Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-07-18
Important Advance IN Telegraphy.

1t has remained for Albert l.. Parcelle, a
skilled mechanic and talented inventor, to
produce mechanism by which the barriers
to rapid and cheap telegraphy are broken
down, and which, by simple applications of
known principles, promises to entirely rev.
olutionize the telegraphy of the world. His
system is called Harmonic Automatic Tele-
graphy." and differs from that in use by the
Rapid Telegraph Company in two impor-
tant points. The first is an improved and
abbreviated construction of the alphabet, in
which position is used to the great saving
of characters and consequent saving of time
in preparing the copy In the perforator.
The second is the employment ofa system
OF sympathetic resonance by which, W ith
the use of single wire and unskilled oper-
atives, the same amount ofwork which is
now done by ten wires and skilled labor can
can bc accomplished. Thus, for the first
time in the history of telegraphy, the Morse
alphabet and system are done away with,
as are also the translating and transcribing
by receivers.
Instead of requiring the ordinary handling
and delay, the message, be it long or short,
is rapidly prepared in aperforating machine
fed into the transmitter, and is instantly re-
reproduced in clear Roman letters on
sheets of paper. ready to be sent
by messenger to the party address
scd The actual number of words
sent OH an average blythe. American Rapid
is from 600 to 700 per minute, while the low
est computations, made from results obtained
from an instrument only partially completed,
show a speed by the new method of 5000
words per minute. a great advantage too,
is that, being sent over a single wire, the
matter comes consecutively, and is, there
FORE free from liability to error, as is often
the case where several wires are used for the
sending of Il single dispatch. For press
work the new method will prove of inesti-
mable value, as by the use of this device
speech of 2O0O words, occupying about one
column of the Herald, can be perforated,
sent over the wire, and given to messen-
ger at the other end of the line for delivery
and all ready for the type-setter in three
and half minutes. OF course, in order to
attain this speed the copy is originally cut
up into " takes " and distributed to several
boys or girls, who transcribe the matter by
means of the perforating machines, after
which the several pieces are pasted together
in one continuous strip. The strip runs
through the instrument at great speed;
"hN ~ VIII tlluS DC SccH liltll the CelefltS
with which u dispatch is transmitted de-
pends principally upon the number of
periorators employed. 1t will thus be un-
derstood that, from beginning to end, the
system demands only unskilled labor, by
reason of the high degree Of automatic per-
tcction attained, and herein lies the great
secret of cheapncss. The speed is another
valuable consideration, and when both ele-
ments arc combined the result seems to be
indeed, the long-sought dcsidcratum
The above brief outline of the develop
mcnt of Professor Parcelss system was
gathered from n report presented recently
by Robert Spice, B. S., Professor of Analy-
tical Chemistry and Physics ofthe Collegiate
and olytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, n Y,
at special meeting of the stockholders of
the Merchants Union Telegraph Machine
Company, in the company's offices in Mason
Building. Among those present were q
number of wcll-known capitalists of this
city, New York and Chicago, besides gen
tlemen representing the principal telegraph
companies of the country, whose interest in
the new departure is openly manifest. 1t
was apparent that the principles underlying
the new system, and the methods for obtain
ing similar results at the ordinary rate of
speed, were familiar to the latter gentlemen
whose admiration for the skill which pro-
duced the desired mechanical combinations,
in which lay the grand succers ofthe achiev-
ment, was freely xpressed.-Boston Herald.