The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-04-03
WRITING WITH LIGHTNING.
Tho New Plan of Cablo TeleRraphine
which Is to Guido ALI Former Ef-
forto.
From The N. Y. World.


methods of telegraphic transmission now
known. The news Of the Post came from
London and announced that the Ameri-
can Cable company was one of the parties
to contract which would give the com.
pany the exclusive right TO process by
means Of which at minimum, the mes.
sages, each of twenty words, could be
sent each minute from London or Paris
TO this city. The maximum of trans.
mission was said to be 1000 words per
minute, or ten times the minimum rate.
BY this method, if feasible, an entire
newspaper published On one side of tho
ocean could be reproduced in less than one
hour on tho other side in fac simike and
stcreOtyp"d at ridiculously small ex-
pense. According to the article in the
Post, the new invention will not only re-
duce the cost of cable telegraphy between
this country and England and tho Cont
nent TO from three to five cents per word,
but the investment in the company
will pay dividen Of from 8 10 20 per
cent Wonderful as are the capabilities
| Of u wire and an electric current, these
statements seemed 80 extravagant that q
| World reporter called at the Office OF the
American Cable Company, on yesterday,
In pursuit of information about the
startling invention" referred to in the
Post. and saw one of the company's off,
GERS, who said:
"The American Cable Company does
not need gratuitous advertising, and
regret that the Post should have made the
statements which are ridiculed by some
of to-day's papers. 1t does not desire to
announce its plans just now, and it has no
t1vors to ask when its line is working to
Europe for five cents the word the news.
papers may compliment us if they will.
The silver wedding of the first cable has
seen reduction from two dollars per
word to sevcnty-five cents. expect its
golden anniversary will present some.
thing better than that. The day has
nearly gone when any corporation may
impose an almost prohibtory transit-tax
upon each word Of important news and
urgent commercial correspondence pass
ing between this country and Europe.
Concerning the new fac siulHe process
OF telegraphing about which the Post has
spoken, we wish to say nothing. Be it
good or bad we own the exclusive right
to use it across the Atlantic. The power
performance which the Inventor ciaima
for his system is carefully stated in our
contract with him, and you may scan
thac Tor your own private information,
but not for publication.
"The fact is that few gentlemen
have privately joined together TO carry
out certain telegraphic enterprise.
They. expect to succeed in their un-
dertaking, and when they have done 80
our people will enjoy cheaper cable COM
munication and everybody will know all
about it. We have managed to keep out
OF tho newspapers; we don't believe in
hunting ducks in company with brass
band, and shall continue to mind our
own business. This policy has enabled us
to quietly acquire several important in
ventions. We own reprnter which
consider the most wonderful instrument
of our group, and yet nothing about it
has yet appeared in the newspapers.
suppose when l assert it may be used suc-
cossfully on cable at the bottom of the
sea, l simply invite sll telegraphers to
howl and pronounce me an idol. We
shall see; the unexpected often happens"
" But what about your company's other
Instruments, without which, the Post sug.
gests, the new fac simile system was una.
vailable for cable"
q printer on long deep-sea cable; our
ability to dc that facilitates the use of the
new fac simile apparatus. Let me ex.
plain that on the new Atlantic cables, as
now worked, the receiving instrument il
Thomson's siphon-recorder. In his avg.
TEN, or rather in the system which 10 G
combination of the inventions of Jen.
kin, Varley and Thomson, the Morse
code of signals is used, and that you
know is composed of long and short
dashes, and requires three Of such signs
TO express the average letter. The sip
hon-recorder las to receive from tht
cable that number of electrical impulses
and make that number of movements t.
represent ~ single letter. It move
in one direction to indicate dash anl
when it Swings to the opposite aide i
means dot. It leaves upon moving
paper tape wavy trail ofink. and as thl
sinuosities ofthat mark are TO the one sid,
or other of the middle line of the paper, 81
the operator interprets them as dots o.
dashes The addition of the now du
plex system adds about twenty per cent
only TO the sending capacity to the cable
and the conditions essential to that &C
celebration are SO very delicate. and th-
! electrial balance is so easily disturbed
that the employment OF the duplex ap
naratns has not justified tho slighteat re
duction in the tariff of the Anglo -Ameri
can combination. Now, remember tina
on the average three electrical impulse
traverse the cable, and the siphon.re
corder makes three movements to signi
fly single letter at the receiving enc
. Substitute our printer for the siphon-r re
corder and then each electrical way
flowing through the cable will print
letter of the alphabet. The existing CO
bles charge to-day rs cents per wore
You can easily reckon that by the use c
: our printer alone we will be able to tax
5 four times rs many words ut one-quarte
of their tariff. That is, at 81 cents pc
: -=or3, using &c heavier hattery an
transmitting the same number of signals
{ we can receive four times as many word
: and earn the same quality of dollars pc
o day as they can. And all this independ
ent cf the much abused fac simile pre-
cess"
y "But is not the use of printer on O
9 Atlantic cable of itself wildly al
q surd, 2"
t. ooh, suppose it is. apprehend I'll
II gentlemen whose opinions are given
~ ~ thepapers wouldjndge the use of 'sount
u sible, and as constituting by itself IL
q larger half Q: tho problem os prac.ict
Is fac simile cabling, which the Post tol
% them had solved. With regard to VIII
J. ,. l have stated, here is an opinion fro
} which you may quote briefly if ye
q choose"
= The World reporter recognized in Il
l. signature of the document handed hi
~ the autograph of an electrician Of worl
:, wide reputation whose opinion upt
u such matters ranks second to none. al
y ,, he copied therefrom the following stal
- ling paragraph: