouses; apparatus does
not control or accommodate itself to the mag
netic waves; that they succeed each other so
rapidly tina: tie letters or characters all arrive
together, the Last as quickly - the first, and
that they become an untrsnslateable jumble.
The retardstion Of the first wave of the current
is attributed to the circumstance that it is not
only weakened in the transmission naturally,
but is diminished in speed and power by the at
traction of the outer coat of the cable, which
is affected in turn by the water of the sea. The
next wave is impeded somewhat less, and. SO on,
till the last one, having the way clear to ITSELF
rushes forward and pushes with its antecedents
into the first wave, thus making but one, and
that confused and contradictory Mr.. White
house has, however, prepared himself to apply
Mr.. Morses system of relay magnets, improved
by q process of his own and that of Messrs
Cooke and Wheatstone, to the receiving and re-
gistry of the signals at either terminus so that if
We may believe the publications sanctioned, we
suppose by himself, he was ready either with d.
rect volac current of seventy-two pairs plates,
Of sixteen inches square, or with induction coils
FIVE feet long, generating q current of limited
intensity excited by his Illuminated Perpetual
Maintenance Battery. This is described as
being on the principle Of Since, so for as
platinized silver and zinc plates are
used but differs in its construction, as it is
combination Of parts which can be removed and
restored without interfering with the others in
the transmission. So powerful is this battery,
that but for another continuance similar to
that we have already alluded to, the contact
of the poles of the battery would destroy the
metals of which they consist.
But why does not the cable work?
1t is ten days since the cable was landed, and
no message yet We have come to the con-
cluion that Mr.. Whitehouse's arrangements
will not answer, and that he has been unable
TO control or time the electrical currents into
distinctnesA We have reason to believe that
his batteries and instruments have been in or
der for several months past, and more than
this, that they cannot be made to send even one
word per minute. That was all he could do
after Mr.. Hughes presented himself at Ply
mouth. AT best, he was compelled to adopt
The principle of Mr.. Morse both in strengthen.
ing the currents and in recording the signals
and this principle, which is one of simplest
of all the methods for land lines will not work
In this instance across the broad Atlantic.
If anything lis TO be accomplished IL will be
in the opinion Of competentjudges, only through
the use Of Mr.. Hughes apparatus and the
adoption of his principle, or some other yet to
be discovered. Every wave by his arrangement
makes a distinct letter, while by Whitehouse's it
requires seven current waves to produce two
letters. Hughes telegraph prints. as does that
of House, but it works upon the plan of using
but one electrical impulse per letter, while
Houses requires seven, and Morse's three and
half One impulse is the one for q long subma.
rine line. The revolutions Of the type wheels
are kept at similar speed, not by any clock or
pendulum work, but by vibrating springs, which
by the laws of acoustics give invariably fixed
tones for certain numbers of vibrations, one and
all alike, according to those vibrations. These
springs unlock the escepemeAts ut the same
time at each end of the line, and the type wheels
set free, ordinarily make one hundred revolu-
tons per minute, equivalent to forty words.
This, Of course, is through land lines. His mag.
net is q combination OF a natural and an electro
magnet, and the current Of electricity is used
to detach an armature from the poles of the cleo.
tromagnet, which is replaced again by lever,
and the current for the transmitting station in
fluences the magnet al the receiving station,
and not its own. Thus the effect Is direct, the
conducting force is undisturbed, and but q tenth
of the usual battery power is required. This
curious property, as IL Is believed from expert
ence and observation, enables communication
to be made both ways over the line at once,
and we understand that the ingenious inventor
has offered 10 transmit Ten 'nords pcsrard and ten
rords eastward, or ''ceny ,ro5ds per minute, through