New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-08-01
A New telegraph.

n Now VeIe&fapus
A remarkably ingenious and simple sys
tenn of telegraphy has been invented b.
Mr.. Henry Nance, superintendent Of tn
4 promises to greatly modify existing tel6
graph arrangements. 1t consists in send
| ing flashes Of light from one poine to an
/ other BY means of small mirror. The
| dashee are long or short, to represent the
| dashes and dots of the Morse system-the
dot being represented by an instantaneous
| lash and the line by somewhat longer ap
partition OF it. MI. Maurice has cons scuc ted
a little instrument for this purpose, which
! he calls a photograph" though, AZ flashes
of moonlight or lamplight can besent by
its means, it might Just DIS we'll be called 9
selenograph or lampadograph. The Spec
yotor, 10 commenting upon this remarkable
invention, says:
By the aid OF this very simple language
anv two persons whose mirrors can carry q
4 ash over the distance between them may
converse at will for any time uring which
their lights serve them. But how far can
signals of this kind be perceived! The an.
sWer. j. of course that this depends very
much on the light used. With a brig6 sun
and a tOlerably good sltitude there seems
10 sort Of difficulty in cOnYersing at the
distance of fifty miles, and eth strong mir.
rora and much more elevatee stations, such
a. the tops of really high NOuptaiAs, like
Mont Blanc, for example, we can see no rea-
son why very much longer range indOd
could not easily be attained. In India il
appears that Captain Collette, tleputYas-
sisJant Quartermsster general, has reported
rom Simla that all "the repo(ls of the work
of the Photograph except one Ito be noticed
subsequently, are favorable, and all agree
On the following points: (a) that signals
gwen by it are perfectly clear ana
satisfactory: (b) that they can easily be
used in ordinary weather, without tele-
scopes, up to fifty miles," And 6e 4nstru-
,nent by which these results are attained
can be made for sum not exceeding f5
sterling, and of weight not exceeding five
pounds ayoirdupois. With the uso of o
telescope, of q stronger mirror and much
greater elevation it is pretty certain that
satisfactory kilograms OF far greater range
could be seat, though We have at pr0ent
no idea of the maximum range which would
be attainable. The Limitation on the use of
this instrument b, of course, that with any
light less than full sunlight the range d.
FINISHES rapidly; that with full moonlight,
.or instance, it would be very much re-
strlcted, and with only lime-light or IN
electric light it would be more restricted
still. and that full sunlight il never to be
counted on in high ATTITUDES, and least of
all ON the tops of high mountains, which
are often enVolOpeu IN CLOUDS. Still,
IN tropical countries, where sunshine can
De relied on for the great majority of
days in large number of months in the
year, the heliograph may we'll be q the
greatest possible 10 n places wAere an
electric telegraph wire can not be. laid
down. or would not be remunerative if it
were laid down, or where it has been cut by
the enemy. Nothing would be aa5Qer, too,
than By the help of the Morse alphabet to
make every revolving light on the coast
spell! out continually its own name, so that
there should be no possibility of the con-
fusion which sailors in untamilia seas some
times make between one ight3nd another.
We are assured on the best anth0nN that
the Morse alphabet may easily be learned,
oy particular sinpllication, in a very
much shorter time lndeed than is usually
taken to learn it, and so thoroughly learned
as to enable the learner to use it freely him
sci. in communicating with others. If 80, 4
no sailor who has passed his examination
need be ignorant of it, and by its help he
might receive as full an assurance of where 1
ne ls when he comes across q revolving light
as the lips of pilot who had lived all his
life within view of the light could give him.