The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-09-28
The Electric

We have had OCCASION, more than once, 10 call
attention to the advisability of establishing cleo
tricaI communication with our Marine Signal
station at Coco Head, and now we are pleased 20
see that the iniative las been taken by private
parties in establishing II line for their own use
in this city. Mr.. Eckhart, the j%eweler, who has
his workshop on Bere,ania street, and his agency
at Rawson's, in Merchant street, finding it incOn-
venient at times to be sending verbal or written
messages through the time-honOred, but coInpar-
atiyely expensive medium of an errand boy, has
brought with him, on his return from the coast,
n very neat and economical instrument, by means
of which he can send or receive messages through
the wires that be proposes to run from the shop
to the agency. We have examined the apparatus,
and were much pleased with tie simplicity and
efficiency of its operations. A neat lever is SO
arranged as to complete a galvanic circuit upon
being pressed down with the finger, and this
current actuates a " sOunder," producing the
sharp clicking sound with which all who have
visited o telegraph Office are familiar. \ series
OF these ticks, either impressed upon a travelling
ribbon of paper, or read of by the ear, consti-
tutes the message.
The battery which furnishes the active agent
is composed of one or more cups, according to
the strength of the current required, and the
supply of galvanism is kept up at a very trihing
expense per diem. The wire over, or rather
through which the current passes, is to be attached
to glass tips, firmly fastened to blocks that can
be attached to any convenient points. These
glass tips insulate the current, preventing 1t from
leaving the wire and running to waste. AS a
message to be sent is made up of a series of dots
and lines according to the Morse system, 1t will
be seen that while an acquaintance with the
Morse alphabet is desirable, it is not absolutely
required, as any two points can be in communi-
cation through any cypher that may be agreed
upon. An instrument of the kind introduced by
Mr.. Eckhart might be placed in the Post Office,
n wire run to Telegraph Hill, and a code of signals
arranged by means of which any one with sufh-
cient intelligence to work a set of Eggs could
Telegraph the approach Of vessels. Branch lines
might be run to as many places of business as
might wish to have them, and thus, with the
public Offices connected by wires, messages could
be sent from one point to any other. The differ
ent departments could arrange their own cyphers,
50 that the message sent, we will say, from the
Custom House TO the Minister of Finances Office
could not be interpreted at the Post Office. OF at
any other station not in possession Of the key to
the cypher.
All this can be done at q small expense, and
the facilities afforded for transmitting messages be
unsurpassed. Moreover, the practice gained in
working such a line would be OF great value
when the ocean telegraph connects our islands
with the East and the West. The commerc Of
the world demands now that such n cable should
be laid, and the company that will do the work
is already formed
We understand that the prOprictors Of the teIe-
graphic instrument now here are willing to estnb-
lish the Marine Signal line we have indicated, if
proper inducements are held forth, and that such
q line can be maintained at q cost not to greatly
exceed the expense of the present semaphore.