The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-03-10
a NEW TELEGRAPH LINE.

The Western Union Telegraph Compa-
ny, which aims At any cost 10 monopolize
the whole telegraph business OF the coun
try, has no sooner swallowed the last seri-
Gus opposition line--the Mutual Union
than another springs up, to levy another
Sl5 900 600 on the huge old monopoly be
fore submitting 10 the same deglutinous
Operation.
| The new company proposes to operate
on what Is known rs the Lego Automatic
system, of which some idea may be gained
from what N. Y. Sun reporter saw on q
visit to the companYs rooms in that city
Seven copper cylinders, about two fee,
long, and Of the diameter Of a ssovepipe,
were ranged against the south wall A
Young lady sat near each cylinder ticking
the key Of sounder The sounder was
connected with pen which was fastened
above the revolving cylinder AT each tap
OF the torefnger on the sounder the pen
recorded on the cylinder In red lnk q char
acter of the Morse alphabet. Each cyln-
der Will carry 1900 words. When the
message IS recorded on the cylinder the
pen Is Withdrawn and aA electric stylus
dropped on the cylinder at the beginning
of the message IN red ink. Steam power
is then applied. The cylinder revolves
with great rspldity, and In minute the
!, 200 characters appear on telegraphlc
lstrip of chemical paper at Cleveland, 800
miles away. The paper Is wound in roll
IA Sr,v in, a nd;
and Is ground out by hand in the same
manner as an apple is pared by machin-
cry. There were seven of these copper
lcylinders, and they could all be worked at
once over the sane wire. More than that,
each could drop ITS despatch at any station
between here and Cleveland,
This is what Is called the Leggo Auto
matte system of sending dispatches The
company claim that by it they can trans
NIT 5000 words per minute after the orig.
inal despatch has been transferred to the
cylinder IN Morse characters. For IN
stance, despatch o! 5000 words Is sent o
the Office for Transmission TO q given point,
II Is cut into seven parts, or takes" aud
distributed among the operators, the same
as printer distributes copy among his
typesetters. Each operator transfers his
take to cylinder, When this IL done
the seven cylinders are set in motion, and
Zoe 5000 words are transmitted simultane.
|ously over the same wire.
The two wires In use between here and
Cleveland arc steel, heavily insulated in
copper. They each contain over 500
pounds Of copper to the mIle. Each wire
will sustain a weight of $500 pounds
The poles are thirty feet high, and of un-
usual size and strength. There are forty
of them to the Bile. Ii Is claimed that
the wires are of such supreme conductivity
that the electric current on them will not
be disturbed by storms and atmospheric
changes. The resistance 10 the electric
current on those wires Is only l ITO
ohms. II Is averred that this brings Chi
cago, GEOGRAPHICALLY, as near New York as
Philadelphia, and san Francisco as near
"a Cleveland, compared with the best wires
now in use.
The capital stock of the company is
ST., 900 900 in $3.50 shares. Ii has issued
SlO.0OO,O0O in first mortgage $50 year gold
bonus. The President of the company is
Alapson W. Beard, of Boston. George d.
Roberts, 5. V. White and Conrad n. Jor-
dan. of this city, and Gov. Foster, of Ohio,
and Prof. Elisha Gray, of Chicago, are on
the Board Of Directors. The company
saws that II will construct trunk lines ex-
tending from New York to San Francisco
and to all the other large cities OF the
United States, Canada and Mexico, and
will connect with Atlantic cables and with
the Mexican and South American system