San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-04-06
RAPID TELEGRAPHING.
Eighteen Hundred Words n Minute.-lno,,.
Conpetitor For the Western uuion 10 INV ~

Competitor For the western union to Buy In
or the new telegraph COMPANY ..
Grating between Buffalo and New Yo,L
CITY, the Rochester Herald says:
While the inventions owned bv ,ho
company make use of no new princinIe
of electricity, the machines are so in.
genious and the results 80 astonishin.
that the system seems entirely distinc,
from that of the Morse telegraph, On
account of the rapidity with which tba
messages are sent and the CONSEQUENT
cheap rates, the company expects soon
to do most of the telegra phing for the
business centers of the United States
In the fall of 1880 the first line oi
the Rapid Telegraph company was
opened between Boston and New York
About year ago another line was
opened south from New York to Wash.
ington. Since that time the company
has been constantly at work extending
their lines and opening new Offices
The line on which Rochester is located
has four wires and connects New York
and Buffalo. At present there ara
offices only at Troy, Hudson, Syracuse
and Rochester, but next week there
will be one in operation at Buffalo, and
others will be speedily opened. The
line between Boston and Washington
already has an immense business, MANY
large firms doing all their correspond.
ence in this way. Even the Office here.
although scarcely in readiness, and hay.
ing solicited no work, is daily sending
large number of messages. One
reason for this, no doubt, is the cheap
rates offered, charges being made on a
twenty, instead of ten word bases.
1t seems incredible at first that 1,SOO
words minute can be sent from Roch.
ester to New York. Such is the fact,
however. An examination of the meth
DDS used makes the matter less mary
elous. Upon being received at the Of
fee of transmission, the message is
given to an operator of o machine
called the perforator. This contrivance
is too complicated to be fully explained d.
It is worked by means of key board,
in the same manner as a type writer.
The operator strikes lettered key,
and the symbol corresponding to the
letter is perforated in slip of paper
which passes at q uniform rate before
the perforating instrument. By the
use of Authorizations for words, sigma
lures and combinations of letters, it is
rendered unnecessary to make perfor.
alton for ach letter. By one in prac-
tice message can be perforated in this
manner with great correctness.
The next machine is appropriately
called the fast machine. 1t is really
the transmitter. The end of the per-
forated slip of paper is placed between
some pens and a roller charged with
the full force of the electric current.
The operator has now simply to turn
crank and the strip of paper is passed
between the pens and the roller with
rapidity that will transmit nearly two
thousand words minute. The circuit
is completed each time the pen passes
over perforation and is broken while
the pen is passing over the other parts
of the strip of paper.
The method employed in the Morse
telegraph has now become compare
lively ow and tedious. The operator
is not obliged to complete and break
the circuit by hand two or three times
for each letter. All this work is done
for him.
Scarcely less ingenious than sending
the message is the way in which it is
received. At the receiving office the
message is recorded by fast machine
at the same rate that it was transmitted.
A strip OF chemically prepared paperi is
passed between roller and fine steel
point. When the circuit is complete,
that is when the pen at the dispatchlng
office is passing over perforation, a
fine line is made on the paper in the
fast machine at the receiving Office.
The lines, which correspond exactly
with the perforations, are easily trans
lated, and the message is ready toleave
the office. The operator at the type
writer does the translating and prints
the message. In this way neat mes
sage and one easily read is sent from
the office. Seventy to one hundred
words minute is average work at the
type writing machine.
There would seem to be no reason
why the work of this system should NOT
be satisfactory, especially since while
operating with rapidity and correctness
its rates are much less than usually
charged.
CuCn;oinuc ArouSpd.