The New York herald., 1879-03-27
KILLING TIME.

Observation-Disclosures OF SCHEME OF
CHEAP TEL EGRApHY.
There is no pursuit So worldwide long estab-
lished as that Of killing time There is none that
has drawn its votaries from many different classes
and there is that has taxed the inventive
genius alike of those who cater to the tastes and
the necessities of their fellows The cook strives to
annihilate an hour for his patron with a mastery
bonnie boache; the composer or the playwright con-
sumes an evening; while IN afternoon melts away
easily for the voary of pleasure under the spell of
the novelist's brainwork; the lieutenants of the
Roman Empire, by the establishment of post roads
and by training skilled runners. strove to bring
the and the dainties OF the distant
provinces nearer to their luxurious masters. and
railroads. steamboats, and the telegraph have in more
modern times continued the process Of eliminating
the factor of time from daily existence. But the
newest and most daring attempt in this direction is
the invention Of machine for the transmission of
intelligence to any distance at . speed Of 10000
words an hour over one wire
HISTORY THE SCHEME.
This ambitious project has long filled the minds
Of a number of gentlemen, and many experiments in
all the various modes of utilizing electricity have
been made with to asccrtaining what existing
apparatus showed most susceptibility of improve
ment. Long and careful study pointed to the
old automatic" system of sending messages
as Offering most promise OF great rapidity,
and accordingly the projectors of the scheme turned
their whole attention to overcoming its defects.
They claim that their efforts have been entirely
cessfu and that the Electro Mechanical telegraph
ing instrument, which they have recently patented,
is the accurate and most rapid agent for trans
mitting intelligence in existence. They assert
that in a long course of experiments made with
completed instrument the best results have been OBJ
tained and they have organized into company for
meas wants Of the community They have adopted
the title Of the American Rapid Telegraph Com
pany;" they state that they have capital Of
SO, 10000 and they promise to commence i'm
mediately the erection Of lines between Boston and
Washington. taking in New York, and be-
tween the last mentioned city and Chicago. They
hope have these lines completed and in operation
before the end of the current The date OF the
organization of the company was February % last.
when Edwin Reed of Maine was elected president:
Thomas Wallace, of Connecticut, vice president aud
L. s. Hapford of Boston, treasurer
HOW IT WILL BE DONE.
HERALD reporter called to Mr.. Reed yester-
day at the companys offices, No. Al Wall street, and
tentions of the company and the details of the in
plans. 'You see. said Mr.. Reed, when message
comes to the first thing do is to record 1t on
paper tape by punching small holes. which are ar
ranged to correspond with the dots and dashes
the tape run the positive impressions and
along the other the negative. We have
. machine for doing this punching work:
spaces the various letters according to their length
The lettcr 'E is represented by one dot. therefore
the tape is fed out only little way; H takes hve
dots, therefore longer piece of tape is allowed to
out when 1t is to be printed and 30 all difficulty
in reading is obviated; Mr. Reed then exhibited the
like q combination of small piano and sewing
machine. Twenty-eight keys correspond to the let
tiers of the alphabet and needed stops. and
treadle the tape to move. its speed
being regulated by attachments to the keys.
rewindins % Of the s tape for the sending machine Mr.
Reed added that this punching could be done at the
rate of 200o words an hour and said that the com.
pany intended to send machines out to the Offices of
all persons who have much telegrsphic correspond
ence. SO that the punching might be done there by
could be sent to the Office of the company instead of
manuscript The company will" he said, "have
large number Of these machines so that when long
punched In q very few minutes.
THE INSTRUMENTATION CONTINUANCE.
"Now to the actual tclegraphing of the despatch
that can be the rate OF least thousand
words = minute said Mr.. Reed. ''The prepared tape
is put in another machine wherein it passes over
metallic cylinder. Two needle points press It,
which connected with the poles Of gavanic bat
terry. That which leads from the negative pole is
the other. connected with the positive pole.
over the positive row OF holeA The
a needle point at any distance of. which
in turn presses another tape-the receiving one
likewise running over acylinder Side BY side with
this point is another. the wire Of which runs into
the ground. does also one OF the wires OF the
double battery which is used to provide the
Now suppose the first cylinder to be revolved. you
will see that every time hole in the tape comes
under either Of the points the point touches the
metal cylinder and current is excited running
tive negative pole. As this current strikes tho
receiving tape it decomposes certain salts of iron
dashes. according the holes run in the
original tape. Now. as the positive and
sds by sdo hers is no fear Of she
running into one unbrokcn line and so the rapidty
with which the despstch can be forwarded is only
limited by the speed with which the arst cylinder is
reveivcd Tho chemical tape is finally placed In the
hands of copyists, who can render It into manu-
compositors would rather read from it than from
writing, aud in the case of long dispatches the COM
pany will provide for their rapid completion by
dividing them among several hands. One girl can
copy sevenysx dispatches OF ordinary length In an
hour"
ADVANTAGES OF THE NEW SYSTEM
II is stated d result of actual experiment. that
this instrument possesses the great advantage Of
working just as well in wet weather as in dry.
Leakage in the wires IL also of less detrmcnt to its
operation than to that of the Morse system and but
low power of battery is necessary to get the best
results from it, Tho expense of maintaining IL in
good working order Is said 10 be very low. the priu-
cipal outlay being for hands in the punching and
In addition TO its instrument the new company
proposes to avail itself of style of wire in the
construction OF its lines It is well known
that copper liz much botter conductor OF the
magnetic uid than iron but IL is too soft to be used
for long spans, being likely to part. from its own
weight. Lately comDfn1tlonS OF IRON and copper
have been put in use but IL is found that when the
two connected by mechanical means tho action
of the weather renders them useless. The wire
which viii be adopted in tho lines r. of cast
STEEL coated by the electric process with copper. IL
is said that this will have thrccfod greater ten
sile strength than that ordinarily In use. and will
oilcr more than Ave six ohms of resistance per
mile TO the fuid while that commonly used offers
eighteen to twenty fvc ohms.
Duplex and quadrupiex attachments be made
TO this instrument ana IL is said to differ from nll
others in the tact that ID admits of sending and
ceiving messages simultaneously from either end of
wire and to or from any intermediate Offices IL
Is said that IL surpasscs all other systems In ac-
curacy, as IL Is impossible that any error
unless ON the part OF the copyist. The Morse
operator is Obliged to make four.or i've motions of
the hand kcy to produce letter and his work II
from this well other very liable to
The promoters OF the new enterprise promise many
improvements In telegraphy. especially in the intro
ducton of mail tclcgraphs TO be forwarded through
cooperation with the post Offices through the
country
DAVID c. WINSIyOW'S CONDITION