Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-02-03

GH00S
,erzs PrOvemonts
rossIB4rTna OF THE TELEPHONE TAXING TIN
PLAgH OF ,THn Observation-Disclosures new
OFFERED FOR sOLUTIOE-THE REASONS WHY
TELEPHONE SERVICE AT LONG DISTANCES HAS
HTTHERTo REEN nRRAcr1cABLE, DO.
Thereis noIaubject which arouses such kean
intereseamonk electricians at the present time
AZ the Improvement OF the telephone. The
general public are not, perhaps, aware that
this infant, which, few years ago, came into
the world as a sort Of scientific plaything and
then gradually found It's place as helper in
the activities Of business and social life is not
yet out OF Its long clothes. It is such COM
mon experience in every-day-life, 80 intimately
associated with the daily transactions of men
and women, that 1t has ceased to be a subject
OF wondering comment, and is accepted fin
much the same way as the thousand other
mysteries Of the natural world which surround
US.
The history Of the telephone promises to re-
semole the development of steam in it's various
forms and the progress made in telegraphy. AL
ready practical business men with hard heads
that are not apt to be turned by an enthusiastic
mania are interesting themselves In the tele-
phone and are banking upon the bright prom
then
What do they see in the future Of the tele-
phone! The broad and general answer is that they
see that there can be one general telephone ex-
change for the whole country; that just as re-
sloent OF washington can now ring up the gem
eral Office at the top of the Evans building and
DE placed In communication with his friend at
the other end of the city so in the same way can
ne DE placed in communication with his friend
IN New York, Chicago and San Francisco. That
may sound absurd, and 1t must be admitted that
mi ato6 nv two
three thousand miles carrying on an audible
conversation with each other does seem rather
DIT OF exaggeration and scientific moonshine.
Yet the best electricians to-day will not only tell
you that the thing is possible, but that they be-
iieve its contamination is not far distant. Cap
ltalists are anticipating this
FUTURE OF THE TELEPHONE,
by buying up companies and forming cOnsoli-
dati0ns. Telephone companies that supply the
service to single town or city are disappear
ing, and in their places are appearing one gene
raj company, controlling the business of one
central locality and all the outlying points.
Take for instance. the city of Harrisburg Pa,
which fs the headquarters Of the Pennsylvania
Telephone company That company not only
supplies the telephone service for the city, but
Is also connected with nearly all the neighboring
towns and villages, and performs the local SER
vice for each one besides providing communi-
cation between the different towns and the CEN
trail place. Harrisburg. In this way Lancaster,
York, Chambersburg. Bethlehem. Easton, Read
ing, POttstOwn, Carlisle and Columbia are all
connected with one another aud the service for
the entire district is controlled BY one company.
Then Boston forms the center of another
group composed of IS exchanges all controlled
by one company, and comprising the outlying
towns and villages. In the town of Lowell,
which is about twenty miles from Boston, ami
connected with the Boston exchange, one of the
morning papers receives every night from Bos-
ton by telephone between three and four col
umns photographic matter, and its dispatches.
instead of being headed by Telegraph " could
very properly be designated by Telephone
Detroit, Michigan. is another telephone CEN
ter, with Adrian, Ann ArbOr. Jackson, Saginaw
and other outlying places connected with each
other. In the same way all over the country
these cepters are Increasing in number, anu the
ABSORPTION OF SMALL COMPANIES
into the large is constantly going on. After
while these centers will in turn be abandoned
and new, centers be formed with radi of longer
sweep. The Harrisburg center will become
absorbed into the Philadelphia or Baltimore ex-
change, and this latter again will become con-
sOlidated with the New York exchange, which
will extend to Boston in the north and to some
point in the west. With audible communication
thus established between such remote points,
the telephone will come more aud more into
general use. usurpng largely the present place
OF the telegraph, not only in the transaction Of
private business but also In the distribution of
news matter for the daily press. But this is
rather anticipating the actual condition Of things
at the present time. This is the possibility in
the future OF the telephone, and practical cleo
trcians say that 1t is by no means remote one.
There are several problems which electricians
are just now hard at work upon and on their So
luton depends the realization ofthese posibil-
ties. IT, - 1885,
TELEPHONING AT LONG RANGE.
Perhaps the most important matter which is
engaging their attention just now is that of
sending messages between points widely sepa-
rated. The longest distance that one continu-
GUS message can be sent at the present time is
about 100 miles-that is to say this is the long
est distance for practical commercial purposes.
Experimental lines for a much greater distance
have been worked successfully, and Mr. Geo. c.
Maynard the well-known electrician of this
city, several years ago worked line from Balt-
more to Boston, a distance of 41S miles. with
reasonable success The wire used was an ordi-
nary telegraph wire. which is not the best
adapted for telephone purposes. In several
localities IN this cOuntrya continuous telephone
wire for q greater distance than 100 miles is
being worked with good results, and where the
wire runs through the woods and is away from
telegraph and other wires long circuits can be
successfully established. But it is the general
experience that for practical purposes the pres
ent instrument now in use cannot transmit a
message farther than 100 miles.
How can the long distance problem in regard
to the telephone be solved? That is the cues
ton. and any one familiar with electrical appli-
ances will tell you that hardly week passes
but that some one will come forward with long
distance telephone which, it Is claimed meets
this great want. But no invention has yet been
made that meets the requirement of long dis
lance service. To the unscientifc mind that re-
fleets upon the matter at all, the query will ma
turally occur: II telegraph messages can be sent
one and two thousand miles on continuous wire
why can't telephone message be 80 sent. The
oneis series Of sounds, produced by sharp breaks
In q current. and the other continuous sound
waves carried forward bv an electric current. In
telegraph messages over long wire, the cleo
trio current is renewed at certain points by
fresh currents, which conduct the message on
ward. For instance, there is q continuous tele-
egraph wire between New York and New
Orleans, distance of some 200 miles, A DOW
erful battery at New York transmits the mes
sage some 400 miles to what ia
known as ''relay station" Here there
is an apparatus called the repeating
board" into which the wire runs, and
by an automatic process the message is trans
terred to another wire attached to powerful
battery, and the dispatch. with its fresh post
horse, SO to speak, hastens on for another inter-